# Apology explained — Dialogues

> Chapter companion for Dialogues by Plato.

## What happens

Socrates defends himself against charges of impiety and corrupting the youth, arguing that his philosophical mission is divinely appointed and that the unexamined life is not worth living.

## Themes in this chapter

### Justice and Injustice

Socrates argues that his philosophical mission is just and divinely ordained, while the charges against him are unjust and based on prejudice.

### Knowledge and Ignorance

Socrates famously claims that his wisdom lies in knowing that he knows nothing, contrasting human ignorance with divine wisdom.

## Character check-ins

### Socrates

The defendant delivering his apologia before the Athenian jury.

### Meletus

Principal accuser who brings charges of impiety and corrupting the youth.

### Anytus

One of Socrates' accusers, representing the political and democratic interests.

### Lycon

Accuser representing the poets and rhetoricians.

### Chaerephon

Socrates' friend who famously asked the Delphic Oracle if anyone was wiser than Socrates.

## Key lines

> The unexamined life is not worth living.

A life without critical self-reflection and philosophical inquiry has no value.

_Socrates' core philosophical principle, stated during his defense._

> I am that gadfly which God has given the state and all day long and in all places am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you.

Socrates compares himself to a gadfly that stings the sluggish horse of Athens, awakening the city to self-examination.

_Socrates' metaphor for his divinely appointed role as a philosophical irritant to the Athenian state._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/apology
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/dialogues_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/dialogues_se/chapters