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Wisdom of Words

 

            What is wisdom? If you look in a dictionary for the entry "wisdom", you will find the following definition: power of judging rightly and following the soundest course of action. Wisdom has always been referred to moral issues and religious beliefs. Philosophers, people who pursue wisdom, believe that the soul is the most sophisticated thing of the human being. Like any other philosopher, in Apology Socrates defends himself from being sentenced to death by trying to persuade the jurors that he does not deserve a death sentence. The main idea is that nobody should betray his own philosophy for any reasons regardless of all suffer it might cause him. Socrates prefers to face death instead of giving up his philosophy and all the benefits of words he uses to support his point of view. The motive to choose this idea is that Socrates keeps defending himself although he knows that it would not make any difference for the jurors" final decision. The means he uses include saying "the whole truth" (A, p.37), words representing his thoughts, and obeisance to the law and God's will (A, p.39). Saying the truth and supporting his thesis does not help Socrates to avoid a death sentence. All jurors without exception are influenced by people's opinion and they already have some prejudices prior to Socrates" lawsuit. Using the power of words, the old man is on the right track to convince people in the court that he is innocent but Meletus" accusations sound so loudly in the courtroom that jurors are more willing to support Meletus than Socrates. Nevertheless, Socrates wants to stick to the law and he has no intention to break it although his life is jeopardized by a death sentence. Like Socrates, Vaclav Havel strongly believes in God's power and this is a part of what he says in his acceptance speech for the Peace Prize that was awarded to him: "Word of God is the source of all creation." (WW, p.1). Havel points out to the extraordinary power words have and how they can shift their meaning depending on the context.


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