What Is the Purpose of the ‘Speech of the Laws’, in Plato’s Crito? How Is It Related to Crito’s Political Opinions and Preferences as Expressed in This Dialogue?
Political Philosophy
What is the purpose of the ‘speech of the laws’, in Plato’s Crito? How is it related to Crito’s political opinions and preferences as expressed in this dialogue?
The ‘speech of the laws’ as witnessed in Plato’s Crito is of utmost importance to one of Plato’s shorter dialogues and serves multiple purposes, some of which will be engaged with here. The speech will be looked in terms of its methodological purpose and will question what functions this serves. Philosophically speaking the Crito remains a dialogue concerning justice and the ‘speech of the laws’ provides a different interpretation of the concept of justice to that of which the character of Crito holds. The conflict between the ‘speech of the laws’ and Crito is an integral part of the dialogue but the conflict that emerges in regard to a wider Athenian context because of what the character of Crito represents is also something that will be scrutinized. One purpose of the ‘speech of the laws’ as is observed in the Crito can be seen as a methodological one. It can be argued that Socrates engages in a dialogue with the laws because he has already come to an impasse in his discussion with Crito. Plato wrote his philosophical thinkings in dialogue form. This was a new and radical form of philosophical writing; it was not a philosophical treatise even though some try to read the dialogues as such. The real character of Socrates has suggested that in order for reason to play a part in human philosophical enquiry that the individual human being must be encouraged to enter into a joint enquiry. The dialectic approach can use reason, based on dialogue, to posit arguments and counter arguments, premises and counter premises in order to draw out a conclusion based on an interlocutor’s intellect. The individual in question must become an active associate within the discussion. It can be seen then that Plato’s use of the dialogue structure to inform people about his philosophical thinking is in
What is the purpose of the ‘speech of the laws’, in Plato’s Crito? How is it related to Crito’s political opinions and preferences as expressed in this dialogue?
The ‘speech of the laws’ as witnessed in Plato’s Crito is of utmost importance to one of Plato’s shorter dialogues and serves multiple purposes, some of which will be engaged with here. The speech will be looked in terms of its methodological purpose and will question what functions this serves. Philosophically speaking the Crito remains a dialogue concerning justice and the ‘speech of the laws’ provides a different interpretation of the concept of justice to that of which the character of Crito holds. The conflict between the ‘speech of the laws’ and Crito is an integral part of the dialogue but the conflict that emerges in regard to a wider Athenian context because of what the character of Crito represents is also something that will be scrutinized. One purpose of the ‘speech of the laws’ as is observed in the Crito can be seen as a methodological one. It can be argued that Socrates engages in a dialogue with the laws because he has already come to an impasse in his discussion with Crito. Plato wrote his philosophical thinkings in dialogue form. This was a new and radical form of philosophical writing; it was not a philosophical treatise even though some try to read the dialogues as such. The real character of Socrates has suggested that in order for reason to play a part in human philosophical enquiry that the individual human being must be encouraged to enter into a joint enquiry. The dialectic approach can use reason, based on dialogue, to posit arguments and counter arguments, premises and counter premises in order to draw out a conclusion based on an interlocutor’s intellect. The individual in question must become an active associate within the discussion. It can be seen then that Plato’s use of the dialogue structure to inform people about his philosophical thinking is in
Bibliography: Plato, Republic, trans. by Paul Shorey, in The Collected Dialogues of Plato Including the Letters, ed. by Huntington Cairns and Edith Hamilton (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1961) Plato, Crito, trans Rosano, Michael J, ‘Citizenship and Socrates in Plato’s “Crito”’, in The Review of Politics, Vol. 62, No. 3 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), pp.451-477 www.jstor.org [accessed 1/4/13] -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. Ann Congleton: ‘Two Kinds of Lawlessness: Plato’s Crito’, in Political Theory, Vol. 2, No. 4 (1974), 432-446 (p.50) [ 2 ] [ 3 ]. Plato: Republic, I, 353b, trans. by Paul Shorey, in The Collected Dialogues of Plato Including the Letters, ed. by Huntington Cairns and Edith Hamilton (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1961), p.603 [ 4 ] [ 5 ]. Michael J Rosano: ‘Citizenship and Socrates in Plato’s “Crito”’, in The Review of Politics, Vol. 62, No. 3 (2000), 451-477(p.454) [ 6 ]