EssaysForStudent.com - Free Essays, Term Papers & Book Notes
Search

Socrates an Unexamined Life

By:   •  Essay  •  822 Words  •  March 23, 2010  •  2,350 Views

Page 1 of 4

Socrates an Unexamined Life

Thus for Socrates a wise man is the one who knows about his ignorance, because he knows that he does not know anything. That is why we never see Socrates advocating anything in any of his dialogues and he doesn't expose his interlocutor's ignorance in order to prove himself right or about his own doctrine. Socrates say that he doesn't know the answer either and that he is questioning that someone might provide him with better answers. Some take this claim to ignorance to be irony but I think there is strong evidence that he is sincere in his search for truth

Socrates said "the unexamined life is not worth living". He said this during his trial, for he did not want to live out the rest of his life without questioning and provoking questions. For him it was not worth living, and those immortal words have echoed on, but today, to apply that statement to my own life, it is as I believe he would have wanted it to be, a puzzlement.

Though I know there is no right or wrong answer, either I agree or don't agree; I also know that nothing is as black and white as the question laid out before me. I believe that Socrates had a great amount of wisdom however he chose to use it, but I also believe he did not want to impose that wisdom however right or wrong but rather indeed to provoke one into there own wisdom, to get them thinking, examining there own life as he has examined his. He dreamt of a better world, he sought a better world with his wisdom and that is probably the main reason he was persecuted so indefinitely. This shows one of two things, that some people are scared to open there minds and that others simply chose not to. Though everyone has that ability, most live in blissful ignorance. This is where the line skews, for those like my-self who question the questions and question the answers to our questions, the line is gone and the possibilities are endless, though it is not easy to say anything with one hundred percent certainty that is not proven to that same standard.

An unexamined life is a life that is assuming, conventional, and unchallenging. People who live unexamined lives are content with what they were taught and accept these teachings as knowledge. They do not question authority, and they do not ponder why things are. This paper encompasses the theories expressed by the Greek philosopher, Socrates, and his view of what he called the "unexamined life".

because of his political associations with an earlier regime, the Athenian democracy put Socrates on trial, charging him with undermining state religion and corrupting young people. The speech he offered in his own defense, as reported in Plato's (Apology), provides us with many reminders of the central features of Socrates' approach to philosophy and its

Continue for 3 more pages »  •  Join now to read essay Socrates an Unexamined Life
Download as (for upgraded members)
txt
pdf