John Setnicar
Socrates
Blog
In response to Socrates’ belief that
the unexamined life is not worth living, I feel that this is very applicable
for everyone even today. It can be very
easy to be slaves to our daily routines at work or in our studies that we never
even stop to question what we are really trying to accomplish there. I think this principle is especially critical
for young people, because many of us do not take the proper measures to discover
what we really want in the rest of our lives.
Even the most ambitious of students that go the extra mile to study for
a test or to finish a project are in danger of leading to unfulfilling lives
when they reach adulthood. They could
spend their entire youth pursuing their so called dream careers and later find
out it wasn’t for them, only at this point in their life it could be too late. I think Socrates means to teach us that for
us to truly live happy and fulfilling lives we need to examine ourselves to
discover our true interests. We cannot
choose paths blindly or wait for someone else to dictate how our lives will
turn out.
Socrates was certainly a gadfly in
his own right. Today there are several
individuals that could be identified as such.
Texas Congressman, Ron Paul certainly speaks out against the status quo
in the government. In foreign policy he
has stated that Congress has ceded too much power to the president. In addition he also proposed the idea that
all foreign military bases, regardless of their importance, should be closed,
because in his mind the United States has always been the aggressor in the war
on terrorism. His domestic proposals may
seem radical to even the most conservative of candidates. In December he said that if he were elected
president he would cut $1 trillion in spending in his first year in office in
part by abolishing five cabinet departments.
He is clearly a gadfly, because very few other candidates would promise
that they could cut spending $1 trillion dollars in their first year.
I can see your point that examining our lives would give us a better chance to succeed in the future but I believe that people are still able to live a fulfilling life without fully examining it. Living day by day may not be the best way to go about living but it is a viable way to go through life and still have rewarding experiences along the way. Just because people may be ignorant of themselves doesn't mean that they are worthless.
ReplyDeleteVery insightful. I really like how you sad that almost anyone is subject to living an unfulfilled life. However, I don't believe pursuing a career and not liking it in the end pertains to the topic. I think the unexamined life is questioning things more on the outside than of yourself. The Ron Paul insertion is spot on.
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