Socrates, Frederick Douglass, And Web Du Bois - 975 Words

In every culture, there are the strong and there are the weak, the oppressor and the oppressed. Sometimes they are of the same race and sometimes not, but they all rely on a difference in power. Socrates, Frederick Douglass, and WEB Du Bois each experience this power differential through the course of their lives. Socrates experiences this through his experience with the jury of Athens and his trial; Douglass through his life as a slave and his eventual escape. Du Bois experiences it through being a black man in the time of Reconstruction and being well of in comparison to other African-Americans at the time. Each man’s unique perspective on equality can illuminate why authority is so instrumental in the development of equality. Certain groups or individuals have the power of authority often because the larger populace has chosen them. Because of this, the authoritative figures rely on the general population as their source of power. We see this in the democratic societies suc h as the one Socrates lived in. The council that tried Socrates has the power to do so because the people elected them to those positions. Thus, they must uphold the law as best they can. Socrates tells the jury that it is â€Å"not the purpose of a juryman’s office to give justice as a favor to whoever seems good to him, but to judge according to law† (Apology 35c). The juryman must put aside his personal judgement, and instead focus on judgement according to the law. Among men, each has his own moral