Parents And The Citizens example essay topic

Socrates Paper The duty between a citizen and the law and vice versa has been a challenging question that many individuals have been trying to answer for centuries. Throughout history many philosophers, historians, writers etc. have tried and to some extent in their best opinion come up with an answer. Plato, who through Socratic dialogues of the human soul provides a window for understanding the nature of the state, made one such attempt. In his famous dialogue, the Apology, which is a defense of the charges made on Socrates, he compares himself to a gadfly, .".. as upon a great noble horse which was somewhat sluggish because of its size and needed to be stirred up by a kind of gadfly".

(Apology 30 e) In this passage the Athenian state is the lazy horse, which is liable to drift into a deep sleep, but through his influence- irritating as it may be to some- it can be wakened into a state with productive and virtuous action. As the reader can see that the citizen also has to help the State by teaching individuals what is right and wrong. If either the State or the citizens do not do their job then it is the duty of the other to make aware of them and wake them up from this temporary sleep. After the trial of the Socrates where he was found guilty and sentenced to death comes another great work of Plato, the Crito, where Socrates friend Crito has come to the prison cell to persuade him to run away and not drink the poison.

In this dialogue Socrates provides two very good analogies on the relationship between the State and the citizens. The first one is that there is a "social contract" between the citizens and the Law. This contract has been validated since the birth of an individual. Socrates claims that by running away and not facing the verdict of the court Socrates is to breach the contract He further goes on to explain that he has been happy with the Athenian way of life up till now and breaking the contract now would make him an outlaw who would not be welcome in any other civilized state for the rest of his life.

One of many moral views philosophers hold is to obey your parents as they have given birth to you and raised you. Socrates validates that the citizen is bound to the Laws like a child is bound to a parent. Therefore the Laws are the parents and the citizens are the children and escaping from the Law would be like to striking a parent. Rather than simply to break the Laws and escape Socrates should try to persuade the Laws to let him go. As the reader can see that Socrates claims that an individual should be on alert and wake up the city from its temporary sleep. Another claim is that there is social contract that exists between the State and the citizens and neither one should abide by it.

The third, one is an analogy of how the relationship is like that of a parent and child, and breaking the Laws would be to against your own parent. In my opinion, of all three of the descriptions, the social contract is the best accurate and can apply to any form of government. In a way there exists a mutual understanding between the two parties and both should know their limit and not cross it. Also, in my opinion the government should be there in the rough times of an individual and should to some limit have some Laws that can help the citizen.

A majority of individuals think that the State has a responsibility towards the citizen only, but it is also true that the citizen has some duties toward the State and both these entities should not forget their duty and try to fulfill with their best ability by not crossing their limits.