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I understood that was a cynical charge, raised because pretty much any intellectual could be accused of it. He had 'introduced new gods to the city' or some suc
by JoeAltmaier 5y ago
I understood that was a cynical charge, raised because pretty much any intellectual could be accused of it. He had 'introduced new gods to the city' or some such. Basically by preying on old superstition, his enemies (who probably didn't give a flying whistle) used it to bring him down.
- whakim 5y agoIt's true that the charges were somewhat cynical in the sense that Socrates could have been charged with the same crimes 10 or 20 years earlier - it wasn't his beliefs that changed, it was the political circumstances. That being said, Plato's Apology makes it clear how seriously Socrates took this charge - proving his own piety was incredibly important.
- watwut 5y agoI think it is more that they did not actually cared whether he did the anti-gods thing rather then they would not believe in gods. It was excuse, but not in the "we don't believe this could be done" sense.