Journal One: Socrates' Innocence

"I was just thinking of the immortal last words of Socrates. 'I drank what?'" - Val Kilmer, Real Genius.

On the surface, it is tough to either criticize or defend the decision of Socrates to accept the lethal punishment given him by the Athens court after the trial that took place in Apology.

It would be easy for me sitting here in the year 2007 A.D. to say that Socrates should've ran away, or at the very least appealed the decision, but aside from the fact that I do not know whether or not the ancient Greeks ever had such a thing as a process of appeal (I would imagine not), Socrates was right when he said that running away would be the same as an admission of guilt. Movies like The Fugitive and Minority Report notwithstanding, innocent people rarely run. This is not to say it never happens, but that is a whole other issue, too big to go into here.

At the same time, it is hard to defend his position from here in 2007 because we live in an age where one of the strongest arguments against capital punishment is that innocent people have been put to death by the state.

When Socrates says, “In light of these arguments, we must consider whether or not it would be right for me to try to escape without permission of the Athenians” (Allen, p. 103), it seems admirable, but it made more sense in that period of time then it would today in a post-enlightenment era. Imagine if people like Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandela had taken this attitude?

The answer I think lies in the very simple fact that with a few exceptions, we simply can't say what the right thing for Socrates to do would be by today's standards because in the world as it is now the charges that led to Socrates trial and death wouldn't and couldn't be made.

An accusation could be made yes, but there could be no trial, other than in the court of public opinion, and there could be no punishment forced upon him without immense public outrage.

Based on that, despite whatever one's personal feelings may be, I believe that you should set aside your personal distaste at what was done to Socrates and accept that in that time, and in that place, he did the right thing.

The real question you should be asking yourself is not, “Did Socrates do the right thing by accepting the punishment”, but rather, “Would I have been brave enough to do the same?”