Plato's Crito

1
Plato's Crito

• Crito tries to convince Socrates to escape

2
Critos objections to compliance

• Friendship
• Reputation
• No practical necessity
• Collaboration in wrongdoing
• Child neglect
• Injustice of verdict

3
Socratess response

• Friendship, reputation and lack of necessity are
  secondary to whether escape would be wrong.
• The collaboration, child neglect and injustice
  objections are not valid reasons for escape.

4
Principles Socrates appeals to

• Anti-retaliation principle Returning injury for
  injury is wrong (49d)
• Contract principle One should keep ones just
  agreements (49e)
• Enforcement principle Court decisions should
  have final authority in the disposition of cases
  (50b)

5
First argument against escape

• 1. By escaping S would be injuring Athens and its
  laws
• 2. Therefore, by the anti-retaliation principle,
  S should not escape

6
Why would escaping injure the city?

• Escaping violates the enforcement principle (EP)
• It therefore puts rule of law in peril, since it
  suggests that it is okay to violate a
  procedurally correct court decision if you
  disagree with it.
• EP may allow some violation of law
• But it may require one to accept injustice,
  contrary to Cs injustice objection.

7
2nd argument against escape

• 1. By accepting the status of citizenship, S
  tacitly but freely agreed to its obligations
  (51d-53a).
• 2. These require him to obey the Laws unless he
  can convince them they are wrong.
• 3. Therefore, by escaping, S would be violating a
  just agreement.
• 4. Therefore, by the contract principle, S should
  not escape.

8
Collaboration objection has it been answered?

• The city is wronging S if he complies, is he not
  collaborating in wrongdoing?
• Socrates cannot consistently admit this.
• But perhaps the agreement would require him only
  to suffer wrong (51b).

9
Child neglect?

• The Laws say (53e-54b) that it would not be
  good for the children to remove them from Athens,
  and if Ss friends would care for them if S
  escaped, they can do so if he doesnt.

10
A contradiction with Apology?

• S implies there that he would disobey any court
  order to stop philosophizing (29d).
• He also claims that he was right to refuse an
  order to bring someone in for what he viewed as a
  wrongful execution (32c-e).
• But here he appeals to his obligation to obey the
  laws of his community.

11
A final question

• What would your society have to be like in the
  way it treats its citizens in order for you to be
  willing to accept an unjust verdict and sentence
  as Socrates does?