social contract – Nemo's Library

The Case of Socrates It is a historical fact that Socrates was convicted of impiety and sentenced to death by an Athenian court in 399 BC. It is a matter of dispute whether the verdict was just and whether Socrates was right to submit to the State of Athens and not escape with the aid of his friends. In a recent blogpost, a Thomist philosopher stated that Socrates went too […]

In the past few years, I’ve written many posts lamenting the defeat of reason and the rise of tyranny in our time. The inevitable consequence of these is the demise of justice. So I hope my readers would forgive me if, in my pessimistic and cynical frame of mind, I’m not terribly enthused about the current protests for social justice: I tend to think of the phenomenon not as a […]

Socrates, falsely accused of impiety and corrupting the Athenian youths, was condemned to death by poison. He refused his friend Crito’s urging to escape prison and save his own life. He reasoned thus: Since he had been living in Athens all his life, and received education and other benefits that the state provided, he shouldn’t break the laws of the state and return evil for good. If he had deemed […]