The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living

The trial and execution of Socrates was the climax of his career and the central event of the dialogues of Plato.

Socrates tells Crito that he is one of those people who must be guided by reason.

Socrates says that the only person whose opinion is of value is the one who understands justice.

Socrates then invites Crito to consider the definition of justice, and whether it is ever right to do wrong intentionally.

the many's ignorance does not allow them to have true choice, and therefore their opinions are of no value to the one who strives after the truth and the good.

Men, especially one so old as Socrates, should not fear death

"There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance."

First because to keep his silence would be a disobedience to a direct command from God. Of course he knew they could not believe he was serious about this God thing so he puts it a different way, he explained to them that he felt it was his responsibility, "... to let no day pass without discussing goodness and all the other subjects about which you hear me talking and examining both myself and others," he felt that this activity, "is really the very best thing that a man (or women) can do, and that life without this sort of examination is not worth living ..."(1)

Socrates was silenced but his work of teaching the younger generation the way of the examined life, or independent, critical thinking was to be carried on by his disciple Plato (428-348 BCE).

By defining the examination, the worth and the life, we can give evidence to this statement

Worth is defined by dictionary.com as "The quality that renders something desirable, useful, or valuable." A person can not decide whether something has worth without examining it and making that decision.

Thus, his willingness to call everything into question and his determination to accept nothing less than an adequate account of the nature of things make him the first clear exponent of critical philosophy.

an open awareness of his own ignorance.

The goal of Socratic interrogation, then, is to help individuals to achieve genuine self-knowledge,

Refusing to accept exile from Athens or a commitment to silence as his penalty, he maintains that public discussion of the great issues of life and virtue is a necessary part of any valuable human life. "The unexamined life is not worth living." (Apology 38a) Socrates would rather die than give up philosophy, and the jury seems happy to grant him that wish.

Socrates displays the same spirit of calm reflection about serious matters that had characterized his life in freedom.

Ð'* One ought never to do wrong (even in response to the evil committed by another).

Ð'* But