Why "The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living" is More Than Just a Phrase
The unexamined life is not worth living: meaning (essay)
"An unexamined life is not worth living", the topic of this essay, comes from Plato's Apology, which is a recollection of the speech Socrates gave at his trial. Socrates is attributed with these words after choosing death rather than exile from Athens or a commitment to silence. Socrates' claim that the unexamined life is not worth living makes a satisfying climax for the deeply principled arguments that Socrates presents on behalf of the philosophical life. The claim is that only in striving to come to know ourselves and to understand ourselves do our lives have any meaning or value. The claim exemplifies the need to lead a philosophical life, because it is a call for individuals to think more critically about the lives that they lead. Examining the life that one live represents a degree of nobility, it is an encouragement to be fully human, to use our highly developed faculty of thought to raise our existence above that of mere beasts. For if we don't think, we are no more than animals, simply eating, sleeping, working and procreating. And though it may be a bit strong to say such lives are not worth living, all but a minority of ethical vegetarians would agree that they are much less valuable than fully human ones.
Extensively scrutinizing the life one lives, allows one to determine what are the important values one must have in order to live a fulfilling life. Our values are important because they help us to grow and develop. They help us to create the future we want to experience. Every individual is involved in making hundreds of decisions every day. The decisions we make are a reflection of our values and beliefs, and they are always directed towards a specific purpose. That purpose is the satisfaction of our individual or collective needs. Examining the life we lead allows us to have a clearer picture of our purpose and values.
Examining one’s life provides a chance for the individual to escape from the clutches of collective thinking, human beings tend to have a lot of questions about how to lead an ideal and fulfilling life and the answers are usually provided by society in the form of culture and most of us accept them without scrutinizing their legitimacy. It is fair to say that the examined life is a life immersed in conversation, both with others and with oneself. Moreover, it is a struggle to live what one sees as a righteous life even if it goes against the status quo of the community. This is exemplified best in the Apology. Socrates, even in a moment of great despair and tribulation, follows through and maintains his philosophical demeanor. He leads his life, all the way to the end, in line with his philosophy and its principles, never wavering and always questioning.
For Socrates the human Being is marked by the capacity to transcend instinct and desire and to make conscious and ethical choices. The examined life allows one to have an elevated sense of self, we can reflect on the working of our minds, we can become aware of patterns in our emotions and thoughts, we can think about how our actions affect those around us, we can consider the emotions and values of others though empathy and compassion. An examined life makes individuals more useful members of the greater society by because it compels them to be more self aware and have the interest of others in mind. In today’s world of abiding uncertainty and complexity one can recognize the attraction in not examining too much, for too long in life. Socrates knows the burden of being free especially in conditions of radical uncertainty where values and principles might compete with equal ‘weight’, but the pursuit of wisdom and truth were more important as they are essential to being fully human.
