BF299 Academic Literacy

1. This remark at 38e contrasts the actual line of argument that we can find in the “Apology” with a legal defense that would have been more conventional for its era. Evidently, Socrates had few hopes of securing an acquittal with the defense he did use, and he had good reason to believe that a conventional defense would convince the jury. Why, then, does Socrates say that he prefers his own defense rather than a conventional one?   2. In his Defense and Sentencing speeches (“Apology” 17a-35d and 35e-38b, respectively), Socrates articulates what value guided his life, and he declares that this is worth dying for. That is, Socrates considers something to be so valuable that death is preferable a life without it. Identify what this supremely valuable thing is, and explain whether or not Socrates’ adherence to it constitutes a genuine threat to the city; do you agree with the Athenians’ perception of his values as a threat?   3. In Plato’s “Apology” Socrates identifies the principal features of the kind of life to which he expresses steadfast commitment at 38e. In light of Burnyeat’s exploration of the impiety charge, was the jury correct to consider this kind of life impious?   4. Imagine someone had asked Nelson Mandela at the end of his trial whether he had regrets about his own unsuccessful legal defense in 1962 [see Life Examined, pp. 616-28]. Was Mandela likely to have assessed his own case in terms comparable to Socrates’ at “Apology” 38e? Identify both those respects in which his answer would agree with Socrates’ and those in which it would differ