Mosaic

Group work on “ The Trial and Death of Socrates”

Mosaic 1

Fall 2012

Your job is to take a position at Socrates's trial: is he guilty of the charges brought against him or is he innocent? In other words, you will serve as either a prosecuting attorney or a defense attorney.

If your choice is to prosecute Socrates, you must construct a convincing argument why he should be found guilty of the charges that Meletus and company have brought against him.

If you choose to defend Socrates, then you should persuasively argue that Socrates is innocent of the charges brought against him.

Your Argument

The most important evidence you can use to make your argument is the words that Socrates speaks in his own defense; in other words, your primary evidence is from the text “ The Trial of Socrates”.

If you are prosecuting Socrates, you must use Socrates's words against him. Does he prove the allegations against himself? Does his answer show that he is, indeed, undermining the moral character of Athens?

If you are defending Socrates, then you should use his words to prove that the charges are groundless.

The whole issue revolves around Socrates's relentless questioning. His basic position is that no one knows anything at all except himself, and he knows one and only one thing: that he knows nothing. As a result, he has spent his life questioning people. He continues to asks questions until he catches them in a contradiction or inconsistency, at which point he has proven that they don't know the answer. This is a radically skeptical position; imagine proving to your parents that every thing they know and every opinion they have is wrong. That's in a nutshell what Socrates did. So the heart of your argument will revolve around this radical questioning: does such radical skepticism and questioning undermine society and morality, or does it improve society and morality?

Assessment

To do well, you will need to provide a strong argument either in defense of Socrates or in...