1. He spoke the truth without eloquence. (Socrates' theory on rhetoric according to which
the unique goal of all the arts is the idea of goodness).
2. He defends himself to obey the law and not because he hopes to justify himself. (He could
not defend himself effectively other than by enlightening his judges through dialectic and
through acquainting them with the truth of his doctrines).
3. He did not concern himself with physical science (which is of no use because it does not
make us any better - it is ineffectual because it does not lead us to understand matters - it
is impious towards those things that divide into two worlds, the divine and the human;)
physical science wishes to examine the first; it is hostile to [illegible] Moral philosophy
examines the second domain.
4. Virtue is not taught (knowledge = development of both mental understanding and will).
5. He kept himself hidden for a long time as a sage among the most skilled men, he did not plot with any of them.
Socrates opposes to the empiricism of politics and the sophists moral science which he believes he has conceived.
6. He received from god the mission of spending his life in the teaching of wisdom and he will continue to do so
if he is absolved (therein is his moral philosophy: there is no truth, absolute truth other than good and bad; everything
else is uncertain and should not be allowed as the reasons for our actions).
7. Death is not an evil; therefore we must place our hope in it.
______
Familiarity of the word with pretence to [illegible] in his words and his manners. This is because he contrasts
the brilliant appearances of the world with the simple reality of virtue according to nature.
At the same time profound shrewdness and if necessary all the subtlety of the Greek mind.
Light-heartedness and serenity that ascends here little by little to a sublime graity but still peaceful and simple.
Invincible firmness with a fixed idea before which nothing can be retracted.
BNF NAF 16611 42r - 42v. Philosophy notes about Plato's Apology, possibly from Victor
Egger's's course at The Sorbonne, 1894.
Created 17.01.26