The Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living?

“The unexamined life is not worth living,” was said by Socrates over two thousand years ago. It’s amazing the power words can hold and how people still debate what he really meant. I can’t help but wonder if Socrates ever thought his work would survive through the trials of time and human memory? I mean think about it, his mind would be blown. Here I am, a seventeen-year-old girl writing an online blog entry to share with my high school philosophy class what I believe Socrates meant and not being forced to drink poison…haha get it because that’s how he died…too soon?


Anyway, we all live an unexamined life up to a certain point. When we are children we believe whatever our parents, family, or teachers tell us. My parents would teach me wrong words in Spanish purposely because they thought it was funny how I would run around saying…inappropriate things. In my defense I was a little kid, and my parents were the only thing I knew. Don’t worry though, I now know the true meaning to the lovely vocabulary I was once taught. I only achieved that new knowledge, however, by question.


“The unexamined life” is a life without questioning. It’s someone who has beliefs and values but doesn’t know why. It’s a necessity to question, “Why do I believe…” you fill in the blank. If we keep on living life without asking ourselves that or at least taking a moment to reflect, then we’re just living our parent’s life or our teacher’s life or whoever made that impact on you. You’re not living if you’re not acting as an individual, and that is a life not worth living.