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2011 | 2 | 1 | 111-122

Article title

Defiance, Persuasion or Conformity? The Argument in Plato’s Apology and Crito

Content

Title variants

Languages of publication

EN

Abstracts

EN
The present paper attempts to throw some light on the conundrum of Socrates’ political views in the Apology and Crito. The problem resides in that the Socrates of the Apology evidently undermines the authority of Athenian democracy, whereas the Socrates of the Crito argues that his escape from prison would be tantamount to disrespecting the state, which would in turn threaten the prosperity of the entire πόλις. The article suggests that in the two dialogues, the young Plato examines the possibility of steering a middle course between embracing relativism, on the one hand, and encouraging civil disobedience, on the other. Thus, the philosopher focuses primarily on investigating the two options, without either totally subordinating the citizen to the state, or unreflexively accepting any crude pragmatism.

Year

Volume

2

Issue

1

Pages

111-122

Physical description

Dates

published
2011-12-01

Contributors

References

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Document Type

Publication order reference

Identifiers

YADDA identifier

bwmeta1.element.ojs-doi-10_14746_pea_2011_1_7
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