Meaning of the Examined Life

The views of Socrates concerning the examined life found, perhaps, their most sincere expression after he was condemned to death for corrupting youth. His ideas highlight a persistent fidelity to personal expression without adherence to other points of view; until the grave, Socrates remains faithful to his beliefs. As Socrates accosts his accusers with his final words, he shares his ideas on the merits of a life fully considered: one does not achieve balance through eliminating people with conflicting points of view—rather, personal balance comes through self-improvement. In the examination of his own life, it remains clear the Socrates does not fear death but only the absence of virtue replaced by a shallow desire for riches or the malady of pride in believing a man is something that he is truly not. Whatever the case, as Socrates famously stated, "the life which is unexamined is not worth living." In further examining Socrates' dialogue with Euthyphro, let us briefly examine how he chose to perceive life.

As Socrates pours out the details of the charges against him, he proposes a framework for his life. At its foundation, Socrates examines everything, including previously established social norms and conditions left unquestioned by others. Coupled with his penchant for public and private dialogue, he makes few assumptions about people or states of piety or impiety, often seeking to be understood in his conversations with Euthyphro before sharing his own points of view. This especially becomes clear in the discussion concerning Euthyphro's pressing of charges against his own father for murder.

Socrates shares some conflicting ideas concerning the nature of wisdom, an attribute he seems to view as worthy of admiration and also disdain. He views wisdom as an attribute that makes Euthyphro lazy. For Socrates, it bears little impact or consequence in the lives of others until its bearer begins to share it; at that point, fits of jealousy inspire retribution towards its bearer. For Socrates, the attribute of wisdom is a precursor to extraordinary actions. Such a viewpoint provides little to hope for in the gaining of wisdom, only a despairing proposal on the limitations of reality. Although Socrates may not admit it directly, it appears his wisdom was the cause of his death as a result of a passionately examined life full of questions and curiosity.

Nozick's view of the examined life focused on the concept of the philosophical self-portrait in developing a more full understanding of life. He views Socrates' teachings on the unexamined life has somewhat harsh, supplementing it with the proposal that such a life is simply "not lived as fully" (Nozick 15). As the examined life focuses on the beneficial nature of ethical behavior for Plato, Nozick holds the viewpoint that the life perspectives of great thinkers only find their fullest expression in a clear examination of the actual lives lived by the individuals who engendered those ideas (16). Therefore, Nozick adopts a postmodern viewpoint stating the examined life only holds the amount of value that one brings to it (15-16). Without it, life is merely dimmed and with it, life is enlightened. Socrates would rather contend that such an examined life is based on strong virtues, while the unexamined life may deserve death.

As for my own views on the value of the examined life, the concept finds its basis in an examination of seeking to understand life principles such as the law of reciprocation, which states that the things one does will often return back to them. Once a person examines their intuitions, tendencies, and inhibitions in relation to the society they play a part in, they begin to more clearly grasp their capabilities, follies, and capacity for wisdom.

Work Cited

Nozick, Robert. The Examined life: philosophical meditations. New York: Touchstone, 1990. Print.