Socrates Has Thoroughly Justified His Own Decision To Obey The Opinion

Socrates has thoroughly justified his own decision to obey the opinions of the majority and serve out the sentence that his own city has deemed appropriate for his crimes. At the beginning of this piece, Socrates has presented a period of questions and answers through dialogue with Crito. Throughout the dialogue Socrates is explaining his reasoning for not running from the government. Crito does not understand the madness of Socrates, Crito will do whatever it takes to help his friend to flee, instead of being exiled by the government. AI do not think that what you are doing is right, to give up your life when you can save it, and to hasten your fate as your enemies would hasten it, and indeed have hastened it in their wish to destroy [emailprotected](Crito p.58c) Throughout the begining of the dialog, Crito is expressing his feelings of why he believes Socrates should flee from the city. Crito makes many valid points on why he disagrees with Socrates decision to bare this misfort une. Crito offers to do on not fleeingbeing majorints expressing to Socrates, that a man as courageous as Socrates and who has lived his life through virtue . AYou seem to me to choose the easiest path, whereas one should choose the path a good and courageous man would choose, particularly when one claims throughout one=s life to care for [emailprotected](Crito p.59d) Through the dialogue the questions and answers within Socrates and Crito establish to major themes in which hold true throughout the work. The first being that a person must decide whether the society in which one lives has a just reasoning behind it=s own standards of right and wrong. The second being, that a person must have pride in the life that he or she leads. In establishing basic questions of these two concepts, Socrates has precluded his own circumstance and attempted to prove to his companion Crito, that the choice that he has made is just. AI am the kind of man who listens only to the argument that on reflec tion seems best to me. I cannot, now that this fate has come upon me, discard the arguments I used; they seen to me much the [emailprotected](Crito p.59b) The introduction of this work has also provided the concept that it is our society or majority that has dictated what is considered virtuous action. According to Socrates we have been given every opportunity to reject our society and renounce what it has stood for and against. ANot one of our laws raises any obstacle or forbids him, if he is not satisfied with us or the city, if one of you wants to go and live in a colony or wants to go anywhere else, and keep his [emailprotected] (Crito p.63d) Socrates states; that making a conscious choice or effort to remain under the influence of a society is an unconscious agreement with that society to live your life by it=s standards and virtues. Socrates states after establishing his own agreement with his city=s virtues that he believes in the validity of the decision imposed upon himsel f. He states that his decision is justified by the fact that the laws and governing agents of the society must command a certain degree of respect. Any person who would unjustly disobey these laws creates a deliberate attempt to destroy them, as well as, the society which has imposed them. For example; AHowever, 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 [emailprotected] (Crito p.63e) If the decisions of the city=s governing agents are not thoroughly respected as just and cohesive parts of society, the very structure by which the society stands is subject to collapse. If a person is found to be in violation of what his or her society stands for and does not accept the consequences for his or her actions, then there can not be a system of law in place to create order. A You must either persuade it or obey its orders, and endure in silence whatever it instructs you to endur e, whether blows