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…
