The Unexamined Life is Worthless

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Socrates was a famous philosopher who has been quoted an uncountable number of times since his death. He had stated that he was guided by a divine voice of the gods and dedicated his life to exposing those who thought they were wise, exposing that they truly were not. He was a mason by trade but all of his time was spent questioning people. It is no surprise that the same confusion still resides in the quotes that he left behind. “The unexamined life is not worth living” are words from Socrates’ “Apology” that remain as accurate in today’s application as they were in the past because human nature will always benefit from observation in order to make accurate changes that improve the quality of life and advance the state of society.

Through the review of one’s successes and failures he or she is able to make improvements to his or her life and the lives of others. It is the nature of humans to learn from their mistakes and make corrections to their actions for the next time they find themselves in a similar situation. When others are examined, their mistakes can be witnessed and someone can learn from them without having to suffer the consequences of committing those mistakes. Often a person will document their mistakes for others to read which is extremely beneficial to others’ learning in the future. Libraries provide a great example of people willingly contributing information about their experiences for the benefit of others. As a digital form of a library, the Internet is riddled with “how-to-guides” created by people who have some knowledge that they wish to share with others. They volunteer this information for the sole purpose of teaching others and saving them the time and trouble of having to discover everything for them...

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...e more apparent than in these examples.

Socrates’ famous quote is valid in every way imaginable, although, It can be difficult to see it from the right point of view sometimes. It can be respected that your life is your own and it is worth it to you. Humans have come a long way technologically in the last several centuries but our core requirements for advancement remain to be the same: Civilization needs to come together as a whole and overcome whatever restrictions that are preventing it’s population from working together. Realistically, humans are by nature social animals and for your life to be worth living you need to be part of the big picture. Humans rely on other members of our species and to be unexamined is to refuse to co-exist with your species. You are by definition a failure and your life is not worth living if you can’t co-exist with your own species.

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