Morally Justice Or Injustice In The Book Of Crito

The main theme of the book of Crito is about whether should Socrates break the law and escape from execution or stay and accept his death penalty. At the very end, Socrates pointed out that trying to escape breaks the law, and any act that breaks the law is unjust . Therefore, Socrates refused to escape and decided to accept his death penalty and execution. Socrates responded each of the three arguments Crito brought out. However, are Socrates’ arguments reasonable and is it always right to obey the law regarding the law itself is morally justice or injustice? First of all, we need know what are the arguments mainly about? The book of Crito is a dialogue between Socrates and his good friend Crito. This argument between Socrates and Crito

In this argument, Crito pointed out that he himself would be affected in two ways if Socrates was not escaping. On one hand, Crito would lose a very good friend if Socrates died. On the other hand, it would bring him bad reputation, because most people would think that Crito did nothing to try to save his friend’s life. In addition, many people wanted him to escape. “ Not only will I be deprived of a friend… but many people who do not know you or me very ell will think that I could hae saved you if I wee willing to spend money (Crito 47 c).” In other words, Crito concerned the opinion of majority. To reply this argument, Socrates first pointed that not all opinions supposed to be right, meaning that the opinion of the majority also could be wrong. “ The opinion of many says that escaping from the jail is right-But is it right(Crito 48b)”? Then Socrates raised a question about what are we concerned with, any opinion, or only good opinion? Socrates told Crito that one should always prefer expert opinion to majority opinion, especially in matters of the soul; one should only listen to the opinion, which benefits him. If he chose to escape, his life might be saved, but he would be called unjust since he breaks the law. In conclusion, one should not agree with an opinion just because it is the opinion of the majority; instead, one should listen to the opinion only if the opinion itself is right. Therefore, Socrates decided not to

His last argument brought the conversation to a deeper level that had moral content. This argument can be basicly divided into three parts. First, Crito thought since Socrates gave up his life when he could save it, what Socrates was doing was unjust. Second, Socrates was so wrong to betray his children by leaving them without a father. Third, Socrates was coward for not facing up to his enemy, and if he stayed, he would only be aiding his enemies in wronging him so unjustly (Crito 48 c-e). By responding Crito, Socrates pulled out what he believed and his main reason for not escaping. To Socrates, the most important thing was not living, but living a good life. And living a good life meant not doing wrong things. Socrates himself knew what was right and what was wrong according to his standard. It seemed like that giving up his life when he could save it was so wrong and it was right to escape since he was mistreated. However, according to Socrates, no matter how he was mistreated, his attitude toward the judgment was more important. Therefore, Socrates thought he was dong right by staying since escaping from the jail was a law breaking action, and any action that breaks law is