FREE ESSAY ON SOCRATES

SOCRATES

Socrates arguments that it would be wrong to escape from prison is as follows. In Critos,
Socrates explains to his friend Crito that escaping from prison would go against many of
the thins that he (Socrates) believes in; seeking virtue, seeking the truth, not repaying
an evil with another evil, obeying the laws of the state and so on. He has lived by, and
has fought for these beliefs in his life. In part those are the reasons he is in prison.
It is because he believes in those things that he will not escape. Even if it seems that
he has been wronged. Socrates will not give up what he believes in order to live a few
more years. He believes that living honorably and seeking virtue are the most important
thins in life and life is not worth living if he must stop seeking the truth.
In the first argument Crito tries to convince Socrates to escape by telling him that,
"The world will never believe that we were anxious to save you but that you yourself
refused to escape."(22-23 Johnson) He tries to tell Socrates that if he does not escape
then people will blame his friends for not helping him escape. He also tells him that his
friends will be hurt by his death and that by not escaping his enemies will majority of
the people think. What they think does not matter, it is what the few that right.
Socrates also tells him that if he does escape then everything what he has said and
believed in the pas would be a lie and then he would be proving his enemies right. By not
escaping he shows them that they are the ones who are doing wrong.
Another reason that Socrates gives for not wanting to escape from prison is that
"….we ought never to do wrong at all."(26 Johnson) Socrates reminded Crito of
things that they had discussed in the past, one of which was wrongdoing. Socrates reminds
him that one should never repay a wrong with a wrong. He says that even though it might
be wrong for him to be sentence to death, he will not do something wrong in order to
correct his situation. He says that escaping is wrong so he will not do it. This goes
back to what he said earlier in the argument. He stated, "…..we should set the
highest value no on living, but on living well."(25 Johnson)
Socrates goes on to say that escape is also wrong because he would be disobeying the laws
of the Athenian government by escaping from prison. And by disobeying the laws of the
Athenian government he would also be disobeying God. He says that it is against the law
of God to use violence against your father or mother; and that it is much worse to use
violence against your country (27 Johnson). He explains how Athens gave him an education,
marriage, protection, and so many other things. But now that Athens wants to enforce the
law he is not willing to accept it. He tells Crito that we have to obey the law, if not
there will be anarchy. He again reminded Crito of the things that they talked about in
the past and asks him if all those things had been true. Crito finally agrees and he
accepts Socrates fate.
I think that Socrates is just trying to make his life seem full filled. He wants to show
that his life was not a waste of time and that his ideas on life were valid and correct.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would agree that it would be wrong for Socrates to escape from
prison. The reason is, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. explains one of the four basic steps
in nonviolent campaigns. He states, "one who breaks an unjust law must do so willingly so
openly, lovingly, and willingness to accept the penalty." (479, King) Dr. King like
Socrates believed in laws and agreed that they are necessary to avoid anarchy. The
difference between Dr. King and Socrates is that Socrates did not think that the laws
were just or unjust he just believed that one should obey the laws of the country.
If I were in Socrates predicament I would have escaped. Dr. King pointed out that there
are two kinds of laws, just and unjust laws. "a unjust law is a code that a numerical or
power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on
itself… a just law is a code that a majority compels a minority to follow and that
is willing to follow itself" (King) Socrates just believes that we should just obey the
laws no matter what.