Discuss Why Socrates Refused To Escape From Prison

World History Essay Questions
Author’s Name:
Institution:
Date:
World History Essay Questions
Why Socrates refused to escape from prison and accepted the death sentence
The idea of escaping from the prison was not Socrates’. According to the ‘Arrival of the Ship’ dialogue, we see Crito, one of Socrates’ wealthy colleague, orchestrating plans to smuggle him from the prison and lead him to a secret place. However, Crito gets infuriated when Socrates firmly refuses to buy his ideas. Certainly, Socrates refuses Crito’s plan because he understands that by playing along, he would only be trying to please his friend and make him famous among the Greek society. Secondly, he realizes that Crito’s money and leverage may only succeed to escape him from jail but would not buy his justice.
Besides, it was so apparent that anyone in Socrates’ position would not refuse such a life-saving offer. However, Socrates did reject perhaps because his principles could not allow him to stoop that low. Pages 44-45 indicate that Socrates was only afraid of his life but so much of his friends that he refused the offer to avoid landing them yet another scam. Additionally, Socrates talks about his moral principles in line 46c by stating that he cannot avenge the system by doing another injustice to merit what the system has done to him. Two wrongs do not make a right. Additionally, Socrates’ job was to teach people about justice and righteousness; therefore, it could have been hard for him to continue with the gospel if he, per se, failed to live up to it. Moreover, by escaping, Socrates would be behaving just like the people who di...