Socrates The Apology Analysis

Socrates was a Greek philosopher who lived from 470 BCE to 399 BCE, unlike other writers of the time he is entirely known through the works of those around him such as Xenophon and Plato. In one of Plato’s work about Socrates, the Apology, Socrates sets up an argument for disobeying the laws of men that he appears to be at odds with another argument in another work about Socrates by Plato about excepting punishment in Crito. Many believes that these inconsistencies are actually the invention of Plato. But regardless of whether these are fictional accounts they are not actually contradictory statements but in fact arguments that support one another, which when understood gives insight into the true difficult situation Socrates found himself in.
The Apology depicts an account of the speech where Socrates was charged in 399 BCE with heresy by Meletus the poet, seeking the death penalty. He was charged with denying the gods and corrupting the youth. One of the accusers Anytus the tanner blamed Socrates for corrupting his son into philosophy as was
And that it is not holy to use force against one's mother or father, and it is so much worse to do so against one's homeland?" Claiming he was committed to the laws put forth at his trial and was true to his word of not fearing death. He goes on further to explain that his escape to lead to a breakdown of Athenian society since the guards are so easy to be bribed that if he was to escape it could lead to the idea of laws the social contract the state has on its citizens could in fact break. Laws would lose their meaning and the city would cease to be a functioning state. Laws according Socrates exist as a single being, if you were to nullify one the rest would soon