The Sense of God’s Existence According to Socrates
How can Socrates believe in God, thus routes of death, while relying only on his senses for knowledge?
Plato, having recorded the workings of a defense against a court of accusations for corruption, explains in The Apology Socrates’ concept that knowledge stems from a justified belief. Although he relies on his senses in order to have an acceptable conclusion based on his true premises, he constantly claims his lack of human wisdom while relying on his divine wisdom, given to him by his own God. Socrates believes in the afterlife, acknowledging that he is privy to the unknowns of death due to his God, and he thus possess divine wisdom due to his alleged routes of death. Claiming that “human wisdom has little or no value,” Socrates attempts to opt out of death by the jury due to his complete lack of human wisdom; through this, however, he suggests that to die is a great thing since it is either a mere sleep or a simple journey in which old heroes reside. Either way, Socrates contradicts his claims that in order to justifiably make a claim, only senses are used.
Having to prove himself against the judges’ accusations that he does not believe in gods and corrupts the youth, Socrates explains that he has a relationship with his own God, and his knowledge on the divinity of the unknown is based upon the justified belief of his senses. Being in a relationship with God in which Socrates is told what to do and is justified by the telling of his God, he deems it necessary to “owe a greater obedience to God than to” the jury, especially than to Menelatus. Constantly showing his faithfulness to the aforementioned God, he even uses his belief to counteract the accusations that he corrupts the youth through preaching against the existence of old gods. Although he may not believe in the old gods that the rest of society does, he still nonetheless has reasons for believing in a God. Even having the supposed knowledge that humans do not have free will, he claims that the court’s decision as to what his punishment will be will “turn out as God wills,” which emphasizes his thirst to please God and to obey his ultimate decisions. This shows his contentment in his own life, as well as the obedience he has towards God.
Although this type of divine knowledge that Socrates possesses stems from his own beliefs, it shows his flaws in the argument that true knowledge comes from perception of the senses. He, being the empiricist that he is, believes that “real wisdom is the property of God,” which jumps to his conclusion that God for sure exists. Despite his reasoning of knowledge that justification is needed, Socrates arrogantly claims the truth of God and heightens his senses through his place in God’s power: Socrates explains that he was sent from God to better the society of Athens, but he actually has no proof that there is indeed a God, other than his own thoughts. Shown through his trial and prior attempts to prove that he is not “the wisest man” among others, he is merely trying to “help the cause of God by proving that he is not [wise],” even though he holds divine power through his knowledge of death.
When talking about the unknown depths of death, Socrates describes the two different routes of death. This statement alone is self-contradicting due to the uncertainty of death because there are for sure only two possibilities: merely sleeping without ever waking up or going to Hades to meet Homer and other infamous heroes of the past. While death lies under the category of divine wisdom, Socrates claims to obtain this knowledge through his God, for he needs not to fear death since he is justified in his actions. Because of that, he feels that he will live a splendid life after death, being judged fairly moreso in the Afterlife than here on Earth. Neglecting any chance of alternative ways to live after death, Socrates brings up the first route, which is to have a “dreamless sleep” in which “death… is a marvelous gain.” Comparing death to sleep not only makes him feel more comforted by his potential future, but it also shows that he has superior knowledge, more insight to death, than his fellow councilmen. The other route of death, he explains, is going on a journey, for “death is a removal from here to some other place,” alluding to previous heroes of Greek literature. This also is an escape from the terrors of death. It is quite ironic that Socrates is not afraid of death, for it is the unknown yet he claims to know that death is one of two journeys. This shows his superiority in divine wisdom.
The Apology highlights the stark difference between divine wisdom and human wisdom, which Socrates strives to explain while defending himself against the accusers. While trying to disprove the statement that Socrates is the wisest man, he tries to show that other people are wiser than him. Failing in this area, he merely depicts himself as wise due to the fact he is “only too conscious that [he has] no claim to wisdom,” especially in the human sense. Using his senses to define knowledge, he seems to know nothing at all other than that God exists. Using his divine wisdom through his God, he is able to become wise in the human sense; he feels that he is “really wise in this limited sense,” the limited sense being human wisdom. Socrates thus continues to contradict himself through his alleged claim to divine wisdom even though he has no sense of God or of death. He constantly “inquires into things below the earth and in the sky,” which is what the accusers use against him in the sense that he corrupts the youth, but this is his way of trying to obtain the knowledge outside of the human realm. Through his outlook, however, he knows nothing of what is in the sky other than his beloved God, who happens to be the truth of good and of divinity.
Plato’s accurate recording of Socrates’ defense against his accusations of corruption and of fraud of beliefs, The Apology shows the contradiction in Socrates’ belief that knowledge is justified belief through the sense. Near the end of his defense, he tells Meneletus that the person who has the “happier prospect is unknown to anyone but God,” yet there is no real proof of death or of God other than logic. Not being a rationalist, it is hardly just that Socrates can say with certainty that death is one of two things or that he was sent from God to have knowledge and to preach it. The premises that Socrates has that make his conclusion of God and of death true are circular and thus contradict themselves. This demonstrates the lack of Socrates’ human wisdom as well as his lack of full divine knowledge, which ruins his whole argument in the attempt to persuade the councilmen that he is not guilty of the alleged accusations.
