The UNexamined life...is not worth LIVING...?

So the great philosopher, Socrates, made a statement that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” As we have found out, this a very debatable topic. The arguments are vast, but I’m going to try to put things in the view that I see them, in hopes that everyone will understand.

Unexamined life…not worth living. What does all of this mean? Basically he felt that those that did not question life and things in their lives, might as well not be living that life because they are not getting all that they can from it. If one doesn’t examine their life, then they are not fully aware of their own life in my opinion. They aren’t aware of the things that life has to offer for them, they aren’t aware of the things that life has already given them, and basically can’t fully appreciate life for what it is.

I totally agree with Socrates, I mean…everyone should since the guy is like…famous. I feel that it is important to question those important things in life that need to be questioned. How does one know what is important enough to question? Well, I believe that is mainly up to that person. Everyone has to decide, on their own, what is worth questioning and what is a waste of time to question and examine. It makes just as much sense to examine useless things as it does to not examine things in one’s life, for both are a complete waste of life.

So basically, if one doesn’t examine things in their life, they have no reason to live. By examining ones life, they can gain loads of knowledge and insights into others and there selves mainly. By examining one’s self, one can acquire a “double consciousness.” This double consciousness is simply the ability to understand one’s life from their own view, and to understand it from other’s view, which is often a stereotypical view. By gaining this double consciousness, one can get a second sight of life. Now having this second life, they have successfully examined that part of their life, but once this is gained, there is still more to examine.

How much more does one have to examine afterwards? I for one, am not sure if anyone knows.