[lbo-talk] Socrates, Prisons and Scandals

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Wed Jun 2 14:31:34 PDT 2004


Peter Lavelle wrote:
>
> Socrates believed that anyone who employed
> evil means would be ensnared in wickedness, that his enterprise would
> be corrupted, and that he would never achieve his worthy goal. If one
> would achieve a worthy end, then one must be worthy.

Why then was he so friendly with many of the Thirty Tyrants, including the bloodiest of them, Critias?

I wonder how survivors of Pol Pot's massacres would have responded to a philosopher who had happily rubbed elbows with the regime. Answer that question, and you get what must have been the state of mind of at least several hundred of the jury that convicted Socrates. Wrong, but quite understandable.

Carrol



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