Can Crito Help Anderson?

Why don't you just leave, they ask

Anderson sits in the ASU jail. He has been given the ultimate death sentence—ostracism from all wine and cheese parties. Instead, they laugh at him on Reddit, hiding behind cleverly disguised anonymous accounts. His friend Crito visits him, determined to offer aid.

Crito: Anderson, I don’t like seeing you in this condition. Why don’t you leave ASU and go to a university where you’ll fit in better?

Anderson: Where would I fit in better?

Crito: At a place that values your opinions.

Anderson: Do they value my opinions for what they are, or because I ask whether they are truly wise or only think they are wise?

Crito: If it’s a place where you fit in, then they must value your opinions for what they are.

Anderson: Then won’t I end up in the same situation once I begin to ask whether they are truly wise or only think they are wise?

Crito: Yes, you are right, Anderson. But couldn’t you just agree to stop asking that question?

Anderson: Would you agree that we must seek wisdom, or do you believe wisdom finds us?

Crito: We must seek it out.

Anderson: And do you agree that we seek wisdom by questioning?

Crito: Yes, Anderson.

Anderson: Then if I were to stop questioning, I would no longer be seeking wisdom. And that would be worse than even being sent to the University of Arizona.

Crito: Yes, Anderson, you are right. But don’t you fear your colleagues and their opinion of you?

Anderson: Let me ask you, my dear Crito, whose opinion should we fear—the good gender-ambiguous person or the evil gender-ambiguous person?

Crito: The good, obviously.

Anderson: And does the good gender-ambiguous person love wisdom or hate wisdom?

Crito: Loves wisdom, of course.

Anderson: And to love wisdom is to seek wisdom?

Crito: Yes.

Anderson: And to seek wisdom is to ask questions?

Crito: Yes.

Anderson: So, it is not the good gender-ambiguous person who hates my asking questions, but the evil gender-ambiguous person. Is that correct?

Crito: Yes, Anderson, you are undoubtedly correct.

Anderson: And therefore, those who have assigned me to death are of the evil sort, whereas I will be lamented by the good sort.

Crito: You are right, Anderson.

Anderson: And the evil do not know what is good?

Crito: That is correct, Anderson.

Anderson: And so, they cannot take what is good from you, not knowing what it is or how to recognize it.

Crito: I suppose that is true.

Anderson: Thus, whatever they can take is not truly good, and they are not to be feared but pitied.

Crito: Yes, Anderson. And so, is there nothing you can do?

Anderson: I can continue to do the most important thing: to seek wisdom and to inquire of those who claim to be wise, to see if they truly know what is good or if they do not. And whether I do this here at ASU, or at their wine-and-cheese parties, or even in another darker realm—such as the University of Arizona—I cannot be prevented from loving wisdom and seeking it out.