Response Paper 1 Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Response 1 - Research Paper Example At this point, it is sound to assert that Socrates’ philosophies deviated from the ideals of the society, thus, they were, and remain to be wrong. The following discussion seeks to establish Burnyeat’s arguments that Socrates, the ancient philosopher remains to be as guilty as charged. Precisely, one is not supposed to make judgments according to his views; Burnyeat claims that one assumes the Athenian Juror’s position and thinks of the most rational thing one would think of given the Socrates’ knowledge (Warnek 53). Therefore, the prescriptions of Burnyeat seem to have some degree of imaginations. Socrates himself presented some charges at 24C of the Apology, which includes (i) failing to believe in the state’s God, (ii) coming up with new divinities, and (iii) corrupting the youth. By raising the question of whether Burnyeat is right by claiming that Socrates is guilty as charged, his first point is that, with his interpretive strategy, Socrates never claims he believes in the states’ gods, why one should think that he is innocent (76). Given that Socrates fails to defend himself against this judgment, what would be a normal Athenian claim basing his arguments on his understanding of Socrates? Burnyeat poses a claim that Socrates is guilty, and thus one should perceive him as a threat to the culture of Athenian and its religion. The gods that Socrates speaks of are different from the Athenian gods and an ideal Athenian would think that Socrates is guilty in the first place. The Socratic religion’s gods demand continuous questioning and virtues of the people unlike the Athens’ gods, which give clear teachings on virtue claiming that one needs gods to achieve this. For example, the Greek religion’s gods are the ones that one barters with to get what he or she wants in tough situations. On the other hand,