Plato - Apology (Five Dialogues) - Essay Example

Therefore, the form is not a mere idea of roundness in the mind. It exists independently from the basketball and individual thinking of it. It then follows that all round objects, including basketball, copy or participates in this form of roundness. To enhance our understanding of the difference between the properties of forms and those of material objects, there is need to examine the first two properties of forms. Forms are transcendent, that is, they do not exist in time and space. However, a material object, like a basketball, exists in time and space.

The roundness of a form does not exist at any particular time or place, thus forms subsist in different ways. This is important as it explains the unchanging property of forms. The roundness property of a basketball will never change: it remains the same at all places and times of instantiation. The form of roundness in present in many spatial locations, and the property or roundness would remain even after the destruction of all round objects (192). The second property of forms is purity. Any material object, like a basketball, has various properties: elasticity, roundness, and others, which combine to make the individual basketball.

A form is one of the many properties, existing individually apart from time and space. Roundness is purely roundness, without any mixture of properties. The differentiation factors between forms and material objects are pure and transcendent properties, as materials incorporate complex conglomeration of properties in time and space. According to Plato’s principle, humans believe that the reality of a thing dependents on its objectivity. This is because humans tend to distinguish reality and appearance.

However, forms are more objective than material objectives, thus forms are more real than the material objects. One of the properties of the soul is eternity. Drawing from the unchanging property of forms, then it means that the soul never dies, nor does it ever begin. It then follows that the soul is immortal, and thus exists before and after the “birth” of the body. Question Two In the Apology, there are four charges against Socrates. First, Socrates faces accusation for studying things in the heavens and below the earth.

Second, he tends to make the worst arguments into better arguments, thus persuading others to follow him and his beliefs. Third, he is guilty of corrupting young people, and fourth, he does not believe in the gods of the city. The charge against studying matters of the skies and the ground below contradicts Socrates position as an atheist. Matters of heavens and beneath the earth primarily focus on religious belief of individuals and the gods, thus countering Socrates’ position as an atheist.

The basic definition of atheism is the lack of belief in deities. It thus follows that the first charge against Socrates contradicts his position as an atheist. The charge that Socrates turns the worst arguments into stronger arguments identifies him with the Sophists. Sophists were a group of people with techniques of persuasion that enabled them to influence people to adopt their beliefs and points of view, despite their ignorance on the subject matter of the topic. Athenians accused Socrates of being a Sophist.

The charges against corrupting the youth came from Meletus. According to him, Socrates was responsible for corrupting the minds of the youth in Athens.