The question that we are asking ourselves here is: why does Socrates conclude that he ought to submit to the law? The most remarkable words in the question are “ought”, “submit” and “law”. “Ought” refers to an ethical obligation or a duty that you impose to yourself. “Submit” makes us think of obeisance, it’s giving yourself up to an entity that you identify as greater or superior. In this case, that entity designates the law.
Now the “law” is the addition of policies with which a society should stand by. But then, what we should mainly ask ourselves is, why would Socrates feel the necessity to surrender himself to the law when the it has obviously betrayed him? To answer this question, Socrates gives an amount of arguments that will be looked into in detail afterwards. All of his key ideas revolve around his faith in loyalty and his involvement to the greater good. First, we will first talk about his loyalty towards the State, then his love for it and lastly, we will finish by observing that Socrates believes that it’s his destiny to obey.
As mentioned earlier, Socrates ought to submit to the law because of his loyalty to the State. He uses three diverse points throughout the text in question to explain his opinion. The first justification is that Socrates surrenders himself to the regulation because he feels that if he disrespects it, he is disrespecting the State due to the fact that it is the unique maker of the law. According to him, Crito’s argument that one should care about the opinion of others, is untrue. He personally believes that one should only care about the opinion of their guide or idol, the person they look up to when in need.
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If we look up to a person, we respect him and his wisdom. However, strangers are people we do not respect and do not see as wise since we do not idolize them. Thus, Socrates believes that the opinion of the mass is less significant than the one of this particular person we idolize. In Socrates’ case, that person is the State and therefore the last thing he would think of is to dissatisfy the State hence why he refuses to break the law. Socrates states that “it’s not living that should be our priority but living well”. And by living well, we can presume that Socrates means living in some kind of ease and satisfaction, in peace with himself. Because if we are just alive physically, but are not satisfied with our mental presence, it essentially means that we are “mentally dead”.
And if this is the case, can we say that we are really alive? Because as previously said, if we live knowing that the person we care about doesn’t respect us, is there an actual interest in living? Consequently, by obeying the law, by surrendering himself to the law, he is living well because the State is pleased with his responsibilities as a citizen. We can then say that Socrates is following the law not only for his respect to the State but also for his own pursue of happiness.
Furthermore, Socrates surrenders himself to the law because he considers that one should act correctly in our society no matter what the conditions or situations. He says that “one should not repay an injustice with an injustice”. And by that he means that no matter what position we are in, we should always try and provide our best; since replying in an unjust way makes you incensed and unhappy for no specific reason. He then returns to stating that one should only act with his understanding and fulfillment. By that we can understand that while being irritated and seeking vengeance, a person is not fulfilled and is not acting with his own consent. The State never stops pursuing a population that acts with an exemplary attitude, a sense of self-control and a potential forgiveness. Accordingly, by being at peace with the fact that he is facing an irrational sentence, Socrates is not only satisfying the State but is also satisfying himself.
In addition, Socrates gives himself up to the law because he judges that the disrespect of the law is synonym of hurting the law. Since the society we live in is based on certain norms and values that people should follow, it is understandable that some are replicating how others act in order to be fully “accepted”. Thus, if one breaks the rules because he senses that it goes in accord with justice, others might think so as well. Hence, Socrates believes that by affronting the law, he is encouraging people to do the same. Manifestly, that would make the State fragile and powerless. We can connect this argument to the two previous ones stated. Conducting the society to what is valued wrong by the law is acting in an unfair mode. And acting this way is shown to not be correct and tends to push people to live in an immoral approach.
Afterwards, the author is more likely to support his arguments towards his love for his country rather than his loyalty towards it although those are complementary and go together, since loyalty is born out of love for someone. Socrates ought to accept the law because his only wish is to stay in Athens instead of any other possible place. Throughout the text he visualizes the State addressing him in case he fled the prison. The State continues telling him that he always chose to be governed by the State of Athens and that he has continuously valued it very fondly.
Therefore, the least he could do is to bear with the penalties presented to him. If he loves fairness like he says he does, he must accept that democracy can be and is sometimes inequitable. Moreover, escaping the State would remove the occasion for his children to share the similar passion and love that he did because they would have to either leave with their father, or be treated as orphans. Consequently, he chooses and explains that he prefers to stay in Athens since he cannot imagine himself or his sons living elsewhere.
He then explains his love for the State in different words. He ought to submit to the law as he believes that he is not equal to the State. Whilst speaking in the State’s point of view, Socrates raises a curious opinion. He mentions that within the household, we mostly respect our parents, give them authority over us simply because we have affection for them and value all they have done for us. Though, Socrates believes that if this is the case, then we are also unequal to the State since it has arguably given us more than our parents. It has given us education, culture, facilities, opportunities and many more. Then, technically speaking, why should we listen to our parents and not directly to the State? Why should we express our love to our parents and not to the State? In Socrates’ opinion, if authority is based on affection, then the State merits the most of it and has the highest authority over us since it has offered the most blessings and experiences to take advantage of.
Finally, Socrates finishes his text with the following phrase: “Then let it be, Crito, and let us act in a way, since this is where the god leads us”. Now although this phrase is rather short, the meaning behind it is an intriguing one. Socrates is part of a group of people that believe that logic and critical thinking should be chosen by default. Throughout this text, he analyzes every course of action conceivable if he tries and manages to escape, but logic shows him that escaping is actually not the answer to the troubles he is facing at the moment. Therefore, Socrates may feel that he must surrender to the law because he is destined to do so. Destined is indeed a strong word, because it refers to the fact that changing the course of action is not a possibility, and that suffering is the only thing that can be waiting at the end if so. This imprisonment is a punishment from “the god” and maybe Socrates should just let things happen since he recognizes that the final suffering cannot be avoided.
To conclude, Socrates is convinced that he is obligated to respect the law because by respecting the law he is empowering the State and respecting it, knowing that the State is the originator of the law. Moreover, he has an immense love for the Athenian State and even if wanting to escape prison was a motivation, he knew he wouldn’t do it because he could not imagine himself or his children living anyplace else but Athens. We could undoubtedly say that he is placing State-loyalty over self-loyalty which is particularly tough to accomplish considering that the human being is by nature, selfish. Although the public may not agree with Socrates’ point of view, we should note that his self-control is inspiring. He believes that there is no coherent or well-constructed argument for him that could incite him to escape prison, he is meant to stay in prison because this is what “the gods” had arranged for him.
