answersLogoWhite

0

He wasn't exactly ordered to commit suicide. The government charged him for inspiring and encouraging people to study philosophy and speak for themselves in a time when the Greecian government was extremely controlling and didn't want anyone to question their rulers or the way things were around them. He confessed guilty to the charges, and they offered to let him go if he stopped questioning people and how things worked, and encouraging others to do the same. He claimed that "an unexamined life is not one worth living" and so they sentenced him to death. He was then forced to drink hemlock, a form of poison.

Another View:

In the radical democracy of Athens, where the male population directed the affairs of state by mass votes in the fortnightly Assembly, it was very disturbing to have someone promoting independent individual thought. Socrates had a distinguished life as a hard working tradesman, member of the army and leadership in government, but this encouragement of disruptive individuality was not compatible with the way things ran in democratic Athens.

He was given the option of retraction, and when he refused was convicted by a popular court of 500 jurors representing the broad range of the people of Athens, and sentenced to death. He was given the merciful option of suicide to the normal sentence of having his throat cut and thrown in a waste pit. He chose the suicide exit.

User Avatar

Wiki User

11y ago

What else can I help you with?

Related Questions

When was Socrates ordered to commit suicide?

he wasn't ordered to, he just did--although he would have died at someone else's hand


The Greek philosopher forced to commit suicide was?

Socrates, if I'm not mistaken


Where did rommel retreat to?

Rommel never retreated, he was called back to Germany where he was ordered to commit suicide.


Are there any books on why Socrates committed suicide?

The most important source of our understanding of the trial and death of Socrates are the relevant dialogues of Plato, particularly APOLOGY, CRITO, and PHAEDO. Socrates did not actually commit suicide in the usual sense. He was sentenced to death after a trial and, instead of escaping from prison when he had the opportunity, he accepted the death penalty. He did so because he found the alternatives unacceptable. .


What does it mean to assist suicide?

it means you helped the person get the tools to commit suicide convinced them to commit suicide or gave them reason to commit suicide


What did hitler do at the end of the war?

Commit suicide


Did Socrates committee suiciede?

Socrates did not commit suicide. He was sentenced to death by drinking a cup of hemlock as punishment for corrupting the youth of Athens and impiety. Socrates accepted his sentence and chose to die by drinking the poison rather than attempting to escape or accept exile.


Did Oedipus commit suicide?

No does not suicide he blind himself .. Jocasta who commit suicide by his own hands


What is a fish that can commit suicide?

Fish can't commit suicide, no animal can.


How did Jonathan Taylor Thomas commit suicide?

He didn't commit suicide.


Which of these is correct commit a suicide or commit suicide and why?

It would be "commit suicide", because you do it to yourself, and can only do it (right) once. To "commit a suicide" would imply multiple are possible, which is not true, using the indefinite article, "a".


Did Corey Feldman commit suicide?

No, Corey Feldman did not commit suicide. This is a rumor.