Blog Post #5

     Today we continued our notes on the powerpoint, but it was focused a lot on Socrates. We focused on what he did wrong on how he died. Socrates was charged with two crimes, corruption of Athen's youth, and impiety (not believing in the god of the states). His defense was "It's my job to be gadfly to the lazy, sluggish horse that is Athen's." He also said "I should actually be rewarded with free dinners for life." The jury back then did not like the fact that he was bashing their city state. The jury of 500 male citizens found him guilty. Socrates was sentenced to death by drinking poison hemlock. He actually had to opportunity to escape, but he refused, proving his loyalty to the Athenian democracy. That was the story of Socrates. We also learned what an idiot was back then, it was someone who was characterized by self-centeredness and concerned almost exclusively with private- as opposed to public affairs. In Athenian democracy idiots were born and citizens were made through education. Declining to take part in public, such as democratic government of the polis(city state), was considered dishonorable. Socrates' quote of life was "The unexamined life is not worth living." Might as well make your life filled with purpose.