Why does socrates chose death

He is happier accepting his sentence than theirs, and considers this to be a fair sentence. He finishes his address to those who voted against him with a stern prophecy.

Though they may have managed to silence him in the hopes that they can continue to live free of criticism, he will be replaced by even more critics who until now have kept silent.

Socrates warns his accusers that in order to live free of criticism, one must behave well rather than stop the mouths of one's critics. Socrates then addresses those who voted to acquit him, to reconcile themselves to his fate. He remarks that the divine voice that often warns him against harmful actions has remained silent throughout the trial and throughout his own speech.

From this he concludes that perhaps death is a blessing, since his sign would have opposed him unless his actions were to bring about a good result. After all, Socrates reasons, death is either annihilation--a complete and final sleep--or death is a transmigration, where his soul would live on somewhere else. If death is annihilation, it is to be looked forward to as we would look forward to a deep, restful sleep. On the other hand, if death is a transmigration to some sort of afterlife, that afterlife will be populated by all the great figures of the past, from Homer to Odysseus.

Socrates concluded his argument by insisting that there are some things we all know of that are eternal, which he called the pure forms. The soul must be like these things, abstract and eternal.

He then said that when freed from the body, a soul continues to exist with other pure concepts, like truth or beauty. When the poison gripped him, he calmly lay down and gave a few last instructions to his friends, and covered his face with a cloth to calmly meet the end. Ascapelius was the god of healing, and Crito promised to pay the sacrifice. This is an odd detail for Plato to place in the mouth of Phaedo in his story. Plato was not present when Socrates died, so perhaps the chicken was for his own health.

Perhaps Plato means to say that the charges of impiety on which Socrates was convicted were false. Or perhaps he means to say that death is the final form of healing.

On this last note, perhaps people of all faiths and dispositions may find some comfort from the argumentative gadfly of Athens. Write to him at Professing Faith, P. Box , Redlands, CA , email him at askfathergregory verizon. By Redlands Daily Facts redlands dfmdev. Sign in. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. Show More. Read More. Words: - Pages: 3. Words: - Pages: 4. Socrates Trial Case Study If Socrates escaped and the Laws were broken, that means that it is because of the Laws that he was imprisoned.

Words: - Pages: 5. Euthyphro Apology And Crito Analysis Socrates is has a strong moral, and ethical compass which is depicted through each of the stories. Words: - Pages: 7. Words: - Pages: 6. Socrates Reflection the unexamined life is not worth living for man? Words: - Pages: 8. Asclepius was the Greek god for curing illness, and it is likely Socrates' last words meant that death is the cure—and freedom, of the soul from the body.

In this view, the token of appreciation for Asclepius would represent a cure for the ailments of Athens. The Athenians needed a scapegoat. Politically, the city's fortunes were receding in B. There was one man in Athens who had made himself a reputation for being awkward-the philosopher Socrates. He liked to ask difficult and irritating questions; he mocked those in power and spent his time debating ideas with a band of devoted pupils. Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher.

Socrates was one of the most significant thinkers in the course of history and, with Plato and Aristotle, was largely responsible for founding Western philosophy. Claiming loyalty to his city, Socrates clashed with the current course of Athenian politics and society. Plato refers to Socrates as the "gadfly" A gadfly is a person who interferes with the status quo of a society or community by posing novel, potentially upsetting questions, usually directed at authorities of the state, in so far as he irritated some people with considerations of justice and the pursuit of goodness.

His attempts to improve the Athenians' sense of justice may have been the source of his execution. An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions or precognition of the future, inspired by the gods The Oracle responded that none was wiser than Socrates. Socrates believed that what the Oracle had said was a paradox absurdity , because he believed he possessed no wisdom whatsoever.