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Socrates Argument Essay: Crito

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Argument Essay: Socrates’ Decision

In Crito, just a few hours before Socrates’ execution, Crito, one of Socrates’ followers and friends, desperately urges Socrates to escape from death’s row. Socrates refuses to listen to his friend and slowly convinces him, through a series of questions and conclusions, that the best decision is to simply let fate take its course. However, at one point in Socrates’ argument, Socrates states that “...it has always been my nature never to accept advice from my friends unless reflection shows that it is the best course that reason offers”. Although many may strongly disagree with this viewpoint, I believe that Socrates’ belief is one that is indisputably valid. It is important to remain steadfast until further reasoning offers better because it allows one to think for himself, remain untarnished by the influences of the outside world, and avoid hurting close friends and family in the process. In Crito, Socrates explains to his friend, Crito, that he wishes to let the Athenians decide his fate in order follow the law. Socrates’ belief is …show more content…

Although many foreign ideas can be safely incorporated without tainting a person’s original beliefs, some can easily cause a person (or even a population) to convert to a radical viewpoint. For instance, the Nazi viewpoint was able to infiltrate the moral values of many German civilians during World War II. Because of how influential Hitler and the Nazi party were, the majority of the population turned blind eye to the holocaust and, as a result, let to the deaths of millions of innocent Jews. If the general population and the military officers of Germany had more of a Socratic state of thinking, the country could have prevented its moral principles from being blurred by the sweet talk of Hitler, and the holocaust could have been prevented

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