The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living

Socrates was accused of corrupting the young through the ideas he taught and the manner in which he taught them, ergo his acts were inseparable from the crime of which he was accused of. Consequently, and quite frankly rather humorously, the sheer enormity of Socrates' crime could have hardly been outdone by that of any other of its time. Whereas it meant that everything Socrates had done in his life was illegal, since practically his entire life stood for the proposition that he ought to teach his philosophy to anyone who would listen. Socrates believed that "the life unexamined is one not worth living.". The depth of that belief made the accusation of corrupting the young almost equivalent to being charged with the crime of having lived.

The question of willingness to die for one’s beliefs is something that most humans wrestle with. Socrates was no different. He was convicted so deeply in the statement, “the unexamined life is not worth living,” that he was willing to put into action what he was speaking; to die for it. He not only spoke this statement but lived it by example. By being sentenced to death, Socrates was testing the weight of his own spoken conviction. He knew that if he pleaded guilty and betrayed what he had already examined and believed in his soul, his life would not be worth continuing. When Socrates says, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” (CITE) he is emphasizing the value in thinking deeply of personal beliefs and convictions because those are what define people as individuals.

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

Close analysis of the Athenian society surrounding Socrates reveals that he was very much a black sheep. He devoted much of his time to experiments that were then deemed acts of impiety. The Apology divulges Plato’s perception of Socrates’ defense when he was put on trial in 399 B.C. Socrates’ stubborn refusal to conform is highlighted in the piece alongside the common idea among philosophers at the time that “examining” oneself and one’s peers is what makes a life worthwhile. I agree with the idea that examination of human morality is vital to living a fulfilled life, because without virtue or goodness, there is no worth in life.

Plato’s “The Apology” takes places in Athens in 399 BC. Socrates, a natural philosopher, is put on trial and accused of failing to recognize the god of Athens, creating new deities, and corrupting the minds of the city youth. The Athenians, Anytus, Meletus, and Lycon fear that Socrates’ teachings lack respect for the legal customs and religious beliefs established in the city and could create a damaging effect on Athens’ community (Dan I.(n.d.). In this piece, Plato writes an account of Socrates’ speech attempting to defend himself. In this account, Socrates states that “An unexamined life is not worth living.” (Plato, n.d.). When saying this, Socrates claims that a person must examine themselves and determine the purpose of life, in order

“No one knows with regards to death whether it is not really the greatest blessing that can happen to a man; but people dread it as though they were certain that it is the greatest evil” (Apology 29a). In his explanation of wisdom and knowledge, Socrates also reveals his worldview of the human condition. Socrates states that those who fear death are foolish because there is no possible way to know what it really holds. He believed that there were things far worse than death. Included among these were ignorance and foolishness. This ties in with his worldview of knowledge as he went to great lengths to seek out a person with more knowledge than himself, an act that defies ignorance according to his definition. Socrates believed that an ignorant life was not a life worth living. When he revealed the ignorance of the politicians, poets, and craftsmen, they were upset, further showing their ignorance in that they were offended in Socrates attempting to impart some wisdom on them. He further states, “I only wish that ordinary people had an unlimited capacity for doing harm; that would mean that they had an unlimited power for doing good, which would be a splendid thing. In fact they have neither. They cannot make a man wise or foolish” (Crito 44d). This further imparts Socrates belief that the human

Socrates states that “the unexamined life is not worth living”, which means that the life without inquiry is incomplete. He mentions that he is accused of being examining others and proving their ignorance. He talks about that people live in the unexamined life, For example, Socrates comes to the politician, the poet and the handicraftsman in order to find someone who is wiser than him, but he find out they are ignorant. They do not care about the world around them but they pretend to have knowledge. In fact, those people have no pursuit in knowledge

I. As Socrates defends himself in court, he described his way of life through each recall of events that he has experienced. He describes learning the differences between right and wrong and learning without being examined one’s knowledge will not grow. In the Apology, Socrates gives every reason why the examined life described in his stories is the only life worth living.

Since individuals must face their ignorance, they should consequently deny any false wisdom and question all conventions and traditions. Socrates states in his sentence proposal, “the unexamined life is not worth living”; the premise of his philosophy and work as mentor is to expose the illusion of wisdom and “converse about virtue” . Thus, he firmly faces his conviction, refusing to give up his right to practice philosophy, since philosophy – the process of admitting ignorance and questioning convention – is essential to his

“The unexamined life is not worth living” is like his last admonishment to the citizens. He believes he will be better after death because he can get away from unexamined life and be closer with the truths. The theory of Socrates is based on spirit growth and seeking the truths of the world. The statement “the unexamined life is not worth living” is a specific expression of his

As Plato writes, Socrates pursued what he felt was his destiny because that is what he was made to do. Through this narrative Plato illustrates the relationship between thought and action. All of which are weaved through the themes of knowledge, enlightenment (and therefore knowing oneself-knowing what you are ‘fitted’ to do), justice and truth. Plato carefully shows all of which are intertwined, that you can’t have one without the other. Socrates, upon his trial is eventually condemned to death, he challenges the natural recourse by stating “For neither in a court case nor in was should I or anyone else devise a way to escape death by doing anything at all/I suspect men it is not hard, men, to escape death, but it is much harder to escape villainy” (Plato, “Apology of Socrates” 93).

Of the philosophers I have studied, Socrates stands out to me from all the rest. Although I would be the first to confess that I have never put forth the time nor the effort necessary to consider myself a philosopher (at least not in the sense that I imagine most would consider to be the credentials of a philosopher), my philosophy about life is most closely aligned with what I understand Socrates philosophical beliefs to be. Although there are some distinct differences in what I believe to be the ultimate meaning behind life, which I will later address, I believe his thoughts on how one should live their life to be the wisest of any philosopher we have studied. First, let me relate what I understand Socrates

Socrates himself claims to not know about the many aspects virtue he is being held on trial for, but he perceives his ignorance of the topic through his own self examination. This is the true meaning of the quote. The answer lies simply within the words. It means living a life where you don’t realize

Both Plato and Socrates seen philosophy not as an occupation, but a way of life. Socrates believed there were different kind of lives to live, the unexamined and the examined. The unexamined life focused on material things. Such as, wealth, power, possessions and the wants of the body. The examined life chases truth, justice, betterment of the city and lasting things. In the examined life, the soul is the most important thing. To Socrates, a life filled with chasing after material things, the unexamined life, is not worth living. Socrates is seen as the image of an examined life. He lived and died justly and chose to further his examined life even if it meant he would be put to death.

b) "The unexamined life is not worth living", quoted Socrates. It appears that, following his brilliant logic, the key to "living philosophically" is exactly how one interprets and scrutinizes their own life in a philosophical context. As with the nature of philosophy itself, living philosophically is also ambiguous, and it could very well be that one lives "philosophically" even if they do not necessarily realize it. Take, for instance, a person who questions why humans and all life forms must die; or one who ponders their true meaning in life - are they not thinking philosophically? Regardless of whether or not they actually study philosophy, they are still critically thinking about the nature of being and existence in an interpretive, "between-the-lines" way. If they genuinely reach a conclusion about these topics, they can expand upon them by applying them towards real-world scenarios - in effect, they would truly live philosophically every day.