Let's talk about the Apology of Socrates. Do you think the

Considering that our idea of Socrates is largely formed by that book, I can only hope it is loyal to his ideas.

Did the Athenians burn his own writings, though, or did he never bother to write?

I believe it is mentioned that he chose not to write

>>9165238
>>9165526
He was supposedly against writing.

>>9165031
>Do you think the depiction in this work is more faithful to the man himself, or another literary construction of Plato's?
It'll be both bro. While there are only a handful of texts that have come down to us today about Socrates' life, really only from 3 different authors, we still have a fair amount of writings about the lost texts of which there were a few more.

A more interesting level I think sort of lies over this, that it is often misinterpreted. The relationship between the court and the market is often overlooked for a pedestrian (and not particularly consistent) discussion about register/formality in the language. The daimonion too is rarely discussed in an decent way considering the concept is so important to most of the dialogues.

I would think it reasonable though to say something like most of the events were true though certain dramatic structures/beats and implied motives are being stuck in by Plato. While some people point to Aristotle saying it's fiction, it doesn't follow that Aristotle has a better understanding or vantage point just by virtue of being close to them temporally. Nor is it necessarily true that he's saying it has no relation to what really happened, like all based on a true story shit is fiction but (sometimes) happened.

>>9165031
I really think that it doesn't matter. The process of trying to find a faithful account of Socrates eventually leads to the sort of developmentalism that plagues Plato scholarship today. It is a very 21st century way of reading Plato as the topic of being faithful does not seem to be of particular importance to the ancients.

>>9165578
Good point regarding the daimonion. Most interpretations of Plato seem to forget to read the dialogues in light of the Trial and Death of Socrates and the things contained in there. Its like how Christian biblical scholars interpret the whole of the Bible in light of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. I dont think is too unreasonable that a similar principle of interpretation should hold for the Platonic dialogues.

>>9165850
Small error on the first reply. It should be "extremely faithful" rather than just faithful".

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>Do you think the depiction in this work is more faithful to the man himself, or another literary construction of Plato's?
What the hell does it being faithful matter? I am not judging Socrates and and I am not judging Plato. I am judging the ideas presented. What kind of stupid fucking question is that?

>Also how about that absolute slaying of Socrates' accusers?
Did you even read the Apology?

When I opened this thread I didn't think it would be so shit.

>>9165953
I read the Apology several times, please enlighten me about the real interpretation I should be concerned with. I mean, it's not like the western tradition hasn't been trying to create a historical account of Plato since forever or anything.

>>9165031
I study philosophy at a university and I remember my teacher telling us that out of all of Plato's works the apology is probably the most accurate depiction of the real Socrates due to the fact that it was published shortly after Socrates drank the poison and killed himself. So if it were lying in any way we would most likely have secondary sources mentioning that.

It is obvious that in Plato's later works that we are no longer seeing the real Socrates and it's mostly Plato using him to push his own ideas like the idea of forms. And in other works by Plato, Socrates even meets people who weren't alive when Socrates was.