Believers in PHYSIS argued that there was an external reality, that there were universal truths and universal laws that human involvement was not necessary for real

3. The Platonic writing, the Crito, explores the issue of whether individuals have a moral obligation to obey the laws of the state in which they live. I believe that Socrates should not have accepted Crito’s offer of escape. Socrates did what was right and I will explain why I think this. Socrates replies to Crito’s statement and also gives two arguments of his own defending the belief that escaping from prison would be wrong. Unlike Crito, who highly regards the opinions of the majority, Socrates believes that one should value the opinions of only a select few, who have knowledge of the subject that is being debated. He doesn’t believe we should listen to just any man’s opinion for “one should greatly value some people’s opinions, but not others”(54) . He believes we shouldn’t listen to the opinions of the many, for example on physical training, but just to a few individuals such as a coach or trainer. In Socrates’ mind these individuals have knowledge in the field that they are teaching. It would not be logical to listen to the advice of someone who doesn’t have knowledge in the particular field that they are offering an opinion on, thus arises the belief that not everyone’s opinion should be valued equally. From this reasoning Socrates comes to the conclusion: therefore we shouldn’t believe the majority in why escape would be moral.

Since Socrates concludes that Crito doesn’t have a good argument he gives two arguments, which focus on the idea that escaping from prison is wrong. They are named the Contract Argument and the Argument from Gratitude. The Contract Argument consists of the major premise: Anyone who lives in a city, state, etc. where he is free to leave makes a just agreement to obey its laws. Evidence for this premise in the dialogue is “We say, however, that whoever of you remains, when he sees how we conduct our trials and manage the city in other ways, has in fact come to an agreement with us to obey our instructions”(56) . The minor premise follows as: Socrates has lived in Athens all of his life while being free to leave and is stated in “You have never left the city, even to see a festival, nor for any other reason except military service”(57) . From these two premises the conclusion logically follows that Socrates has made a just agreement to obey Athenian laws. Thus, Socrates believes he should stay in prison and endure the death penalty.

Plato claimed that the human soul lived before birth. Does it also continue to live after death? Plato's chief discussion of immortality occurs in the dialogue Phaedo, where he offers four arguments in favor of the idea. The first three arguments are weak. For example, the second argument states that the soul will continue to exist after death because it existed before birth. Well, most of us do not accept the idea of the experiences of a pre-birth soul. Even if we accepted them, the conclusion of the soul's life after death does not follow. The proposition that the soul is akin to the eternal Forms is the basis of the third argument. Plato concludes that because the soul is like the immortal Forms, then it must be immortal, too. This would follow if the soul were a Form; but the soul is a particular, while the Forms are universals. The third argument won't hold water. Plato's fourth argument for the immortality of the soul. Socrates points out that the soul is the source of life for the body. Thus life is an essential aspect of the soul. Now, life and death are opposite qualities. Therefore, says Socrates, the soul can never experience death. Life cannot be subjected to death, any more than "heat" can become cold, or an odd number may become even. This argument hinges on another confusion of the universal and the particular. The general concepts Life and Death are indeed opposites. Life and Death are so different that one cannot become the other. But the soul of an individual human being is an individual. You ha

Some topics in this essay:
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