Philosophy 2200F/G Lecture Notes - Meletus, Theism, Atheism
18 Sep 2013
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Meletus goes to court and proves his case to the jury. Unofficial charges: earlier accusers(lines: 18bc, 19c-e) people who were slandering him for a long time: atheism based on naturalism ( studying things in the sky and below the earth ). Studying the world through natural science, looking at the world itself: sophistry: makes the worse argument the stronger and teaches these same things to others, response 1: disavows knowledge (21-23) Sophists know things, socrates claims he does not really know anything: delphic riddle: Meaning of the riddle: i am wiser than this man; that i do not think i know what i do not know. (21d2: response 2: denies teaching (23c-e) Young people follow him around of their own free will, then imitate him. Official charges: later accusers meletus and people who brought him to court: corrupting the youth. If i do corrupt them, it is not voluntary: impiety (not believing in the state-sanctioned gods)
