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The unexamined life is not worth living.

Socrates, in Plato's Apology

Philosophy

The story behind the card

In 399 BC Socrates, then about 70, stood trial in Athens accused of impiety, meaning disrespect for the city's gods, and of corrupting the young. A jury of about 500 citizens found him guilty, probably by around 280 votes to 220. Athenian law then let him propose his own penalty. Provocatively, instead of a penalty he asked for free meals at public expense for life, and explained why he could not simply go into exile and keep quiet: talking every day about virtue and questioning himself and others was the greatest good, and a life without such examination was not worth living. He was sentenced to death and drank hemlock, a poison. His pupil Plato, who was at the trial, recorded the speech in the Apology, from the Greek apologia, 'defence'.

Türkçe oku
Sorgulanmamış bir hayat yaşanmaya değmez.
Sokrates (Platon, Sokrates'in Savunması)

MÖ 399'da, 70 yaşlarındaki Sokrates Atina'da yargılandı. Suçlamalar, kentin tanrılarına saygısızlık etmek ve gençleri yoldan çıkarmaktı. Yaklaşık 500 yurttaştan oluşan jüri onu, büyük olasılıkla 220'ye karşı 280 kadar oyla suçlu buldu. Atina yasalarına göre sanık bundan sonra kendi cezasını önerebiliyordu. Sokrates meydan okurcasına ceza yerine, ömür boyu devlet sofrasında ağırlanmayı istedi ve neden sürgüne gidip susamayacağını anlattı: Her gün erdem üzerine konuşmak, kendini ve başkalarını sorgulamak insan için en büyük iyilikti; böyle bir sorgulamadan geçmeyen bir hayat yaşanmaya değmezdi. Ölüm cezasına çarptırıldı ve baldıran zehri içerek öldü. Duruşmada bulunan öğrencisi Platon, bu konuşmayı Sokrates'in Savunması adlı eserinde yazıya geçirdi. Eserin Yunanca adı Apologia, “savunma” demektir.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Apology (Plato)
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