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Crito Critical Reflection

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Taking place shortly after the trial of Socrates, The Crito is a short dialogue between Socrates and one of his devoted students and friends, Crito. After his trial and harsh conviction, the friends of Socrates make a plan to bribe his jailers and to help him escape to Thessaly, where presumably, he will be able to live and continue teaching. Crito arrives to deliver the news and to convince Socrates into agreeing to the plan, however, Socrates proves steadfast in his belief that he would rather die by Athens than teach elsewhere. While literally arguing with his friend about escaping prison, Socrates also ponders ideas of public perception, the morality of disobeying the law, and briefly discusses the idea of retribution; all in accordance with his principles and the tenets of philosophy, the study that he is willing to lay his life down for. One of the two main ideas that Socrates is trying to get across via Plato is that the opinion of the general public is not important and that only the opinion of those most pertinent to the situation are worth fussing over. This point is first brought up when Crito is trying to persuade Socrates to come with him, worrying that people knowing he is wealthy will think that he was not willing to bribe Socrates out of jail because he does not want to lose his money. Deeply interested in the public’s perception of him, Crito believes that the vast majority of people will not believe him when he says that Socrates did not want to escape and

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