Baylee Baker

Lehigh University Catalog Record: https://asa.lib.lehigh.edu/asa/Record/794882

Lehigh University Catalog Record: https://asa.lib.lehigh.edu/asa/Record/257746

A version of this text has been digitized and is available through the Internet Archive.

Digitized Version

Lehigh University Catalog Record: https://asa.lib.lehigh.edu/asa/Record/1007048 

Displayed is perhaps the most important excerpt in Critio published in various years: 1491, 1804, and 1928. In Crito, Socrates is waiting in a jail cell to be executed when his friend, Crito, shows up to break him out of jail, as he feels the execution of Socrates is unjust. Socrates and Crito engage in a dialogue about justice versus injustice. Socrates says if we choose to live in a city-state, we are accepting the laws, and therefore we must obey those laws. This speaks to me about freedom. When we are not governed by laws in our natural human state, we enjoy absolute freedoms. These come at a cost though- chaos and even death. When we choose to live in a government, we are choosing to let go of some of our freedoms in order for other freedoms to be better protected and enjoyed. This exchange is essential, and Socrates perfectly portrays this by denying escape from prison, because we cannot choose to obey some laws and yet not others. This would negate the tradeoff of freedom we experience with the government.

Confessions by Saint Augustine explores when it is correct to break a law, and the difference between just and unjust laws. It is important to note in the edition showcased, the translation says ‘righteous’ instead of ‘just.’ He claims unjust laws are laws created by humans that do not follow the law of God. Outside of religion, a different perspective that I take on it is that unjust laws are ones that do not follow the natural moral code. We can use definitions of just and unjust laws to determine when freedoms are being denied from us, and use them to acquire that freedom. Martin Luther King Jr. draws from Saint Augustine’s idea of just and unjust laws in his Letter from Birmingham Jail to tell the clergymen that he believes breaking unjust human laws is necessary. In doing so, freedom was eventually gained through the civil rights movement. Just and unjust laws are a roadmap to freedom.

--Baylee Baker ‘28

Lehigh University Catalog Record: https://asa.lib.lehigh.edu/asa/Record/313613