Week One Essay Question

Why was Socrates sentenced to death? The reason for it was because people couldn’t understand why he didn’t believe in the gods of Athens. Instead questioned everyone else and used that to show people did not know much of what they believed in. Plato, one of Socrates students, created a theory and it was called Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. The theory explained ignorance. People not being open to reality and staying in with what they believed in. in the end Socrates was charged for believing in his own gods and corrupting the minds of the young. I believe the reason he was punished in the first place was because people did not what to listen and did not want any change to happen. Instead they though the easiest way to stop the questioning was to sentence him to death. The punishment was to drink hemlock tea. He had the opportunity to escape and avoid the punishment. A couple of his students even explained he could run away and avoid death but he decided not to, he felt it was okay. I think he knows that the people of his time period will always see it’s not going to change or at least not in that era. But with his questioning and teaching he influenced others to keep questioning and a great example of that would be Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.

Citations:

"Plato's Allegory of the Cave." YouTube. YouTube, 12 Aug. 2014. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

Lane, David Chirstopher, ed. How Socrates Died: A Philosophical Life Examined. Second MSAC Edition Edition ed. N.p.: Mount San Antonio College/Philosophy Group, 2014. Print.