Plato's Crito: Why Socrates Chose Death

Plato's Crito is a famous work of political philosophy in which Socrates seems to argue that we should obey unjust laws. But not all is as it seems. Reading Socrates' arguments in the Crito closely we can perceive that Plato imagines our commitment to obeying the law to be conditional on the justice of the state.

This dialogue also features Plato's theory of justice, as well as his theory of the soul. Socrates advances some of his most famous arguments about the body and the soul as well as knowledge and opinion.

#Plato #Crito #philosophy

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[charleevictoria]

sooo helpful. just discovered plato's crito dialogue and this really was great for the main points of it all. THANK YOU!

[decorumgun]

I needed this! Its so hard for me to read the texts for class becaause i cant sit still. awesome video. i can keep my hands busy and put everything together in my head.

[BaphomentIsAwsome]

Socrates was following his daemon, his guiding spirt. I think he was right as we are talking about him now and the resolve to be just by yourself is something we all can relate to.

[hellorinnee]

Prof, this is great! That dialoguey thing you did with Crito? i think the tone was hilarious and I love it! Props for the signposts with the points, as always - makes it super clear! Much thanks!

[GrammeStudio]

Socrates refusing to escape to instead embrace his potential demise reminds me of a screenplay of apostle Paul refusing to follow the men who came to break him out where he asked "by whose authority do you think Rome has power?"

the movie even injects many of Paul's words in Luke's testimony of him into the film dialogues, as if he's retelling them for the audience who are familiar. one notably being: "if Christ has not risen, our faith is in vain"

in a sense Crito was to Plato like Luke was to Paul

[krishall]

Another reallly good one. If you ever get to the point where you're doing merch for your channel, put me down for a 'free Socrates' T shirt.

[kaantahtasiz]

This is the best channel on youtube I have ran across for a long time. Thank you a lot for your quality work and your time. I really appreciate the work you are doing.

[TheNutmegStitcher]

This was a good and difficult work to read with sophomores in a classical homeschool community class. Worth the effort.

[maximilyen]

Passionate story telling, very motivating to listen

[svtnsawr]

thank you so much! this was really helpful and easy to understand!

[layladagle]

really great video helped me out so much!

[crismiller]

I'm reading Crito for an introductory Philosophy class, and you really helped put into words what I was feeling. I could not verbalize it at the time, but other than the nature of preserving your principles, even if it means death, it's hard for me to agree that the individual be held to a higher standard than the state. While the individual is indebted to the state for being born and being educated, isn't the collective individual what allows the state to continue to exist? Taxes, soldiers, advancements and all other things necessary for a society to exist and advance, seem to be at least some form of repayment in my eyes. I appreciate your explanations, you made it easier for me to do some self-reflection, professor.

[Edmonddantes]

Given how incredibly obnoxious Socrates is, I’m surprised he had any friends left at this point

[paulleverton]

Little known fact about Socrates. He invented sausage. Whilst watching a butcher Socrates suggested that the leftover bits of meat be ground up and stuffed into the leftover intestine.
The Athenian butcher, Bobocles, tried the idea but Greek shoppers were never bothered, however a travelling Etruscan took some home to Italy and they were an overnight success.

[emircanmusic]

really good job, it felt like watching a film

[LunaStarRocks]

Just saved me hours of trying to figure out what is going on. I have a learning disability and I don’t understand old English very well.

[yurrintinckelsonn]

I remember in college this came up and I had ;the feeling Soc said the opposite and some gov scribe on a power trip re-wrote it . His death by stupid Law and his acceptance was more about him pointing out stupid Law. It worked. We are still talking about it. PR master. lol.

[thenightwatchman]

kind of weird his skepticism ended were authority began.

[heathercummins]

Isn’t Socrates argument about the state mattering more than the individual the exact relationship we have with corporations and employers?

[vandertuber]

Great video, but I must disagree with Plato. Under Natural Law Theory, one need not obey an unjust law.