Before anyone freaks out and thinks that they have a blog due today take a deep breath and let it be noted that this is my blog for next week, due on class 10-21-10.
Reading Plato has provided much food for thought with me. Plato's Apology (which is technically Socrate's apology... confusing as that may be) is dynamite, however, this blog will focus on Crito.
One cannot get too far into Crito without noticing something that is seemingly strange and out of place; Rousseau. Jean-Jacques Rousseau would not appear on the scene of world politics until the 18th century, over 2000 years after Plato would pen his account of Socrates' conversation with his friend Crito. However, Rousseau largely pioneered a theory of politics called the social contract theory. This theory is in short: government by consent of the governed. Basically, people give all authority to a government in order to maintain social order, and they are ruled by a set of laws which they agree upon themselves. We see here that before Rousseau existed, Athens had already formulated this notion of government.
In a role playing scene Socrates takes the part of the government of Athens:
"For, after having brought you into the world, and nurtured and educated you, and given you and every other citizen a share in every good that we had to give, we further proclaim and give the right to every Athenian, that if he does not like us when he has come of age and has seen the ways o the city, and made our acquaintance, he may go where he pleases and take his goods with him; and none of us laws will forbid him or interfere with him... but he who has experience of the manner in which we order justice and administer the State, and still remains, he has entered into an implied contract that he will do as we command him."
The idea is that when you agree to be a part of a city-state and it's government, you are from that point out agreeing to adopt it's very concept of justice and you must obey it's law.
The only problem that surfaces here is for the believer. Christ-followers are called to submit to the authority of the government, however we are under a Higher Authority as well. When the word and law of the government directly contradict the word of God we are to obey the Higher Authority.
I commented on Regis' post JUSTICE.
Not that this post needs it, but I will add because it is required of me. I think "Christians" have forgotten this requirement of God to be submissive to authority. Many Christians today feel above authority or law because they are instead submitting to God. Many people take their "submission" to secular law as a gift back to society and that because of their obedience, they are making the country better and deserve praise (they never consider that the law is what is holding them together). Hmm...
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I thought this part of Crito was really interesting as well! I also like the part after your quote about how the state gives you two options to live peacefully within it. The first one is just to obey all of the laws and the second, which Socrates tries to do, is to convince them to change their opinion. I like how it gives its citizens this option because then government can get better, even though in Socrates case, they did not listen to his thoughts.
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