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Crito Outline Notes
Part 1 (43a-44b). Introductory setting of the scene
1. 1. Crito’s reasons in support of fleeing
1. 1. 1. negative: loss for Crito of friend and reputation
1. 1. 2. negative: loss for reputations of Crito and others re. money
(Soc.: Who cares about reputation among the majority, since they do not make one wise or foolish?)
1. 1. 3. positive: we have lots of money for bribes & will not suffer if you flee
1. 1. 4. positive: you will be welcomed in many places
1. 1. 5. negative: You are not doing what is just: betraying your sons, you lack courage.
1. 1. 6. negative: Consider whether this is not only evil, but shameful for you and us
1.2. Socrates’s principles: I listen to arguments and respectfully follow principles, not threats.
1. 2. 1. one must not value the opinions of men, but some and not others; one should value the good opinions and not be corrupted by the opinion of the many, but follow the truth itself.
1. 2. 2. “the most important thing is not life, but the good life.” We should choose not just to live but a good and just life.
“the only valid consideration . . . is whether we should be acting rightly” in escaping: “Let us examine the question together . . . . .”
Part 2. Never do wrong deliberately: “Wrongdoing or injustice is in every way harmful and shameful to the wrongdoer?” Yes.
2. 1. The majority: “to do harm in return”
2. 2. Crito and Socrates: “It is never right.”
“So then consider very carefully whether we have this view in common, and whether you agree, and let this be the basis of our deliberation, that neither to do wrong nor to return a wrong is ever correct, nor is doing harm in return for harm done.”
2. 3. Just agreements: ”When one has come to an agreement that is just with someone, should one fulfill it or cheat on it?”
Part 3: Dialogue with The Laws
3. 1. What Socrates owes to the City /Laws: duties & obligations
Is Socrates “on equal footing” with the City / Laws?
Is it right for Socrates to destroy the City / Laws?
“You must either persuade it or obey its orders, and endure in silence whatever it instructs you to endure, whether blows or bonds, and if it leads you into war to be wounded or killed, you must obey.” (51b)
“We say, however, that whoever of you remains, when he sees how we conduct our trials and manage the city in other ways, has in fact come to an agreement with us to obey our instructions. We say that the one who disobeys does wrong in three ways, first because in us he disobeys his parents, also those who brought him up, and because, in spite of his agreement, he neither obeys us nor, if we do something wrong, does he try to persuade us to do better.”
“we speak the truth when we say that you agreed, not only in
words but by your deeds, to live in accordance with us.”
3. 2. The consequences if you flee elsewhere.
Is Socrates a consequentialist or a deontologist?