The Role Of Socrates In The Crito

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Throughout history, many laws and other customs have been drastically altered through rebellious activities whether peaceful or violent. Oftentimes, forms of revolt are necessary to get a point across and correct an unjust political system. This is evident not only with Socrates in the Crito, but also multiple recent endeavors such as African-American civil rights movement. Throughout the Crito, Socrates maintains a firm standpoint and is persistent that he is right in an attempt to prove his point. Socrates’ attempt at rebellion is justified by his peaceful act of doing so and the freedom he is trying to implement into the current political system. In a non-constitutional society like Athens was at the time, laws would not change without a persistent, respectable approach like Socrates provided. In the Crito he is so determined to justify his position that he faces death instead of escaping because it would abolish respectability of his approach. This …show more content…
Both individuals were determined to persuade authoritative figures into realizing the unjust laws present, yet they were willing to accept the given repercussions if they are not able to do so. This is extremely evident during the multiple occurrences where King is sent to jail for his actions, and the manner that Socrates complies with his punishments. Both individual’s terms of justice and how it can be achieved are acceptable through the means they take to do so, but it raises the possible issue of a moral anarchy. A situation where all citizens oppose obeying laws set before them eradicates the possibility of an efficient government being able to prosper. Preventing this is what makes both the method and sufficient reasoning for civil disobedience so important. If neither of these aspects are appropriate, civil disobedience can possibly cause more problems than it is intended to

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The Crito written by Plato is a conversation that supposedly was held when Crito went to visit Plato in prison. Critos purpose for visiting Socrates was to persuade him to escape prison to avoid being executed by the dishonest accusers. He doesn’t want Socrates to die because then Crito would be looked down in shame for not helping his friend. But more importantly Crito doesn’t want Socrates to die because he children would be fatherless and then Socrates would look like a coward. Crito say to Socrates…

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Sample essay

Professor Gath Phi 1005 11/26/2013 Socrates on the Moral Authority of the State In the Crito, Socrates makes some surprisingly strong claims about the moral authority of the state, which might even seem to be inconsistent both with another fundamental claim he makes in the Crito and with certain claims he makes in the Apology. I shall argue that although these claims seem to be in some tension with each other, the crucial claims about the authority of the state in the Crito can plausibly be interpreted…

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Socrates argues that he must evade the law; he would unjustly be doing harm to the law of the city, gaining their force through public agreement. Therefore, he rejects all lawbreaking as inherently immoral and advocates unconditional obedience to the laws of the city. Martin Luther King clarion calls for civil disobedience as a tool of the American Civil Rights Movement. Using Socrates as a model of civil disobedience, recognizing the commonalities in law, justice, and citizenship. In the Crito,…

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Perpetua Vs Socrates Essay

The ancient Greek and Roman empires are two examples of where disobedient actions now provide a basis for modern law. From the Greeks, we have come to know the story of Socrates by Plato, and the Roman age was the time of St. Perpetua, an early Christian woman. The fate of those individuals is similar – a death sentence handed down by the society they lived in. Although the ending of their lives is similar, the differences that lie in the thinking of their death are more complex, with key factors…

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Plato Essay

that Socrates had much to say on the topic of political philosophy. Central to his political theory was his position on how citizens ought to approach ethics and politics. In the Apology, Socrates' conduct demonstrates his belief that citizens must not be complacent when it comes to political virtue. In order to push citizens out of complacency, Socrates used a method called the “elecnhus” to prod citizens to discover the true definition of virtues (Jowett, 2009). In doing this, Socrates hoped…

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and unity. Socrates provides his account of human virtue in the health of soul doctrine. Socrates account of virtue found in the Plato’s Republic looks, upon three distinct components of the soul and calls them appetite, reason, and passion. Appetite is the part of the soul that is animal like, longing for bodily pleasures, reason consists a part which is rational thought, and passion is the part associated with emotions. After having established the various parts of the soul, Socrates then makes…

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