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On the Apology of Socrates: A Rebuttal
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This reassuring myth, however, is meant not just for his supporters. It prepares the
atmosphere for his final words to his accusers or those who voted to convict him and impose the death penalty. Socrates’ strategy was first to remind them of their natural impulse to pity, then freeze that impulse, by means of the consoling speech to his supporters, open the door to the possibility that his enemies may meet him again, in the afterlife.
Socrates understood something else: that the sense of Justice is rarely, if ever satisfied,
even when a criminal is condemned to death. There always remains residual of resentment against the one who has done an injustice. Socrates took advantage of this insight when he concluded his speech by encouraging his opponents to do to his sons what he had done to them. The only reason his opponents would be inclined to do so would be if they wanted more revenge against him.
Here is perhaps the final act of Socratic irony. By exploiting the unfulfilled desire for
further revenge among his enemies, he was actually encouraging them to imitate his way of life. This amounts to his recognition that virtue will be induced, not exclusively by reasoning and exhorting, but by exploiting the passion for revenge, “if the gods will it.”
Martin J. Plax is President of MSP Enterprises, Inc. and Lecturer in Political Science at Cleveland State University.
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This reassuring myth, however, is meant not just for his supporters. It prepares the
atmosphere for his final words to his accusers or those who voted to convict him and impose the
death penalty. Socrates’ strategy was first to remind them of their natural impulse to pity, then
freeze that impulse, by means of the consoling speech to his supporters, open the door to the
possibility that his enemies may meet him again, in the afterlife.
Socrates understood something else: that the sense of Justice is rarely, if ever satisfied,
even when a criminal is condemned to death. There always remains residual of resentment
against the one who has done an injustice. Socrates took advantage of this insight when he
concluded his speech by encouraging his opponents to do to his sons what he had done to them.
The only reason his opponents would be inclined to do so would be if they wanted more revenge
against him.
Here is perhaps the final act of Socratic irony. By exploiting the unfulfilled desire for
further revenge among his enemies, he was actually encouraging them to imitate his way of life.
This amounts to his recognition that virtue will be induced, not exclusively by reasoning and
exhorting, but by exploiting the passion for revenge, “if the gods will it.”
Martin J. Plax is President of MSP Enterprises, Inc. and Lecturer in Political Science at
Cleveland State University.
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