Morality and Laws in The Trial and Death of Socrates...

Morality and Laws in The Trial and Death of Socrates Upon reading Plato, The Trial and Death of Socrates, Socrates strongly held views on the relationship between morality and laws become apparent to the reader. Equally, Socrates makes clear why laws should be followed and why disobedience to the law is rarely justified. Finally, he makes clear his views regarding civil disobedience. Socrates’ view on morality is that anyone can do wrong. It is said that injuring someone in return for injury to oneself is wrong. He follows this with the connection between morality and the city. You do badly without the cities authorization; you are doing wrong towards the city and the laws. He felt if you are behaving against peoples mind and in this†¦show more content†¦Everyone has his or her ancestors who have a higher standard in life. However the city was there before them and so should be respected and laws should be followed. Socrates explains his theory of the city and its rules as the nature of ones life. It is not moral to fight against it. We were welcomed to live in it and accept it how it is. A very important aspect of the city and its rules is that one is not forced to do as it dictates. One has the ability to choose between two options. You can either obey the city and its rules or not. If you want to go somewhere else you can do so, but do not complain here. Regarding Socrates view one should not obey the law just because it is the law. As I said before you have two choices, but one of them is the moral option. We say that it is moral, as it was taught to us this way, but one doesn’t really think about their own opinion in reference to it. We are absolutely commanded by our ancestors and the city. It is like being objects being commanded our whole life. Men have not the choice to decide what is moral for their standard of life. The moral way is what the city or their parents tell them to do. 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