Socrates and Crito: Teaching Morals and Honor Essay

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

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 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

person. He stayed in Athens because he said that he had lived by the laws of the

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 and agreement with two guards to help Socrates escape his execution and live in exile, but Socrates refuses to escape. Crito believes that he would be committing two evil he he let Socrates die; “For if you die I might have saved you if I bad been willing to give money, but that I did not care. Now, can there be a worse disgrace than this- that i should be taught to value money more than the life of a friend?” (44) One must value life over money and life over death. Crito continues to try and convince his friend that escaping is the right thing to do. Crito argues that if Socrates is to stay he would be committing an injustice for he is wrongfully sentenced. “Socrates in betraying your own life when you might be saved; this is playing into the hands of you enemies and destroyers; and moreover I should say that you were betraying your children for you might bring them up and educate them.” (45) One must value his family his friends and his children. As Crito stated Socrates choosing to not escape as is an act of him abandoning his wife and children and he should be ashamed. One must also value and obey the law of Athens, this would be one of Socrates arguments of why he would not escape his

Lastly, If Socrates does not flee; he would be aiding his enemies in wronging him, thus also being unjust himself. “Nor can I think that you are justified, Socrates, in betraying your won life when you might be saved; this is playing into the hands of your enemies and destroyers;” (Crito: 45c) But then, some of the points that Socrates made clear are the questions who are the enemies? and “whether we shall do rightly either in escaping or in suffering others to aid in our escape and paying them in money and thanks, or whether we shan not do

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:

On a more ethical level, Crito presents two reasons for why Socrates should escape prison. Crito thinks that it is not just for Socrates to give up his life when he can save it. If he stayed, he would be aiding his enemies in wronging him unjustly, and would thus be acting unjustly himself. Secondly, accepting death means that Socrates is showing no concerns for his family’s fate, and by escaping, he could live in exile and raise and educate his sons. Those reasons are what made Crito believe that Socrates should not give up his life and should escape and live in

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

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.

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.