read: Argument Against Chaos, found in Crito 50b
Let us return to the original text for this argument:
“Tell me, Socrates, what are you intending to do? By attempting this deed, aren’t you planning to do nothing other than destroy us, the laws, and the civic community, as much as you can? Or does it seem possible to you that any city where the verdicts reached have no force but are made powerless and corrupted by private citizens could continue to exist and not be in ruins?” (Crito, 50b).
answer:
1.What are the explicit premises of this argument?
2.What are the implicit premises of these arguments?
3.How can you make the implicit premises explicit?
4.What is the conclusion of this argument?
5.Are there any weaknesses you can identify in this argument? Explain.
read: Argument from the Spirit of the Laws, as found in Crito 54c
The primary text of this argument is very short:
“But as it is you leave us, if indeed you depart, having been done an injustice not by us, the laws, but by men.”
answer:
1.How is this argument different from the “Two Wrongs Do Not Make a Right” argument?
2.What are the explicit premises of this argument?
3.What are the implicit premises of these arguments?
4.How can you make them explicit?
5.What is the conclusion of this argument?
6.Are there any weaknesses you can identify in this argument? Explain.
