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Socrates’ Understanding of ‘Protection’ (Boētheia) in His Other-Oriented Ethics: The Case of the Athenians in Plato’s Apology and Gorgias

Abstract In this article I argue that Socrates appropriated a traditional discourse characteristic of Athenian law courts and politics keyed to the concept of protection (boētheia). More specifically, I argue that Socrates aimed at protecting the Athenians, though not directly, but indirectly, namely via his life-long endeavour to serve (boēthein) Apollo. I thus read Plato’s Apology as a political text, though not “political” in the sense of Socrates being suspect of overthrowing democracy, as sometimes claimed, but “political” in the sense that Plato’s Socrates latched on to this concept of boēthein in the Apology.