Did Socrates Agree to Obey the Laws of Athens?

Abstract

Abstract Plato’s Crito contains a justly famous discussion of what has come to be known as the problem of political obligation, of what obligations a citizen has to the government, and what are the grounds of those obligations. To many, the most surprising aspect of the work is that it appears to argue, on many grounds, that a citizen owes absolute obedience to the laws; a position scarcely to be credited to Socrates of all people. But one argument in particular caught the attention of David Hume.