In the dialogue "Crito," Socrates is faced with the proposal of esacpe from prison. In the following conversation he tries to establish whether an act like that would be just and morally justified, eventually concluding that by rejecting his sentence and trying to escape from prison he would be committing unjust and morally unjustified acts. In the end he decided to accpet his death penalty and execution.
Socrates did not come to this conclusion easily or without reasoning. His decision to escape from prison came through his hypothetical conversation with the law and constitution. Socrates reasoned that
lawbreaking is unjust, while observance of laws is just, because laws are just. He explained that any legal system is better than no legal system at all, and that a law must be based on correct reasoning and natural law, otherwise it is not a true and just law but actaully the misuse of a law. If the laws of Athens were not morally correct and if one could demonstrate......
Join Now or Login to view the rest of this paper.
Approximate Word Count: 288
Approximate Pages: 2 (260 words per double-spaced page) |