[ Up ]

Plato’s Crito

A reconstruction of Socrates' argument

 1.  All our decisions must be governed by truth, not popular opinion.  We will seek what is right, not for the satisfaction of the body, but for the welfare of the soul. 

 2.  We are committed to living well, beautifully, justly.

 3.  We must never do wrong (injustice).

 4.  We must never do wrong even in return for wrong.

 5.  To do harm to another, even in response to harm done to us, is wrong.

 6.  To escape from prison tears the city’s fabric of law and thus harms the city.

 7.  If we choose as adults to continue living in the city that has brought us some benefits, whose benefits we continue to enjoy, and whose laws we do not attempt to change, then there is an unspoken agreement or social contract that we must not betray.

 8.  To escape from prison is to break such an agreement.

 9.  To escape from prison is wrong.

An exercise on the Crito

I.  Give a two- or three-paragraph summary of the Crito (omitting detail about the central argument probed in Part II of this exercise) in order to provide a context for our primary focus.  BE SURE TO WRITE LEGIBLY.  YOUR CLASSMATES WILL BE READING IT.

II.  Focus on the central argument in the dialogue beginning at 48b (Rouse, p. 452).

Circle the number that most closely fits your own response, and write a sentence or two explaining your response.  You are here asked for your own views, not those of Socrates (or Plato).

1.  “Must we value most living well, not just living?”  [“Well” here is the adverb from the adjective “good”; to live well means living in accord with goodness.]

1. Strongly agree.    2. Agree.    3. Unsure.    4. Disagree.   5. Strongly disagree.

2.  “Well and beautifully and justly are the same?”  [Presumably the question does not ask whether these concepts have the same meaning but whether they imply the same kind of life.  To speak of a beautiful deed made perfect sense in ancient Greek; it would be more common today to use the word “noble”; nevertheless, for Socrates and Plato, there is something beautiful about the noble deed.]

1. Strongly agree.    2. Agree.    3. Unsure.    4. Disagree.   5. Strongly disagree.

Explain:

3.  Do we say that one must never in any way do wrong willingly?

1. Strongly agree.    2. Agree.    3. Unsure.    4. Disagree.   5. Strongly disagree.

Explain.

4.  And one must never do wrong in return for being wronged?

1. Strongly agree.    2. Agree.    3. Unsure.    4. Disagree.   5. Strongly disagree.

Explain.

5.  And harming the others is the same as doing wrong to others?

1. Strongly agree.    2. Agree.    3. Unsure.    4. Disagree.   5. Strongly disagree.

Explain.

6.  We must fulfill our agreements?

1. Strongly agree.    2. Agree.    3. Unsure.    4. Disagree.   5. Strongly disagree.

Explain.

7.  It would be wrong to break out of prison?

1. Strongly agree.    2. Agree.    3. Unsure.    4. Disagree.   5. Strongly disagree.

Explain.

Two ways of thinking, two types of soul

         In The Republic, Plato presents a doctrine of three activities of the psyche ("soul"): (1) reason (nous); (2) the part that seeks honor, reputation, position, victory, power, and wealth (thumos); and (3) the pleasure-seeking part (epithumia).  The implication is that different types of character emphasize different parts of the psyche.  What part of the psyche predominates in Socrates?  What part predominates in Crito?  How does this affect the organization of Crito’s thinking?

Crito’s argument based on the confusion of a thumosic soul

        Your death means a double calamity for me:

I lose an irreplaceable friend

My reputation will suffer [there is a well-known practice of bribing the guards, and people will think I am too cheap to help out my friends]

Popular opinion has to be considered because of its power.

We are willing to run the risk of getting caught and severely punished.

            Actually it doesn’t take much to buy off the informers; and we have the money.

There are places for you to go where you would be welcome;

            And you would also be secure among my friends in Thessaly.

It is not just (dikaion, right) for you to remain,

                        Throwing away your life when you might save it

                        [cooperating with] your enemies, and

                        deserting your sons who need education.

The whole affair would seem cowardly and disgraceful—that you appeared in court, the way you conducted your defense, and the appearance that we lacked the courage to save you.

Socrates’s argument based on judgments about what is right unfolds a perspective from which Crito’s concerns about consequences may be addressed.

S will endanger many others.

            S will gain a bad reputation.

            S will be suspect as an enemy of law and order.

            S will confirm the charges against him.

            S may flee from good company at the cost of a worthwhile life.

            S will tangle himself in hypocrisy.

            The people of Thessaly would find him ridiculous

            S's sons would be worse off elsewhere or just as well educated in Athens by his friends.

           S will enter the next world with a bad conscience, having injured these laws, brothers of the laws of the other world.