Socrates
Philosophical decision-making clarifies the truth–or meaning–of the facts and specific value most relevant to the situation. Socrates’ reasoning about whether to escape or to remain in prison is presented in Plato’s dialogue, the Crito. After some preliminaries, Socrates expresses the premise for all that follows, his supreme commitment to goodness. He asks whether what matters most is staying alive or living well—in accord with goodness. Next, Socrates begins to interpret the meaning of goodness. He asks whether living in goodness is the same as living in beauty and justice. For Socrates, beauty is the supreme value next to goodness; and beauty connotes what is admirable as opposed to disgraceful; thus beauty in this situation has ethical implications. Justice is included because it is the specific quality of goodness relevant to the question of whether it is just—right—to break out of prison. Socrates implies that the decision required by goodness is the same as that required by beauty and justice. (In ancient Greek philosophy, justice is first of all virtue, a quality of character that involves the habit of acting excellently in a specific type of situation.) Socrates goes on to interpret the meaning of justice; and he reasons that, if we adhere to justice, we do not return harm to others for harm done to us.
Then Socrates shifts to focus on the meaning of the facts of his situation. Socrates had been a life-long citizen of Athens whose parents’ marriage was certified under the laws of the city. He enjoyed the benefits of growing up and living in the city and never made any effort to bring about change in the laws. Although he could have moved to another place with a different kind of legal code, he chose to stay. Now by due process he had been found guilty of a capital crime and was in prison awaiting death. Socrates interprets these facts by bringing in the philosophical idea of a social contract: If citizens remain in a political community accepting its benefits, they incur a duty to abide by the law. To break out of prison would injure the fabric of law, with its established system of laws, court, and prison and its determinations regarding what crimes may carry the death penalty. To break out of prison, then, would violate citizens’ implicit agreement to accept the law-fabric of the state in which they choose to live. Socrates would not return injustice for injustice; he would not retaliate against the unjust judgment of the jury by violating his agreement with the political community.
Can you give an example of a decision you have made or are working on now in which goodness is specified in terms of a different virtue than justice? Do you find that it helps decision-making and develops your concept of goodness to specify the meaning of goodness that is most important in specific types of situation? The meaning of the facts of the situation is wisdom’s key to specifying goodness. One situation may involve pain or danger; another may involve a tempting but wrong pleasure. Goodness is specified differently in each type of situation. Some everyday activities—such as selecting items to eat at the cafeteria or grocery store—involve surprisingly many aspects of value.
You can read a translation of the Crito online (it’s a short dialogue):http://www.san.beck.org/Crito.html
The image was downloaded here:
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Honesty and integrity can be derived from justice, from that which is just or right. And this derivation is based upon the fact that my sense of honesty and integrity is based upon what I consider just and right.
I experience such a conflict of values when I retired in 2010. In 2000, I came down with a lingering physical malady that had gradually gotten worst as time progressed so that by the year 2010, it was threatening to bring my work to a halt. That is it was becoming increasingly difficult for me to manage the work load I was tasked with. It was my plan to continue full time work until 2011 at which time I planned to retire from my full time job and work part time in one of the free clinics. I intended to do this until I was unable to continue or left the planet. This was to be my crowning achievement of service to the needy population.
However because of the increasing physical difficulties, It became increasingly difficult for me to keep up with my professional requirements in order to retain my license. In April of 2011, I received a letter from the medical board informing me that I had fallen behind in my continuous medical education credits. I was given a period of 90 days to catch up on them. All that was required for me to satisfy the board was to take the courses, and then tell them that I had completed the requirements. No other documentation was required.
Now this presented a crisis for me. Due to physical disability I was unable to attend any organized activity to satisfy these criteria, but I had complied with the spirit of the law by keeping up on my own. I had a living textbook that I used to insure that I was up to date in my knowledge, but that would not suffice for the board. I had to certify that I completed the requirement from an established medical educational facility.
I could either tell them that I had made up the deficiency and continue working for another year and then continue with my retirement plans or I could notify them that because of physical disability I would not be able to comply and would be retiring at the end of the 90 day period. So this issue involved a question of honesty and integrity for me. Since I was unable to comply with the letter of the law, I decided that the only right thing to do was to retire from the practice of medicine which I did on June 30, 2010.
Even though I regret that my plans for service in this way went up in smoke, I don’t see how I could have lived with myself if I had chosen otherwise. My comfort through all of this experience is my faith in God and the internal satisfaction that results from doing the right thing. Sometimes the demands of goodness super cede our purely personal desires. The means to and end are just as important as the end itself.
Dr James Perry
Whatever it may cost in the things of this world, faith accepts the cost and moves forward, deriving an enduring soul satisfaction from doing the right thing. Your way of telling the story allows the reader to think that, in your situation, an impartial third person would have judged that the letter of the law represented something substantial. Immanuel Kant has an interesting observation about the human tendency to make exceptions to the moral law in our own case. We might like to sweep that tendency aside by a heroic renunciation, but there continue to come occasions when we do in fact make exceptions to universal requirement to gratify our inclinations. Thank you for choosing the higher path. Socrates realized that if he had chosen the lower path, the friends who were prepared to receive him (had he escaped from prison) would not have had in their midst a person with the same integrity as the person they loved so much.
Honesty and integrity can be derived from justice, from that which is just or right. And this derivation is based upon the fact that my sense of honesty and integrity is based upon what I consider just and right.
I experience such a conflict of values when I retired in 2010. In 2000, I came down with a lingering physical malady that had gradually gotten worst as time progressed so that by the year 2010, it was threatening to bring my work to a halt. That is it was becoming increasingly difficult for me to manage the work load I was tasked with. It was my plan to continue full time work until 2011 at which time I planned to retire from my full time job and work part time in one of the free clinics. I intended to do this until I was unable to continue or left the planet. This was to be my crowning achievement of service to the needy population.
However because of the increasing physical difficulties, It became increasingly difficult for me to keep up with my professional requirements in order to retain my license. In April of 2011, I received a letter from the medical board informing me that I had fallen behind in my continuous medical education credits. I was given a period of 90 days to catch up on them. All that was required for me to satisfy the board was to take the courses, and then tell them that I had completed the requirements. No other documentation was required.
Now this presented a crisis for me. Due to physical disability I was unable to attend any organized activity to satisfy these criteria, but I had complied with the spirit of the law by keeping up on my own. I had a living textbook that I used to insure that I was up to date in my knowledge, but that would not suffice for the board. I had to certify that I completed the requirement from an established medical educational facility.
I could either tell them that I had made up the deficiency and continue working for another year and then continue with my retirement plans or I could notify them that because of physical disability I would not be able to comply and would be retiring at the end of the 90 day period. So this issue involved a question of honesty and integrity for me. Since I was unable to comply with the letter of the law, I decided that the only right thing to do was to retire from the practice of medicine which I did on June 30, 2010.
Even though I regret that my plans for service in this way went up in smoke, I don’t see how I could have lived with myself if I had chosen otherwise. My comfort through all of this experience is my faith in God and the internal satisfaction that results from doing the right thing. Sometimes the demands of goodness super cede our purely personal desires. The means to and end are just as important as the end itself.
Dr James Perry
Whatever it may cost in the things of this world, faith accepts the cost and moves forward, deriving an enduring soul satisfaction from doing the right thing. Your way of telling the story allows the reader to think that, in your situation, an impartial third person would have judged that the letter of the law represented something substantial. Immanuel Kant has an interesting observation about the human tendency to make exceptions to the moral law in our own case. We might like to sweep that tendency aside by a heroic renunciation, but there continue to come occasions when we do in fact make exceptions to universal requirement to gratify our inclinations. Thank you for choosing the higher path. Socrates realized that if he had chosen the lower path, the friends who were prepared to receive him (had he escaped from prison) would not have had in their midst a person with the same integrity as the person they loved so much.
Goodness resides in the capacity to delight God.
For me, it is experienced as participation in a God-gift when I acknowledge and return the gift to the Gift-giver.
Delight is a profound sharing. One that we experience within our humanity as gratitude. Every act of delighted gratitude is a choice. Every reciprocity is a decision. These are the decisions that yield joy. To refuse joy is a decision I have learned to abjure by taming anger and judgment to the best of my evolving abilities. This is a fleshy business and one that requires a daily discipline in prayer, self-care, and many, many self displacements.
Goodness resides in the capacity to delight God.
For me, it is experienced as participation in a God-gift when I acknowledge and return the gift to the Gift-giver.
Delight is a profound sharing. One that we experience within our humanity as gratitude. Every act of delighted gratitude is a choice. Every reciprocity is a decision. These are the decisions that yield joy. To refuse joy is a decision I have learned to abjure by taming anger and judgment to the best of my evolving abilities. This is a fleshy business and one that requires a daily discipline in prayer, self-care, and many, many self displacements.
Good blog post. I certainly love this website.
Thanks!
Good blog post. I certainly love this website.
Thanks!