Socrates states that "The unexamined life is not worth living." Say whether you think this statement is true or false and give an explanation of what the statement means. Feel free to comment on your classmates' posts as well.
19 comments:
Andy Lu
said...
Alright to start off, I think Socrates's quote is not true at all. So what if i don't wanna examine my life to find out every detail about it. Some people are perfectly happy on living off information thats given to them. This information is told to them and they accept it instead of examining it and questioning it. They are happy to live by what they are told by. THese people are alos probally the ones who confide to society and respect all the rules of the government but its all they know so they are happy to live by Not examining there lives
I agree with what Socrates is saying and he is not speaking in literal terms of actually examining your life as it occurs. What he means is there is a difference to "living" and "surviving". An unexamined life is one where you simply do what is necessary to survive and continue to walk on this earth. An examined life would be one where you are living for yourself and for the grater good of anyone who you can help. Also, experiencing what "life has to offer" is an aspect of truly living.
I agree with the comment that an unexamined life is one where you only do enough to survive. This is being alive, but not really living. An examined life offers perspective, in order to accomplish higher goals. Examining your life offers a deeper meaning and it can never hurt to self reflect, only good can come out of being so thoughtful. If one doesn't stop to think about their actions once in a while, it seems careless of them. I think Socrates had a great concept of what it means to live and how important it is to value life.
I would like to disagree with this statement of Socrates. This is because Socrates didn't specify what he means by a "worthy" life. Does he mean worthy by someone who is living a grand life and he is well known for his actions. Or a life where you achieved an accomplishment or goal and is happy. Or a life which isn't so important or happy but helps or serves someone in the process (e.g: a farmer's life may not be the best life but it produces crops which keeps the village/town from starvation). Or even a life where the truth is followed and you know where your wisdom lies and no one tells you what to do. I would also like to agree with Andy that this quote is cruel and irrational. Just because a life may be unexamined dosent mean they are not happy or "worthy". I would like to state that in a world without any stupid people the world will fail to function. For example, if everyone lets say, had a degree from Harvard then no one would want to be a garbage man or a cashier or a worker on an assembly line in a slaughterhouse, because they have a degree from Harvard and will try to get the best, most paying, and cleanest job they can find.
Socrates' statement is true because what the statement means is that a life without a purpose is not worth living for. A purposeful life could be a life in which you learn/exceed from your mistakes. In Socrates' case if he didnt live a life in which he practices philosophy he wouldnt mind/care if he died. Since Socrates' purpose in life is to do philosophy if he were not doing philosophy he would not be fulfilling his purpose in life. As a result, he'd rather die than be alive in a life that had no purpose.
Socrates is absolutly true. You must be able to define your place in the world. When you have a purpose or goal and you achieve it that is your legacy. People will look to that. You reflect in what you did and that is your "examination" if you did well you feel well but if you life your life damaging your body your environment and your peers you are not worthy of the life you posess an so you will have nothing to "examine" To comment on what andy said if you think like this most likely people who do what others say simply because they are told so will sometimes lead themselves to there own demise. what if you followed a trend where you kill every third person you see? Not to good huh.
I believe that this statement is true in certain ways, and not so in others; it depends on how you view it. If you believe that Socrates is saying that a person who doesn't examine every single detail of his life, then this statement doesn't hold any truth. Nobody will examine every point of their life to see if they are happy or not, they will just know. However, some examination is good. One should find the things in life that make them happy, so that they know what they want, but they shouldn't try to find every little thing about their lives, because that won't lead to a fulfilling life.
I think by saying "an unexamined life is not worth living" is too...shallow. Maybe if determining one's own life to be not worth living is suicidal, but simply just by saying if an unexamined life is not worth living is makes me feel narrow-minded just by thinking about saying it. I strongly believe that all living things have a purpose. Sometimes there are burdens pushed upon people; people being misguided is another reason. But also being misguided, one is also able to question why they are doing what they are doing now, even if the answer is quite obvious. Sometimes not doing or questioning things has a purpose, maybe it's for the sole purpose of being ignorant. If you do not truly take these things into consideration, or not be able to think about these things, then you're basically like a vegatable (horrible example, but bear with me).
I agree with Benjamin as well, because this is a type of argument to consider both sides, and i don't just want to be against it not worth living; basically depends on the situation and how you view it, like what Benjamin said.
I strongly believe that this statement is true. The reason is people who don't really impact the world in a positive way are better off dead. This doesnt necessarily mean, that people need to make earth shattering impacts on society to have an examined life. It just means they cant be counter productive, for example murdering a person or people or exploiting their lack of knowledge on certain subjects to take advantage of them. If some on is not helping society and or other people, they really don't have a purpose so they really dont need to live their life. But, I don't have the authority to govern whether or not someone deserves to live or not. These are just some of my opions on the subject.
Another point that I might add is the key to this question is what the defenition of and examined life is.As well as how do you live it. Another thought is, the answer also depends on your definition of purpose. It appears to be different for everyone. My defenition of purpose is how I reached my conclusion or answer.
Socrates states that "The The unexamined life is not worth living." I actually agree with his statement. An unexamined life to me is a life that is very dull. It lacks detail, knowledge, diversity, and experiences in it. Imagine a life where one would stay in the same place forever and not do anything new or learn anything new. The life would be very boring. In addition to the boredom, an unexamined life would contain many mysteries and make it difficult for a person to live in. The person will just be going along with the flow of society and living that life isn't very productive. The person would be constantly confused by his or her surroundings due to the lack of understanding of the life. So, the overall idea is that I agree with Socrates because an unexamined life would cause much suffering to those who live it, and thus, it's not worth living in.
I think that the unexamined life is worth living but the examined life is better because a most lives are worth living, to make life worth living you need to have a combination of purpose but more important you need to also have hope, what I mean by this is that you need to b able to see your life improve or to see there being something to strive for, I think this might be part of what Socrates means when he talks about the life of the rich being inferior to the life of the poor or frugal people’s lives. The life of the examined is worth living much more for you can say to people I know my life the way and why I do things and that I don’t lie to myself. I think that 99.99% of lives are worth living but the examined live is much more worth living.
Well, Mr. Wille, when we had our debate, you asked if if Socrates' argument was a 'good one', and then proceeded to ask who it was good for. Now will you ask who this statement is true for? If I were to say that my life is worth living even if I didn't examine everything, would that be true? If I were to say that someone else's live weren't worth living, even if they examined everything, would that be true?
It's always interesting to explore perspectives. In my opinion, this statement is true. I don't think that if someone lives on a day-to-day basis without exploring anything new has a life worth living. Maybe I'm being a little bit too extreme with this statement. Maybe I'm correct. Who's to say? Whether you have a purpose or a dream to fulfill is not the question. The question is, how do you find that dream? You would have to know what you would want to want, to want it! Of course, being human, you think that what you say is right.
You should know what you want in life. You should figure out every possible way to get to what you want but you will only be able to do this if you study (examine) your life - what you want, what your abilities are, what your strengths and weaknesses are, how you can apply them. These things define your life. If you do not know these things, and if you don't even bother trying to find out what these things are, then your life isn't worth living.
An enexamined life is one in which people fail to take charge of their own lives. They simply allow things to come to them and don't really attempt to make the most of their opportunities.
When a person decides to live an "examined life" he/she is able to choose what they want in life; where they want to go; and in general make decisions based upon what they percieve as right and wrong. Through an examined life one is able to truly make what they want out of themselves. This is one sure way to take control over your life.
The purpose of life is to grow (mentally and spiritually)! It is simply impossible to do so if one does not look back (examine) on their life!
I say this statement is true because if someone doesn't question their exisitence as well as exploring the oppurtunities presented to them, then they really have no idea what life is about. Which is basically what this quote is saying. Their life will be lived never knowing who they truly are and that limits their abilities because they lack that sense of knowing.
i believe that it is not true. yeah, it would be good to understand yourself in deeper ways and understand the purpose you have, but it shouldnt be right that if you havnt looked into yourself in these ways your life isnt worth living. some people should be able to just live their lives ust for the sake of living. i know this is true because there are so many people who lived their lives to the full extent very happily without the full self-examination that socrates speaks of.
Beginning from a premise of perfection, "Project You" is a courageous commitment to fulfillment of the promise that is each one of us. It is a process of inquiry-exploration-examination-discovery to shed what is not essential for the emergence of what is quintessential in each one of us. The task is one of revealing what is elemental to every human being, distinguishing these elements, and emerging their always present, yet waiting latent potential into visible form. In systems theory we learn that we are much less likely to consider our own patterns in relationship to the circumstances, conditions and events of our external environment. We react to external problems because we yearn for resolution. Yet we have not been trained to look within, to listen and distinguish our exquisite internal architecture that holds the new beginning we crave. It is not yet our common practice to inquire and explore our essential self and collaborate with it to bring forth from within us the very solutions we seek out here. For this, we are called to use our life to examine and understand who we are, our relationships with others and to our environment/s and gain access to the inherent knowing that is our authentic contribution to make in this world-our purpose. It's Victor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning." I think this is what Socrates was talking about when he said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
This authentic contribution lives at the most subtle level of our being. It is fulfillment of deepest, purest desire that we sense and may not recognize or be able to instantaneously articulate. Regardless of our level of awareness, it is there. It is our innate, natural project for which we are impeccably designed. There is just one requirement: We must choose the journey and give ourselves over to discovery of it. We must find our version of stillness and quiet while simultaneously staying aware of our ourselves, in relationship with each other and our world. Above all, we must abandon what we already know for evolution of a new internal knowing that emerges this resonant potential and its quintessential form. Each of us is the one-the only one-who has the capacity to carry out this individual contribution. We are made for it. It is our purpose. We need every quintessential one of us. The world is waiting. In short, we must equip ourselves to get ready for whatever comes next in learning and life and to be our best selves. Our society discourages self-awareness with a weekly cycle of working and consuming that keeps us too busy to slow down for self-reflection. Consumer capitalism's game plan prefers an unaware and vaguely dissatisfied populace that tries to fill the emptiness inside with shiny new products, while we turn our gaze from the realities of our increasing consumption that's dangerously degrading the very environment that supports us. If you don't think about how you want to live, then you relinquish those decisions to others. You become like an animal, or even a machine – assimilated into the ‘Borg”- a “cog in the wheel”, in that you have no self, no agency acting independently. Socrates sees this sense of a mindful, rational, actualized self with reflection on and awareness of social influences, and our purpose in relationship with life in this world – and our unique purpose or “identity” - as essential to our humanity. It's a radical act to stop and contemplate your inner social and emotional life, and sense of purpose. It’s even more radical to teach our children to do so. But according to Socrates, it's the only game that really matters. “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”- Maya Angelou
19 comments:
Alright to start off, I think Socrates's quote is not true at all. So what if i don't wanna examine my life to find out every detail about it. Some people are perfectly happy on living off information thats given to them. This information is told to them and they accept it instead of examining it and questioning it. They are happy to live by what they are told by. THese people are alos probally the ones who confide to society and respect all the rules of the government but its all they know so they are happy to live by Not examining there lives
I agree with what Socrates is saying and he is not speaking in literal terms of actually examining your life as it occurs. What he means is there is a difference to "living" and "surviving". An unexamined life is one where you simply do what is necessary to survive and continue to walk on this earth. An examined life would be one where you are living for yourself and for the grater good of anyone who you can help. Also, experiencing what "life has to offer" is an aspect of truly living.
I agree with the comment that an unexamined life is one where you only do enough to survive. This is being alive, but not really living. An examined life offers perspective, in order to accomplish higher goals. Examining your life offers a deeper meaning and it can never hurt to self reflect, only good can come out of being so thoughtful. If one doesn't stop to think about their actions once in a while, it seems careless of them. I think Socrates had a great concept of what it means to live and how important it is to value life.
I would like to disagree with this statement of Socrates. This is because Socrates didn't specify what he means by a "worthy" life. Does he mean worthy by someone who is living a grand life and he is well known for his actions. Or a life where you achieved an accomplishment or goal and is happy. Or a life which isn't so important or happy but helps or serves someone in the process (e.g: a farmer's life may not be the best life but it produces crops which keeps the village/town from starvation). Or even a life where the truth is followed and you know where your wisdom lies and no one tells you what to do.
I would also like to agree with Andy that this quote is cruel and irrational. Just because a life may be unexamined dosent mean they are not happy or "worthy". I would like to state that in a world without any stupid people the world will fail to function. For example, if everyone lets say, had a degree from Harvard then no one would want to be a garbage man or a cashier or a worker on an assembly line in a slaughterhouse, because they have a degree from Harvard and will try to get the best, most paying, and cleanest job they can find.
Socrates' statement is true because what the statement means is that a life without a purpose is not worth living for. A purposeful life could be a life in which you learn/exceed from your mistakes. In Socrates' case if he didnt live a life in which he practices philosophy he wouldnt mind/care if he died. Since Socrates' purpose in life is to do philosophy if he were not doing philosophy he would not be fulfilling his purpose in life. As a result, he'd rather die than be alive in a life that had no purpose.
Ventura-
Socrates is absolutly true. You must be able to define your place in the world. When you have a purpose or goal and you achieve it that is your legacy. People will look to that. You reflect in what you did and that is your "examination" if you did well you feel well but if you life your life damaging your body your environment and your peers you are not worthy of the life you posess an so you will have nothing to "examine" To comment on what andy said if you think like this most likely people who do what others say simply because they are told so will sometimes lead themselves to there own demise. what if you followed a trend where you kill every third person you see? Not to good huh.
I believe that this statement is true in certain ways, and not so in others; it depends on how you view it. If you believe that Socrates is saying that a person who doesn't examine every single detail of his life, then this statement doesn't hold any truth. Nobody will examine every point of their life to see if they are happy or not, they will just know. However, some examination is good. One should find the things in life that make them happy, so that they know what they want, but they shouldn't try to find every little thing about their lives, because that won't lead to a fulfilling life.
I think by saying "an unexamined life is not worth living" is too...shallow. Maybe if determining one's own life to be not worth living is suicidal, but simply just by saying if an unexamined life is not worth living is makes me feel narrow-minded just by thinking about saying it. I strongly believe that all living things have a purpose. Sometimes there are burdens pushed upon people; people being misguided is another reason. But also being misguided, one is also able to question why they are doing what they are doing now, even if the answer is quite obvious. Sometimes not doing or questioning things has a purpose, maybe it's for the sole purpose of being ignorant. If you do not truly take these things into consideration, or not be able to think about these things, then you're basically like a vegatable (horrible example, but bear with me).
----Fahmida ferdousi :)
I agree with Benjamin as well, because this is a type of argument to consider both sides, and i don't just want to be against it not worth living; basically depends on the situation and how you view it, like what Benjamin said.
----Fahmida Ferdousi
I strongly believe that this statement is true. The reason is people who don't really impact the world in a positive way are better off dead. This doesnt necessarily mean, that people need to make earth shattering impacts on society to have an examined life. It just means they cant be counter productive, for example murdering a person or people or exploiting their lack of knowledge on certain subjects to take advantage of them. If some on is not helping society and or other people, they really don't have a purpose so they really dont need to live their life. But, I don't have the authority to govern whether or not someone deserves to live or not. These are just some of my opions on the subject.
-Arman Warner
Another point that I might add is the key to this question is what the defenition of and examined life is.As well as how do you live it. Another thought is, the answer also depends on your definition of purpose. It appears to be different for everyone. My defenition of purpose is how I reached my conclusion or answer.
-Arman Warner
Socrates states that "The The unexamined life is not worth living." I actually agree with his statement. An unexamined life to me is a life that is very dull. It lacks detail, knowledge, diversity, and experiences in it. Imagine a life where one would stay in the same place forever and not do anything new or learn anything new. The life would be very boring. In addition to the boredom, an unexamined life would contain many mysteries and make it difficult for a person to live in. The person will just be going along with the flow of society and living that life isn't very productive. The person would be constantly confused by his or her surroundings due to the lack of understanding of the life. So, the overall idea is that I agree with Socrates because an unexamined life would cause much suffering to those who live it, and thus, it's not worth living in.
I think that the unexamined life is worth living but the examined life is better because a most lives are worth living, to make life worth living you need to have a combination of purpose but more important you need to also have hope, what I mean by this is that you need to b able to see your life improve or to see there being something to strive for, I think this might be part of what Socrates means when he talks about the life of the rich being inferior to the life of the poor or frugal people’s lives. The life of the examined is worth living much more for you can say to people I know my life the way and why I do things and that I don’t lie to myself. I think that 99.99% of lives are worth living but the examined live is much more worth living.
Well, Mr. Wille, when we had our debate, you asked if if Socrates' argument was a 'good one', and then proceeded to ask who it was good for. Now will you ask who this statement is true for? If I were to say that my life is worth living even if I didn't examine everything, would that be true? If I were to say that someone else's live weren't worth living, even if they examined everything, would that be true?
It's always interesting to explore perspectives. In my opinion, this statement is true. I don't think that if someone lives on a day-to-day basis without exploring anything new has a life worth living. Maybe I'm being a little bit too extreme with this statement. Maybe I'm correct. Who's to say? Whether you have a purpose or a dream to fulfill is not the question. The question is, how do you find that dream? You would have to know what you would want to want, to want it! Of course, being human, you think that what you say is right.
You should know what you want in life. You should figure out every possible way to get to what you want but you will only be able to do this if you study (examine) your life - what you want, what your abilities are, what your strengths and weaknesses are, how you can apply them. These things define your life. If you do not know these things, and if you don't even bother trying to find out what these things are, then your life isn't worth living.
And that, to me, is a shame...
An enexamined life is one in which people fail to take charge of their own lives. They simply allow things to come to them and don't really attempt to make the most of their opportunities.
When a person decides to live an "examined life" he/she is able to choose what they want in life; where they want to go; and in general make decisions based upon what they percieve as right and wrong. Through an examined life one is able to truly make what they want out of themselves. This is one sure way to take control over your life.
The purpose of life is to grow (mentally and spiritually)! It is simply impossible to do so if one does not look back (examine) on their life!
-Santiljan Vukaj
I say this statement is true because if someone doesn't question their exisitence as well as exploring the oppurtunities presented to them, then they really have no idea what life is about. Which is basically what this quote is saying. Their life will be lived never knowing who they truly are and that limits their abilities because they lack that sense of knowing.
i believe that it is not true. yeah, it would be good to understand yourself in deeper ways and understand the purpose you have, but it shouldnt be right that if you havnt looked into yourself in these ways your life isnt worth living. some people should be able to just live their lives ust for the sake of living. i know this is true because there are so many people who lived their lives to the full extent very happily without the full self-examination that socrates speaks of.
Beginning from a premise of perfection, "Project You" is a courageous commitment to fulfillment of the promise that is each one of us. It is a process of inquiry-exploration-examination-discovery to shed what is not essential for the emergence of what is quintessential in each one of us. The task is one of revealing what is elemental to every human being, distinguishing these elements, and emerging their always present, yet waiting latent potential into visible form. In systems theory we learn that we are much less likely to consider our own patterns in relationship to the circumstances, conditions and events of our external environment. We react to external problems because we yearn for resolution. Yet we have not been trained to look within, to listen and distinguish our exquisite internal architecture that holds the new beginning we crave. It is not yet our common practice to inquire and explore our essential self and collaborate with it to bring forth from within us the very solutions we seek out here. For this, we are called to use our life to examine and understand who we are, our relationships with others and to our environment/s and gain access to the inherent knowing that is our authentic contribution to make in this world-our purpose. It's Victor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning." I think this is what Socrates was talking about when he said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
This authentic contribution lives at the most subtle level of our being. It is fulfillment of deepest, purest desire that we sense and may not recognize or be able to instantaneously articulate. Regardless of our level of awareness, it is there. It is our innate, natural project for which we are impeccably designed. There is just one requirement: We must choose the journey and give ourselves over to discovery of it. We must find our version of stillness and quiet while simultaneously staying aware of our ourselves, in relationship with each other and our world. Above all, we must abandon what we already know for evolution of a new internal knowing that emerges this resonant potential and its quintessential form. Each of us is the one-the only one-who has the capacity to carry out this individual contribution. We are made for it. It is our purpose. We need every quintessential one of us. The world is waiting. In short, we must equip ourselves to get ready for whatever comes next in learning and life and to be our best selves. Our society discourages self-awareness with a weekly cycle of working and consuming that keeps us too busy to slow down for self-reflection. Consumer capitalism's game plan prefers an unaware and vaguely dissatisfied populace that tries to fill the emptiness inside with shiny new products, while we turn our gaze from the realities of our increasing consumption that's dangerously degrading the very environment that supports us. If you don't think about how you want to live, then you relinquish those decisions to others. You become like an animal, or even a machine – assimilated into the ‘Borg”- a “cog in the wheel”, in that you have no self, no agency acting independently. Socrates sees this sense of a mindful, rational, actualized self with reflection on and awareness of social influences, and our purpose in relationship with life in this world – and our unique purpose or “identity” - as essential to our humanity. It's a radical act to stop and contemplate your inner social and emotional life, and sense of purpose. It’s even more radical to teach our children to do so. But according to Socrates, it's the only game that really matters.
“History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.”- Maya Angelou
I agree
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