Why Did Socrates Deny That He Was A Teacher Analysis

When one thinks of a revolution it is usually imagined with weapons and screaming protesters making a barricade. In Ancient Greece, a different kind of revolution was brewed, one where minds were being awoken to all the mysteries of the world. This was the revolution Socrates led amongst the youth of Greece. It was an intellectual revolution where Socrates taught new ways of thinking to the Greek population. These thoughts were mainly applied to the young people who were open to a different way of looking at life. However, Socrates did not consider himself a teacher. In the article, “Why did Socrates Deny that he was a Teacher? Locating Socrates among the new educators and the traditional education in Plato’s Apology of Socrates” by Avi I. Mintz, he is quoted as saying, “he vehemently denies that he is a teacher: ‘if you have heard from anyone that I attempt to educate human beings and make money from it, that is not true’ (19d). Once he turns to the formal charge of corrupting the youth later in the Apology, he reiterates that he has ‘never been anyone’s …show more content…
Using Hamlet’s inner monologue, a reader can learn perhaps what Socrates was thinking. When Socrates was awaiting judgment from the jury perhaps he was thinking “to be or not to be, that is the question.” He like Hamlet had a difficult choice to make and while Hamlet eventually made the choice to avenge his father Socrates took the way of ending his own life at the will of the jury. What Socrates did is not considered cowardice as Hamlet’s suicide would have been considered, but rather an act to show that he will die for his beliefs. This man was passionate for what he stood for and new that knew that his philosophy was worth ending his