One of the most influential people in the fifth century was Socrates a philosopher like no other. Unlike most other philosophers of his time and even those who went before him, Socrates believed in careful and in-depth reasoning before making any decision however trivial it may have appeared in the eyes of other people. One notable thing about most of the believes that Socrates held closely is that they were highly controversial and more often did not go down well with the rest of the people. Many people criticized his opinions and believe but Socrates always stood by his opinions and would develop many arguments to support all his opinions.

            One of the believes that Socrates held and which is the subject of this paper was that an unexamined life was not worth living(Nozick R.65-72).The following discussion attempts to establish how true this statement is. To begin with what is an ‘examined life’? Looking closely at Socrates traditions he always told people ‘know yourself”. In other words he meant that it was important for every individual in the society to look in great depths at their lives, establish their position in the society and maintain the status quo. Thus an examined life was one that well scrutinized and the individual knew exactly what their mission was on earth.

            According to Socrates a life that was unexamined was not worth living. I tend to support a great deal this particular stand. This is so because the basic argument that Socrates was attempting to advance was that every person has a purpose and a mission to accomplish during their lifetime. Socrates emphasis was that people must establish for a fact what their purpose in life is and what they are destined to be.

            Many people may not have supported Socrates argument on the issues of unexamined life(Nozick R. 90-98).However it is clear that many did not quite understand what he meant. Socrates, being a philosopher, most of the times would use philosophical language which was not always familiar with the ordinary people. It is therefore probable that some of these people who opposed Socrates were not clear on what he meant by unexamined life.

            However I am of the opinion that people must examine their lives strictly and establish their cause in life. One cannot have the motivation to live if they do not have a purpose of living. One will only be able to accomplish their purpose if they have in the first place established what it is.

            However as always there will not lack a people who disagree on any one given opinion. I have heard in the past people arguing that the unexamined life is actually worth living and more importantly that everybody in the world should aspire to live this kind of life.(unexamined) Their argument is that life would be impossible if most people led an “examined life” No developmental decision would be reached at as people would rather disagree than agree(Nozick R.101-110).

In conclusion I would say that Socrates was correct in arguing that an unexamined life is not worth living. However everybody is entitled to their opinion.

Work cited:

Nozick Robert. The Examined Life: Philosophical Meditations, London ,Simon & Schuster, 2006