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| The Man of the Hour; Socrates |
Recently we read Plato's Crito for class, which details Socrates imprisonment and eventual death.
The whole time I was reading this piece, I was thinking to myself that it was very strange. It wasn't the style of the writing that made me feel this way, nor the characters involved, nor the situation that caused the circumstances in this piece to occur. It was the fact that so few people nowadays would ever act a Socrates did. I wonder, was this act of selflessness just as rare during Classical times, or has it been getting less and less frequent as time has progressed. In my opinion, society no longer cares for honor or glory. Nor do individuals within the society care for the state, but only themselves.
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| Hemlock |
Socrates passed up the chance to escape from prison, and to escape from certain death. He instead chose to die through the ingestion of a poison made from the deadly hemlock plant.
I challenge all of you to think of someone alive today, that you know, or have heard of, who would be willing to do the same. If you were in this situation, what would you do? At least for me, when my life comes into question, all my other loyalties become unimportant, but maybe I'm just selfish. It's my opinion that the human race is inherently greedy, and that is easily seen when realizing how strange Socrates actions were.
In some ways, I also think Socrates is being selfish when he chooses to die instead of escape. He thought he was doing what was good for the state, and he was. Just after Socrates death, there was a very pivotal change in the Athenian government due to the outrage that followed Socrates death. But, did Socrates really fully consider the fact that he could he provided more good by staying alive and continuing to teach the young of society, than he provided by allowing himself to be executed?
I ask all of you, what is your personal opinion of Socrates, of humanity, of yourself?
Happy Holidays!
I also thought Plato's Crito was very unusual and challenged the mind. Socrates believes that one cannot combat injustice with injustice, which is a fair point. However, I feel as though he does not heavily consider the implications to this belief, and almost looks at it as black and white. He does not want to equate himself with those who imprisoned him by "acting unjustly." However, I believe that going with Crito in fact would not be unjust, rather it would exemplify justice by rejecting false imprisonment (and execution). I do not think he is selfish, rather he is naive to think that he should not escape. His captors are acting without morality, and that is a fact he should have considered in his choice.
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