“Socrates’ Defense”
One way of learning how to craft good arguments is to study some that have been written before. Your task in this group discussion will be to thoroughly analyze Socrates’ second speech after his conviction, Apology 35e-42a (IP 32-36). Please identify the way the argument is constructed in your group. This means, the analysis should outline:
Socrates’ claim/s
statements in support of his claim/s
the conclusion
Each group needs to post one final analysis of Socrates’ argument (all group members are required to participate in the outlining of the structure of the argument and evaluation of the analysis/constructive criticism). After the analysis has been peer reviewed the analysis of the argument agreed upon should be posted as the final analysis of the group and will be evaluated with points. Please mark clearly as “Socrates’ Defense”.
Some Formal Guidelines:
Overall, the structure should paraphrase the content of the claim, premises and conclusion, yet do not summarize but analyze the content of the argument. The goal is to give a fair and brief presentation of the philosopher’s argument. As always, please include sources diligently in parenthesis (author, page).
Points will be given based on the clarity of structural analysis posted in discussion II.
Finally post the group work in a new wiki page with the title: “Socrates’ Defense”.
Extra Credit Blog:
Briefly explain the circle that Miller gets into when he tries to explain what distinguishes actual memory from apparent memory.
