Reading Recommendation - Plato's Apology
a great text for learning about who Socrates was and why he mattered to many
One text I frequently introduce my academic students to in Introduction to Philosophy classes is Plato’s Apology, which narrates the “defense speech” (if you want to call it that) of Socrates. There isn’t one single text, in my view, that one must or ought to start the study of philosophy by reading. Instead, there ware many ways one can make their way into the vast edifice that is philosophy as a literature, discipline, and activity.
That said, the Apology is a short work that, in my own practice, I have come to prefer to use as a sort of initiation or ice-breaker with my students, for a variety of reasons, which I’ll set out for you shortly.
I should mention that nearly all of my academic students are not philosophy majors. They may end up choosing to continue studying philosophy past the courses they take with me, but they generally come in with little to know background in the field. They are definitely interested in studying something else, the discipline they have selected as their major. It is up to me to make the case to them that philosophy has some relevance to their own life, that it can help them frame problems and issues in their lives, their careers, their relationships.
Plato’s Apology helps me do that, right from the start.
What Happens In The Apology
The term apologia in Classic Greek means “defense speech”, which is what Socrates was expected to make on his own account, to answer the charges brought against him: impiety and corruption of the young people of Athens. He does provide a defense of sorts, but it is an unconventional one, and at points seems intended to rankle and provoke at least some of the citizens of Athens comprising his jury.
It is listed as one of Plato’s “dialogues,” but there isn’t all that much of it that is dialogue in its format, other than Socrates’ cross-examination of one of his accusers, Meletus. The rest of it is, formally speaking, an address to an audience, a monologue. It does, however incorporate dialogue within that steady stream of speech, by telling stories, making arguments, considering alternative points of view.
You can divide the dialogue into three main parts, along the lines of the procedure at the trial
Socrates is given the opportunity to provide a defense against the charges. He uses it to explain the difference between younger and older accusers, to tell the story of why he took up philosophy as a divine mission, and to explain why he is neither impious nor a corrupter of the young.
Socrates, having been found guilty of the charges by the jury, is now permitted to suggest an alternative penalty to the execution. At first, he suggests meals for the rest of his life at the public expense as a suitable recompense, and then changes it to a fine that would be paid by his friends.
The jury having imposed the death penalty, Socrates tells them that they have made a significant mistake that will cause them further problems after his death. He then explains to his friends why he thinks that death will not be the evil they take it to be
The first portion of the work is much longer than the other two. The entire dialogue is short enough to read it attentively in the space of an afternoon. It is quite rich in well-developed ideas that are worth thinking over and, if the opportunity offers, discussing with others.
Ideas, Arguments, And Paradoxes
What my students hopefully come away with in reading this particular text is what self-directed learners will also glean from it. Socrates offers us an explanation of his way of life, and why it garnered hatred and misunderstanding from some of his fellow citizens. Philosophy is a quest for wisdom, and Socrates ends up being placed in quest of it after a friend of his consults the Oracle at Delphi, asking whether anyone is wiser than Socrates, and receiving a negative answer.
This sets Socrates on a path of seeking out the wisdom that certain prominent types of people in Athens seem at first to possess. He questions them, the politicians, the poets and rhetors, the craftspeople and professionals, and discovers that, with the exception of the craftspeople who do possess knowledge of their craft, none of them actually do possess the knowledge or wisdom they purport to. And these people, who become Socrates’ “older accusers”, are not thrilled to have this lack be revealed!
Backing up just a bit in the narrative, another key aspect of it that is easy to pass over, but which certainly is worth thinking about, is one of the charges that will get made against Socrates, namely that of impiety. He will demolish Meletus in the later cross-examination, but it is worth considering the rather strange way that Socrates claims that he is following the order of the god, namely Apollo.
The oracle has declared that there is nobody wiser than Socrates. So, what does Socrates do with this information? He wonders what the god could possibly mean, and he goes around essentially trying to prove that the god has this wrong, seeing if he can indeed find someone wiser than him. Is this piety towards Apollo?
Another key idea that comes to the fore in Plato’s Apology is that Socrates is not just following out (in his own quirky way) a divine imperative. Nor is he just urging his fellow citizens to shift their attention from things that matter less - their bodies, wealth, and reputation - towards what really matters - their souls. These alone would be valuable. But he frames his philosophical activity as something that has wider, political implications as well. By doing philosophy, he serves the city of Athens.
I’ll mention just one last matter that is worth reading this dialogue for. After Socrates is condemned to death, he consoles his friends by explaining to them why he doesn’t think death is a bad thing, providing two speculative arguments or accounts. The second of them has him going down to Hades, where he can question the famous dead people of history and legend to see whether they really measure up or not. And down there, nobody can shut him up by executing him, since he’ll already be dead!
Several Matters To Keep In Mind
This dialogue doesn’t conclusively resolve most of the matters it discusses or references. Instead it provides launching points for further reflection, whether with others in a class, or as a reader engaging the text on one’s own.
One common feature to Plato’s dialogues more generally is that he often has the characters make arguments that contain flaws, rest on questionable assumptions, or which overlook important possible objections. This doesn’t just occur with characters other than Socrates. Plato will sometimes have Socrates himself make weak arguments, and one way to interpret this is thinking that Plato intends us readers to step into the dialogue and think matters through more fully.
There is additional work required of us to adapt the ideas, arguments, and distinctions of the dialogue to our own contemporary setting. When it comes to the three main classes of Socrates’ older accusers, I have my students think about who they would be in our own present times. Craftspeople are easy enough to identify, though we have many more kinds of them in our complex late modern society. Are politicians just those who we identify by that term today? Or would they include executives and managers in business settings and corporations, or administrators in academic institutions? And who would the contemporary equivalents of ancient poets and rhetors be?
To close, I’ll mention just one other interesting facet of this short Platonic work that might entice you to read (or reread) it. When it comes to western philosophy, Socrates is a massively important and influential early figure, and it is not just about what he thought and taught, but the kind of life he lived, the priorities he chose and committed to, the impact he had on other people. You can call him something analogous to a “hero”. And in the Apology, you not only get to see him near the end of a long life, but also a bit of his “origin story as well”.
You can find translations of Plato’s Apology online in a number of places, including:
Jowett translation (Internet Classics Archive)
Jowett translation (Wikitexts)
Jowett translation (Internet Archive)
Jowett translation (Project Gutenberg)
Fowler translation (Perseus)
If you would like to purchase an anthology of Plato's writings, that's also something you might find worthwhile. There are four in particular that you might look at getting
The Last Days of Socrates: Euthyphro; Apology; Crito; Phaedo (Penguin Classics) - Tarrant translation
Five Dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo (Hackett) - Grube translation
Plato: Complete Works (Hackett) - Cooper and Hutchinson editors, multiple translators
The Collected Dialogues of Plato: Including the Letters (Princeton University Press)- Hamilton and Cairns editors, multiple translators
And, if you would like access to the original Greek text, the Perseus website is the place to go and easily read it. You can click on the words in their texts and be taken to Greek-English lexicon entries for them
If you have previously read the Apology, or if you come back to this recommendation post after having read it, feel free to leave a comment with your own take on the dialogue!
I should mention that you’ll find a number of video and podcast resources on this text in my main YouTube channel and in the Sadler’s Lectures podcast.