Monday, March 16, 2020

The Apology essays

The Apology essays In Platos Five Dialogues, Socrates makes some pretty strong comments pertaining to the authority of the state government and its laws. These comments show up in both the Apology and the Crito. However, the fundamental claims Socrates makes in the Crito, are apparently contradictory with the ones made previously in the Apology. Although there exists some tension between Socrates statements in the two dialogues, the important claims about the rights of the state in the Crito can be interpreted in a way as to be consistently tied together with the Apology. In the Apology, Socrates seems willing to defy the state laws, and in this case the jury. However, in the Crito Socrates argues for the laws of the state and how nobody should disobey them, or any legally constituted body of government. This becomes confusing because they are contradictory statements, yet Socrates speaks of them almost as fundamental truths. Most would argue that it is impossible for these two statements to be consistently tied together, and convey similar opinions. But Socrates words, specifically in the Crito, can be interpreted as to allow for someone to do what is morally right. One prominent claim Socrates makes about the authority of state occurs in the Crito at 51b. Speaking as the actual laws, Socrates states, ...your country is to be honored more than your mother, your father... [And] you must worship it, yield to it (51). Socrates argues that, because of the states role as a provider of benefits such as security, the citizens of the state are like its children and must offer complete loyalty to it. He deduces that citizens are so subordinate to the state, that if they see any fault, they must either try to persuade it or obey its orders (51b). This is evident within the Apology, in which Socrates had tried to persuade the jury that he was not guilty of the false accusations presented upon him, and ...