Socrates and his Position on Civil Disobedience

Paper Summary:

With specific reference to the "Apology" and the "Crito", this paper illustrates how Socrates seems to be committed to an inconsistent position regarding civil disobedience. It looks at how the firm stance he takes against civil disobedience in the "Crito" by refusing to escape his unjust verdict is inconsistent with certain claims he previously makes in the Apology. Although narrow in its objective, ultimately this paper addresses the broader question of whether civil disobedience is justifiable when the laws are unjust.

From the Paper:

"The Crito is a dialogue between Socrates and his old friend Crito who has come to visit Socrates in jail in a last attempt to persuade him to escape his verdict of death by hemlock. Socrates refuses Crito's help and rationalizes that civil disobedience, in particular escaping one's verdict, is unjust on three different levels. Firstly, Socrates employs the parent-child analogy. Children are not on equal terms with their parents, nor are citizens with the state (Plato, 50e-51a). Thus, as it is wrong to be violent against one's parents it is even more wrong to be violent against one's state. Evading a verdict is harmful to a state because it destroys its credibility and diminishes its authority."

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