The Second Speech: The Formal Charges

About the lecture

In this module, we follow Socrates has he turns form the informal charges—his general reputation around Athens—to the formal charges for which he has been brought to court: 'corrupting the youth' (tous… neous diaphtheironta) and 'not believing in the gods that the state believes in, but believing in new spiritual beings' (theous hous hē polis nomizei ou nomizonta, hetera de daimonia kaina).

About the lecturer

Angie Hobbs gained a First Class Honours Degree in Classics and a PhD in Ancient Philosophy at New Hall (now Murray Edwards College), University of Cambridge. After a Research Fellowship at Christ’s College, Cambridge, she moved to the Philosophy Department at the University of Warwick; in 2012 she was appointed Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield, a position created for her and the first of its kind in the UK (and, as far as can be ascertained, the world). Her chief interests are in ancient philosophy and literature, ethics (both theoretical and applied) and political theory, and she has published widely in these areas, including Plato and the Hero (Cambridge University Press).