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Platos Crito

PLATOS CRITO

Introduction

Socrates is in prison and awakes to find Crito by his side . He has just had a dream in which he believes that his destiny has been decided by divine intervention . This opening discourse should prepare us for the rest of the dialogue as it appears that Socrates has resigned himself to fate . Being the man he is he knows that it is futile to fight against divine wishes . So assured is he that he tells his friend Crito that he will die the day after next because the

ship will be delayed . Crito opts to avoid challenging this belief by Socrates despite having information that the ship is to dock the same day and as the authorities have decided Socrates must die the day after

Crito begs his friend to escape for the sake of gossip that is if Socrates were to die people would ridicule his friends saying they did nothing to help him out of his predicament . Socrates argues back by asking whether the thinking of the unreasonable masses is to be valued more the opinion of good men . Both are convinced that the opinion of good men is what matters most . Crito introduces the issue of Socrates children being orphaned and suffering lack yet an opportunity to save him had presented itself . If he were to escape he would carry out his parental duties in another land and prevent misfortune befalling his offspring . He challenges Socrates by insinuating that he is a coward by refusing to escape and in the process betraying his children by bringing them into the world and abandoning them at their time of need . He further assures Socrates that many friends are willing to risk all they have to save his life and thus he should be unduly worried about what may happen to Crito as he is in concert with many others . Socrates begins his counter arguments by stating that it is more important to respect the opinion of a wise man than that of the unreasonable masses Crito buys this view and further accepts that it is better to live a just and honorable life than an unjust one . Socrates cleverly maneuvers the debate to the question of whether it is right to pay evil for evil to which Crito disagrees and accepts that one should not injure another In furthering his case Socrates brings up the issue of whether a man should betray his own conscience in this matter Crito again concedes that a man should not . In the following discourse , Socrates plays the role of the state which interrogates him as to why he has `escaped ' The dialectic questions his decision to wrong the state despite the state nurturing him through its mechanisms and setup . It further challenges him about escaping from custody because of a wrong decision as repaying evil for evil which is one of the principles he holds dearly in his heart . The interrogator questions the sincerity of Socrates in `escaping ' in...

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