Socrates on ‘The unexamined Life’ or ‘ Why some old guy thinks Philosophy is worthwhile’

Who was Socrates? Lived circa BC Considered by many to be the father of western philosophy Spent most of his time wandering the streets of Athens engaging anyone and everyone in philosophical discussions Was tried and executed by the state for corrupting the youth of Athens and denying the existence of the gods.

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Socrates’ most famous claim: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” What does this mean? We need to break this statement down, and decide if it makes sense and if we agree with it. - What is ‘the unexamined life’? - How do we decide if it is ‘worth living’ or not?

What is ‘the unexamined life’? “..unfortunately it is the form of life that far too many people live: Getting up, dressing, eating, going to work, breaking for lunch, working some more, going home, eating again, watching TV, leafing through magazines, exchanging a few words with fellow family members in the house, or with friends on the phone, changing for bed, and falling to sleep- just to repeat the same routine all over, and over and over without ever thinking about what it all means or how life should really be lived…When we’re young, other people decide what we wear, what we eat, and when we can play. All too often, even after we’re older, other people still decide what we do during the day.

We make choices, lots of them, but often from a limited selection of options that our environment, our friends, families and employers, and simple habit present to us. Rarely, if ever, do we stop to reflect on what we truly want in life, on who we are and want to become, on what difference we want to make in the world, and thus what’s really right for us. And that is the unexamined life- the life that is lived at some level almost as a sleepwalker, somnbulating away the hours, days and years. It is a life that is experienced on automatic pilot- a life based on values and beliefs that we’ve never really looked at, never really tested, never examined for ourselves. Tom Morris

How do we ascribe ‘worth’ to things? We decide if goods and services are worth what we pay for them by weighing up the cost with how much money we have and how hard we have to work to earn that money. e.g. A handbag that costs $6,000 might be percieved by a wealthy person to be a good deal, but for most other people it’s not worth spending that much money on one thing.

How does this apply to my life? You have one life to ‘spend’- you can either live it in a considered, deliberate, just and honourable way, or you can ‘sleepwalk’ through it. If you chose the latter would you feel like you had wasted your life? The price you pay for an unexamined life, therefore, is precisely that- your entire life. And you can pay no greater price for anything.” Tom Morris

An important note: Socrates didn’t say that the unexamined life wasn’t worth anything, we shouldn’t draw the conclusion that if we haven’t been participating in philosophy the lives we have been living have been worthless. What he is saying that the unexamined life isn’t worth the very high price we have to pay for it- i.e. all our life’s energy, work, effort. Who would want to invest all that in a direction that is not of their own choosing?