"The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living", Socrates
             I am completely captivated by Socrates' profound statement that "The unexamined life is not worth living." So many impressions as what to his implications of this enlightening saying arise in my mind. I was so taken by the intensity of this statement I had to acquire more knowledge not only on this statement but Socrates himself. I learned that the goal of Socratic interrogation, then, is to help achieve genuine self knowledge even if it often turns out to be negative in character. Socrates means to turn yourself inside out, using logical nit-picking to expose (rather than to create) illusions about reality. If the method does not succeed, it can nevertheless be effectively internalized as a mode of reasoning in an effort to understand everything. In saying "The unexamined life is not worth living", Socrates is saying he would rather die than give up reality. This is a profound example of his dedication to the truth. I believe that Socrates is a hero and my new found role model in any situation I am faced with. He was sentenced to death because of his beliefs. Perhaps few of us are presented with the same choice between philosophy and death, but all of us are daily faced with opportunities to decide between convenient conventionality and our devotion to truth and reason. How we choose determines whether we, like Socrates, deserve to call our lives philosophical. Socrates teaches us that the only opinion that counts is not the opinion of others, but rather that of the individual who truly knows, that being ourselves. In the end Socrates chose to honor his commitment to the truth and morality even though it cost him his life.
             Socrates does not use the words delicately. He does not say that the unexamined life is less meaningful than it could be or one of many possible responses to human existence. He simply and clearly says it is n...