In preparation for next week's class (February 9), please read and take notes on the following two pieces.
Crito, by Plato. This ancient text is a dialogue. Read it like the script for a play. For fun, you could even get someone else to read it aloud with you--reading texts like this aloud often improves understanding. In this text, the characters argue about whether and why we are obligated to obey the laws of the civic institutions they live under. Socrates has been convicted (perhaps unjustly) and sentenced to death. Crito offers to help his friend Socrates escape from prison. Socrates refuses, and explains his refusal to Crito. Many people find this text challenging, so please make sure you allow enough time to read it.
Just Laws vs Unjust Laws, by Brian Penny. This article uses questions of surveillance and privacy (in August 2013, when the time was very much ripe for discussion of that) to theorize about just and unjust laws, with the help of King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
In class, we will discuss the connections between what is legal and what is right, and use these articles as a common ground for our discussion.
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