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Commentary on Brickhouse and Smith

Commentary on Brickhouse and Smith My initial reaction upon reading this tightly constructed and remarkably thorough paper of Professors Brickhouse and Smith was to lean back and say—great—we have finally put to rest those ever resurging commentators who insist that there was some hidden motive, some deep and devious political reason that Socrates was condemned and executed. Subsequent read- ings have not caused me to feel any disquietude about my origi- nal assessment of the arguments here presented, but they have made me wonder if there is indeed any point at which we can be satisfied that the text of the Apology plus the relatively few extant writings that tell us something about Socrates really answer the questions we would like answered. "What was the motivation for his trial?" Socrates himself, as the paper we have just heard emphasizes, suggests that the actual indict- ment—that he corrupts the youth and does not believe in the gods whom the city believes, but in other new divinities—had its origin in old prejudices. So he begins his defense with an ex- planation of his life with particular emphasis on those aspects of his behavior that may account for the fact that some people view him as http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy Online Brill

Commentary on Brickhouse and Smith

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright 1988 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
1059-986X
eISSN
2213-4417
DOI
10.1163/2213441787X00065
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

My initial reaction upon reading this tightly constructed and remarkably thorough paper of Professors Brickhouse and Smith was to lean back and say—great—we have finally put to rest those ever resurging commentators who insist that there was some hidden motive, some deep and devious political reason that Socrates was condemned and executed. Subsequent read- ings have not caused me to feel any disquietude about my origi- nal assessment of the arguments here presented, but they have made me wonder if there is indeed any point at which we can be satisfied that the text of the Apology plus the relatively few extant writings that tell us something about Socrates really answer the questions we would like answered. "What was the motivation for his trial?" Socrates himself, as the paper we have just heard emphasizes, suggests that the actual indict- ment—that he corrupts the youth and does not believe in the gods whom the city believes, but in other new divinities—had its origin in old prejudices. So he begins his defense with an ex- planation of his life with particular emphasis on those aspects of his behavior that may account for the fact that some people view him as

Journal

Proceedings of the Boston Area Colloquium in Ancient Philosophy Online – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 1987

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