6. The Apology as History: Do we trust Plato's version of events?

About this Lecture

Lecture

Almost everything we know about Socrates is mediated through one of his followers—mostly Plato, and sometimes Xenophon—and the Apology is no different. In this module, we think about the extent to which we can trust Plato's account of what Socrates said in court in 399 BC.

Course

In this course, Professor Angie Hobbs (University of Sheffield) explores Plato's Apology, his account of Socrates' trial for 'corrupting the youth' and 'not believing in the gods the state believes in' in Athens in 399 BC. The course begins by considering the political climate in Athens in the early fourth century, before going through the speech section by section over the next four modules. In the sixth module, we think about the Apology as history, asking whether we can trust Plato's version of events, before moving on in the seventh module to think about the Apology as philosophy, thinking about what value the Apology holds for contemporary philosophers today. Finally, we think about the position of the Apology in Plato's overall output, particularly in relation to the other dialogues that detail the final weeks and days of Socrates' life.

Lecturer

Angie Hobbs gained a First Class Honours Degree in Classics and a PhD in Ancient Philosophy at New Hall (now Murray Edwards College), University of Cambridge. After a Research Fellowship at Christ’s College, Cambridge, she moved to the Philosophy Department at the University of Warwick; in 2012 she was appointed Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield, a position created for her and the first of its kind in the UK (and, as far as can be ascertained, the world). Her chief interests are in ancient philosophy and literature, ethics (both theoretical and applied) and political theory, and she has published widely in these areas, including Plato and the Hero (Cambridge University Press).