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The Trial and Death Of Socrates

Key information

  • Module code:

    5AACTL30

  • Level:

    5

  • Semester:

      Autumn

  • Credit value:

    15

Module description

The trial and execution of the philosopher Socrates in 399 BC, on charges of religious eccentricity and corruption of the young, besides being a crucial event in the history of Greek philosophy and of Greek philosophical writing, remained a focus of controversy for the remainder of antiquity and beyond. Was this a case of a malevolent subversive receiving his just deserts, or a scandalous instance of the failure of a democracy to tolerate disturbing criticism and defend the rights of an individual? Did Socrates die as a martyr to his principled quest for truth, or as a victim of democratic failure and the misdeeds of his pupils? 

This course re-examines the primary accounts of the trial and death – Plato's Apology and Phaedo and the Apology of Xenophon – but looks also at the reverberations of these events, and the image of Socrates arising from them, in later antiquity and the modern world.

Assessment details

Coursework

1 x 2,500 word essay (100%) 

Teaching pattern

10 x 2-hour seminars (weekly)

Department

Module description disclaimer

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