Socrates Unexplained Life

3. Another crucial piece of dialogue is Socrates's discussion of what would happen if they were to acquit him of the charges and allow him to live if he would stop discussing his philosophy. To this line of reasoning Socrates avows that he would not be willing or even able to cease his discussions and his practice of philosophy because he believes it is a task put on him by the gods, 29d paraphrased. This statement displays Socrates's deep need to live a life of integrity. Further he proclaims that were he to live he will continue to “go around doing nothing but persuading both young and old among you not to care for your body or wealth in preference to or as strongly as for the best possible state of your soul” 30a-b. Socrates's main concern is the welfare of the souls of all

He finally says that “the unexamined life is not worth living” (Plato, 20). What exactly does this statement mean? It means if a person is living a life without truly striving for wisdom and understand and making sure they realize what life is really about, their life is without meaning. Socrates flips the accusations. He essentially attacks his accusers about not having enough knowledge and not being willing enough to understand what real knowledge is. He claims that without self-examination, life is without purpose. He claims that these men do self-examine. This statement seals his

In this post it is my goal to analyze Plato’s The Apology showing that Socrates statement of “an unexamined life is not worth living” stands as Socrates statement of his own worth, wisdom, and place in Athenian society.

Socrates activities were to teach the children of others. many lessons that would improve the children's and the future of the city. Socrates believed that everyone should care for their souls, search for truth, and that excellence was knowledge. Socrates said that there was an absolute truth and that we should all search for it. Within this this truth was knowledge and wisdom.

Socrates put one’s quest for wisdom and the instruction of others above everything else in life. A simple man both in the way he talked and the wealth he owned, he believed that simplicity in whatever one did was the best way of acquiring knowledge and passing it unto others. He is famous for saying that “the unexplained life is not worth living.” He endeavored therefore to break down the arguments of those who talked with a flowery language and boasted of being experts in given subjects (Rhees 30). His aim was to show that the person making a claim on wisdom and knowledge was in fact a confused one whose clarity about a given subject was far from what they claimed. Socrates, in all his simplicity never advanced any theories of his own

In life the one thing that mattered the most to Socrates was education and virtue, for he spends most of his time educating the youth and helping the citizens of Athens write their wrong.

Socrates has a unique position in the history of philosophy. On one hand he is the most influential on another he is the least known. In his later life he is seen to stalk the streets barefoot, to spite shoemakers. He went about arguing and questioning people and revealing inconsistencies in their beliefs. He began teaching students but never accepted payments for doing so. This was possible because of the inheritance left by his father. Socrates wrote nothing of himself so we are dependent upon the works of both his students and associates who present a view as close to

Unlike Pericles, who has a vision of Athenian Exceptionalism, Socrates sees the faults in the city of Athens and he desires to fix them in order to nurture the great thinking which springs from the Athens. Fighting to expand Athenian military might and influence is not a priority for Socrates as it was for Pericles, who proposed it in his Funeral Oration, but instead, Socrates believes in improving Athens by bettering the citizens, as individuals. He appreciates the danger that would come with a public life, especially for him, whose views are contentious among many Athenians and explains this to the jury saying "...if someone who really fights for the just is going to preserve himself even for a short time, it is necessary for him to lead private rather than a public life." (page 83. section 32a)Although previously Socrates believed he could be of greater service to the city by spreading "Philosophia" among the private citizens of Athens in his defense speech, Socrates finally uses a public platform to edify the men of Athens. And he explains that"...if [he] had long ago attempted to be politically active, [he] would long ago have perished, and...would have benefitted neither [the Athenian citizens] nor [himself]." (page 83, section

Throughout the piece Socrates, deals largely with the examination of others. In “The Apology”, Socrates said, "above all I should like to spend my time there, as here, in examining and searching people's minds, to find out who is really wise among them, and who only thinks that he is." In this, we see how the philosopher views the people around him. He thought that it was his responsibility to examine the “wise” men around him and expose their false claims of wisdom as ignorance (“The Apology”, n.d.). He is implying that it is important to evaluate the people around you, and their claims of being wise as well as that should not take everything at face value and should gain our own sense wisdom by examining ourselves and the people around us.

He chose to influence people over dialogue, rather than through writing. It was only possible to reconstruct an account of his life and teachings, from the writings of his Greek students because he would always have conversations wth them. Socrates lived his life for the pursuit of knowledge, wisdom, God’s will, and piety. Many people have been confused by this statement, but we must first analyze what living means to Socrates. Socrates believes living

As the wisest man in all of ancient Greece, Socrates believed that the purpose of life was both personal and spiritual growth. He establishes this conviction in what is arguably his most renowned statement: "The unexamined life is not worth living."

The storyline of Socrates ‘the unexamined life is not worth living’ has played out a historically with the controversy of evolution and the belief in God. Most people who believe in God believe think he put everything on Earth and not the theory of Evolution that things evolved over time. Socrates was accused of his findings that he did not believe in God because he challenged the work of God. The unexamined life is not worth living because if we live life the way other people want us to live and go by their beliefs the world would be boring and too uniformed. I think that a different view about everything is very important because we learn to agree and disagree whereas back in Socrates time people were exiled for speaking out on things that

Through several dialogues Plato gives readers accounts of Socrates’ interactions with other Athenians. While some may think of him as a teacher of sorts, Socrates is adamant in rejecting any such claim (Plato, Apology 33a-b). He insists that he is not a teacher because he is not transferring any knowledge from himself to others, but rather assisting those he interacts with in reaching the truth. This assistance is the reason Socrates walks around Athens, engaging in conversation with anyone that he can convince to converse with him. An assertion he makes at his trial in Plato’s Apology is at the center of what drives Socrates in his abnormal ways, “the unexamined life is not worth living for a human being” (38a). Socrates, through aporia, looks to lead an examined life to perfect his soul and live as the best person he can be. This paper looks to examine the ‘unexamined life’ and the implications rooted in living a life like Socrates’.

The man associated with the name of Socrates supposedly lived and died about two millennia ago, but his name perseveres – a name which, over the years, has grown to legendary proportions, and which is occasionally used synonymously with the concepts of wisdom and knowledge. In Plato’s plays, which also serve as the most influential historical proofs for the existence of Socrates, which has been constantly doubted, he is depicted as a man of old age, soft-spoken and gentle-mannered, who possesses some of the most simple yet extreme habits. Stubbornness is another quality abundantly present in Socrates, and it manifests itself especially around the time of his death, when despite the countless pleas of his close friends and wife, he decides to proceed with the consumption of the hemlock, ending his life and marking one of the most tragic events of ancient Athens. But his stubbornness appears to be justified at first, as four arguments, two of which displayed below, are presented through the words of Phaedo, which appear to logically explain Socrates’ lack of fear toward death.

Socrates was considered by many to be the wisest man in ancient Greece. While he was eventually condemned for his wisdom, his spoken words are still listened to and followed today. When, during his trial, Socrates stated that, “the unexamined life is not worth living” (Plato 45), people began to question his theory. They began to wonder what Socrates meant with his statement, why he would feel that a life would not be worth living. To them, life was above all else, and choosing to give up life would be out of the picture. They did not understand how one would choose not to live life just because he would be unable to examine it.