Apology Summary
The main idea of Apology was that he was that standing up for what he believed in and the philosophy that he tried to follow was more important to him than death. Rather than giving into public's perception, he would rather die. Socrates always takes everything that people say to him as being literal. He feels that the only reason people do any good while alive is to protect their life after death or "the end." He feels that the young people are the future and that by limiting what they are allowed to experience, they are limiting their future as well as the future of the entire Athenian community. His apology seems riddled with these types of warnings. Socrates' accusers want the death penalty and he states that he is not so afraid of death as backing down from something that he believes in so deeply. I thought it was kind of ironic that here is this very old man (especially in these times) who expects to die soon. The accusers seem to not realize this and sentence him to death anyway. Socrates also heads off certain accusations that he is just using his "eloquence" to win over the verdict when he is actually speaking the truth and that others should listen and consider what he has to say.