Essays Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Essays - Essay Example He is able indeed, as Aristotle claimed, to show that â€Å"causes were abstract essences that could be found through logical deduction† (Blair Bolles, 1997: p88). Crito blames himself for not doing more to save his friend, but he is motivated more by what others will think because he has not spent enough money to keep his friend safe. His appeals to Socrates are emotive, and suggest that Socrates should consider his own life as greater than reason and logic. Socrates losing his children and his seeming cowardice are raised by Crito in this attempt at persuasion, while the possibility of leaving, facilitated by Crito’s connections, is highlighted to tempt Socrates. Throughout, the power of the majority to do harm is emphasized, and Crito expects Socrates to be very aware of their power over his own life. As his opening point against this persuasion, Socrates presents the contention that the opinions of the majority in the society are at least secondary to the opinions of the reasonable. Despite Crito’s claim that the majority needs to be considered, since it has most power over the life of Socrates at that moment, Socrates continues to believe that the value of a reasoned and logical decision is greater than the value of a popularly held opinion. He contends that the majority cannot always hold sway as good sense is not determined by the number of the people following a particular way of thinking but rather by the value of the thinking itself: it needs to be reasoned and logical. Socrates then develops this line of reasoning to argue that it is valid to recognize that some opinions have more worth than others. Opinions which favor the good are superior to those that favor the bad. When wise people have opinions, they are necessarily good – foolish people will thus have opinions favoring the bad. He then uses an analogy to strengthen this logic. The