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In this essay I plan to discuss what the "good" or examined life is, as described by Socrates. I will argue that Socrates' vision of the examined life is a good example of how one should live their life because it shows how to come to an understanding of life and how questioning everything will help you find the truth and to better understand who you are. Socrates lived a very good example of this life, so I will be using him as the principle character. I also plan to talk about the unexamined life and why that is not worth living according to Socrates.Socrates was very strong in his ideas of what the good life was. He believed that to have a good life one needed to examine their life. To live an examined life is to make a solid effort to understand who you are as a person and why things are the way they are. By leading an examined life you begin to understand yourself and how you work. This frees the mind from falling under the influence of actions born of passion or in haste. Actions of passion or haste are usually made too quickly to fully understand what the consequences are and how they will truly affect the outcome of the situation. Socrates dedicated his life to this type of thought. This is shown when Socrates has the chance to escape from the jail with Crito. Instead of acting in haste and running from the jail, Socrates thinks about the situation fully, saying,Let us examine the question together, my dear friend, and if you can make any objection while I am speaking, make it and I will listen to you, but if you have no objection to make, my dear Crito, then stop now from saying the same thing so often, that I must leave here against the will of the Athenians. I think it important to persuade you before I act, and not to act against your wishes. See whether the start of our enquiry is adequately stated, and try to answer what I ask you in the way you think best. (Crito, p. 51) This is a prime example of how one leading an examined life would react to the situation. Socrates examines the choice and all of its consequences. By thinking it through, he finds that escaping from the jail would not be advantageous at all, but rather it would ruin him and his reputation. This shows how dedicated Socrates was to living this way and with this way of thinking. This type of thinking also controls his actions in court. Meletus was the person responsible for the charges against Socrates, and in his affidavit it says,
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"Socrates is guilty of wrongdoing in that he busies himself studying things in the sky and below the earth; he makes the worse into the stronger argument, and he teaches these same things to others." (Apology, p. 5) A person who was leading an unexamined life would have most likely just accepted the charges and the punishment of exile. Socrates however had thought through everything and decided that exile was not the right path. Since he did not want to die either he had to fight back against the accusations. Socrates asked that if anyone in the courtroom knew that the accusations were true, that they should speak up. He was also accused of corrupting the youth and believing in his own gods instead of the gods of Athens. He attacked each of the accusations solidly, having thought out his argument instead of just spouting off. Regarding him not believing in the gods of Athens, he brings this query up to the jury and says,Does any man, Meletus, believe in human activities who does not believe in humans? Or in flute-playing activities but not in flute-players? No, my good sir, no man could. If you are not willing to answer, I will tell you and the jury. Answer the next question, however. Does any man believe in spiritual activities who does not believe in spirits? No one. (Apology, p. ) To prove wrong the accusation of corrupting the youth he says, "They say 'That man Socrates is a pestilential fellow who corrupts the young.' If one asks them what he does and what he teaches to corrupt them, they are silent, as they do not know." (Apology, p. ) Socrates uses these analogies so that he can compare them to the accusation the he does not believe in any gods. He applies it to himself by saying, "Then since I do believe in spirits, as you admit, if spirits are gods, this is what I mean when I say you speak in riddles and in jest, as you state that I do not believe in gods and then again that I do, since I do believe in spirits." (Apology, p. ) In his defense, Socrates is attempting to prove that Meletus' charges are way out of proportion and that they are wasting the court's time. The court forms a question for Socrates that says, "Are you not ashamed, Socrates, to have followed the kind of occupation that has led to your being now in danger of death?" (Apology, p. ) Socrates replies "Whenever a man has taken a position that he believes to be best, or has been placed by his commander, there he must I think remain and face danger, without a thought for death or anything else, rather than disgrace." (Apology, p. ) This quote encompasses the very core of the examined life. This quote is basically saying that when you believe in something, you dedicate yourself to that belief. One should hold onto that and stick to it regardless of what danger faces them. Socrates was looking at death if he did not renounce his way of life and he still stuck to his guns, holding his position on life. That is the "good" life according to Socrates in his most pure form. Choose death or choose to hold onto your beliefs. If he were to simply take the exile as punishment and never discuss his ideas of philosophy again, he would be leaving his ways and would be leading an unexamined life. According to Socrates, the unexamined life was not just a poor way of living, it was not worth living at all. Since it would not be worth living if he were be forced to drop his views, he chose death. In an explanation of his love for his way of life, he says,Gentlemen of the jury, I am grateful and I am your friend, but I will obey the god rather than you, and as long as I draw breath and am able, I shall not cease to practice philosophy, to exhort you and in my usual way to point out to any one of you whom I happen to meet. (Apology, p. 4)By explaining himself to the jury he shows how he has lived the examined life. The jury has given him only death to look to if he stays with his way of thinking and he still stays with what he believes is right. He would not give up his beliefs for anything, he wanted to continue to question everything and would not tolerate being ignorant."The unexamined life is not worth living." Quoted straight from Socrates. Socrates believed that living this type of life was not worth doing. As the examined life is leading a life where you question everything and look for the truth, the unexamined life is exactly the opposite of that. The unexamined life is simply coasting through life accepting everything that is given to you and changing what you believe to be true to suit others. Clearly this is not the path that one would want to choose, going through their life complacently, not questioning anything at all and going with what the masses think simply because it is easier. Socrates' method of achieving the examined life is one of asking many questions. He also uses public debates that are soaked with irony and sarcasm. Many of the statements that he makes leave openness at the end allowing for more discussion. This is a very well thought out approach to the examined life. Instead of just accepting what he is given he questions it and therefore can decide what the truth is. This is a very good method of achieving what truth is, however it is very difficult. To question everything that one is given is a dauntless task. Socrates never accepted anything until he questioned it and this was his way of life, not many people are capable of living like that however.Having public debates is also a good way to achieve the truth of the examined life. He would dispute people's arguments in public and add sarcasm and irony to his rebuttal which would in turn make the people question their own belief of the truth. This opened the minds of people that were set on their path of thinking and their new input helped him question more things. He would also leave some open-endedness to his statements to arouse more thought in people. Instead of just coming to a conclusion, he would leave it open for more and more debate because to him, more debate means you can come closer to the truth of the matter.Limits on truth are another topic. For one to place a limit on the truth that they can discover is to say that you will only live this portion of your life and not the rest. Truth is truth. There is no way around it. To censor ones view of the truth is to be willingly ignorant. There should never be self imposed limits on truth. On that line, society should not be allowed to place limits on truth either. That is how a dictatorship would be run, by telling people that they cannot discover some truths. The truth of some subjects may be detrimental to people. A person discovers that they were actually adopted into their family when they were born. That would have devastating effects on people. Even so, they should not be shielded from that truth. They have every right to know that and should be encouraged to discover these truths. The truth may hurt, but everyone should search for the truths of this world. If we do not search for those truths then we are denying what it is to be human. The Socratic method of living the examined life is an excellent view of how we should attempt to come to the truth.
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