Essay on Socrates' Big Decision

The three main arguments that Crito said to convince Socrates to escape jail are Socrates’ responsible for his sons, the situation where his friends will help him escape, and the just and unjust. Crito argued that if Socrates’ decides to die, he’s just going to betray his sons. If Socrates’ won’t escape the jail, he will hurt Crito’s reputation.(Crito, 47c)

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.

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

As stated, “If escape is wrong, and Socrates escapes, then he will only be an evil influence on them…” (Neufeld 118). Also this ties into Socrates’ moral responsibility because he feels like it is his choice and responsibility to stay and await punishment instead of running. Lastly, free will is important with regards to accomplishment. In the Apology Socrates has a sense of accomplishment because he had questioned almost every one and the oracle was still true. He had a sense of accomplishment because he was showing the faults in every one he had questioned.

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.

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.

Crito believes that Socrates is acting unjustly by staying in prison. Deciding to stay in prison, Socrates letting his enemies treat him the way they want to and by doing so

Socrates should not escape from prison to avoid his death sentence because he would be breaking the law which ultimately led to him straying away from his own principles. He was a person who believed in what was just and doing what was morally correct. If he were to escape from prison, he would essentially be harming others and the State. He thought through harming others, he would be harming himself and his soul, so Socrates did not believe in harming others and thought it was unjust and morally wrong. Even though Socrates had the opportunity to escape and he was given plenty of reasons from his friends to do so, he did not want to go against what he believes in and his philosophy. He could not live a life where he would have to stop

Socrates was brought into the courts under charges of impiety and corruption of minors. Socrates did not believe in the divinities of the city-state. The punishment decided upon was an execution, in the hope that Socrates would choose exile, a punishment that would have satisfied the jury.

Socrates would rather be punished or die before he breaks the laws that were set forth by his state, and this he says later in the same passage, “I should run any risk on the side of law and justice rather than join you. (Cahn pg. 38 Apology b10-c2).”

well." This means abiding by a set of values and morals which will lead to a

If he were to escape then he would be causing more harm to himself as he would lose all self-respect and dignity. Socrates was against the escape plan and he gave really good reasons to why he disagreed with Crito. Socrates was not guilty for his accusation. If he were to escape then everyone would think otherwise. Socrates said his occupation as a philosopher was following what the gods commanded. Therefore, living life without practicing philosophy would not be worth it. There was only one way to define the good life, and that is a life of knowledge.

Socrates thinks that someone who does wrong should face the punishment, instead of avoiding it. Since avoiding punishment will lead to someone being in a never-ending state of iniquity. Or in other words, the criminals will suffer with constant immoral behavior. By being punished, the criminals will be “saved from the worst kind of badness-iniquity (478d).” A life without punishment consists of one with a mindset of being “unsound, immoral, and unjust (479c),” which is “infinitely more wretched than life with an unhealthy body (479c).” Also, by being punished, criminals have faced justice for their crimes. Therefore, Socrates’ reasoning behind punishing the wrongdoers is too save them from a perpetual state of badness and immorality.

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.

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