The Unexamined Life
“We were tricked
into fearing the ways we will leave this planet.”
-Buddy Wakefield, “Jean Heath”
In Apology, Socrates is arrested and brought to trial on the charges that he “speculates about the heavens”…”investigates things that are beneath the earth and”…”can make the worst argument appear the stronger.”(p. 35). The price he pays for these grievances (or liberty he is granted depending on how you look at it) is to choose death or choose to follow a mandate stating he would dispense in all the philosophical examination he’s been doing. As one can imagine, Socrates chooses death as a more promising option than the confinement of an unexamined life. As his last message, Socrates attempts to convince his fellow Athenians that they too, should examine each other and themselves in the way he has been doing in order to live a life worthy of living. Socrates doesn’t fear his sentence as he’s lived a life well examined and has long made his peace with the mystery of death through his contemplation of it.
Socrates points out that the biggest mistake most people make is fearing death on page 35, “ to fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise without really being wise, for it is to think that we know what we do not know.” Indeed, death could very well be the best thing that ever happens to a person, which makes it silly that one might waste so much time trying to avoid it. There are obvious ways to avoid death: not eating harmful foods, avoiding jumping in front of speeding vehicles, not attempting to fly off buildings and even simply being obedient. Socrates could have lived had he discontinued his habit of living the examined life, but since he’s overcame his fear of death, he no longer feels the need to compromise himself for the comfort and expectations of others.
The fear of death exists on a spectrum, one end of which exists as fear itself. When one fears something, such as getting in front of a large group of people and speaking, one fears a death due to a feeling of failure to control the situation and the potential reactions which may follow that failure. The experience becomes a neurotic clinging to the current version of self in compromise of a potential, newborn version. In this way, the fear of death leads directly to death. One harbors basic assumptions about their experience which begin to set up and directly affect future experience.
Living an examined life goes against the habit of harboring assumptions however; each facet of life must be looked at carefully, which is the reason Socrates frequents the market in search of the wisest of men who can help him examine it. Socrates claims that, “…no greater good can happen to a man than to discuss human excellence every day and the other matters about which you have heard me arguing and examining myself and others, and that an unexamined life is not worth living” (p. 45) and indeed, the unexamined life is not worth living as it is clinging to the sameness maintained with a fear of death. Examining one’s life cancels out the fear of death because one cannot be afraid of dying and investigate every aspect of their reality at the same time. If one were to do this, they would eventually end up investigating their fear and come to the realization that it’s illogical since they know nothing about death.
In living the examined life, Socrates invites us to wonder what we would do if we did not fear death and how much we are limiting ourselves in not examining the world around us. As Socrates shows through investigating the proposed “wise men” he encounters, he opens up room for more questioning by asking questions and running into perpetual re-evaluations of the reality he knows. In repeated questioning, assimilation and examination, one forgets the fear of death which is what often holds one back in curiosity and they gain immortality in continuing their contemplation. Death sneaks up on the avid philosopher as any other experience does and should be treated simply as another experience.
