Socrates, Death Sentences, and Living Well

Socrates sits in prison. He has been convicted of corrupting the youth, denying the accepted gods, and spreading lies about the gods (or making up false gods--whichever is worse.) His sentence? Death. He will be forced to drink poison--a hemlock cocktail of sorts. Now he sits waiting for the morning of his coming demise, but is allowed a visitor--a friend named Crito.  Crito has come for one purpose--to convince Socrates to escape.

Crito and Socrates both know that Socrates's imprisonment and sentence is unjust. Basically, he's being legally murdered for little more than being a nuisance. He has annoyed some powerful people by making them look stupid (because they couldn't answer his questions and couldn't get him to stop asking annoying questions) and now they are having their revenge. Socrates will die so they can save face.

But Crito has it all worked out. He has the money to bribe some guards and he's secured a place outside the city where Socrates can live out the rest of his days in peace--doing what he does best--sitting around and philosophizing with anyone who will listen. It's the perfect arrangement.

It's just that Socrates doesn't think so. He refuses to go.

Crito argues with Socrates, complaining that if Socrates dies, Crito would lose a friend and people will think that he didn't act rightly by Socrates. People will think he wasn't a good friend and valued money more than Socrates's life.

Socrates says (and I'm paraphrasing), "Who cares what the majority think?"

Crito responds. "They're powerful."

"No they aren't," replies Socrates. "They don't have true power. True power is in the ability to take away or give wisdom. We should only care about the opinions of the one person who understands what justice is. If we listen to the majority, who don't understand it, we'll hurt that part of ourselves that is affected by the just."

Seeing he's getting nowhere, Crito moves on to his second argument (I'm still paraphrasing). "What you're doing, Socrates, is unjust. You're throwing your life away when there's a way out. You're a quitter, and you're abandoning the students you worked so hard to train. Furthermore, you're taking the easy way out and that shows cowardice."

Socrates asks, "Should we ever act unjustly?"

Crito responds with the obvious answer, "No."

"What if we're being wronged?"

"No." And they agree that it's always better to be the recipient of injustice than the giver.

Socrates asks, "What's to say that the system that set up these laws are wise or just? Who's to say? But, regardless, I have agreed to live in this society under these laws and have knowingly accepted their judgment. So, were I to escape now, I'd be breaking just agreements with the laws and with the city. I would be acting impiously, because the gods love the city more than man. I have agreed to the laws in deed by staying, not to mention that I already rejected the offer of exile at the trial and chose death instead. And to your last point, I'd be undermining everything I've lived by and taught others. I would make myself a hypocrite."

Conclusion? Critus's plan is unjust.

But here's the best part of this entire dialogue (which I paraphrased and greatly shortened for you here). Socrates says something very profound that I think everyone should hear and add to their worldview.

He says, "The most important thing isn't living, but living well."
I think this is a good place to start this blog, because I believe we are the kinds of beings who can only thrive within healthy relationships with God, one another, and our world. The way, then, to "live well" is to learn what kinds of beings we are, what healthy relationships look like, and make choices that allow us to achieve the fullness of what it is to be human. This is true wisdom. And philosophy, is the "love of wisdom."