The Crito

1. The Crito • Should Socrates flee prison in order to escape his unjust condemnation? • Crito’s four reasons for escaping • The majority will think ill of Socrates and his friends if he does not escape • Since the court erred, it should not be obeyed • The welfare of the children of Socrates requires his escape • Death is an evil to be avoided

2. Socrates’ Reply to Crito • Majority opinion is relevant only if true • Rejection of Relativism • Relativism = truth determined by beliefs or attitudes; we create truth • One reason in support of some forms of relativism is that some truths are unobservable but knowable. • How is this possible? • Answer: Perhaps such truths are determined according to relativism and, hence, knowable though unobservable • Absolutism = truth is determined by conditions of the world, not beliefs or attitudes; we discover truth

3. Reasons Against Relativism • Consistency • if you are not a relativist in science or mathematics, why be a relativist in morals? • The possibility of rational discussion regarding a topic (morals) precludes relativism • If rational disagreement with the moral majority is possible, relativism is false

4. Reasons Against Relativism • If morality is a matter of happiness & happiness is an objective/absolute condition, then morality is objective/absolute & relativism is false • Is happiness an objective condition? • What is happiness? • Can we be mistaken about our own happiness?

5. Reasons Against Relativism • If relativism were true, then what the Nazis did would have been right (for them) • However, what the Nazi’s did was not right for them or for anyone • So, relativism is false

6. Back to Socrates’ Replies to Crito • Socrates’ children are better off by his death than exile. (Absolutism) • We do not know whether death actually is a evil. Hence, we can’t appeal to the evil of death as a reason to escape • What of the injustice of the death sentence? Is civil disobedience just?

7. Civil Disobedience & Justice • Why does Socrates oppose civil disobedience? • His implicit contract with Athens • Promise to obey all laws, regardless of how they are enforced • Is this a binding promise? • Stability of Athens as a condition of Socrates happiness throughout life • Life’s overall quality & the final act • To have lived well, Socrates must accept execution now • Compare the artist’s last brush stroke or the parent’s dying act • Too much is too much: Just as moderation in eating is better than excess, so too not living “too long” is better than living too long.