Apology
Apology
In Plato's account of Socrates trial called " Apology." Socrates is on trail for corrupting the youth of the society, he is standing in front of the Athenian jury which is made up of a very large crowd of 501. The text that I have chosen comes form the first and major part, the main speech. It is when Socrates is questioning Meletus, about Socrates himself corrupting the youth.
Socrates asks: "You condemn me to a great misfortune. Tell me: does this also apply to horses, do you think? That all men improve them and one individual corrupts them? Or is quite the contrary true, one individual is able to improve them, or very few, namely, the horse breeders, whereas the majority, if they have horses and use them, corrupt them? Is that not the case, Meletus, both with horses and all other animals?" (25b.)
What Socrates is pleading in his defense is that all other members of society corrupt the youth, and Socrates like a horse breeder raising a horse, improves the youth with his knowledge and wisdom. What Socrates main objective to the jury is is that how can one person corrupt the youth, while the others improve it and the people still not be happy? Surely not one man is able to corrupt the entire youth.
What's interesting about this quote is that if you look at it among today's world, who is to blame for the problems of today's youth? It's not one person or one group of people, the problem is with how society is run. The youth is pumped full of advertisements of being beautiful, rich, and perfect. It's easy to point the finger at one person or one group of people; however it's important to look at ourselves first before blaming others.
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