Apology by Socrates
In The Apology, by Plato, the aged Socrates defends his life and position in society. ... Of course, Socrates firmly disagrees with all charges and acts as his own defense in the matter. Among the charges, the one Socrates spends most of his time refuting is that he corrupts the youth, bringing it nothing but ill thoughts. Socrates’ argument is quite to the contrary. ... Socrates is not at all modest about his value to the youth, and to all society. ... Cockily, Socrates states “I believe no greater good has ever happened in the State than my service to the God. ... Socrates tells all the Athenians out right that no one is better than he, and that his service is worthy not only to the God, but to all of society. ... Socrates not only says that his service is supreme, but that the very people convicting him of his “crimes” should be rewarding him for a lifetime. Fortunately, Socrates is not just full of empty breath; he has the argument to back up this rather large claim. The argument made by Socrates is relatively systematic. ... Though this system seems straight forward, Socrates seems rather subtle about which statements apply to which part of his argument. ... No one likes to be harmed, not Meletus, not the Athenians, and not Socrates. If this is true, and so is the circle established (good do good, bad to bad), then it shows that Socrates would no doubt be motivated to improve the world around him. ... In defending his place as being one of the few improvers in society, Socrates uses a real-world example; one that is more than relevant for this time period.