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
The end of Socrates life was a display of moral martyrdom and a tribute to his long-standing ethical commitment to do what he thought to be just. His ultimate life position ended in his enactment upon what his intellectual being thought to be the right thing to do, rather than to do the opinion of the most. Socrates ultimately felt that; one should live justly, one should never do wrong, and that one should keep agreements – even if that meant he was to die. Similarly, the laws held that Socrates should not escape from prison for if he would, then that would be equal to destroying not only the laws but the city as well. The platonic dialogue in Crito involving piety brings into question
In life, people are guided by moral beliefs and principles. Whether their beliefs are good or bad, their decisions are based on them. In Plato “The Crito”, Socrates emphasizes his moral beliefs and principles when he decides not to escape from prison. Although Socrates had the opportunity to escape his death sentence, he chose not to do so because he had a moral obligation to commit a sacrifice.
Crito argues that Socrates should escape jail, and relies on the premises that he must consider the opinion of the public and that Socrates is betraying his children. Crito believes that Socrates is being foolish by remaining in jail and not escaping when given the opportunity. To support this argument, Crito presents two premises. The first of which claims that Socrates
In the Crito, Socrates believes that breaking the laws of the city harms all of society. The consequences of escaping the city outweigh the benefits for it puts his family, his friends, and himself in danger. He believes in a personal morality that one must live a good and just life, and not just any life. If Socrates breaks the law then he would not be acting justly,
In order to give a little hindsight, I will discuss the dialogues between Socrates and Crito in Plato’s “The Crito”; the scene beings with Crito waking up Socrates’ in his jail cell and questioning how he seemed so calm and peaceful when the time for his execution was approaching at a rapid pace. Socrates, as calm as ever, replies that he is willing to die if it is the will of God. Crito begins to try to convince Socrates to escape from his cell by using different reasoning’s. Crito explains that if he rejected the idea of escaping and was executed, he would lose a loving and loyal friend and he would have to live with the fault of failing to save his life. On a more ethical level, Crito present more compelling cases: firstly, if he had stayed, he would helping his enemies in wronging him unjustly, and would then be acting unjustly himself; and second, that he
In Plato’s Crito Socrates argues that it would be wrong for him to escape from prison. Speaking to his friend Cirto, Socrates explains that escaping from prison would go against many of his beliefs. Socrates believes in seeking the truth, not repaying a wrong with another wrong, and obeying the laws of the state. He also states that escaping from prison would ruin his reputation and is in best interest for everyone. Crito brings up many arguments to Socrates trying to convince him to escape. Crito tries to appeal to Socrates in many different ways and bombards him with many arguments. Every argument that Crito brings up to Socrates, he answers with carful thinking and analysis. Crito appeals to Socrates emotions by stating that his friends and family will be lost without him. He
Crito gives Socrates six reasons why he should escape and, three reason why he would not have to worry about escaping. Crito tells Socrates if he does not try to escape he’ll be deprived of a unique friend (Crito 44b). Then he tells Socrates that if he does not come back he will get the worst reputation (Crito 44c). Also he tells Socrates that it is unjust to give up a salvageable life and that he
In the Crito, Socrates is approached by his life-long friend Crito while in prison awaiting execution. Crito used many different ways to attempt to persuade Socrates to escape. The best argument Crito uses is that he says Socrates would be betraying his children if he were to stay in prison. He says that Socrates should bring them up and educate them, not leave them. Socrates, contrary to what Crito says, feels that he has an implied contract with the State. He believes that his family staying in Athens and raising him there was the greatest compliment they could have given him, so he feels that he owes it to the State to accept its laws and to remain a willing partner to the State. Socrates’ feelings were summed up on page 64 when he says:
First, Crito made it clear to Socrates that he should not be worried about the risk or financial costs to his friends as they are willing to pay. Also, Crito said that they would be justified in helping Socrates escaping from prison if they are caught. Aside from not worrying about Crito and his friends who are helping Socrates escape prison, there is one major motivation for Crito to help Socrates, which is no one would believe that Socrates had willingly faced execution. Instead, Crito would be accused of not having helped Socrates, and of valuing his money more than his friend's life.
In Crito, there is a conversation between Crito and Socrates. Crito is attempting to convince Socrates
Socrates adjusts these theories to the option to escape from his captors and abandon their conclusion on his future. Crito begins to understand Socrates view in his suggestion. "the only valid consideration is whether we should be acting rightly in giving with the escape, or whether in truth we shall do wrong in doing all this." (49c) Socrates concludes that if he followed Crito's advice he would be committing several dishonest actions against his own society that were
Throughout the readings of The Apology of Socrates and Crito I have found that Socrates was not a normal philosopher. It is the philosopher's intention to question everything, but Socrates' approach was different then most other philosophers. From one side of the road, Socrates can be seen as an insensitive, arrogant man. He did indeed undermine the laws so they fit his ideals, leave his family, and disregard the people's values. On the other side he can be seen as an ingenious man who questioned what many thought was the unquestionable. As he can be criticized for disregarding the many's ideals he can also be applauded for rising above the daily ways of popular thought. He
Socrates informs his friend that one should only care about the opinion of sensible people; that are willing to see things for what they are and how those things turn out. “But why, my dear Crito, should we care about the opinion of the many? Good men, and they are the only persons who are worth considering, will think of these things truly as they happened” (44C) Crito wants his friend to realize that sometimes the popular opinion is more powerful and any even more dangerous. The public has an unlimited capacity for doing harm to others and his trail/sentencing will be proof of this. Socrates doesn’t see it that way and disagrees with his friend, the public had the power of doing good. Socrates believes that the public doesn’t make the man right or wrong.
In Plato’s Five Dialogues Crito had planned Socrates escape from jail and all he had left to do was convince Socrates to go with
In the Crito, Socrates is nearing his appointed death and his friend Crito is attempting to convince him to escape. The guard has been payed off and Socrates only must walk out the door and flee Athens. Socrates quickly tells Crito that he cannot escape, because that would be breaking the laws of Athens. Socrates main reason to care about the laws of Athens is to keep a just soul, because breaking the laws would be unjust and acting unjustly would harm his soul. This is what Socrates truly cares about, whether he is harming his soul by being unjust or living just with his soul intact. He would rather die than to