Analysis Of Apology: The Book Of Crito

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In the book of Apology, Socrates was mistakenly accused, and the accusation went as follows: "Socrates is an evil-doer who corrupts the youth, and who does not believe in the gods whom the city believes in, but in other new divinities"(Plato 9). During the trial, he denied all the accusations. He denied the would-be corruption of the youth and disclaimed his alleged disbelief in the gods of the Athenian state. However, he was still put in prison unjustly because the elaw had been incorrectly applied. Crito was a book after Apology. It was a dialogue from the main characters Socrates and his friend Crito. The main theme of the book of Crito is about whether Socrates should break the law and escape from execution, or stay and accept his death …show more content…

From all three arguments in the book, the most fundamental principle of Socrates is that the really important thing is not just to live, but to live well. Living a good life meant living a life without doing wrong, and not hurting his country and its citizens.. Socrates stated that the laws and the city could be destroyed if he escaped. The laws would lose their force, and a country without laws would be chaos. In addition to harming the city, Socrates thought he would harm the condition of his soul by escaping. His soul would be harmed if he harmed others by breaking the laws. Being responsible for harm to others would cause harm to his soul. Also, he did make a tacit agreement to follow the laws of Athens since he had lived under them for over seventy years, raised his children under them, and did not try to persuade the city to change them(Plato 54). According to Socrates, living justly also meant not breaking or disobeying the laws. To Socrates, nothing could be worse than breaking the laws and escape. Escaping from jail was a wrong action no matter what good reason he had, especially if this might bring harm to his country. Socrates declared, “One should never do wrong in return, nor mistreat any man, no matter how one has been mistreated” (Plato 49b). Socrates stated a truth, law breaking is unjust, while observance of laws is just, because laws are just. However, are all laws just? Should we obey all laws regarding the law itself is morally justice or

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