Essay on Plato’s Crito: The Last Days of Socrates

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:

In Crito, there is a conversation between Crito and Socrates. Crito is attempting to convince Socrates

In this paper, I will show why Socrates’ arguments on choosing to stay in prison is better than Crito’s argument. As an inexperienced reader in philosophy, I believe it would be difficult for a reader to choose a side. This is because both sides of their arguments can be easily refuted. Thus, the question to be answered is: Whose argument is more effective? Socrates’ arguments yield to specific scenarios that shows how his action could harm the state of Athens and his future life whereas Crito’s arguments are narrower and geared more to himself. Hence, after meticulous analysis, Socrates made the right decision by staying in prison and not letting Crito convincing him to commit an unjust action.

Socrates has presented a period of questions and answers through dialogue with Crito to examine if he going into exile will damage his reputation. Socrates questions and answers with Crito establishes that a person must decide whether the society he or she lives has a just reasoning behind it's own standards of right and wrong and that a person must have pride in the life that he or she leads. By confirming these two concepts through questions, Socrates attempted to prove to his companion Crito, that the choice that he has made is just: "I am the kind of man who listens only to the argument that on reflection seems best to me. I cannot, now that this fate has come upon me, discard the arguments I used;

In the Dialogue Crito, Socrates employs his Elenchus to examine the notion of justice and one’s obligation to justice. In the setting of the dialogue, Socrates has been condemned to die, and Crito comes with both the hopes and the means for Socrates to escape from prison. When Socrates insists that they should examine whether he should escape or not, the central question turns into whether if it is unjust to disobey laws. Socrates’ ultimate answer is that it is unjust; he makes his argument by first showing that it’s wrong to revenge injustice, then arguing that he has made an agreement with the city’s law for its benefits, and finally reasoning that he

After the trial, Socrates was found guilty of his allegations and sentence to death. While waiting for his upcoming execution, he received a visit of his old faithful friend named Crito. Actually, Socrates friend had made an arrangement with other friends to help him escape from prison. Contrary to Crito’s suggestion, Socrates vetoed his friend proposal. Socrates on the other hand, provided several good and convincing reasons of not escaping prison by using law as a principal guide.

When Crito and Socrates engaged in a conversation, Crito comes up with several arguments that support the idea of Socrates escaping prison. First, he argues that if Socrates dies, he will lose a friend that cannot be replaced. The people that did not know their relationship as friends would assume that he did not care to free him due to the payment of money. Second, Crito suggests that there are people who are willing to pay. The guards are corrupt and if they get the amount of money they demanded, they will let him escape. That will induce no harm to his friends, which worried Socrates. Third, he argues by accepting the death penalty Socrates would be acting unjustly in the manner that his nemesis was able to wrongly accuse him. He will not only betray himself

I think this is dialogue is extremely interesting. To start it off, Crito just appears in Socrates’ cell while he is asleep and sits there, watching him, until he wakes up. Then he proceeds to give him a little speech of why he should want to get out and that it wouldn’t be too hard to escape or get off “death row.” I think it is really interesting how Crito discusses with Socrates that he could basically bribe a certain group of people to get him to be released and that it wouldn’t even be that much money. Crito says how he thinks Socrates is just throwing away his life and Socrates responds “My dear Crito, your enthusiasm is most valuable, provided its of the right sort.” Crito is so willing to readily smuggle Socrates out of prison at any

Crito’s initial position is that Socrates must allow him to aid him in escaping his sentence before it is too late. Crito states that is in the best interest of everyone if he were to flee, citing that Socrates would leave his friends left to endure punishment from informers who may force them to give up properties or even a great deal of money. (45a) He then continues his plea by assuring Socrates that the cost of a proper bride is not a factor and that many other would happily give to ensure his safety. (45b) Crito pleads to his pride and sensibility in that he must not worry about the concept of exile since he has many followers and friends who would ensure his safety. Additionally he reminds Socrates by accepting his unjust punishment