Socratic Inquiry and PoliticsSocrates and the State. Richard KrautTimes Literary Supplement. Gregory Vlastos

Abstract

Richard Kraut's important and impressive book is the best available discussion of the Crito and of Socrates' political views and, in several ways, the best available book on Socrates. It consists of three parts of unequal length. Chapters 1-6 discuss the speech of the Laws in the Crito and their arguments to show why Socrates ought to obey the verdict of the court that has condemned him to death. Chapter 7 discusses Socrates' attitude to democracy in relation to his general political outlook. Chapter 8 discusses the nature and extent of Socratic ignorance. One of the questions in chapter 7 is raised by the Crito, but the arguments of this chapter are independent of those of the first six. The arguments of chapters 6 and 7 are more closely connected, and I will comment on the connections below. Discussion of the Crito occupies two-thirds of the book. But the last two chapters are especially provocative and important and are more tersely written than the first six; so I will comment fairly fully on some aspects of them, while omitting some details of Kraut's account of the Crito.