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Audiobook edition · 1 h 48 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 44 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 44 pagesAbout this book
What is worth defending when your own life is at stake?
In Plato’s Apology, Socrates stands before an Athenian jury accused of dishonoring the city’s gods, introducing new divine things, and corrupting the young. He answers with questions rather than pleas for mercy. As he confronts his accusers, the trial becomes a test of whether a man can keep his principles when his life hangs in the balance.
Here, apology means a defense, not an expression of regret. Socrates explains how a question put to the oracle at Delphi leads him to question others. He challenges Meletus directly and asks what wisdom, duty, and courage demand. Short and almost entirely in one voice, Plato’s account brings you close to a man who refuses to bend his convictions to save himself.
What you’ll discover
- Wisdom begins with questions Follow Socrates as he examines what people know and what they only think they know.
- An accuser under scrutiny Watch Socrates question Meletus directly, putting the charge against him to the test.
- The city’s persistent gadfly Discover why Socrates pictures Athens as a sleepy horse that needs his sting.
- Principles under pressure Consider why Socrates places duty above survival when his way of life puts him in danger.
- A voice without pleading Encounter a defense that asks the jury to listen to reason rather than grant mercy.
Who will love it
For anyone curious about where Western philosophy begins or what it means to stand by your convictions under pressure. It also suits first-time readers of Plato who enjoy questions about wisdom, duty and death.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Old slanders are harder to answer
- The oracle set him questioning others
- Meletus cannot defend his own charge
- Duty matters more than staying alive
- The gadfly serves the city
- How to face a verdict and death
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Apology
by Plato
Before a jury in Athens, Socrates defends a life of questioning and puts doing right above staying alive.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Old slanders are harder to answer
Socrates opens by saying he faces two sets of accusers. The first are the recent ones, who brought the formal charges. The second are older and more dangerous, because they have whispered against him for years, when many of the jurors were children. These rumors say that he studies the sky and the earth, and that he makes the weaker argument defeat the stronger.
Socrates points to the comic playwright Aristophanes, whose play The Clouds showed a character named Socrates hanging in a basket and teaching tricks of speech. He says he has nothing to do with such matters. He does not teach for money, as the sophists, the traveling teachers of the day, did. He names a few of them, and he notes that they charge fees and promise to make young men clever.
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What is the Apology by Plato about?
It is Plato's version of the speech Socrates gave at his trial in 399 BC. Socrates answers charges of impiety and corrupting the young, and explains why he lives as a questioner of others.
Does apology here mean saying sorry?
No. The Greek word apologia means a defense or a reasoned reply to an accusation. Socrates never says he regrets his way of life. He explains and defends it before the jury.
Is the Apology a true story?
Socrates was a real man and was tried in Athens in 399 BC. Plato attended the trial, but scholars debate how closely his text follows the actual words. It is generally taken as a faithful portrait of Socrates.
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