Socrates Choice
Socrates was an ancient Greek philosopher who was accused of impiety and corrupting the youth of Athens. His sentence was death, byway of drinking poison. However, prior to his execution day, a friend, Crito, offered Socrates an opportunity to flee Athens, and evade his death sentence. Socrates refused to run away, and he justified his reasons to Crito. I agree with Socrates' justifications for not escaping, he accepted his death justly and faced the sentence the Athenian court declared. Throughout the Crito, Socrates explains his reasoning for not evading the government. Socrates introduces several pivotal ideas in the dialogue, which led me to agree with his decision. The first idea requires a person to contemplate whether or not the society in which he lives has a just reasoning behind its' own standards of right and wrong. The second idea requires a person to have pride in the life that he leads. In establishing basic questions of these two concepts, Socrates has precluded his own circumstance and continues to prove that the choice he has made is just. "...I am the kind of man who listens only to the argument that on reflection seems best to me. I cannot, not that this fate has come upon me, discard the arguments used; th
They pass on to their children what they hold to be true; for they brought a person into a society that they believed to be profound and just. It is by this notion that people live by today as well. Parents raise and teach their children beliefs and morals that they also hold to be correct. Socrates states that by remaining a member of a society, one must in fact accept the society as their own. " The society in which a person lives, creates a mutual relationship in which every person in that society is indebted to if he willingly accepts that society for his own. " Socrates states that making a conscious choice to remain under the influence of a society is an unconscious agreement with that society to live your life by its' standards and virtues. It is to this principle that Socrates adheres to. He indignantly renounced the idea of self-preservation and any attempt to escape because of the potential harm and damage that it ultimately would cause. The agreement he made within his city to obey the laws, and to live as a good citizen makes the thought of exile shameful and therefore unacceptable. Ultimately, in my opinion, Socrates did the right and commendable thing. In this case the wrongs being his wrongful imprisonment, and his escape. In modern society we have similar beliefs. Socrates concludes that if he were to follow Crito's advice he would be committing several wrong actions against a society which he calls his own. In the time of the ancient Greeks, to disobey your won society, is the to betray what was taught to be right by parents. Socrates holds incredible respect for the laws that govern him; he would not permit any deviance, be it great or small.
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,
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Acceptance Essays
