What is Plato's Apology?

While the provided sources reference Plato and his works, they do not contain a dedicated description of Plato's specific dialogue known as the Apology. However, the sources note that Plato was a foundational ancient Greek philosopher who wrote numerous dialogues featuring Socrates, such as Crito. The term 'apology' itself is noted in a literary context as a formal justification or defense, sharing its title style with later works like G.H. Hardy's A Mathematician's Apology.

What we know

• Plato was an ancient Greek philosopher of Classical Athens and the foundational thinker of the Western philosophical tradition. [3]
• Plato's complete works are believed to have survived over 2,400 years, unlike those of nearly all his contemporaries. [3]
• The dialogue Crito was written by Plato and depicts events following Socrates' imprisonment right after the Apology. [4]
• An apology in this classical sense refers to a formal justification or defense, exemplified by Plato's Apology of Socrates. [2]

Where to go next

• whenWhat happens in the Crito dialogue?
• compared withHow did G.H. Hardy use the term apology?
• the bigger pictureWhat is Plato's Theory of Forms?
• whoWho was Socrates?
• whereWhat is the Academy founded by Plato?
• an unexpected connectionHow does a 1940 math essay connect to ancient Greek philosophy?G.H. Hardy's 1940 mathematical essay explicitly adopts the word apology in the formal sense of a defense, drawing direct inspiration from Plato's Apology of Socrates.

Sources

• [1]A Mathematician's Apology (Wikidata Q619599) · CC0 1.0
• [2]A Mathematician's Apology · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Plato · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Crito · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Phaedrus (dialogue) · CC BY-SA 4.0