(RE)READ:
“Apology” from Five Dialogues
THINK:
Where does the life of examination get Socrates? Would he choose this life again, if he had it to do over? Why does Socrates think that ‘the unexamined life is not worth living for a human’? What does Socrates seem to be most committed to?WRITE:
Journal Entry (6): “What Life is Worth Living?”
Quentin D
Phil 003
There are so many things to say when someone asks what is your life worth living. To start I think it is anything that gives you pleasure or happiness. If you like to do something, then do it, because no one can tell you not to. I think you should live life for yourself, but not at the expense of others. That is, if someone you love is being hurt by what you do, you should consider a change. Socrates lived his life just the way he wanted and that is why when he was near his death, he was happy with how his life turned out. He fought for what he believed in even though he knew it meant he may be in jail or die. That is a great way to live your life because in the end you wont have any regrets. I think that type of life style is slowly dying however. People feel obligated to do what society tells them even though it may not be what they love to do. If everyone lived like Socrates we could see some real change in the world.
What life is worth living? In short, my life is worth living and I intend to live for a long time. It is very important to live your life they way you want to live it and I understand why Socrates would fight for that right. However, if your lifestyle is compromising your actual life than a change is necessary. It may be noble to die for ones beliefs but is also stupid to do so. Socrates could have fled or pushed to be exiled but he instead picked execution so he could make a point. Life is sacred and shouldn’t be carelessly tossed away just to give the middle finger to the court of Athens. In closing life is worth living, living an examined life is a luxury not a necessity
Life is something that should be celebrated. While living, we should strive to continue on as much as we can because I see existence to be a gift. We do not primarily live for our values but because as humans, like other animals, we share an evolutionary trait that motivates us to live and persist. If a person somehow goes against that biological quality because of some circumstance or standard, then they are expressing that a value outweighs our existence in this universe. While the morality of this action is up for debate, I believe that every life is worth living. Even if a person has been stripped of all of their standards and exists in terrible circumstances, it would be ignorant to say that their life would not be worth living. For instance if Socrates was sent to jail he could have developed a new amazing philosophical idea that could be passed on to one person before he died. An instance like that would make his life in prison worth while. All existence has worth even if it is little. All the same, it should be up to the individual to make that decision.
The question of “what life is worth living?” will have a different answer for everyone. How I live my life may not be favorable to someone else, and vice versa. One thing I got from the reading is I think that Socrates seems to believe that the life that is worth living for him is doing what you want to do, and not be ashamed of it, even if others think that it’s wrong. I agree with this, and it is something that I hold value on in my life. I believe that the life worth living for me is one where I am pursuing what makes me happy, and one where I am not concerned if others do not agree. A life worth living for me is one where I do not give in to what other people’s expectations are if they are not expectations I hold for myself. I want to live a life where I do not regret anything, even if I do at the time it happens. I want to be able to look back on my life and be happy with how it turned out.
This is a simple question in my mind. Every life is worth living, because no matter how bad it get’s, things can and will work out for the better in the end. We have been blessed, either by god, another advanced species who creates life and watches over us in the cosmos, or by a perfect coincidence of billions of years of the right amount of all of the elements WE need to live here on the planet we call Earth. Maybe none of these things are true, and maybe we will never know in our lives truly how we came to be, but to me, that doesn’t matter at all. I love being a human being. Learning how to live everyday to its greatest potential. Humans own this Earth. Period. We have done amazing things with only anything and everything that we find in the ground. Human life is fantastic, we live, we are, we love we learn, and these things, in which we take for granted everyday, are the things that make our struggles worth it.
Socrates explains a life worth living as a life of examination. I agree with this to a certain extent, but I can’t really say yet whether I do or not because I am just now entering a phase of my life in which I can question things and think more freely. Yes, I was blessed to have grown up in a community that allowed me to express myself and try new things. But I haven’t really had an opportunity to challenge any type of social more that I may not agree with it. People may argue that college educated citizens are more likely to live a live of examination. But honestly, I don’t exactly love sitting in a classroom and if I wasn’t expected to go to college my entire life I don’t know what choice I would’ve made after graduation. Maybe if I as truly living a life of examination I would’ve chosen to pursue a career right out of high school. But it is the expectation and the societal demands that cause people to be less adventurous in their decisions. Not that I don’t understand the importance of a college education, I just don’t necessarily agree with Socrates that a good life is full of decisions that go against the grain. Rather, I believe that a life worth living is one full of long lasting and worthwhile relationships comprised of mutual respect for those around you.
The kind of life I see worth living is just as Socrates says, a life of examination. If someone doesn’t examine their own beliefs and practices, they live their life as a robot and they don’t get anywhere. The reason we are in college is because we questioned ourselves on what we wanted to do with our lives. Although, there is this external force our society puts on us to go to college, we still made this choice. Not only did we examine ourselves to see if we were fit for college or not, we also questioned things to decide what major we wanted to pursue. Once we get out of college, we look into ourselves to see what we want to do with the degree we receive. Once we get our job, we must question things in order to advance in our job standing and life. People don’t rise up the chain of command unless they question and challenge others. To sum all this up, really, if one does not question themselves and others to some extent, they will not be fulfilling their destiny. The one who questions is one that people will grow to revere and they will be the most successful.