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Why Did Socrates Escape From Prison Analysis

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In addition to the reasons above, Socrates also argues that if he escapes from prison, it will benefit neither him nor any of his associates. As a matter of fact, he predicts that all those who would be known to have aided in his escape would be severely harassed. He says that they could end up losing their citizenship, property, or be driven into exile. On his part, if he goes to the neighboring cities like Thebes or Megara, the people there would see him as an enemy and a criminal who subverts the laws of the state (Hughes, 2011, p.137). Being a subverter of the laws, he would be further viewed as a corrupter of the young and naive part of the society. He fears that people in the exile states would ridicule him for teaching them about rules…show more content…
His arguments are based on his faith, his zeal to obey the law and his willingness to follow his conscience and principles. He at some point says that he cannot give up on the principles he has abided to for the entire of his life just to save his life. He feels that he has to walk his talk given that he has been teaching people about the law and obeying court decisions. He cannot disobey the court decision just because it has gone against him. On the other hand, it is such a difficult decision to make to accept punishment for a crime one has not committed. This is a decision that overlooks the difference between moral and legal. As a matter of fact, Socrates at a certain instance admits to breaking the laws of the city and is not willing to apologize. He instead says that he is only willing to obey God not man. With all that said, Socrates made the right call by refusing to run to exile to save his life. This is because running to exile would have meant that all that he had done in almost his whole life was useless. All the rules he had set for himself would have been of no use if he was to break them ultimately. The law is to be obeyed whether it favors someone or not and that is exactly the rule that Socrates followed. In this case, it was against him, and he obeyed it just the way he would have if it went in his favor…show more content…
Socrates is portrayed as a religious man who for the better part of his life has been obeying the divine command. The question that is asked however is whether one is under an obligation to obey the laws even when they are not just. According to his Crito and his friends, Socrates would have been justified to break the laws and run out of prison because justice had been denied to him, to begin with. However, Socrates is accustomed to doing what he believes is right. He cannot forsake this course to save his life. Clearly, we cannot say that every time decisions go against us we disobey them. The court holds the final say and failure to obey its decisions would spell doom to a state. Instead of thinking of how to disobey court rulings, we better concentrate on ensuring that those rulings are fair and acceptable to all parties (Roff-Wexler, Loreta & Salvatore, 2011,
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