What does the Apology teach us about society?

2 assignments (each at least 500 words)

Assignment 1 (either exercise 1 or 2):

1) What does the Apology teach us about society? What are the great issues contained in the text?  What is the role occupied by Socrates and why is that role important in understanding Plato’s message?

OR

2)  What are the messages contained within the excerpts from Plato’s Republic?  What is the role played by Socrates in this reading?  What are the great issues in this reading?

Assignment 2:

Choose one of the authors featured in the reading this week from Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome or one of the pre-socratic authors.  Why is the person you selected important to understanding ancient culture and philosophical thought?  What great issues can we extract from their text(s)?

Texts for assignments:

https://web.stanford.edu/~jsabol/sophia/Presocratics.pdf

http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/INTRO_TEXT/Chapter%202%20GREEKS/Sophists.htm

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/democritus/

http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html

https://laurenralpert.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/plato-republic-excerpts-from-books-ii-and-iii.pdf

http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.1.i.html