Socrates on the Examined Life – a short reading from Plato’s Apology

Lennox Johnson reading

“And if I say again that daily to discourse about virtue, and of those other things about which you hear me examining myself and others, is the greatest good of man, and that the unexamined life is not worth living, you are still less likely to believe me.” Introduction In the year 399 B.C., in Athens, Socrates was brought to trial on charges of impiety and corrupting the youth. He was found guilty and condemned to death. The Apology, written by Plato, is an account Socrates’ defense speech at the …

Socrates on Death and Virtue – a short reading from the ‘Apology’ by Plato

Lennox Johnson reading

“Men of Athens, I honor and love you; but I shall obey God rather than you, and while I have life and strength I shall never cease from the practice and teaching of philosophy” Introduction In the year 399 B.C., in Athens, Socrates was brought to trial on charges of impiety and corrupting the youth. He was found guilty and condemned to death. The Apology, written by Plato, is an account of Socrates’ trial. In the previous passage, Socrates recalls how an oracle once proclaimed that he was the wisest …

Wisdom is Knowing That You Know Nothing – a short reading from Plato’s ‘Apology’

Lennox Johnson reading

“He, O men, is the wisest, who, like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing.” Introduction: In the year 399 B.C., in Athens, Socrates was brought to trial on charges of impiety and corrupting the youth. He was found guilty and condemned to death. The Apology, written by Plato, is an account of Socrates’ trial. In this passage, Socrates explains how he came to be hated by a large portion of Athenian society as a result of testing an oracle’s claim that he was the wisest man …