Status Updates From O Julgamento de Sócrates

When Athens prosecuted Socrates, it was untrue to itself. The paradox and the shame in the trial of Socrates is that a city famous for free speech prosecuted a philosopher guilty of no other crime than exercising it.

The negative dialectic of Socrates -- if the city had taken it seriously -- would have made equity and democracy impossible. His identification of virtue with an unattainable knowledge stripped common men of hope and denied their capacity to govern themselves.

...fundamental philosophical divergence between Socrates and Athens. He and his disciples saw the human community as a herd that had to be ruled by a king.... The Athenians, on the other hand, believed... capable of distinguishing good from evil and of governing himself in a polis. This was no trivial difference.