The Arguments

An analysis of the main deliberative argument of the dialogue, showing how the speech of the laws provides premises needed for that argument. The argument between Socrates and Crito that one must in no circumstances do wrong needs to be completed by establishing that it is wrong to break an agreement and that an agreement exists beween Socrates and the city, and this is what the speech of the laws provides. The dialogue contains a single main argument, a practical deliberation. Socrates’ determination to follow the argument whereever it leads is thus dramatically illustrated by his willingness to die for this principle (which he construes as the path on which the god leads him).