Did Socrates “cancel” himself? At his trial in Athens, in 399BC, did he deliberately incense the jury with an outrageous comic speech to ensure they condemned him to death?
Socrates was charged with denying the gods exist and inventing new ones, and of corrupting youth. Actually, Socrates was deeply religious and it was fighting dirty to accuse him of sacrilege. But powerful people had had enough of him. A scruffy 70-year-old man hanging out in public places surrounded by adoring pupils, teaching that a life unexamined is not worth living but we must learn we know nothing, corroded certainty. And certainty was what the city craved.
