Socrates : A Man Facing An Unjust Execution

In The Apology of Socrates, Socrates is defending himself in his own trial, supposedly trying to avoid the death penalty for multiple infractions on the city of Athens and its’ society. He argues that the jurors if they were to convict him, that they would be the ones that would be harmed in doing so; not Socrates. This explanation of harm is contrary to many people’s belief of what the judicial system is supposed to accomplish. The role of the judicial system is to punish people for the crimes that they have committed and provided enough of a deterrent, so that the crimes will stop being committed.

The setting in which this dialogue took place was a prison cell. Since the very first line of this dialogue, I felt as though Socrates wasn’t too happy to see Crito. Socrates greets him with “why have you come” instead of a warm welcoming. Initially, I thought Socrates’ reaction was ironic because Crito was there to help him. Their entire dialogue is structured around Critos’ desire to break Socrates out of prison and free him from being exiled. As the completion of the dialogue draws closer and closer, I begin to understand Socrates’ logic. He feels that breaking him out of prison would cause him more harm than good.

The case laid out by Crito argues that should Socrates choose to remain in jail and allow the court to execute him that the consequences of his death would cause such harm to his loved ones that to do so would constitute an immoral act. The first portion of his argument

In the trial of Socrates, I juror number 307, Ryan Callahan vote the defendant is Not Guilty on the first charge of Corrupting the youth. My justifications for this vote are as follows. Socrates didn 't corrupt the youth, he just shared his ideas with them and they in turn chose the path to take these ideas. Part of understanding this case is understand the time in which the case was held. This time being 399 B.C., a time in which Athens was a free democratic city, a town which prided itself at the time on the fact that its citizens had much freedom, particularly freedom of speech. Socrates believed that only people who were educated should rule the people, which meant that people were not capable of government participation

In life, people are guided by moral beliefs and principles. Whether their beliefs are good or bad, their decisions are based on them. In Plato “The Crito”, Socrates emphasizes his moral beliefs and principles when he decides not to escape from prison. Although Socrates had the opportunity to escape his death sentence, he chose not to do so because he had a moral obligation to commit a sacrifice.

Crito and agreement with two guards to help Socrates escape his execution and live in exile, but Socrates refuses to escape. Crito believes that he would be committing two evil he he let Socrates die; “For if you die I might have saved you if I bad been willing to give money, but that I did not care. Now, can there be a worse disgrace than this- that i should be taught to value money more than the life of a friend?” (44) One must value life over money and life over death. Crito continues to try and convince his friend that escaping is the right thing to do. Crito argues that if Socrates is to stay he would be committing an injustice for he is wrongfully sentenced. “Socrates in betraying your own life when you might be saved; this is playing into the hands of you enemies and destroyers; and moreover I should say that you were betraying your children for you might bring them up and educate them.” (45) One must value his family his friends and his children. As Crito stated Socrates choosing to not escape as is an act of him abandoning his wife and children and he should be ashamed. One must also value and obey the law of Athens, this would be one of Socrates arguments of why he would not escape his

In The Crito, Socrates’ states that he abides by his principles, and guides his reflection by reasons. Thus, Socrates’ argues that his escape from prison will compromise the principles, upon which he defended himself during the trial. In The Apology, Socrates’ mentioned that “the difficulty is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death” (25). Hence, Socrates’ escape would have contradicted his own principle of being righteous. Furthermore, Socrates’ persistence in teaching philosophy convinced him to be condemned to death rather than to exile. In addition, in The Apology, Socrates’ mentioned that any person, who believes that Socrates should be ashamed of his life, is mistaken. Moreover, Socrates’

The first point of what Socrates answers what isn’t justice is that justice isn’t equality. It is not after death of getting revenge that makes justice equal. Socrates uses the example of how when a person is on trial for murder, and how that person sentence is death. The end result will not be justice, because in the end both the criminal and already the innocent will be dead and no equality of justice would have been done at all. Another example is when a person is put to death when they owe taxes. There is no equal justice to killing someone who owes taxes because in the end result, the tax is still not paid off. So this leaves Justice is not paying amends. It is then moved to the question of when is justice is used. Justice is used when

Socrates should not escape from prison to avoid his death sentence because he would be breaking the law which ultimately led to him straying away from his own principles. He was a person who believed in what was just and doing what was morally correct. If he were to escape from prison, he would essentially be harming others and the State. He thought through harming others, he would be harming himself and his soul, so Socrates did not believe in harming others and thought it was unjust and morally wrong. Even though Socrates had the opportunity to escape and he was given plenty of reasons from his friends to do so, he did not want to go against what he believes in and his philosophy. He could not live a life where he would have to stop

The execution of Socrates is not justified. The charges that were brought against Socrates had taught all his adult life, without molestation, in a state that was well known for its democracy and fairness. The Athenians were not brutal people and executions were rare. Socrates had to drink a poisonous hemlock in order to die, a non-brutal method of death. We must understand Athens past in order to make judgment. I believe that the form of punishment was very extreme in this impressionable city and very uncommon and unalike the portrayed view of the typical Athenian. Socrates

Socrates’s offering to the jury is to tell the truth, despite not admitting that it is simply his truth and thus not the entire truth, he is not able to convey to the jury the importance of not killing him. A bad citizen would try to undermine the jury by committing perjury and disobeying the decision of the court. He however, wouldn’t even like it if the jury committed perjury on his behalf, “Socrates says what he means on the stand hold honesty above all else, so when he is offered a chance to escape from his execution he does not take it. By refusing to escape, he reiterates how sticking to agreements is important to him. Socrates' commitment to the societal agreement between him and the city where he is allowed to live in

The portrayal of Socrates, through the book “the trial and death of Socrates” is one that has created a fairly controversial character in Western history. In many ways, Socrates changed the idea of common philosophy in ancient Greece; he transformed their view on philosophy from a study of why the way things are, into a consideration man. Specifically, he analyzed the virtue and health of the human soul. Along side commending Socrates for his strong beliefs, and having the courage to stand by those convictions, Socrates can be commended for many other desirable characteristics. Some of those can include being the first martyr to die for his philosophical beliefs and having the courage to challenge indoctrinated cultural norms is part of

Socrates was accused of being a sophist because he was "engaging in inquiries into things beneath the earth and in the heavens, of making the weaker argument appear the stronger," and "teaching others these same things." (Apology, Plato, Philosophic Classics page 21) Socrates is also accused of denying the existence of the gods, and corrupting the youth. Socrates goes about trying to prove his innocence. The jury that Socrates was tried by was made up of 501 Athenian citizens of all classes of society. While he fails to convince the Athenian jury of his innocence, he does a wonderful job in this effort. I personally believe that Socrates is innocent, and that the Athenian jury made the wrong decision.

Socrates was found guilty of the following accusations; corrupting the youth, believing in different gods, or being an atheist, and for “examining” the heavens above and the earth below. He inclined for a fine that could be paid instead of facing banishment, however, the court decided to give him the death penalty. There he slept in prison when Criton approached and attempted to persuade him to escape. He declined as it would go against his logic and reasoning he taught his whole life. Was it “just” of him to accept the death penalty that was catalyzed by absurd accusations? This paper will argue that it was Socrates “right” to accept the death penalty due to the consent he made with the society he resided in.

Unfortunately, Socrates was not elated with having any type of freedom or escape from his prison cell. Consequently, Socrates argued with Crito why he should continue with his confinement, and why he should go through with the execution. Crito and Socrates established an enriched dialogue which was shaped by their lifetime experiences, and what they believed in as mature and wise adults. They were really three (3) primary arguments that Crito set forth in order to convince Socrates to put aside his moral conventions and escape from his prison room immediately. Fortunately, Socrates was equal in his arguments which were formed from his moral convictions and