“The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being.” These words, spoken by Socrates and recorded by Plato in his "Apology," were first introduced to me in my Intro to Philosophy class in the fall semester of my freshman year at college. Although we did not study Plato’s Apology specifically, these words set the tone for the rest of the course, and, in many ways, for the rest of my life outside of the classroom. While I do not claim to have anything more figured out about life than anybody else (except those who say they have figured it out), I do affirm Socrates’s statement and would like to comment on it and its applicability to life today.
The unexamined life is not worth living because it carries no value for the one who lives. The one who lives the unexamined life does not recognize that her life is valuable, even though it inherently carries value. If someone lives without ever realizing that she is alive, did her life really mean anything to her? The unexamined life is similar to that of an animal. The living consists solely of eating, sleeping, breeding, and, in our case, pointless self-entertainment. Human life, which, I believe, has a soul, has more value than this and should be realized as such.
As sad as the unexamined life sounds, everyone lives it on some level or another, myself included. How many times has someone asked you, “What did you do this weekend?” to which you have no reply other than, “Not much,” or “the usual.” If I asked you right now, “What did you have for breakfast?” would you be able to answer? And, of course, there is the always convicting question to which I am often mute, “what was this week’s sermon about?” Everyone lives the unexamined life in one way or another, but not everyone has to.
The antidote to the poison of the unexamined life is the active examination the self and one’s actions, followed by the living out of the new perspective that comes from a more accurate perception of self. Without internal observation, there can be no knowledge of personal shortcomings and, consequently, no change for the better. When a company creates a new product, the product goes through a rigorous cycle of creation, examination and testing, refinement, and, finally, presentation to the world. By the time it is exposed to the market, the company has put a lot into it and values it highly. If a company’s product, produced for profit, undergoes such examination, should a human life not undergo at the very least a similar process? When you examine the actual act of living, the very life you examine becomes more valuable, because you are conscious of your life.
I have one more point on the examined life. If you are skeptical of the importance of living the examined life, let me pose to you this question: Is it not the desire to be noticed, examined, known, and loved that drives us into community with others? Are not your best friends those that understand you, find you funny, and enjoy knowing about your thoughts, actions, and life? The desire to be known lives in all of us, it is the fear of the knowledge of ourselves that keeps us from examining our own lives and keeps us from enjoying the reality that we are alive.
