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Socrates: Breaking The Law

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In a world without law peace and justice would be hard to maintain. The law is created to help protect the people’s rights and keep them safe. Throughout time laws have been changed either creating new laws or restructuring old laws or just removing old laws. There is a thin line between right and wrong and that is why people have been struggling throughout the ages to come up with the perfect set of laws to follow. With this uncertainty set in place the question of whether if it is ever justified to break the law comes up. This is a complicated issue because every person has a different view when it comes to answering this question. Socrates believed that the law should be upheld and respected by everyone no matter what, while other people …show more content…

However, Socrates did not and that is because Socrates believes in living a good life and a good life consists of honor, justice and many other good moral qualities. Socrates asked Crito “and is life worth living with a body that is corrupted and in bad condition?”(Plato 50) which then lead to the conclusion that living a good life and obeying the laws is more valuable than escaping prison living a corrupted life. Even though, the good life caused Socrates an early death. Also, breaking the law may result in harming others and according to Socrates harming others can harm the soul. By harming others one is being unjust and unjust deeds harm the soul. So what is the point of breaking the law if I will be hurt in the end?
Furthermore, Socrates would never rationalize breaking the law because it would be violating an agreement made between the citizen and the state. The state is responsible for taking care of its citizen whether it is in form of education, health or protection and in return the citizen should follow the laws set by the state. Socrates mentioned that “it is impious to bring violence to bear against your mother or father; it is much more so to use it against your country”(Plato …show more content…

A rebellion against an unjust system or a dictatorship is an example of the struggle for freedom. Most of the changes throughout history came from people standing up in what they believe from Martin Luther King to Susan B. Anthony to Gandhi to Galileo to many more. These people knew that there was something wrong in the system and they fought for that purpose. Just like nowadays, gay marriage is accepted in some places while other places it is prohibited. Just a year ago gay marriage was not legal in every state in the United States. However, the people stood up for what they believed in a fought to legalize it. While in other countries such as Egypt people are being arrested and put to trial for having a gay marriage ceremony. How is the law just in this situation? And should homosexuals hide what they are for the stake of their country? Some people might say that gay marriage is harmful whether it is because it denies the children a mother and a father or it violates the natural law or it is against religion or many other reasons. However, the law is put into place to protect people and not to enforce a certain religion or follow a certain agenda. Many children are raised by single parents or are orphans that are raised by family member which proves that family comes in different shapes. Overall, gay marriage is not harming anyone so why is it still illegal

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Socrates states that if one does not agree with the contract that you tacitly agreed to that one must either try and persuade the state to change or follow the rules that they have. Socrates tried to sway the court on his ruling and failed, he now feels obligated to follow through with the ruling and accept the punishment that he was given. He also realizes that if he did not like the rules and regulations of Athens that he had the choice to leave and reside in another city. Socrates knows that since he has lived in Athens for many years and benefited from the goods and services of Athens he feels obligated to give Athens his

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Political activists and philosophers alike have a challenging task of determining the conditions under which citizens are morally entitled to go against the law. Socrates and Martin Luther King, Jr. had different opinions on the obligation of the citizens in a society to obey the law. Although they were willing to accept the legal punishment, King believed that there are clear and definable circumstances where it would be appropriate, and sometimes mandatory, to purposely disobey unjust laws. Socrates did not. Socrates obeyed what he considered to be an unjust verdict because he believed that it was his obligation, as a citizen of Athens, to persuade or obey its Laws, no matter how dire the consequences.

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“May it be for the best. If it so please the gods, so be it.” (Cooper 44). Socrates states that if it pleases the gods then thats whats supposed to happen. Socrates has his morals that he grew up with and so does everyone else.

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It is impious to bring violence to bear against your mother or father; it is much more so to use it against your country.” What we say in reply, Crito, that the laws speak the truth, or not?” (TDS pg 51,52). By breaking the law, Socrates would be disobeying the laws as a citizen, like a child disobeying his parent. By escaping he would have been doing an impious act that would affect his standing with the gods.

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