Why Shouldn T Socrates To Leave The Jail Cell

Decent Essays
I do not think that Socrates would be morally justified if he escaped the jail cell based off civil obedience. I think the biggest thing that plays a role here would be based off Socrates need to live a just life. Socrates states many times that he has spent his whole life making sure that he did right thing, and now it would be good to change based off a different situation. If he left even being held for the wrong reasons he would then be faced with the fear of being caught for leaving, which would be a violation of the ethics due to living a life of running from the law. I think his strong belief in ethics would be broken if he left the jail cell in a in just way, or without the proper release and not having to live a life in fear of trouble. …show more content…
This form of bribery is complete against the just way of doing things and would ruin any type of civil obedience that Socrates is claiming to the reason to leave the jail cell. We can even see the struggle with this when Socrates asks for an expert and then asks questions to Crito based off what is considered correct. Woodruff, (2005), shows the conflict by stating, “When Crito appeals to popular opinion on the matter, Socrates replies that the only authority he would accept on the matter would be that of someone who is expert on the matter at hand, which is the effects of doing right and doing. Because these are analogous to the effects of health and disease on the body, Socrates is looking for an expert on moral health and corruption, apparently for the soul. In the absence of such an expert, however, he must make up his own mind.” When both them not being able to come up with a proper answer, it can be seen leaving the jail cell is not the right thing to do. The struggle with not being able to come up with an answer mostly stems because they know they are not in the position to justify what is right and wrong. I believe that Socrates knows this deep down and is which is why he decides to not leave the jail cell. In the face of adversity, it, even when he is not in the wrong, it is important for Socrates to stay and fight for what he truly

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