Plato 's Crito, The Law Of Athens Essay

Socrates motives for not escaping could also be understood by his principles. His principle says, “And a good life is equivalent to a just and honorable one.”(1). Socrates believes and lives by doing well to himself and other people. Even though staying in prison would cause him physical damage, he is willing to sacrifice his body in order to save his soul. Because of his belief in living an honorable life, Socrates reasons to stay in prison rather than escaping.

Athens could also be seen as a place where they educated their citizens. Socrates understood that he would not be the man who he is today, without Athens. Like anything, a child would not willingly do harm on a parent, especially if they receive love and protection, and no harm in return. This parental versus child relationship is quite similar to the relationship Socrates had with Athens. The people of Athens could have assumed that Socrates would try to escape and that his death sentence would not follow through, but Socrates did not see this as an important factor. He believed that if he escaped, it would hinder the image of Athens because he would not be following their laws, which might influence the citizens to also break the laws of Athens. People with a lot of influence, have a lot of followers, for example, the people of Athens. If Socrates, supposedly the wisest man were to escape from prison and his death sentence, other people might think it is fine to disobey Athens as well. On the other hand, the citizens expected him to escape, but the fact that he stayed in prison to face his death sentence shows how seriously he took subjects like harming others and obeying the state to heart. Another objection to this argument could be, that Socrates was falsely accused and was harmed when he was truly innocent, he did not commit any of the crimes he was accused of, but Socrates still had the opportunity to a fair trial, he just did not use

In his third premise, Socrates argues that men must do what they believe to be right, and keep their agreements. Socrates argues that he is under an agreement with the state to abide by their laws, and that escaping would be breaking their agreement, thereby knowingly doing wrong. He concludes that if he were to escape he would be breaking agreements and purposely doing wrong, and therefore would not be living justly and honorably, and not be living a good life. For these reasons he decides that he can not escape jail.

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 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:

Owing to this fact, fleeing from Athens without permission or notification to the authorities would actually be violating the laws of the land and participating in ‘wrong’ actions- which was the direct opposite of the ‘goodness’ that he believed in. Socrates had always been a forthright advocate for the Athenian political and legal system. Owing to the agreement between him and the city authorities, he was also the beneficiary of an unknown quantity of benefits. Moreover, for him to fully enjoy the benefits of what was provided to him by the city of Athens, he had to in return give up something. In this case, it was his freedom of choice and action where there was a clash between his personal views and the stipulations of Athenian law.

Socrates explains that if he escapes prison, it will ruin his soul which make life not worth living. Likewise, Socrates explains that there will be negative consequences for the state of Athens to follow. For example, Socrates explains that he will be destroying the laws by escaping. He is trying to make clear that if he breaks the law, other citizens will begin to feel like they can also break the law. As a result, once one citizen begins to disobey the law, take for example - killing someone because they want to seek revenge. Eventually, this will lead to the city being destroyed as more and more people begin to become comfortable with committing acts that aren’t just. This domino effect connects to Socrates’ theory that his soul will be ruin since all of this could have been avoided if he were just to stay in prison. Furthermore, Socrates believes that the reputation of his sons and friends along with himself will all be ruined no matter where they would escape to. They would then been seen as the “destroyer of the law.” Like previously, this argument can also be refuted. No one knows what would happen if he were to escape prison. These are all hypothetical scenarios that are suggested by Socrates. One can object by saying that what if the citizens of the state do not react in a negative way but rather in a positive way. For example, the citizens would be

To this question, first Socrates says that he should not revenge injustice. Because doing injustice is bad in any circumstances (Crito 49b), to return injustice just because of having injustice done onto himself would bad also (Crito 49c). Therefore Socrates should not commit injustice just to get even with Athens. Injustice is bad because it harms, and disobedience to the law would harm the city (Crito 50b); so it seems that to disobey the law would be an injustice. But why should Socrates obey the law of the city? Socrates reasons that since the city has done him great benefactions, such as giving birth to his life, taking care of his physical upbringing and his education, and granting him long years of benefits from the legal system (Crito 50e - 51c), Socrates owns the state a strong duty of gratitude just as a child would own to his father. One of those duties is to obey the state (like how a child obeys his parents), which always has included the possibility of death such as in times of war (Crito 51b). Socrates should obey the city because he has made an agreement to do so. This agreement is the social contract that he has implicitly accepted and lived under for 70 years. This contract is legitimate because Socrates had a thorough understanding of the legal system (Crito 51e - 52a), he did not leave the city when he was given the fair chance all his life (Crito 51 c-e), and that he

When Socrates rejects the plan of Crito helping him escape jail even with a successful plan where he would live a pleasant life in exile. Crito saw no wrong in helping Socrates escape from jail because Socrates is a victim of unjust laws. Socrates then creates a dialogue for Crito between himself and the laws of Athens that gives a view on how discipline Socrates is to the Athens laws even with being innocent and sentenced to death Socrates is still wanting to be obedient to the Athens laws. Socrates then argues the fact he is a citizen of the state “ having been born, nourished, and educated within it borders, he is a child of the state and that he owes an obligation”. Socrates speaks on the laws of the Athens and explained to Crito why it

[causing society] to doubt the virtues of the democratic political system of Athens. ”(37) Socrates, a renowned philosopher, was also a law abiding citizen and he knew that while if he did change his views it would allow him to live, it would make him just as horrible as the politicians that ran Athens. Inspired by the death of his mentor, Plato wrote about how Socrates still obeyed the laws of Athens—even in his final moments—in his book Crito. When Socrates was imprisoned due to the accusation of corrupting the youth, “[He] refused the chance to escape execution, arguing that as a citizen of Athens he has a duty to obey its laws.”(186) Knowing that it would kill him, Socrates still chose to obey the laws of Athens rather than changing his views on the government of Athens.

He also explains to Crito that the citizen is bound to the laws like a child is bound to a parent, and so to go against the laws would be like striking a parent. Rather than simply break the laws and escape, Socrates should try to persuade the laws to let him go. These laws present the citizen's duty to them in the form of a kind of social contract. By choosing to live in Athens, a citizen is endorsing the laws, and is willing to follower by them. Therefore, if he was to break from prison now, having so consistently validated the social contract, he would be making himself an outlaw who would not be welcome in any other civilized state for the rest of his life. Furthermore when he dies, he will be harshly judged in the underworld for behaving unjustly toward his city's laws. In this way, Socrates chooses not to attempt escape but he dies as a martyr, not for himself, but for his city and its system of justice.

He knows that if he escaped, it would be a crime. I find it ironic that he would argue his trial, but not argue his punishment from the trial he argued. The bottom line with Socrates and laws is that he probably did not live by them very closely. It is my belief that Socrates was a good person with good morals. He probably saw laws for the weak minded, and he was certain he was not weak minded. The question of whether he would abide by these laws is that he would and he did. He died for them.

As Socrates awaits his upcoming execution; he is visited before dawn by a close old friend Crito. Crito has made arrangements to help Socrates escape from prison. Socrates is grateful to his old friend for his willing to help aide him in the escape. However, Socrates is quite willing to await his execution. Crito tries to change Socrates mind about escaping by presenting him with several arguments. The first is that if Socrates choices to stay, his death will reflect poorly on Crito. The people will think that Crito did nothing to save his friend. If Socrates is worried about the risk or the financial cost to Crito; it’s an expense that he is willing to pay, and that he made arrangements for Socrates to live a life of exile in a pleasant

He sees the City of Athens as a parent figure to him and any citizen in Athens. Athens has raised Socrates, protected him from foreign invades and educated him. Much like a parent would do, it is his duty as a citizen of Athens a City to show nothing but gratefulness and respect. Even though he is suffering injustice, he exclaims that it is “Better to suffer injustice than to commit one.” Which loops us back to Plato who is demanding that Socrates escapes from the injustice he is facing. If Socrates were to escape from his cell he would be contradicting everything he stands for, Socrates held a moral agreement with the City of Athens to “…obey its orders...” he questions Plato about whether it’s morally right to pay of the guards who would then allow him to escape. If he did so would he be breaking the moral

In Crito by Plato, Socrates continues a speech of the Laws of Athens by appealing to a social contract that exists between the Laws and the citizens. By living in Athens, one must abide by the Laws of Athens. Since Socrates is in prison, if he were to try to escape he would be breaking the Law. Socrates lived in Athens following the Athenian Law up to this point. Socrates dismissed the possibility of exile, saying he would rather die than live outside of Athens. Though they offered the exile freely, to flee Athens when the Law no longer permitted him to do so. There is no reason or will for Socrates to break to Law now when he always agreed to follow them. The problem with this is that Socrates ' accusers have unjustly sentenced him by usig the Laws. The accusers viewed the Laws in their own perspective. By writing Crito, Plato hoped to distinguish them as a separate entity, making them something human toward which Socrates might be able to act unjustly. However, it may be hard to deem that the laws of a state from which the people who apply