tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1828125223861187137.post7080538757957054006..comments2023-05-27T06:57:26.684-05:00Comments on A Great Books Reading Blog: Crito - PlatoPederhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16979481342103258777noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1828125223861187137.post-11814885196531059432012-01-13T16:48:40.358-06:002012-01-13T16:48:40.358-06:00I totally get the respect for the social contract ...I totally get the respect for the social contract there. And I'll agree that is refreshing. And you've got a great point about selective punishment and how that weakens the overall structure.<br />But what do you do about an unjust sentence then? <br />I'll admit that I don't have the answer here. There may be no perfect answer and the danger of deciding case by case let's the selective tiger out of the cage. But I can't really dismiss the prospects of civil disobedience or jury nullification and other measures that try to correct injustice from the state. <br />I wonder what our positions will be on these matters ten years from now :)Pederhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16979481342103258777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1828125223861187137.post-15249927809707596692012-01-13T14:35:12.091-06:002012-01-13T14:35:12.091-06:00While your libertarian streak caused you some hear...While your libertarian streak caused you some heartburn with Crito, the political scientist in me found it refreshing to read support for the idea of a social contract and the individual's obligation to the community. If you enjoy the rights and benefits of the state, you should accept being subject to it. It does seem obvious in Apology that Socrates accusers were unjust and using their social status to deliver a deathblow (literally) to their gadfly. But I think in Crito, Socrates points out that it isn't the motivations but the institutions that are preeminent. My favorite phrase in the whole essay is "do you imagine that a state can subsist and not be overthrown, in which the decisions of law have no power, but are set aside and trampled upon by individuals?" I have had business and government experiences in foreign countries that are weaker because the laws are selectively administered based on social status, rank, or relationships. Granted, the great majority of the weakening of the state and its institutions are by the bad guys and not the innocent Socrateses, but Socrates' point is the same nonetheless. <br /><br />I also like Crito because it includes themes such as the social contract and Kant's imperative (which if I am thinking about correctly, Socrates refusal to evade his sentence would fall under Kant's imperative) over a 1,000 years before they are more fully developed by the writers who we attribute these ideas creation to.Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18072553905347896668noreply@blogger.com