The dialogues are available in many versions and reflect early classifications of the purpose of education, flawed essentialist thinking about humans, and exemplify the Socratic method of question asking and rational inquiry.  In their famous example and influence, we can track many of the practices in contemporary educational practice.  In other words, from these contingent (didn’t have to happen this way) thinkers in their time and place, there’s a thread to where we are now.  Much of what we think is due to them.  I can tell you from teaching rhetoric for twenty-five years that the system we write from–and are writing out of–hasn’t changed qualitatively from what Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato assumed.  If we are to change things, we need to be aware of these ideas–not because they form some canon of great thinkers (notice I didn’t capitalize them, but mentally you probably did: that’s an outgrowth of Plato’s theory of the Forms).

1. People often state that Socrates, being old, reacted differently to the charges against him than he would have if he were young. Had he been younger, do you believe his reaction would have been different? (10 points)
2. Why is Crito so worried about public opinion—about himself, not just Socrates—in the first few pages of Crito? (10 points)
3. Why, for Socrates, is there really no escape from the laws a city makes? (10 points)
4. Citing specific quotes, write two or three paragraphs that list several lessons that one can take from this dialogue. (70 points) Remember that, in APA style, you’d cite the editor, the year, and the page.  A useful model can be found at: https://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/apa