The Unexamined Life May Be Worth Living

“The unexamined life is not worth living”, Socrates proclaims in front of the jurors who were to convict him to death, convicted against upon the charge of corrupting the youth and impiety. He sees himself as a sage, an intentionally unpleasant gadfly who must constantly challenge authority, pose difficult questions, and make people critically examine themselves to awaken the intellect and virtue within others. His defense for himself, depicted within Plato’s The Apology, remains one of the most dramatic and eloquent pieces of writing in both western literature and philosophy.

The unexamined life is not worth living. A person deprived of his knowledge, enlightenment, learning, accomplishments, and intellect is meaningless; his life is no different from an animal whose very purpose is to eat, live, and sleep. Talent is that which endows a life with beauty; passion, ambition, learning, craft, and art… these are that which enkindle the candle of life, which would otherwise rest dull and idle. I took Socrates’ dictum as an absolute and axiomatic truth: indeed, I, as a student, am charged both by society and my inner thirst for knowledge with the duty to learn. I saw this duty as my defining possession — the engine with which I am driven, the lamp by which my feet are guided.

Literature, history, mathematics, science, philosophy, medicine… these are all grand realms of knowledge, each of them worthy of a lifelong dedication. They are both necessary and sufficient to complete a humble seeker of knowledge; mastery of one, just one, suffices to fulfill a life. Our history does offer us several polymaths, wielding immense command over many domains, yet even those who only claim understanding of and great contribution towards one can also be revered as a great man worthy of a place in our chronicles. Mozart’s extraordinary talent in music, Shakespeare’s unrivaled command over the English language, Newton’s revolutionary contributions to mathematics and physics… These are sufficient for them to be ever remembered and admired as men of value and meaning.

Just one. If the mastery of just one domain of knowledge can complete me, the refinement of my intellect naturally became the greatest duty of my life, without which my life will be bereaved of its purpose. The unexamined life, I thought, certainly is not worth living.

But this naturally begs a question: if mastery, in our world, means receiving a PhD, conducting years and decades of research, receiving innumerable accolades and recognition, publishing seminal papers in the best scientific journals, how many can be claimed to be examined and enlightened? Furthermore, does this necessarily mean that the uneducated lives are automatically worthless and undeserving of respect?

A mother, no matter how rustic, uneducated, unenlightened, ignorant of science and literature, and illiterate, is not meaningless, because she dedicated her life to a no less noble duty: the raising of her children. From teaching them to speak, watching them from crawling to walking, to witnessing their growth into adolescence and adulthood…. is this anything less noble, less meaningful than a scientist traveling on the frontier of knowledge in his laboratory, or a writer penning down another literary masterpiece? Her life is not meaningless; her ignorance and her unrefined intellect by no means diminished her, because she is of meaning to her children. Her life is worth living, because she gave birth, love, and kindness; this alone is sufficient to warrant her life with respect and admiration.

Likewise, suppose I am deprived of my abilities — suppose I do not know as many theorems in mathematics, laws in physics, great works in literature, and brilliant episodes in history, am I anything less? Indeed, my life will be more difficult, as this world is ruthlessly competitive; skills are necessarily for survival. But that is a practical concern; on a fundamental level, am I still myself? My character remains — the value I bring to my family and friends is unchanged. That which connected my heart with those who love me and forged every precious friendship in my life is not my intellect, but my character, my virtues — kindness, compassion, honesty, maturity… — and the value I bring.

I came to see my character as that which defines me; intellect is certainly important, but it is but an ornament, a mere embellishment above something. If one kind act from me can brighten someone’s day, and, likewise, if one careless deed from me can ruin someone’s day, my life certainly is not meaningless. I am involved in humanity, part of the web that tightly connects me and others. Like that rustic mother whose very presence in the world exerts an impact on her children, my existence has inherent meaning: I must bring value to those around me. This duty precedes the duty of learning, both of which may certainly be done concurrently, but the former exceeds in fundamental and moral importance.

The unexamined life may be worth living. It depends on how much worth that unexamined person can bring.