經典案例欣賞:The Trial of Socrates

The trial and execution of Socrates in Athens in 399 B.C.E. puzzles historians. Why, in asociety enjoying more freedom and democracy than any the world had ever seen, would aseventy-year-old philosopher be put to death for what he was teaching? The puzzle is all thegreater because Socrates had taught--without molestation--all of his adult life. What couldSocrates have said or done than prompted a jury of 500 Athenians to send him to his deathjust a few years before he would have died naturally?

Finding an answer to the mystery of the trial of Socrates is complicated by the fact that thetwo surviving accounts of the defense (or apology) of Socrates both come from disciples ofhis, Plato and Xenophon. Historians suspect that Plato and Xenophon, intent on showing theirmaster in a favorable light, failed to present in their accounts the most damning evidenceagainst Socrates.

What appears almost certain is that the decisions to prosecute and ultimately convictSocrates had a lot to do with the turbulent history of Athens in the several years preceding histrial. An examination of that history may not provide final answers, but it does provideimportant clues.

BACKGROUND

Socrates, the son of a sculptor (or stonecutter) and a midwife, was a young boy when the riseto power of Pericles brought on the dawning of the "Golden Age of Greece." As a young man,Socrates saw a fundamental power shift, as Pericles--perhaps history's first liberal politician--acted on his belief that the masses, and not just property-owning aristocrats, deservedliberty. Pericles created the people's courts and used the public treasury to promote the arts.He pushed ahead with an unprecedented building program designed not only to demonstratethe glory that was Greece, but also to ensure full employment and provide opportunities forwealth creation among the unpropertied class. The rebuilding of the Acropolis and theconstruction of the Parthenon were the two best known of Pericles' many ambitious buildingprojects.

Growing to adulthood in this bastion of liberalism and democracy, Socrates somehowdeveloped a set of values and beliefs that would put him at odds with most of his fellowAthenians. Socrates was not a democrat or an egalitarian. To him, the people should not beself-governing; they were like a herd of sheep that needed the direction of a wise shepherd. Hedenied that citizens had basic virtue necessary to nurture a good society, instead equatingvirtue with a knowledge unattainable by ordinary people. Striking at the heart of Atheniandemocracy, he contemptuously criticized the right of every citizen to speak in the Athenianassembly.