The Sokratic Method

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The Sokratic Method was a virtual representation of one of Kassandra's genetic memories, relived by Layla Hassan through the Portable Animus HR-8.5.

Description

A rebel broke sacred laws and was sentenced to death. Did the punishment fit the crime? Did the man deserve death? What is "justice"? The infinitely wise Sokrates inspired Kassandra to find out.

Dialogue

As Kassandra traveled through Delos in the course of her campaign to kill Podarkes, she heard a crowd around the familiar voice of Sokrates.

• Antenor: The filthy rebel stole from the sanctuary! He spilled blood on sacred soil!
• Sokrates: Good people of Delos, your hearts are big, but we must use our minds in this matter.
• Sophia: He deserves death! We demand justice!
• Sokrates: Though putting the man to death would be justice for whom? Can a citizen truly be partial when justice is sought? Must we not first define what justice is?
• Antenor: Don't listen to Athenians! They do nothing but talk, talk, talk! We want action!
• Sophia: Ship the rebel to Mykonos, where nothing is sacred. Kill him there!
• Sokrates: Life has value, no matter where you are.

Kassandra decided to intervene.

• Kassandra: Sokrates! You just make friends wherever you go, don't you?
• Sokrates: Kassandra! What a pleasant surprise. What brings you to Delos?

I came to help the rebellion.I came to kill Podarkes.I came to hear you speak.

• Kassandra: I'm helping a group of Delian rebels.
• Sokrates: But do they truly need help? Is not the decision to rebel enough to release one from oppression?

• Kassandra: I came here for the leader of the Delos Islands. The people suffered under him for too long.
• Sokrates: And their suffering is worth his life?
• Kassandra: Podarkes is one of the people hunting my family, Sokrates. His death is unavoidable.
• Sokrates: Aren't all deaths ultimately unavoidable?

• Kassandra: Once I heard the great Sokrates was on Delos, I raced over to hear his words of wisdom.
• Sokrates: Ah, but what are words? Can they be wise? or are they simply words?

• Kassandra: Oh, no you don't. I'm not getting sucked into one of these debates again.
• Sokrates: Yet right now there's a situation I would love your opinion on.
• Kassandra: Fine.
• Sokrates: Soldiers captured a rebel. He stole from the sanctuary to help finance the rebellion. When guards attempted to apprehend the man, he killed one of them.
• Kassandra: Murder on Delos. They're probably going to kill him.
• Sokrates: Indeed, though it's illegal to end his life here. So he awaits his fate, to be transported to Mykonos.

The crowd dispersed.

• Kassandra: Where do I come in?
• Sokrates: Would you say this rebel deserves death? That killing him brings justice?

The rebel deserves to live.Define "justice."He deserves to die.

• Kassandra: The rebel was fighting for the freedom of his people. Sounds fine to me.
• Sokrates: So, if stealing from the gods, breaking sacred laws, and killing a man don't warrant a death sentence, what does?
• Kassandra: I've been stealing, killing, and breaking sacred laws for as long as I can remember.
• Sokrates: Ha! So you see yourself in this rebel...

• Kassandra: Let me answer that by asking you this - what exactly is justice?
• Sokrates: A brilliant question. He stole, which is wrong.
• Kassandra: But it was for the freedom of his people, which is right.
• Sokrates: He killed a man.
• Kassandra: To save his own life.
• Sokrates: He broke a sacred law, one he knew honored the gods.
• Kassandra: So, you're saying he can kill and steal... But stain the earth, and he should have his throat cut?
• Sokrates: I am saying nothing. But when we stray from the law, are we not like the animals?

• Kassandra: The man killed, stole, and broke every law on Delos. Of course he deserves death.
• Sokrates: Interesting. And what do you deserve? Have you not also killed, stolen, and broken every law on every island you've ever been to?
• Kassandra: What we deserve and what we get are two very different things. The trick, my philosophical friend, is to never get caught.

Sokrates laughed.

• Sokrates: God forbid you ever have children.

• Kassandra: Ha! You know my opinion on that. Can I go now?
• Sokrates: Of course, of course.
• Sokrates: There's just one more thing.
• Kassandra: There always is.
• Sokrates: The rebel is being held north of here in the Hestiatorion. They're shipping him to Mykonos tomorrow.
• Kassandra: Wait. All this just to convince me to save the man?
• Sokrates: Convince? Never. Though I am curious - now that you know where he's held and why, would you save him?

(Accept - "I'll pay the rebel a visit.")

• Kassandra: I'm going to pay this rebel a visit. Sounds like we have a lot in common.
• Sokrates: I thought you might, though I have no drachmae to give. Only knowledge, which one should prefer for it is perpetual, not transitory.
• Kassandra: Well that's... something. I think.

(If players chose "He deserves to die," then Accept)

• Kassandra: I'd like to pay this rebel a visit.
• Sokrates: You told me he deserved death. Are you planning on serving it to him?
• Kassandra: I have no reason to kill him. But I am interested in what he has to say.
• Sokrates: As am I. As are we all.

Returning to Sokrates, the crowd had returned to lodge another complaint.

• Antenor: Sokrates! Another foreigner has spilled blood on sacred soil!
• Sokrates: Perhaps they did. But mistakes are a failure of intellect, not character... Are they not?
• Sophia: These are sacred lands. Our laws are clear!
• Sokrates: Are they? If it is not possible to know what is right, and thus do wrong, then the foreigner acted out of ignorance, not malice.
• Antenor: So, you say we need to tell every person on the island what the laws are?
• Sokrates: If a law is truly just, is it not knowable through deduction alone?

Once more, Kassandra spoke to Sokrates.

• Sokrates: Ah, Kassandra! Seeing you on Delos sets my heart at ease. So, tell me. How was your encounter with the rebellious prisoner?
• Kassandra: You never told me he was an extremist lunatic.
• Sokrates: Ah, but who am I to judge what is too much, or too crazy? Are we not both at some point or another?
• Kassandra: He would have thrown you and your philosophies into the sea.

Sokrates laughed.

• Sokrates: Perhaps when I was thinner, both in weight, and philosophy. So, tell me, were you able to resolve the situation without bloodshed?

(With minimal bloodshed or no kills)

• Kassandra: There may have been a few drops, but everyone survived.
• Sokrates: Interesting. A mercenary who carries blades of death wherever she goes, and yet in this particular case, she chose life.
• Kassandra: What can I say? I was in a good mood.

(With significant bloodshed)

Regardless, Sokrates asked the rebel's fate.

• Sokrates: And what of the rebel?

(Kasos killed)

The rebel died.Lie - I saved him.

• Kassandra: He's dead. Probably for the best.
• Sokrates: Best for Delos? Best for the rebellion? Or best for you?
• Kassandra: Yes.

Sokrates was briefly speechless at Kassandra's witty response.

• Kassandra:
• Sokrates:

(Kasos released)

• Kassandra: Should be on his way back to Mykonos, if he knows what's good for him.

Regardless, Sokrates lectured her on choice.

• Sokrates: Our choices are like ripples on water. They seem tiny and insignificant at the beginning, but they can become devastating tidal waves by the time they run their course.
• Kassandra: It's a pleasure, Sokrates. I can always count on you to give me a devastating headache.
• Sokrates: The pleasure is mine, Kassandra. Hope to see you around the symposiums again.
• Kassandra: Don't hold your breath.

Trivia

• If the memory is completed without killing anyone, Sokrates will still question the protagonist on why they killed the guards.

• The crowd will still mention that "another foreigner has spilled blood on sacred soil," but the dialogue mentioning the player's restraint at the Hestiatorion still remains.

• The Socratic method, also known as maieutics, method of elenchus, elenctic method, or Socratic debate, is a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to draw out ideas and underlying presuppositions.

Gallery

• 
  Kasos tied up in the Hestiatorion.

References

• Assassin's Creed: Odyssey