The Argument In The Crito By Socrates

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)

Even though Crito knows that Socrates does not like making decisions like these, he makes a good argument to persuade him to break out. Crito believes that his friend is just giving up, not seeing what the future could hold if he did escape. He even tells him that Thrace will welcome him in and there are people there willing to help him. Crito tells Socrates that he can use his money at will and if he didn’t want to use his money, he could use his friends. Because of Crito’s wealth, it would be easy for Socrates to escape and have a good life after he would escape. Crito thinks that Socrates isn’t thinking straight because he is so devastated that he was put in prison. The “laws of Athens” says that you should stay in jail because____________. Socrates declines his plan to get out because he thinks it is just to stay in jail and suffer the punishments for his controversial crime that put him in

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

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

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.

In the Platonic dialogue "The Crito." Socrates' friend for which the dialogue is named, hatches a plan to help him escape from jail, and his impending death. However, Socrates not only refuses the offer but also argues that it would be immoral for him to not follow through with the court's decision even at the cost of his life. The reasoning as to why Socrates ultimately decides that he does not have the ethical grounds to disobey the court's orders is illustrated through a theoretical discussion between himself and the personification of the Athenian Laws. Where it is concluded that to do so would harm Athenian society, and no matter the circumstance a logical person would not disobey their moral reasoning.

Socrates was being guided by his moral beliefs when he decided not to escape from prison. Socrates informs us of his principle when he says, “[…] my first principle, that neither injury

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

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

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

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).”

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

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

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 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