Thoughts and reflections on: When the freedom of speech was first condemned.

Ben Howson, World History per.6

Ms. Mitchell

Thoughts and reflections on: When the Freedom of speech was first Condemned.

By I. F. Stone

I believe that the title of this writing is named this because it literally was when the freedom of speech was first condemned. Socrates was the first man who was condemned for using freedom of speech to teach the young his beliefs. Socrates did this in Athens where everyone is supposed to have the right of free speech. He was prosecuted for using this right. The jury said that he was destroying the young with his beliefs and ideas. However, Socrates should have been free to express his ideas to the young because he had this right of freedom of speech. "When Freedom of Speech was First Condemned" is the titile of this article because it is about when Socrates was condemned to death for using freedom of speech.

During this reading my opinion changed about Socrates. Before the reading I believed that Socrates was a great philosopher, and a smart, wise, old man who wanted to help others. But now after reading this paper, I kind of think that Socrates was not the smartest or greatest philosopher. I say this because Socrates could have won his trial but instead of trying his hardest to get out of his prosecution, he gave up and wanted to die. I also say that he was not the smartest man because he was not afraid of death and he did not care about dying. He was a bit crazy because to me it felt like he wanted to die. Another thing that changed my opinion about Socrates was that he was against freedom of speech. I think that this is silly because all philosophers are all about free speech, and even Socrates used freedom of speech. It was silly for him to be against it. Socrates was also against democracy which also changed my opinion about him. He believed that people were not able to govern themselves, and he did not have the trust in them to do so. All in all, from this reading, it made me believe that Socrates was not a wise and great philosopher instead he was a very superior and arrogant man.

If I was the head attorny for the procecuting team, I would pick a young child who Socrates told his believes to as a witness. I would do this, so that the young boy or girl could tell the audience what Socrates has told him or her, and become furious for what Socrates has taught them. That is who I would pick as a witness if I was the attorny for the procecuting team.

If I was the head attorny for the defending team I would pick political person as my witness. I would pick this type of person, so that they could tell me the rights as an Athenian, and of course one of the huge rights as an Athenian is the right to freedom of speech, and that was exactaly what Socrates was doing. He was saying what he belived in. That is who I would pick as a witness if I was the attorny for the defending team.

This it was Socrtes could have said to win the trial.