Post by jmodglin on Aug 30, 2015 20:44:09 GMT
Why was Socrates put to death?
This question can be somewhat difficult to answer as we only have the version that was provided to us by one of his most famous and most loyal of companions, Aristocles… better known to us, as he was in his own time, as Plato. With that being said there were several reasons that eventually culminated in the sentence of death by the Athenian Demos or popular vote for the crimes of corrupting the youth and disregarding the gods of Athens ( See Platos Apology), of this great philosopher known to the world as Socrates. In Platos Apology Socrates described himself as a gadfly, a biting fly that harasses the herds of animals the ancients traded in and likens the Athenian governing body to a lazy horse. He would go to the center squared where all activity of the Athenian polis or people would take place including trade, commerce, socializing and above all the politics of the everyday goings on of ancient Athenia and questioned all those who let him, such as the young man who was suing his father in Euthyphro . He would challenge their morals and question the decisions of these proud and powerful people known as the Athenians. It was a time where the pursuit of knowledge and understanding of the world around them was vibrant and alive in Greek culture and men like Plato, Pythagoras, Euclid, Zeno and Aristotle were able to explore and even challenge the status quo of their time led by the great Socrates. It was Meletus, Plato tells us in the Euthyphro, that was one of the younger accusers that wanted the great Socrates dead along with the many of the older politicians who for so long suffered under the constant scrutiny of this great asker of questions and it was Meletus who failed, under the scrutiny of Socrates applying what was to become known as The Socratic method of discovery, to prove that Socrates was guilty of anything at all. In the end the great philosopher died at the hands of those who are so often in power, the insecure and the power hungry, the greedy and the hypocrites all of whom declare absolute holiness and humility as they act in the most corrupt and grotesque manner and will happily send anyone off to the death chamber to drink the Hemlock as Plato tells us Socrates did in the Phaedo, if they dare challenge that power or point out their hypocrisy.
Why is there a conflict between religion and science? As stated in The Great Mystery the central issue has to do with the term ““Matter” what it means and what it implies.” for some the antiquated definitions of the term can be the only definition and to attempt to alter its meaning is tantamount to blasphemy. Religion was our first attempts at science and as such was bound to be flawed and therefore modified to fit the times , if you will, as it has done so throughout the ages in cases such as in the cases of Galileo and Copernicus mentioned in The Great Mystery. However this evolution within religious theory was still predicated on the GOD answer to all seemingly unanswerable questions and the God solution to all quandaries and queries. This evolution of ancient ideas is liken to the stagecoach which over centuries went through a series of evolutions from a simple box with pillows and fine linens carried by slaves as in the ancient days of Egypt to the fine stage coaches of the late 19th and early 20th century ridden by state dignitaries and royalty however it took the evolution of thought to create the combustion engine and then the automobile and then Henry Ford and so on., revolutionizing the way humans travel and changing the very way we talk and think about travelling. The very talk of mechanical engineering and fossil fuel power was blasphemy to those who had built their lives around the stagecoach business much in the way the very talk of a seemingly endless universe that is over 13 billion years old and is, to paraphrase Richard Feynman “ made of tiny things that move around.” is directly at odds with much of religious dogma in general .
This question can be somewhat difficult to answer as we only have the version that was provided to us by one of his most famous and most loyal of companions, Aristocles… better known to us, as he was in his own time, as Plato. With that being said there were several reasons that eventually culminated in the sentence of death by the Athenian Demos or popular vote for the crimes of corrupting the youth and disregarding the gods of Athens ( See Platos Apology), of this great philosopher known to the world as Socrates. In Platos Apology Socrates described himself as a gadfly, a biting fly that harasses the herds of animals the ancients traded in and likens the Athenian governing body to a lazy horse. He would go to the center squared where all activity of the Athenian polis or people would take place including trade, commerce, socializing and above all the politics of the everyday goings on of ancient Athenia and questioned all those who let him, such as the young man who was suing his father in Euthyphro . He would challenge their morals and question the decisions of these proud and powerful people known as the Athenians. It was a time where the pursuit of knowledge and understanding of the world around them was vibrant and alive in Greek culture and men like Plato, Pythagoras, Euclid, Zeno and Aristotle were able to explore and even challenge the status quo of their time led by the great Socrates. It was Meletus, Plato tells us in the Euthyphro, that was one of the younger accusers that wanted the great Socrates dead along with the many of the older politicians who for so long suffered under the constant scrutiny of this great asker of questions and it was Meletus who failed, under the scrutiny of Socrates applying what was to become known as The Socratic method of discovery, to prove that Socrates was guilty of anything at all. In the end the great philosopher died at the hands of those who are so often in power, the insecure and the power hungry, the greedy and the hypocrites all of whom declare absolute holiness and humility as they act in the most corrupt and grotesque manner and will happily send anyone off to the death chamber to drink the Hemlock as Plato tells us Socrates did in the Phaedo, if they dare challenge that power or point out their hypocrisy.
Why is there a conflict between religion and science? As stated in The Great Mystery the central issue has to do with the term ““Matter” what it means and what it implies.” for some the antiquated definitions of the term can be the only definition and to attempt to alter its meaning is tantamount to blasphemy. Religion was our first attempts at science and as such was bound to be flawed and therefore modified to fit the times , if you will, as it has done so throughout the ages in cases such as in the cases of Galileo and Copernicus mentioned in The Great Mystery. However this evolution within religious theory was still predicated on the GOD answer to all seemingly unanswerable questions and the God solution to all quandaries and queries. This evolution of ancient ideas is liken to the stagecoach which over centuries went through a series of evolutions from a simple box with pillows and fine linens carried by slaves as in the ancient days of Egypt to the fine stage coaches of the late 19th and early 20th century ridden by state dignitaries and royalty however it took the evolution of thought to create the combustion engine and then the automobile and then Henry Ford and so on., revolutionizing the way humans travel and changing the very way we talk and think about travelling. The very talk of mechanical engineering and fossil fuel power was blasphemy to those who had built their lives around the stagecoach business much in the way the very talk of a seemingly endless universe that is over 13 billion years old and is, to paraphrase Richard Feynman “ made of tiny things that move around.” is directly at odds with much of religious dogma in general .