Cummings Study Guide

.......Socrates was old now, more than 70. Yet he still roamed the streets of Athens–barefooted, as always–to help men purge their minds of faulty or outmoded ideas.  Such ideas, Socrates knew, impeded self-improvement and community progress.
.......Over the years, the great god above had come to him time and again in visions and trances to remind him that it was his calling to sow the seeds of curiosity in fallow intellectual soil. And to do this, he first had to pull the weeds and the dying plants–misconceptions, unfounded beliefs, flawed principles. So it was that he went about the city to uproot ignorance where he found it, even in men deemed wise by the community. He would nettle them with questions that they could not answer, showing them that their knowledge was shallow rather than deep.
.......Limber, quick of step, Socrates could range across the city proper on a hot day–up steps, down hills, through pressing crowds in the marketplace. All along the way he would stop to talk with anyone, even the fishmonger selling fresh catch from the Bay of Phaleron. To him, Socrates might have posed this question:
.......“What is a fish?"
.......The fish merchant might have answered, “A legless creature that swims in the ocean." 
.......To this, Socrates might have replied:
.......“The octopus and the whale are legless creatures that swim in the ocean. Are they fish?"
.......The fishmonger might then have scratched his head and realized his definition of fish was faulty.
.......Socrates was a short, ugly man with a simmian nose and beefy lips–unprepossessing in every way, a lump of wrinkling flesh that passed for a human–but his tongue could wag with charm and wit. It was not uncommon for the young to gather round him on the walkway of a stoa or the greensward of a temple to hear him expose a supposedly wise man as a fool, thereby setting him on the road to knowledge, or to hear Socrates expound on the importance of nurturing the development of the soul and its grasp of morality, ethics, and the universe.
.......Once upon a time, Theaetetus–a teenager of uncommon intelligence– would follow and listen to the old philosopher with other young men. One day Socrates asked Theaetetus to define knowledge. An easy question, Theaetetus thought. He replied that skill at geometry was knowledge. So was the ability to repair footwear. So were carpentry and all the other crafts. It was clear to Theaetetus that knowledge was capability, artistry, the wherewithal to perform a useful activity. He was no doubt proud that he provided an altogether suitable and unimpeachable answer. Socrates’s eyes rolled as the answer passed through his ears and registered in the remote recesses of his brain.
.......Theaetetus, like Socrates, was not pleasing to look at. The gods had shaped both men with unsteady hands, perhaps after a night of revelry, and dropped them out of the heavens unfinished, save for their minds. Could the ill-formed Theaetetus have endeared himself to the ill-formed Socrates? It is not at all unreasonable to assume so. But if there was a bond between Theaetetus and Socrates, it did nothing to blunt the sharp edge of Socrates’s reply: Skill at geometry was not knowledge, Socrates said. Nor was the ability to mend sandals or erect a temple. A spider may be skilled at spinning a web and a bird skilled at building a nest, Socrates may have said. But their actions were not knowledge. Similarly, a man's ability to work geometric problems was an action indicating that he possessed knowledge; however, such an ability was not knowledge itself. Knowledge was something else–something less obvious, something more complex, something in the human soul.
.......Theaetetus, benefiting by the lesson, went on in the years to come to become a great mathematician, helping to develop the theory of irrational quantities, thereby radically altering for the better humankind’s understanding of numbers and computations. It cannot be said, of course, that Socrates contributed directly to the development of this theory, but it can be surmised that he helped shape Theaetetus’s comprehension of what constitutes a definition or statement of principles.
.......Under the questioning of Socrates, many other young men also went on to see beneath the veneer of things, or beyond the boundaries of traditional thought. The philosopher Plato, his most famous pupil, developed into one of the most important philosophers in the history of western civilization.
.......However, not all of Socrates’s listeners accepted his peripatetic critiques. Proud men, celebrated as wise by the populace, balked at the philosopher’s characterization of them as empty vessels that echoed with ignorance. Here was a dangerous man, they decided one day. In his zeal to challenge established beliefs and traditions, Socrates was also injuring reputations. What was more he was leading the young men of Athens astray. There was even talk that he was teaching them to reject the state gods in favor of a supreme deity that possessed the fulness of truth and virtue.
.......One day, Socrates received a summons to appear before the people’s magistrate to face charges brought by three of his enemies: the poet Meletus, the politician Anytus and the orator Lycon. In their sworn affidavit, they accused Socrates of corrupting the youth of Athens and of promoting his own divinities over the official gods of the state. The accusers appeared to represent members of a faction long hostile to Socrates and his ideas. They despised him not only for the reasons cited by Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon, but also for his well-known opposition to democracy. Socrates had made it clear on more than one occasion that democracy was a defective form of government because it granted common, uneducated men on the street the right to vote and make important decisions. In addition, Socrates’s enemies opposed him for his tutelage, support, and defense of politicians who were out of favor with the ruling establishment (politicians who had fallen under his spell as young men).
.......One such politician was Alcibiades (450-404 B.C.). In his youth, he had everything a young Athenian could hope for: wealth, good looks, intelligence, courage. He also had Socrates as a friend and mentor. During the wars against Sparta, he and Socrates–his elder by 19 years–fought together at Potidaea in 432, where Socrates defended him when he was wounded. In 415, Alcibiades was to share command of a force bound for the Sicilian city of Syracuse, allied with Sparta. However, before he and his troops embarked, someone committed a grave offense against the messenger god, Hermes, vandalizing busts of his image throughout Athens. The citizens blamed Alcibiades, rightly or wrongly. Although Alcibiades denied the charge and requested an investigation, no investigation was conducted. After he arrived at Sicily, Athens ordered him to return home. On his way back, he discovered that he had been condemned to death. He then escaped to Sparta and informed its leaders of Athenian war plans. In 411, however, he changed sides again after helping the Athenian fleet win an important victory, and he returned to Athens in 407 as an esteemed citizen and military commander. However, after he lost a naval battle, the Athenians deposed him again and he moved to Phrygia (Turkey). But his enemies tracked him down, set his home on fire, and murdered him when he was attempting to escape. Because Socrates had once befriended and instructed Alcibiades, Socrates’s enemies maintained that Alcibiades had been acting on principles taught by Socrates.
 

.......Following is a condensed version of Socrates’s testimony, which I adapted from the account of the trial presented by his pupil Plato and from observations by the Greek historian Xenophon and later writers. Whether the accounts and observations of these men accurately reflect the tenor of the proceedings against Socrates has never been established. Plato's account in his dialogue The Apology provides the most reliable information.
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.......After a hearing, the citizens indicted Socrates and called him to trial before the boule, a council of 500 citizens, acting as the jury. It was one of the most memorable trials in history because of Socrates’s cool but defiant defense of his right to think. Plato, a pupil of Socrates, recorded the proceedings.
.......Under Athenian law, the accused conducted his own defense. However, the law permitted him to use a speech prepared by an attorney. Such a speech was written for Socrates, but he rejected it, deciding instead to rely solely on his own abilities. He also rejected the option of bringing his wife and sons to court (who, through weeping and body language, could have won him sympathy), as was his right.
.......Led by Meletus, the accusers presented their case in a morning session that may have lasted three hours. Then Socrates took the floor. 
 

.......Good citizens of Athens, I am not a clever orator, although my accusers maintain otherwise in their fear that I will use eloquence to sway people to my side. However, if by eloquence they mean truthfulness, then I am eloquent, for I indeed speak the truth. I am old now, over 70, and I beg you to judge me by my words and their meaning, not by my manner, since I am but a clumsy newcomer to court proceedings. 
.......Let me first tell you that the attacks against my character have old roots. In fact, when many of you were just boys, there were those who began poisoning you against me, saying that I committed evil and through clever arguments that I could make bad alternatives appear good, and vice versa. You were impressionable then, easily swayed by their falsehoods. There are many who have spoken ill of me, but I do not know their names–except for the dramatist Aristophanes, who unjustly belittled me in his play The Clouds. 
.......Among you in this assembly are men who know that I have been maligned, for they have been with me during my conversations with people. I ask you to speak up, you who have heard me. Tell your neighbors the truth so that they will know that I am innocent.
.......Then there are those who say that I teach for money. That charge has no basis in fact, although there are some who make the rounds of cities to teach for money, such as Gorgias of Leontium, Prodicus of Ceos, and Hippias of Elis. Young men who could learn for nothing from their own citizens willingly pay these men. Right now a Parian named Evenus is living in Athens to accept payment of five minae a lesson to teach. I know this from Callias, who pays Evenus to teach his sons. Well, good for Evenus if it is true that he is wise enough to teach people. If I had his knowledge I would be proud and self-satisfied. But the fact is, I really am ignorant. 
.......Why, then, you might ask, do people say that I am wise? Why do they say I am evil? I will explain.
.......There was a man–you may remember him–named Chaerephon, who was a friend of mine and of the people. One day, he asked the oracle at Delphi whether anyone was wiser than I am. The prophetess at Delphi said no man was wiser than I. Although Chaerephon has since died, his brother is still alive and can confirm this answer. 
.......Anyway, dumbfounded by this answer, I went to many supposedly wise men, including politicians, to find one person who was wiser than I am. Surely there had to be someone who knew more than I did. But everywhere I went, I found the people I interviewed wanting in wisdom and told them so. Consequently, I made many enemies. I even talked with artistans, who thought they were wise but really were not. Poets, I found, were excellent writers but did not comprehend what they wrote. My listeners began to imagine that I claimed to have the wisdom that they lacked. But the truth of the matter is this: The oracle called me wise because I am the only man who realizes how little he knows. So, when I seek out wise people and discover that they know little but think they know much, I am only demonstrating the truth of the oracle’s finding. As you are aware, I have been absorbed by this task.
.......The young men who observe me later imitate what I do. When they expose esteemed men as unwise, these latter men blame me for leading the youth astray. Going further, they say I deliberately stir up trouble by challenging traditional beliefs and promoting strange religious ideas, including my own gods.
.......But my chief accuser here, Miletus, is the one who is doing wrong. Although he professes to be concerned about the youth of our community, he does not care about them at all. Tell me, Miletus, is it better to live among good citizens or bad ones?
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.......Miletus: Good ones.
.......Socrates: Is there someone who would rather be hurt than helped by people around him?
.......Miletus: No.
.......Socrates: Do I deliberately corrupt youth?
.......Miletus: Yes.
.......Socrates: All right, then, why would I want to corrupt people when I know that doing so will make them want to harm me. You just agreed that no one would want to live around people he knows would harm him. As for religion, do you accuse me of teaching different gods or of being an atheist?
.......Miletus: You are an atheist.
.......Socrates: But you say I teach spiritual concepts and believe in strange divine beings. How curious it is that I believe in gods and not believe in gods at the same time. The fact is, it appears that you and others here are going to condemn me simply because I have the courage to tell the truth. In this respect, I am like Achilles, the greatest of the Greek warriors in the Trojan War. He knew that if he avenged the death of his friend Patroclus by killing the Trojan warrior Hector, he was fated to die. But rather than live in disgrace, he killed Hector and died with honor. In my case, if you offered to free me if I stopped practicing philosophy in my honest and truthful way, I would reject your offer. As long as I live, I shall obey God and continue to tell the truth to anyone I encounter. Of course, it would be foolhardy of you to execute me, for it would be hard to replace a gadfly like me. God commissioned me to search for the truth, and I have done so with all my heart to the extent that I have neglected my own needs for the sake of you. Since I was a child, a divine voice has spoken to me, has given me signs, telling me to me to prod and question other men in order to put them on the road toward true wisdom. But if I am evil, let the young men I corrupted and their relatives come forth and speak against me. They will not, of course, because they know that I am not evil.
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.......By a vote of 280 to 220, the council finds Socrates guilty and sentences him to death. However, under Athenian law, a convicted person can propose an alternative sentence. Socrates proposes a small fine and, in an act of defiance, suggests that he be allowed to dine at taxpayer expense at a public table reserved for esteemed citizens of Athens. The council rejects his proposal by an even larger vote. A month later, he is executed by the prescribed method of capital punishment: drinking poison.