Hobbes claims that in most cases a citizen does not have the duty to make the safety and ends of the state the motive of his or her voluntary death. The right of a man to defend himself in the face of death or injury can not be taken away, because if it is the Right of Nature for each man "to use his own power, as he will himselfe, for the preservation of his own Nature, that is to say his own life" (Hobbes 189). The prisoner being led to death by his jailers has the right and obligation to resist with whatever force is necessary. No man can take away the Right, Law and Libery of Nature because these are the sole reasons for making laws and setting up a sovereign: to preserve and protect the lives of its citizenry. A death sentence makes the covenant between the man being put to death and his fellow citizens void, because no man can will his own death.
By making a big deal of the charge of corrupting the youth, Plato garners more sympathy from the youth. It is as if their leaders are saying they are not smart enough to think for themselves, and to choose between true and false. Plato writes in a style that makes the philosophy more easily acceptable to the youth, by making their parents and the ruling party their enemy. Plato never entered politics. He chose instead to induce change through the teachings of his philosophy at his school the Academy. He did induce some change because "Unlike Socrates, Plato took no part in the civic life of Athens, but he was much more interested in political philosophy, and is said to have been consulted by statesman both at home and abroad" (Plato, "Apology: Introductory Note." Great Works of Literature, 01-01-92). The treatise was successful considering Plato's works are still used to today by many political-philosophers.
|
|
|
|
|
Favorites
Del.icio.us
Digg
Furl
Magnolia
StumbleUpon
Google
Yahoo
Technorati
BlinkList