The unexamined life is not worth living.

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“The unexamined life is not worth living.” by Wayne E. Paquette

Socrates spoke these words to the jury in the court of Athens in the year 399 BCE (before the common era) after he had been found guilty of heresy and sedition. Heresy, a crime that threatened the established religion, and sedition, that threatened the state.

After his accusers presented their argument for the death penalty he had the opportunity to argue for an alternate punishment. Things like a fine, a fine with imprisonment, exile, or some other punishment.

His first suggestion was that the government give him a reward for his selfless contributions to Athenian society. He acknowledged that this suggestion probably freaked some of them out but he assured them that he was serious. He believed that the actions his accusers called criminal, were actually actions of the highest value to the health of the state. He admitted the jury would not be able to comprehend that argument so he went on to consider the appropriateness of imprisonment.

Absurd! He knew he would not be able to endure being locked up with no one to talk to except the prison guards.

Finally he considers the suggestion of exile. He argues to the jury and his accusers that if they think he could just go away to some neighboring state and never be heard of again then they have missed his whole point. No matter where he went, he would end up getting involved in the same types of challenging discussions that got him into trouble in the first place. He would end up being chased from place to place.

If they thought he could just keep his mouth shut and stay out of trouble, that would be impossible. First because to keep his silence would be a disobedience to a direct command from God. Of course he knew they could not believe he was serious about this God thing so he puts it a different way, he explained to them that he felt it was his responsibility, "... to let no day pass without discussing goodness and all the other subjects about which you hear me talking and examining both myself and others," he felt that this activity, "is really the very best thing that a man (or women) can do, and that life without this sort of examination is not worth living ..."(1)

He chose death rather than silence. He chose death because he considered participation in that type of conversation whose goal it is to find the truth, to search for wisdom, essential for the nurturing and growth of the soul as well as for the health and welfare of the state. The love and pursuit of wisdom was both religious and patriotic. He believed his death would be a witness to this belief. It was out of piety and patriotism that he accepted to be a martyr in defense of the right and the responsibility of the citizen to participate in independent critical thinking.

So it was that he came to be sentenced to death by lethal ingestion, to swallow a lethal dose of hemlock. (2)

Today the Minister of Education in Quebec demands that all students in college be instructed in such a manner that they develop "... the ability to think critically, independently, and reflectively." (3)

But it was not always so. We have this example of Socrates, among others, who got into difficulties precisely because he encouraged such independence of mind and spirit. It cannot be presumed, even now, that if our young, in large numbers, were successfully taught to be independent, critical thinkers about, let us say, the whole range of religion, and politics, and sex, we would not have a whole host of politicians and leaders from the business community running around demanding that the teachers of these young men and women be sentenced to death by lethal ingestion. The production of hemlock for its coniine, a poisonous alkaloid, would become a growth industry.

Socrates was silenced but his work of teaching the younger generation the way of the examined life, or independent, critical thinking was to be carried on by his disciple Plato (428-348 BCE).

Shocked by the death of his mentor or teacher, Plato threw himself into the exploration of politics. He wanted to understand how such charges, heresy and treason, and such an execution could be avoided. He wanted to search out a cure for such a pernicious disease at the very heart of the state.

He founded the Academy in Athens, to carry on this work of training in dialectics or philosophy.(4) (It was) the first permanent institution devoted to philosophical research and teaching, and the prototype of all western universities.(5)

Plato leaves us this observation in a letter written late in his life, "Finally I came to the conclusion that all existing states were badly governed, and that their constitutions were incapable of reform without drastic treatment and a great deal of good luck. I was forced, in fact, to the belief that the only hope of finding justice for society or for the individual lay in true philosophy, and that mankind will have no respite from trouble until either real philosophers gain political power or politicians become by some miracle true philosophers."(6)

How might we ensure that philosophers will be rulers? This is the project set out in The Republic, written by Plato. In this dialogue (book), Plato has Socrates speak to us, somewhat as in the dialogue of a play .

In the very beginning Socrates asks Cephalus what he has learned from his experience of old age. Cephalus responds that the most important thing he has learned is to live your whole life fulfilling the requirements of piety and justice. Make sure you fulfill your duties to God and to your fellow citizens. He believes that for the person who has lived such a life, their old age will be full of the confidence and peace that comes from unconditional hope. (7)

To instill piety and justice, Socrates and his friends come to the conclusion that the following principles must be followed from the earliest stages of our education:

"God must surely always be represented as he really is, whether the poet is writing epic, lyric, or tragedy." (Republic 133)

Then among our laws laying down the principles which those who write or speak about the gods must follow, the first one should be this; "God is the cause, not of all things, but only of good." (Republic135)

... the second principle to be followed in all that is said and written about the gods is that they shall not be represented as using magic to disguise themselves nor as playing us false in word or deed. (Republic139)

As far as gods are concerned, then, we have now outlined the sort of stories which men ought and ought not to hear from their earliest childhood, if they are to honor the gods and their parents, and know how important it is to love one another. (Republic140)

These principles show a stark contrast with the polymorphous perversity we normally associate with the Greek Pantheon, or group of gods and goddesses.

In addition to this there is the prescribed physical education, "that is simple and flexible, particularly in its training for war."(Republic167) War which is in defense of freedom over slavery.

And then (later) there is mathematics to develop the mind. Arithmetic, plane geometry, astronomy (solid geometry), harmonics from music to train the ears.

And after all this, at some time in their mid twenties, they begin their training in dialectics. This training will enable them to understand things and relations at their deepest and most permanent level. (italics mine)

For example, If beauty is only skin deep, an appearance, then what does it take to perceive and to imitate BEAUTY, the IDEAL?

It (training in dialectics) will enable them to see things as they really are and so be able to live a life of piety and justice, and in a disinterested way bring this to the state.

The goals or training in dialectics are, according to Socrates, as he is represented by Plato, would be to enable the student to:

... argue logically

... give and take a rational account

... question and answer

... when one tries to get at what each thing is in itself by the exercise of dialectic, relying on reason without any aid from the senses, (because, of course, the senses can be fooled) and refuses to give up until one has grasped by pure thought what the Good is in itself, one is at the summit of the intellectual realm. (Republic 342)

In this 'intellectual realm' they encounter the thing in itself and not mere appearances, the ideal and not some material approximation, and this is done in pure thought not in the realm of the senses. This process is, "... leading the best element in the mind up towards the vision of the best among realities ..." (Republic 342) It is a, "... procedure ... which sets out systematically to determine what each thing essentially is in itself." (Republic 343)

Dialectics, in fact, is the only procedure which proceeds by the destruction of assumptions to the very first principle, so as to give it a firm foundation. (Republic 344)

Pure knowledge through reason reveals reality. Belief and the illusions of the senses yield only 'becoming'. The task of the dialectician, philosopher or reasonable person is to:

... take account of the essential nature of each thing ...

... define the form of the good and distinguish it clearly in his (or her*) account from everything else, then battle his(her) way through all objections, determined to give them refutation based on reality and not on opinion, and come through with his(her) argument unshaken ...

... this discipline ... will enable them to ask and answer questions with the highest degree of understanding. (Republic 346)

According to Plato, Socrates now goes on to consider what moral and intellectual virtues would be necessary in those young men and women seeking training in dialectics.
He suggests they include the following:

... intellectual eagerness ...,
... the ability to learn easily ..., (Republic 348)
... good memories ...,
... determination ...,
... fondness for hard work ...,
... ready to go through an elaborate course of study ...,
... feels no indignation when its (his/her) own ignorance is shown ...,
... a free man (or woman) ought not to learn anything under duress ...,
(Republic 349)
... (able) to bring together the disconnected subjects they've
studied ...
... and take a comprehensive view of their (these subjects) relationship
with each other and with the nature of reality ...
... the ability to take the comprehensive view. (Republic 350)

(*All I have said about men applies equally to
women, if they have the requisite natural
capacities. Socrates. Republic 354)

Then Socrates goes on to give a very serious warning. We might remind ourselves that Socrates' own use of dialectics and teaching young people the same led to his execution for impiety and contributing to the delinquency of minors. Later Augustine, bishop of Hippo, would abandon the pursuit of the dialectical method and its fruit, Platonic realism, because, he thought, it led to scepticism, cynicism, and nihilism. The danger is that premature training in and the use of the dialectical methods of philosophy might lead a person to reject all the morals and beliefs of their youth, an age at which they will not yet be able to grasp the deeper Truth through dialectics. Such a situation could well lead them to sophistry, scepticism, and nihilism.

So Socrates warns parents and teachers, "... if you want to avoid being sorry for your thirty-year-olders, you must be very careful how you introduce them to such discussions.
. . .
And there's one great precaution you can take, which is to stop their getting a taste of them too young. You must have noticed how young men (women), after their first taste of argument, are always contradicting people just for the fun of it; they imitate those whom they hear cross-examining each other, and themselves cross-examine other people, like puppies who love to pull and tear at anyone within reach.
. . .
So when they've proved a lot of people wrong and been proved wrong often themselves, they soon slip into the belief that nothing they believed before was true; with the result that they discredit the whole business of philosophy in the eyes of the world.
. . .
But someone who's a bit older ... will refuse to have anything to do with this sort of idiocy; he won't copy those who contradict just for the fun of the thing, but will be more likely to follow the lead of someone whose arguments are aimed at finding the truth. (Republic 352-353).

Endnotes

(1) Plato The Last Days of Socrates Translated and with an introduction by Hugh Tredennick. (Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1961) 71-2.

(2) hemlock: a drug or lethal drink prepared from the poison hemlock (Conium maculatum). Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 1995 Merriam-Webster Inc.

(3) Service des programmes et des affaires etudientes, Direction de l'enseignement collegial. "General Education." Revised: October 1998.
Available online (version français) at:
http://www.meq.gouv.qc.ca/ens-sup/ens-coll/Cahiers/DescFG.asp

(4) dialectics:
   - discussion and reasoning by dialogue as a method of intellectual investigation;
   specifically the Socratic techniques of exposing false beliefs and eliciting truth.
   -the Platonic investigation of the eternal ideas.
   Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 1995 Merriam-Webster Inc.

(5) Plato. The Republic. Translated with an introduction by Desmond Lee. (Markham, Ontario: Penguin Books Canada,1983) 1.
It appears that this statement is made by Betty Radice, editor of The Penguin Classics.

(6) Ibid. p16. This is a quotation from Plato's so called Seventh Letter, "written when he was an old man."

(7)Ibid. p 65.