Socrates Trial

SOCRATES TRIAL, GUILTY OR INNOCENT?
Socrates is known to be one of the wisest men in history, even though there are no manuscripts written by him to prove this. Most of what we know about him isbecause of Plato, one of his most important pupils. In 399 BC., Socrates was accused and tried for impiety and corrupting the youth and was found guilty and death was his punishment. I believe Socratesis guilty because of these three main reasons. The first reason is that he did not believe in the gods of Athens but in a superior force. The second reason is that he was the teacher of Critias andAlcibiades, who became the greatest traitors against Athens democracy and the last reason is that Socrates didn’t show respect to Athens Democratic System.
The first reason is that Socrates did notbelieve in the gods Athens followed, instead he believed in a superior force. Athens followed many gods; they were polytheistic (Wikipedia). Socrates was not an atheist, because he did believe in a godbut in a superior, divine god. In the Apology of Socrates Plato wrote that Socrates said “I am in utter poverty by reason of my devotion to the god” (socrates.clark.edu). This statement clearlyshows that Socrates did not believe in the many gods Athenians followed but in “the god” this phrase shows he believed in only one god even though he didn’t specify which god he believed in but it isclearly that he didn’t acknowledge the many Athenians gods.
The second reason is that Socrates was the teacher of some of the greatest traitors against the Athenian Democracy. Socrates thought verypoorly about democracy and taught this to his pupils (examiner.com). Critias, who became a leader of the Thirty Tyrants, was his student as well as Alcibiades, who led Athens democracy to destruction.In that time, oligarchy reigned for about a year (examiner.com). This shows how his teachings changed and corrupt the thoughts of his followers.
The last reason is because Socrates didn’t show...