Socrates by William J Prior

Author:William J Prior [Prior, William J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781509529735
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2019-11-18T00:00:00+00:00

Crito agrees that we ought to follow the advice of the wise person, if one exists. The part of us that is improved by just actions and destroyed by unjust actions, though Socrates does not mention it by name, is the soul, or perhaps the character of the person.

Life is not worth living if one's body is “corrupted and in bad condition” (47e); likewise it is not worth living if the part of us that is concerned with just and unjust actions is corrupted. This part is more valuable than the body. The most important thing is not to live, but to live well. “And (to live) well is the same thing as to live admirably and justly” (48b; my translation). Here Socrates does not only endorse the ideal of the life that is kalos kagathos, admirable and good; he adds to ideals of the admirable and good the ideal of justice. The just life is the same as the admirable and good life. The admirable and good person is a just person. This triad of adverbs: to live well, admirably and justly, constitute Socrates’ account of the happy life. Eudaimonia is not a matter of wealth, reputation, or honors, but of goodness, admirability, and justice.

The implication of this description is that if a just person has to die in order to avoid damaging his or her soul, then he or she should do so. We ought never to do wrong willingly, for that “is in every way harmful and shameful to the wrongdoer” (49b). This implies that we ought not to wrong or mistreat another, even in return for a wrong done to us: “one should never do wrong in return, nor mistreat any man, no matter how one has been mistreated by him,” to which Socrates adds, “and Crito, see that you do not agree to this, contrary to your belief. For I know that only a few people hold this view or will hold it, and there is no common ground between those who hold this view and those who do not, but they inevitably despise each other's views” (49c–d).2

So far, Socrates has outlined a constructive account of an ethical theory. The aim of life is to live well, which is to live admirably and justly. The idea that the good life is the life of pleasure, the view put forward in the Protagoras, is not to be found here. Justice requires that one do no wrong. However pleasant it might be to wrong another person, that is absolutely forbidden by the Crito's ethical code. There is no calculation of the pleasure or pain produced by a particular action, only a determination that an action does, or does not, wrong or mistreat someone. Socrates rejects the traditional Greek idea, defended by Polemarchus in Republic I, that justice is helping one's friends and harming one's enemies. There is no indication in the text that these principles, which are attributed to the wise, are tentative or uncertain. Socrates has

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