0829-8579 #1
Professor Duncan
PHI 2010
19 November 2015
Paper 3 – #1
In Plato’s Apology, Socrates delivers three speeches to the jury to persuade them of his
innocence. Charged for corrupting the youth and failing to acknowledge the gods recognized by
the city, Socrates contests his conviction in vain. After posing his main defense in the first
speech, the jury deliberates and finds Socrates guilty. In response, Socrates’s second speech
discusses a punishment to fit the crime. The unyielding jury consents to the death penalty, and
Socrates finally offers his closing remarks. Throughout Socrates’ speeches, the theme of false
knowledge emerges often, especially in the context of his seemingly ignorant accusers and the
jury. Following this theme, Socrates challenges the preconceived notions of death evidently held
by his accusers and a majority of the jury. Socrates first questions whether one should fear death
towards the end of his first speech and later elucidates in his third speech how death is
potentially a blessing.
Socrates addresses those in the jury who voted for his acquittal when he professes that
“there is good hope that death is a blessing” (Apology 40c). He proposes the two possible
scenarios he faces when he succumbs to death: nothingness or consciousness. Death may be one
of two things, according to Socrates. On one hand, death might consign the individual to
nothingness. Unable to perceive or act, the person experiences what might be akin to dreamless
sleep. This, according to Socrates, is a great advantage, and the magnitude of eternity would
seem to be reduced to one night of dreamless sleep. As an alternative to nothingness, death might
0829-8579
entail a “change and a relocating for the soul from here to another place” (Apology 40c-d). One
would retain his consciousness and travel to a place inhabited by the dead. Socrates again
discerns the advantage in this scenario. He would interact with history’s greatest minds, poets,
kings, and philosophers, constituting a most pleasant existence. As if to patronize his accusers, he
boasts that he is “willing to die many times” if one could “keep company with Orpheus and
Musaeus, Hesiod, and Homer” (Apology 41a). Also, the men in this world would be much
happier than the Athenians, especially since death is no longer feared or unknown. The most
important advantage of the soul travelling to another place is the opportunity to distinguish
between those who are wise and those who merely believe they are wise. Evidently Socrates’
bias against his accusers and those convicting him influences his perspective here. The core of
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