View of value

Traditional

Plato (1965 . The Last Days of Socrates . Baltimore : Penguin Classics

This book gives a good overview of many of Western philosophy 's foundational thinker . Plato uses Socrates numerous times in his writings to espouse his views on values , and continues to do so specifically in Crito ' The story takes place after Socrates is condemned to death . Crito visits Socrates in his cell and tries to convince the old philosopher to escape before the sentence is carried out . Crito , as a follower of Socrates , feels compelled to try to rescue him

, as he fears they will be viewed with contempt for failing to help Socrates espouses a distinctly conservative viewpoint and tells Crito that he is not concerned with the values of popular opinion , rather only those of himself and his gods . Crito tries many arguments to try to dissuade Socrates from going through with his sentence , but Socrates has a response for each argument . When Crito reminds Socrates that the charges and the trial were unfair , Socrates explains how he must still follow through with the sentence , as he is obligated to follow the word of the law . By escaping , Socrates would be disregarding the law , and believes that by correcting a wrong with another wrong is nothing more than a complete contradiction of everything that he stood for in life

Socrates asks Crito the value of society if people simply ignored the laws whenever they disagreed with them . To Socrates , resisting evil by any means other than persuasion is evil ' and he refuses to ignore the law because it is unfair . Socrates did his best to persuade his jury of his innocence , but since they concluded that he was guilty , he feels no other alternative but to follow the sentence . This obligation to the law overrules everything else , including whether the law is unfair , the trial was fixed , or the ease required in escaping Socrates ' view of the law is a very conservative view , as it accepts the unjust as oppose to challenging it . For Socrates ' purpose , his submission to the obviously unjust trial is nothing more than a statement of his respect for the law , his strong refusal to sacrifice his values , and a protest against the fallibility of those who administer the law

Rousseau , J .J (1967 /1762 ) The social contract : and , Discourse on the origin and foundation

of inequality among mankind , Ed . Lester G . Crocker . New York Washington Square Press

This book is crucial to the evolution of social contract theories and evaluating the values of humanity . Rousseau viewed the state of society with negativity . In his 1762 work , The Social Contract , Rousseau defined his own clear version of the contract that humanity has with Nature . Rousseau 's contract theory starts with the opening declaration "Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains . One thinks himself the master of others , and still remains a greater slave than they (1967 /1762 ,

. 56 . Man creates and becomes slaves to their own values

Rousseau believed...