Preview

Socrates And Unexamined Life

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
789 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Socrates And Unexamined Life
According to Plato, Socrates had differentiated two ways of life, unexamined life and examined life. Socrates was irritated by the Sophists in his Era, and their leaning to teach logic as a means of achieving self-centered ends. An unexamined life to not examine or question one's life is to risk misunderstanding one's self in relation to the world, to remain oblivious to one's thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and thus, to be a passive receiver of experience, instead of an active interpreter of experience. Besides, one has to analyze himself every day to find the real meaning of life and to live a happy and worthy life. Living an examined life will not only better yourself but will help those around you and guarantee your safety in heaven. I agree …show more content…
According to Al Gore we should examine ourselves by taking steps against industrial revolution which will lead us to a natural disaster. Moreover, for a virtuous person, examination and self-reflection is to gain knowledge, to seek for the common good, and especially to enrich the immoral soul. Furthermore, to live and to find a meaning of a worthy life, one cannot only do examination on his life, but he also has to examine others who are around him, especially in his society. For instance, according to Plato’s apology, Socrates went out in public places not only to ask, but also challenged other. What did he do that for? The answer is, when we asking other question, we can have the answer or opinions. The answers help us easy to examine other and make comparisons between others and us. Either their opinion is right or wrong, we still learn from it; learning from others mistakes. Through them, we are capable of knowing what is good and what can be applied to our life to make us to become a better and virtuous person in …show more content…
Your life has no intentional destiny, bivouac, and ideal. It is full of mediocrity and monotony. It then becomes completely exteriorized with consequent loss of much power and peace. To illustrate this, in the "allegory of the cave" of Plato (p32), a man who lives separated from the outside world and ends up in darkness. The only thing that he can see is the shadow on the wall. Looking at the shadow, he thinks it is the real thing without knowing that it is just a reflection of things by the candle. He just blindly accepts his faith without asking and exanimating what lies beyond the cave; however, at the end of the story, there is a man who shows him the way out of the cave to see the real world with true living thing. Therefore, when one examines himself only, it is easy for him to end up with illusion and imagination. He is not able to distinguish what is truth or fake and he commits himself to believe in the shadows. In other word, in order to get out of the cave, to discover the truly live, and to live a worthy live, one has to examine and discover those shadows for the real meanings of the outside world, the people in his

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In document 1, the anti-sophist teacher and philosopher, Socrates, suggests that "The unexamined life is not worth living". This quote can be interpreted by saying that it is good to examine your life, or think over it with great caution, and not make mistakes. He recommends that it is good to discover yourself, know what you…

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Code Of Hammurabi Essay

    • 2635 Words
    • 11 Pages

    "The unexamined life is not worth living" is a cornerstone of the philosophy of Socrates. P81…

    • 2635 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Socrates lived a life of inquiry in order to achieve a fulfilled life of eudaimonia and success. I argue that the Socratic examined life is a process, which should be valued because it teaches one to be critical thinkers, and aids us in the understanding our true actions.…

    • 455 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Socrates Quote Analysis

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This quote is significant because it exemplifies the way Socrates uses HIS method. Socrates uses metaphors in order to humbly enlighten his audience. At times Socrates structure of explanation is perceived to be complex and or difficult to interpret. To simplify what he is attempting to get across usually takes a thorough examination. Socrates is from ancient times and his methodology still suits fit to modern day. Analyzing the context of his circumstances before death alone goes to show the depth of understanding one needs to comprehend his ideology and beliefs. This quote also provides us with the notion of not being selfish and to avoid pretentious. When one thinks about death or the chance of dying when they’re in a predicament because…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this essay I am evaluating if Socrates death harmed the citizens of Athens more then it did Socrates himself. Socrates has two reasons why Athens will be more harmed then him by his death. When Socrates died he did just that, he left the earth and was no longer there, after this moment Socrates was no longer harmed by his own death, the people of Athens however went on to suffer the repercussions for years to come. It was Athens in the end that suffered, Socrates was at peace.…

    • 969 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What does Socrates mean when he says that “an unexamined life is no life for a human being to live?”. As I read Plato’s Apology, Euthyphro and The Allegory of the Cave, I could sense two things about unexamined life. First, unexamined life means someone who lives in self-reflection such as sin, guilty, and self-examination. According to Socrates, for living life, the most important one is that should be analyzed and explore the mind itself. One of an important thing, self-reflection of our inner mind gives us the ability to not only understand ourselves more enough but also our relationship with the universe. According to his thinking, without self-reflection, we can give up the chances to evaluate ourselves and our the central axis. In order…

    • 1143 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    PHIL 201 Lesson 2

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The quote: "The unexamined life is not worth living." Socrates didn't mean that people have no value, or should be executed if they lived unexamined lives. Humans are unique in the animal kingdom; we have the ability to reason and reflect about everything. What he meant was: To live the unexamined life is to live less than a fully human life; not living life the way we were created to live.…

    • 950 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Socrates' step in accepting the fact that one is ignorant is very important. It is much like realizing that one has a problem and how that is the first step to correction and improvement. I agree that in many ways today, we are witnessing the same conditions that lead to Socrates' death that existed in Ancient Greece. It is a very interesting comparison and I can see the relations. As for what can be done, I am quite unsure at this time. As Socrates would suggest, I am wise enough to admit of my ignorance on the matter. What was something that you read regarding Socrates that has stood out to you and is perhaps influential? Good job this…

    • 120 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The question of Socrates’ criminality is not straightforward. The truth or falsity of the accusations is not certain. Also, the perspective from which the question is viewed changes its answer. The only certainty is that the philosopher, Socrates, was found guilty and sentenced to death by a jury of his peers for corrupting the youth and a disbelief in the Athenian’s Gods. If the Apology’s origins are to be believed, as in if Plato wrote a true description of events, then it can be said that Socrates does not believe himself to be guilty of these crimes.…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Socrates was a man of very distinct descriptions. He believed that we all would meet in a place in the afterlife. We would follow a guide down our chosen path according to the life we lived. Socrates didn’t have a fear of death or the path he would travel in the afterlife. He had a very detailed idea of how the terrain would be. He envisioned in exquisite detail of the beauty of the afterlife. He spoke of the path that people would take based on the type of person they were and the acts they committed. He is a man that doesn’t have a fear for death. He is a man that believes that there is life after death.…

    • 763 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The most intriguing people you will encounter in this life are the people who had insights about you, that you didn't know about yourself” (Alder). This quote can be used to show why the great Greek philosopher, Socrates is deemed as being so intriguing. During his time, Socrates was seen as a great threat because he tended to break free from the normal way of thinking and inevitably, people became afraid of him. Socrates was eventually put to death on account of “corrupting the youth” and being an “atheist,” which were false claims against him to cover up the fact that his accusers simply didn’t like him or his ways. When reading Plato’s Republic, Socrates is shown as being very intriguing because of: his humble ways, his Socratic method,…

    • 867 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Virtue, rather than being a teachable piece of knowledge, seems to be an innate understanding. Every person in the world, save perhaps psychopaths and sociopaths, naturally has a strong moral compass. An example that proves this idea is the innocence of children. I have never witnessed a child perform an action with solely malicious intent. Children always have some outside motivation for any hateful actions they perform, so they never do it only to hurt someone. At this point you might think that, yes, children do not do anything with only malicious purposes, but the fact remains that they continue to perform such actions. This is true, but honestly, how have children learned to do such hateful things? No child would consider cursing at anyone if they were angry, but since they observe others performing these actions, the children begin to develop the idea in their minds that doing so must relieve their suffering. It seems, then, that humans learn harmful…

    • 341 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Socrates

    • 839 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Question 2) In Book I of Republic, Thrasymachos’s states that unjust people are stronger and more powerful than just people. Thrasymachos believes that being just is not virtuous nor wise but that men act just only because they afraid of having injustices happening to them so they obey. Those who have power and control are those people who act unjust-they make laws and rules that benefit themselves, not the rest of the people. Socrates proves Thrasymachos otherwise by arguing that being just is virtuous, wise and profitable and being unjust does not make people stronger nor more powerful. Those in power or rulers make laws that are just for themselves but Thrasymachos agrees that sometimes rulers make mistakes and make laws that are unjust to them, therefore, making them just or advantageous for the people they rule. Therefore, unjust people would not be more powerful in this case. Additionally, Socrates goes on to reason with Thrasymachos that the individual in power commands advantages for his or her subject rather than their own personal advantage. Socrates makes a comparison to a doctor and a patient as well as a pilot and a sailor, where the doctor and pilot are commanding advantages for their subjects, the patient and sailor respectively. Thrasymachos argues that a just man will pay taxes on his estate and an unjust man will pay less taxes on the same size property, etc. Therefore, being unjust serves a greater purpose than being just. Socrates goes on to argue that no one chooses willingly to rule but they do so in exchange for wages because the ruler does not expect to make other gains in simply doing what is advantageous for the people being ruled. Work performed by people in power and in control is considered an art form that without being rewarded with wages solely serves that subject, or weaker person, receiving the benefit of the art. For example, a doctor practices the art of making others healthy. There are no advantages the doctor gains in…

    • 839 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    socrates

    • 348 Words
    • 2 Pages

    himself, yet in reality he was not. So I then tried to show him that he thought…

    • 348 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Examined Life

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages

    According to Socrates, the unexamined life is not worth living. What is this so called unexamined life? When Socrates talked about the unexamined life, he talks about a life where the person does not question their purpose in the life choices they decided to take. Rather the person lives a self fulfilling life with what they believe will make them happy, such as money, wealth, reputation and self interest.The examined life according to Socrates is the life where the person does not allow one possibility to pull them in, but rather they question moral circumstances and begin to find many possible solutions to them. I believe that when a person has morals they can begin to find better solutions that do not affects others, but rather improves us by bringing happiness and soul satisfaction .…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays