The Contradiction Of Socrates In The Apology And The Crito

The Contradiction of Socrates Plato illustrates Socrates in two different aspects in The Apology and in The Crito, which makes the reader ponder which interpretation of Socrates is substantial and which is fictions. Precisely, Plato portrayed Socrates with many inconsistencies in The Apology the emphasis was on obeying the Gods in contrast in The Crito the emphasis was on obeying the laws of Athens. In Plato’s Apology initiates with Socrates’ defense to the Athenian court demonstrating his innocence of the charges brought against him. Socrates was accused of breaking various laws under the Athenian court, the most significant laws were corrupting the youth and believing and worshiping in different Gods that the rest of the citizens in …show more content…
Wentz, “ In the Apology Socrates is represented as condoning disobedience. First (29d) he states that he would “never stop practicing philosophy” even if so ordered by the jury at his trail. Second (32 c-d) Socrates proudly tells of his disobedience to the Thirty Commissioners when they ordered him to go to Salamis to get Leon. Thus, there is at least apparent inconsistency between the Apology and the Crito on the question of disobeying the law.”(Wentz). In The Crito, Plato illustrates Socrates in a complete contrast to the image that the reader captured in The Apology. In the dialogue between Crito and Socrates, Crito tries to convince Socrates that escaping out of jail is the right the thing to do. Crito first argues by explaining that it would be wrong for Socrates to throw his life away in prison because if he decides to remain in prison then he will be doing exactly what his enemies intended to do. Crito continues his argument by explaining that if he were to remain in jail he will be silenced, thus, Socrates would be conspiring with other people who are trying to do something unethical. Crito continues by brining forth Socrates’ children and how they would be affected and would be left without a father, however, Socrates isn’t convinced by Crito’s …show more content…
Socrates continues to explain how he can’t violate the verdict, which in this case is the death penalty therefore, it would be wrong because Socrates couldn’t go against his principles. Socrates states, “ Come then, if we destroy that which becomes better by the healthful and is corrupted by the distasteful, because we don’t obey the opinion of the experts, is life worth living for us when it has been corrupted? Surely this is the body, isn’t it?”(47e) Socrates is explaining how in his mind life is not worth living unless it is lived appropriately in this case being, that the ethical life is more important than life itself. Socrates continues his justification on why he can’t escape prison because by committing this action he would be doing what he considers as the unjust thing because he would’ve been seen as a dishonorable