The Nature Of Justice In Plato's Crito

Improved Essays
Within Plato’s Crito, there is dialogue between Socrates and his long-time friend Crito regarding the nature of justice and how one should act in the face of injustice. Crito offers to help Socrates escape prison to evade execution, yet Socrates argues it is wrong for him to escape in response to the injustice he has been dealt. Dealing with the relationship between an individual and a state’s laws, this dialogue is the foundation for inquiry into arguments for being a law-abiding citizen, whether law breaking is justified and the purpose of the state. This shall be explored, however the argument for obey laws only if they are just is more robust.

When talking with Crito, Socrates discusses principles pertain to acting without causing harm
…show more content…
The Laws in Crito does not show a desirable conception of citizenhood; individuals being placed below the state in a hierarchy (Cr.50e5-51a5). This hierarchy compares the state and its citizens with a master and slaves (Cr.e7-51a2). This allows for the state to act as an individual’s superior furthering the justification for suffering to be inflicted upon citizens at the state’s whims. The injustice against Socrates was that Socrates faces execution wrongfully, and the Laws seem to acknowledge that Socrates has not violated any laws and is innocent, yet it was the men at the trial who decided to execute him (Weiss, 1998). A state that operates under this hierarchy does not deem justice as something applied equally; harm can be done to individuals if the majority agree upon it and retaliation is seemingly unwarranted (1998). The position of power allows the ‘master’ state to dictate how justice operates and ‘slave’ citizens must acquiesce. This implies that the powerful in a society, as in those who have most control over how the state operates, can oppress its citizens and impose societal ideals as they see fit. Just as Henry David Thoreau argues in Civil Disobedience (1849), individuals must not allow the state to turn citizens into apathetic “agents of injustice” who are complacent to abuses of power. It is logical …show more content…
Weiss (1998) demonstrates in Socrates Dissatisfied the lack of Socratic values of emphasis on individual freedom and using reason to understand how to act in a just way within the oration of the Laws. Socrates advocates for reasoned philosophical inquiry (Cr.46b3-6) and trusting opinions of experts (Cr.47c8-d5), due to the epistemic responsibility of experts to guide those lacking expertise; such as a doctor giving medical advice to patients (Cr.47b2-3). This shows that morality being dictated by the state does not serve citizens well as it is not a moral expert. Indeed, Socrates may not have argued for violence as an adequate response to a dysfunctional state as it would violate his principles of returning injustice with injustice (Cr.49b-e). However as Weiss (1998) notes, the Laws focus on disobedience in the face of suffering and not disobedience as a form of protest against injustice. Without violent revolutions states can still change drastically over time to accommodate the needs of the society, which Socrates would surely see the necessity of this. The Laws do not reflect his views, but are a rhetorical device used by a philosopher who cares for his friends lawless soul (Weiss,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In Crito, a dialogue written by Plato, the Greek philosopher Socrates is sentenced to death because of corrupting the youth, creating new gods, and being an atheist. Centuries later, another prominent figure, Martin Luther King, Jr., is jailed for civil disobedience in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. When questioned of their imprisonment, Plato and King, Jr. are both determined to maintain justice despite the injustices charged against them, but for Plato, justice means upholding the law at all costs since one should do no wrong, whereas King is concerned with reforming the law, therefore doing wrong could make a “right”. To both King and Socrates, a portion of injustice in law damages justice as a whole.…

    • 904 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Since the Laws exist as one element, to break one would be to break every one of them, and in doing as such, Socrates would bring about them incredible damage. The citizen is bound to the Laws like a child is bound to a guardian, thus to conflict with the Laws would resemble striking a guardian. As opposed to just infringing upon the Laws and departure, Socrates ought to attempt to induce the Laws to release him. These Laws introduce the national's obligation to them as a sort of social contract. By living in Athens, a resident is bound by supporting the Laws, and complying with them.…

    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Emerging from the latter half of the 5th century BCE, travelling professional intellectuals called the sophists frequented Athens and the surrounding Greek city-states. These intellectuals would offer an education in “arête” (excellence) – to those who would be able to pay a small fee. Arête, during the second half of the fifth century BCE, was associated by Greek citizens with being successfully influential in the political sphere through persuasive speech whereas before then arête was primarily associated with heroic virtues exemplified by Greek heroes like Achilles and Odysseus. Since the sophists were able to provide an education in arête in exchange for a fee, they would later be called “the new ‘teachers’ of 5th-century Athens” (Griffin…

    • 1179 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Glaucon Vs Socrates

    • 1273 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Imagine a man that always donate clothes and feeds the homeless. This man regularly visits children with terminal illnesses and is one of the largest donors to Susan G. Komen for the Cure non-profit organization. He is viewed by tens of thousands as a saint, heaven sent or a reincarnation of Jesus himself. A just man in the eyes of many, but this man has twisted dark secrets; which involve human trafficking, murder of any competitor and extortion of politicians. The man is an unjust person by nature but is viewed as just.…

    • 1273 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Chicago cop cleared in unarmed woman’s shooting death”. Headlines just like this are becoming common in today’s society and the main question that the community asks is “when will justice be served?” Living in a time where the black community keeps getting shot by the police and no consequences occur, we have no choice but to question, what is justice? Similar to the modern society, the one Plato lived in confronted this same question of justice. In this paper I will attempt to explain the view that Plato places before us through Socrates in The Republic as to what is justice and does it “pay” better than injustice in society.…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Throughout their conversation, Crito discusses with Socrates why he believes Socrates should flee. However, this leads Socrates to question the power of state and the laws. The Laws that make up the state is a crucial factor in “Crito”. In fact, the Laws are so important in Socrates 's discussion that they become a voice, almost like another person. He thinks thoroughly and examines them because he believes that every citizen has an agreement with Laws.…

    • 1507 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Do you think Socrates did the right thing by allowing himself to be unjustly executed? Socrates had made an intelligent decision by sacrificing himself to protect the “Social contract” between the state and him, rather than escape from prison to break the rules. Use life to exchange for the preservation of his thought Escape from the prison is equivalent to destruct all of his thought and value what he had constructed during his lifetime. Because leaving Athens is kind of actions to contradict what he taught to his followers, be faithful to the righteousness.…

    • 989 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The following essay will discuss Socrates reasons for refusing Crito’s offer of help in Crito, as well as whether or not these refusals are justified. We will discuss each of Socrates reasons for refusing in turn, criticising each as we move through the dialogue. Crito raises the problem of the extent to which a moral person is obligated to their City State (referred to as Athens and the State throughout), as well as the individual's dedication to the central principle of the dialogue; never doing any wrong. We will focus on the idea that by being wronged by the State, Socrates’ obligation is dissolved but his reasons remain justified due to his dedication to the avoidance of wrongdoing and Plato's need to have Socrates be a consistent character and this being the sole justification for his refusal. Socrates gives four reasons as to why he refuses Crito’s offer of escape.…

    • 1411 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Plato's The Crito Argument

    • 1769 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In the opening dialogue of the Crito, we find Socrates in a prison prior to his execution. Socrates awakens to find his old friend Crito sitting outside his cell “I have been marveling at you, when I see how peaceful you’ve been sleeping” (43b). Crito has come to convince and persuade Socrates to escape his his sentence of execution “I think that if you die it won’t just be one misfortune”(44c). Yet Socrates presents many arguments and lays out the principals that he has chosen to live his life by.…

    • 1769 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    We argued that that the imprisonment of an innocent man has already undermined the Laws of Athens and so his escape would be just, in reversing the damage to the state. However, Socrates believes that one should ever wrong someone else, and he believes that his escape would undermine the Laws of Athens, and so under this justification, Socrates is justified in not escaping. We considered the idea that perhaps for Socrates his not escaping is not about political obligation but is instead a matter of maintaining his character, and if this is his true justification then he is justified in his…

    • 1501 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Justice can have many meanings when put into different perspectives. Throughout Crito, by Plato, Socrates has to determine whether to escape prison or stay. Socrates was initially charged with corrupting the youth and not believing in gods. He argued his case in jury and did not choose the alternate punishment, exile, which could have saved his life. He was then given a death sentence and he was imprisoned until his execution.…

    • 1066 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    When I was younger, my mother told me that if I ever broke a law, she would disown me. This, along with my morals, was enough to keep me on the right side of the law. Although some people think that there are “bad” laws that could be broken without consequence, I claim that laws should never be broken because disobeying laws undermines the safety that laws are intended to maintain. Socrates insists that a life well lived is what really counts at the end of a life by saying, “‘At the same time I should like you to consider whether we are still satisfied on this point: that the really important thing is not to live, but to live well’”…

    • 1645 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Elaborating the Definition of Justice Plato, the Republic is about the history of political thought, it includes long conversations and arguments among several intellects. Thrasymachus, a fierce fighter, argues that justice is what is good for the stronger and that the unjust man lives a more profitable life than the just man does. Socrates, Plato’s teacher, play the role in defending justice in all these arguments. He praises justices for itself and its consequences. Next, Glaucon and Adeimantus, sons of Ariston, restore Thrasymachus’s argument in a different prospect of perfectly unjust life is better than a perfectly just life.…

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Antigone Vs Law Analysis

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Socrates and Antigone vs. the Law The proclivity for people to challenge the law has been a topic of discussion for thousands of years. In Plato’s Crito, Greek Philosopher Socrates explains his point of view on the subject in which he chooses to abide by the law, even if he knows that he will be executed. Antigone, a main character from Sophocles’ play of the same name, contradicts Socrates’ ideas and clarifies her belief that one should rebel against authority according to their own justice.…

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Plato’s Crito, Socrates proposes that one should never return a wrong with a wrong because returning a wrong would be unjust. Retaliation produces injury and injury is an injustice that should never be committed under any circumstance. Despite being placed in prison for the wrong reasons, Socrates decides not to leave since escaping would only mean harming Athens, the land that gave him everything. Although Socrates has reasonable arguments as to why he shouldn’t leave, Socrates fails to comprehend that retaliation can sometimes be justified.…

    • 823 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays