The Role Of Injustice In Plato's Crito

We are told that we are born with basic rights and that we have the freedom to believe in whatever we desire, however, the chains that bind us are morality and justice. People’s opinion of us stops us from having complete freedom. A person with strong morality would feel guilty if they were given the choice to commit an injustice against another, and thus decide not to do so in the first place, even if they are given the opportunity to do what they want with no harm done to the other person. In Plato’s Crito, Socrates only cares about truth, therefore, for him to escape prison would be considered an injustice. He will be breaking the law, confirming his accuser’s statements about him being a criminal despite the fact that their claims are untrue. If he escapes, he will be exactly as they said he was in the eyes of others, and this is the primary argument that Socrates presents. I believe that Socrates’ reasons

The first, and most important, is that to live a good life, one must not ruin their soul by committing injustice. This is stated very clearly by him saying that “one shouldn’t do injustice in return for injustice, as the majority of people think—seeing that one should never do injustice” (54). In other words, to commit injustice is to be rewarded with a tainted soul. We cannot make things better by doing more wrong, even if it seems just to us. Two wrongs to not make a right. The problem is that we have to consider if something is wrong in the mind of the person committing the act. It is true that we cannot get back what has been done to us, even if we retaliate or don’t do anything about it. The most important thing is to live honestly and morally; not simply living, but living well. But choosing to partake in this lifestyle is harder than it seems. I do not believe that I, or mostly anyone, can completely refrain from doing injustice, knowingly or