The Role Of Socrates In The Apology

In the recent discussions about Socrates in The Apology, a controversial issue has been whether Socrates should be considered Man Thinking, as termed by Emerson. On one hand, some argue that because Socrates was unable to use his ideas to act and become powerful in his time, he cannot be considered Man Thinking. From this perspective, Socrates is not Man Thinking because he only thought but did not act upon his ideas, being more like the scholar than Man Thinking. On the other hand, however, others argue that because Socrates was Man Thinking because he did stood by his ideas until the very end. According to this view, the fact that Socrates stood up for his ideas is action enough for him to be considered Man Thinking. In sum, the issue is whether Socrates did enough to be considered Man Thinking. My own view is that Socrates’ actions, as shown in The Apology, were sufficient to categorize him as Man Thinking. Though I concede that Socrates may not have been in a powerful position in his time, I still maintain that power should not be the sole judge of action and ability and as such, Socrates can be considered Man Thinking, as he was depicted in The Apology. To get an idea of what Man Thinking is, we need to go to Emerson and his essay The American Scholar. In this essay, Emerson says that to be Man Thinking, one must “feel all confidence in himself, and to defer never to the popular cry. He and he only knows the world” (Emerson 8). In essence, Emerson is stating that to become Man Thinking, one has to not submit to the popular beliefs because he/she is confident enough in their ideas. One must also be rigid in their beliefs that the way that he/she sees the world is the way the world ought to be seen. As such, Man Thinking will never be pushed by others into believing ideas that are not their own or against their ideals. So, to be considered Man Thinking, Socrates must have stood by his ideas without submitting to the popular beliefs as well as stand up to the crowd for his beliefs. Socrates implies that he does just that in The Apology. He says that “wherever a man has taken a position that he believes to be best … there he must I think remain and face danger, without a thought for death or anything else, rather than disgrace” (Plato 10). Socrates is making some of the same claims for men in general as Emerson made for Man Thinking. Socrates’ statement gives people two clear options, a) to stand for their beliefs and take all the punishment that comes with taking that position, or b) to submit to others and suffer shame. From this, because Socrates is facing punishment for standing up for his practice, philosophy, we can say that Socrates chose option a. Thus, Socrates fulfills the first half of the first requirement to be called Man Thinking, he does not let the majority push him into believing ideas that are not his own. Socrates also satisfies the second half of this requirement, to not be pushed into believing ideas against their ideals. One of the most significant quotes in The Apology is “the difficulty, my friends, is not to avoid death, but to avoid unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death” (Plato 18). In such, Socrates states that he believes that death is not the main antagonist in life, rather the main antagonist in our lives is unrighteousness, our ability to do harm to others. By making this statement, Socrates makes it clear that one of his ideals in life is to never harm anyone, even if that …show more content…
However, it is when actions get taken into account that ideas start to differ. According to Emerson, Man Thinking must be able to take actions because “action is with the scholar subordinate, but it is essential. Without it, he is not yet man. Without it, thought can never ripen into truth” (Emerson 5). This statement, in which Man Thinking is called man, states that man must have both ideas and actions to be man. That man must be as dexterous with his hands as he is nimble with his mind and then, only then, will they be Man