Trial of Socrates free essay sample

In my opinion I think Socrates’ teachings have been beneficial for Athenian democracy and he should not be on trial let alone convicted of anything. Socrates only taught things that only helped further democracy and pointing out the falls of democracy can help Athens. Socrates helped the youth learn about their specific roles in society and how it makes society function properly and is something that democracy does not have. The falls should not be something to hate him for, but something to learn from. Socrates describes in The Republic that in a perfect society people perform their roles in the community for the benefit of society. It does not matter what you do for the community whether you are a farmer or soldier or shoemaker you do that skill your good at. If a farmer was trying to do the work of a soldier and the solider the work of the farmer neither will be able to benefit the community very well because the farmer and the soldier are not equipped with the right skills to perform one another’s job. We will write a custom essay sample on Trial of Socrates or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The farmer is best at farming and the solider is best at fighting and being a protector of the community. Socrates talks about this in this quote â€Å"no two of us are born exactly alike. We have different natural aptitudes, which fit us for different jobs. †1 In that quote Socrates is talking about how people are born with different skills and abilities. He also mentions that because everyone has different skills and that means we will have different jobs. We will have different jobs because are skills determine what were good at whether that is making shoes or farming everyone has a different job they are skilled at. Socrates teaching about how people have their own place in society helps Athenian democracy not hurt. When people do what they are skilled at it increases production. Socrates explains this well in this quote â€Å"Quantity and quality are therefore more easily produced when a man specializes appropriately on a single job for which he is naturally fitted, and neglects all others. †2 In that quote Socrates is explaining that when someone focuses on the job they are naturally skilled at they produce more product and have better quality than someone who is not naturally skilled in that job. Also when the person is doing the job that they are naturally skilled and does not worry about or do any other jobs they produce more with quality. When a democracy has a people working the jobs they a naturally skilled at the people produce more. Also the people will be happier doing what they are good. If you are bad at math it is not going to be fun to do and won’t make you happy. On the other hand if you are good at math you will enjoy it because it comes to you naturally and is easier for you than it would be for someone who is not good at math. When you are good at math you can finish problems faster than someone who is not good at math. That example applies to the any professions someone who is skilled at making shoes can make them better faster and better than someone who is not skilled at. With people doing what they are good at and being happy I cannot see how it would hurt democracy. Another way that Socrates is beneficial to Athenian democracy is that he is educating our youth. It is good that our democracy is full of highly educated youth and young adults because they will be our next leaders and you do not want uneducated people running Athens. Education is key in having a flourishing democracy we need to educate the youth that are naturally skilled at being diplomats understand the laws and understand how our government functions. With the understanding of the government and its functions they can make good decisions about the future of Athens. Also having only educated people on assembly prevents decisions being made by people who do not specialize in government. We do not want a fishmonger making decisions like if Athens should go to war when he has no education in what would be the right thing to do in that situation. That could hurt Athens and our democracy if we let whoever have a say in government. Socrates even says â€Å"A democratic society in its thirst for liberty may fall under the influence of bad leaders. †3 In that quote Socrates explains that when we have uneducated people in government we are susceptible to electing bad leaders. Having bad leaders in a government will destroy our democracy. That is why we need to educate our youth and have an educated assembly, so we can avoid having bad leaders. Socrates also says in this quote â€Å"an excessive desire for liberty at the expense of everything else is what undermines democracy and leads to demand for tyranny. †4 In this quote Socrates is explaining how democracy can lead to a tyranny. A tyranny is not something we want for Athens because it did not work out for us before and we voted to not allow the people of Athens to talk about them. If we educate our youth and have an educated assembly we can avoid having bad leaders and we can also avoid having Athens turn back into a tyranny. Socrates is also beneficial to Athenian democracy because he find the flaws in democracy. I have described some of the ways Socrates points out the flaws in democracy. He points out how if you have a democracy people will do whatever job they want to do even if they are not skilled at and it will hurt production and could cause shortages of products. Socrates also shows us how a democracy can lead us to a tyranny. People might hate Socrates for down talking democracy and saying it is the second worst government next to a tyranny. That should not be something we should hold against him. The people of Athens should use his teachings as something to improve our democracy. We should not look at his teachings as how bad our society is, but as a way to make it better. Socrates talks about how a democracy will let everyone do whatever job they want even if they are not skilled at it. He also talks about how that could lead to shortages like food, clothes, etc. To avoid this down fall of democracy the educated assembly should make a law that allows a certain amount of jobs. For example since we do not want a bunch of people being fishmongers the assembly could make a law that makes it so that there are a limited amount of fish mongering licenses. With only a limited amount of fish mongering licenses it will increase the competition for those licenses and will cause people who wanted to be fish mongers and were not good at to find a job they are more naturally skilled at. Socrates also mentioned that a democracy is the second worst government to tyranny and also that a democracy leads to tyranny. To avoid this downfall of democracy the educated assembly could add make law requiring that members elected into the assembly meet certain education and experience requirements. A law like that can eliminate bad leaders from ever entering any powerful government positions. Democracy may have some falls according to Socrates, but learning about the potential downfalls and addressing them will be what is beneficial for our Athenian democracy. Socrates’ teachings will help our government avoid downfall. Socrates’ teachings will also help Athens flourish. Athenian democracy can flourish when everyone does the job they are skilled at and we have the educated people in government making decisions that are best for Athens. Socrates’ teachings are the reason why Athenian democracy has even a chance at flourishing and bringing Athens back to what it was.