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Esquema Del Criton

Crito comes to visit Socrates in prison to persuade him to escape his death sentence. He argues that Socrates should accept the escape plan arranged by his friends to avoid losing his life and reputation. However, Socrates refuses, stating that he cannot abandon principles he has held, such as never deliberately doing wrong. He engages in a dialogue with the Laws of Athens, who argue that escaping punishment would break his agreement and social contract with the state. The Laws assert that a city cannot function if its laws are nullified. In the end, Crito has no other arguments and Socrates maintains that justice is more important than anything else.

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Caro Teh
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17 views1 page

Esquema Del Criton

Crito comes to visit Socrates in prison to persuade him to escape his death sentence. He argues that Socrates should accept the escape plan arranged by his friends to avoid losing his life and reputation. However, Socrates refuses, stating that he cannot abandon principles he has held, such as never deliberately doing wrong. He engages in a dialogue with the Laws of Athens, who argue that escaping punishment would break his agreement and social contract with the state. The Laws assert that a city cannot function if its laws are nullified. In the end, Crito has no other arguments and Socrates maintains that justice is more important than anything else.

Uploaded by

Caro Teh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Outline of the Crito

Introduction: Crito has come to argue Socrates into leaving the prison, escaping his
sentence of death. He wonders at how peacefully Socrates sleeps, and hears of his dream.

I: C: Why Socrates should accept the escape his friends have arranged:
a— It will be a loss to me of a friend.
b—It will be a loss of reputation for all your friends, who will be thought to have
valued money more than their friend.
S.--We should not care about reputation, or what the many may say; they can do no
harm, for they cannot make a man wise or foolish.
c—there are lots of places you can go where you will be welcomed
d—think of your children, raised without a father’s advice
S:--I cannot abandon principles I have held before, just because they are now
inconvenient. Here’s one important one: We should never deliberately do wrong. (49a)
Of the opinions of men, not all are of equal value; we should trust the experts.
Analogy with matters of physical health, and health of the soul: justice
A second principle: the important thing is not being alive, but living a good (just) life.
So the important question: is it right that I should leave here without the
permission of the Athenians?
II: The premise of our discussion: we should never deliberately do wrong.
That is evil and bad, contrary to the good and fine and right.
a— so a man should not do wrong in return, even if he is wronged; nor retaliate
for harms, nor defend oneself by harming those who have harmed him.
Corollary: contract. It is wrong to try to get out of fair agreements, once made.
III: Discussion with The Laws:
A city cannot survive if its laws are nullified by its citizens
The verdicts arrived at in the courts (fair or not) are legally binding
Through laws and the city you were born, and educated, and
given a share in every good thing we could provide. Further,
you chose not to leave, to emigrate and abandon your citizenship.
You bore children into the state and its laws.
Even at your trial, you refused when it was legally appropriate to suggest
exile as an alternative punishment.
To deny the verdict by escaping punishment is breach of a fair agreement,
“breaking contracts and agreements you have with us.” (52e)
Following this clearly duty-based (deontological) argument, the Laws point out some
consequentialist results of this action as well:
Further, you’ll harm your friends; you’ll be viewed with suspicion by law-abiding
men; you’ll prove the jurors right; you will be unwelcome in the conversations
you are used to having, and couldn’t have them anyway, with a straight face, you
who believes in the importance of actions consistent with your beliefs. Your
children would probably be worse off than they will be here.
No, Socrates, do not regard anything as more important than justice.
Crito: I do not have anything else to say.

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