From the Latin apologia , although with more distant origins in a Greek word, the apology is the speech made in defense or praise of something or someone . These are oral, written or other expressions that are disseminated with the intention of providing support to a person, an organization or a cause .
For example: “I'm not interested in what they say on that program: they always defend the interests of businessmen” , “The song is an apology for recycling that tries to raise people's awareness about environmental problems” , “The writer “He was accused of advocating drugs for his controversial comments about coca crops.”
Apology for crime
Apology, in certain cases, can be considered an illegal act when it incites actions that are contrary to the law . In these cases, we speak of apology for crime , since what the person does is defend and promote criminal behavior.
The apology for crime can be understood as public praise for an action that has been declared criminal. If a terrorist group kidnaps and shoots a politician and a journalist expresses in a television program that “that is what should be done with all the public officials who have led the country to ruin,” this journalist could be accused. of apology for crime.
It should be noted that private apology does not constitute an illegal act. If, upon seeing the same news about terrorists killing a politician, a person comments to his or her family that it is an action “worthy of applauding and imitating,” the comment may be ethically reprehensible, but it does not constitute a crime since it was carried out in the private sphere of that group.
A work of Plato
Plato, a Greek philosopher who lived between 427 and 347 BC. C., was the author of a work entitled " Apology of Socrates ", which offers an account of the defense that his also celebrated teacher gave before the courts of Athens, in a trial in which he received the accusation of having corrupted the young people. and not to profess his faith in the gods of the polis. Although there are no precise references about the date on which Plato wrote this text, experts believe that it may have been his first work or that, at least, he could have written it in his youth.
Broadly speaking, it is possible to distinguish the following structure : the first part , which is made up of the introduction, the accusation, the explanation of the charges, its interpretation of the Oracle of Delphi, the refutation of the accusations and the self-annihilation; the second part , in which the acceptance and signaling of the penalty are developed; the third part , which occupies the prophecy.
It is an interesting journey through the mind of the acclaimed thinker, in which, in addition to learning about an important and decisive moment in his life, it encourages readers to reflect and draw their own conclusions. From the beginning, Socrates places himself above his accusers by asking them to declare themselves guilty for having followed him in many of his speeches in public squares; Furthermore, he assures that the insults have no truth and that he will use the truth to carry out his defense.
The work, of moderate length, requires a slow and deep reading, which is obtained without much effort given the intensity of the dialogue between Socrates and his hundreds of accusers, which represents a constant search for the truth , as impossible to resolve as absurd, as unfair to the philosopher as it was fair to those who repudiated him and had transmitted their contempt to their descendants.