The Crito (Ancient Greek: Κρίτων [ˈkriːtɔːn]; in English usually /ˈkriːtoʊ/ KREE-toh) is a short but important dialogue by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. It is a conversation between Socrates and his wealthy friend Crito regarding justice (dikē), injustice (adikia), and the appropriate response to injustice. Socrates thinks that injustice may not be answered with injustice, and refuses Crito’s offer to finance his escape from prison. This dialogue contains an ancient statement of the social contract theory of government.
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I am all for following the law as it is written and working to change laws through the established system. However, maybe breaking the law is part of the change process. Let’s take a law like drinking alcohol in public. I feel that as a responsible adult, I should be able to go down to Loyola beach and drink a few beers with my wife. However, the law says that I do not have that right. In this case, I feel like breaking the law is perfectly fine since I understand the purpose of the law. I also would not like the beach full of drunken idiots, so the ban on drinking makes sense. However, I feel that I can personally handle drinking a couple of beers and I would even put my beer bottles in the garbage can in a responsible manner. Now, I could petition the Chicago city council to pass an ordinance making beach drinking legal, but I would rather not waste my time and simply ignore the law. I don’t feel like I am breaking any social contract when I do this. Socrates however, feels like breaking the law would be immoral because the system of laws has made him happy and satisfied with life in ancient Athens for 70 years. Here we differ in our opinions.
Comment by pha9 — July 5, 2010 @ 2:47 pm |
Quick question: If Socrates is 70 plus years old, then why is Crito worried about his sons being abandoned and not having a proper upbringing and education? How old are his sons? And, is this normal for Ancient Greece? It sounds like they are children or at least teenagers which would make Socrates in his fifties when he decided to have children. What’s the deal?
Comment by pha9 — July 5, 2010 @ 2:58 pm |
Socrates is not concerned with how long he will live, he is concerned with how to live well. How can I live well? I think that’s what I am supposed to be learning here.
Comment by pha9 — July 5, 2010 @ 3:04 pm |
So, here we have the roots of the “turn the other cheek” philosophy. If someone does an injustice to you, you should not try to retaliate. Why? Because doing any injustice is wrong and doing injustice makes you morally incorrect and therefore less happy. Got it? Now, that is really difficult to apply because most people would not agree that you would be better off not retaliating for an injustice that is done to you. Jesus did it, or so we are taught to believe.
Comment by pha9 — July 5, 2010 @ 3:09 pm |