Apology

"Apology" by Plato is a Socratic dialogue written after 399 BC. It presents Socrates's legal defense at his trial, where he faced charges of corrupting Athens's youth and introducing new gods. Standing before a jury of perhaps 500 Athenian men, Socrates refuses to use sophisticated rhetoric, speaking instead in his characteristic questioning style. Rather than compromise his integrity to avoid death, he challenges his accusers and maintains his philosophical principles, insisting his only wisdom comes from knowing that he knows nothing.

This book isn’t ready to read yet.

0 votes · Sign in to vote

We publish the most-voted books first.

About the author

Plato

Plato (c. 428–348 BC) was an Athenian philosopher, a student of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle, and he founded the Academy — arguably the first university in the West, and one that ran for nearly three centuries. He never writes in his own voice: the thirty-odd dialogues that survive are arguments between named Athenians, usually with Socrates in the middle asking the questions. The execution of Socrates by the city in 399 BC is the event behind all of them. The Republic, the Symposium, the Phaedo and the Apology are the most read.