Preview

The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1030 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living Essay
In Philosophy this far, we’ve covered many topics. In highlighting Philosophy, Wisdom, and the quote, “ The Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living”, I will express the knowledge and insight I’ve taken away from Unit 1. This embodies one of the many examples of the concepts I will explain: “Too often, we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of the thought” (JFK).
Philosophy is the rational analysis of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct; the pursuit of happiness. The greek translation for Philosophy means the love of wisdom. The love of wisdom, as discussed in class, is best modelled after a quote by Pope Benedict XVI: “The world can offer you comfort, but you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” It is pushing and venturing outside of your comfort zone in search for the knowledge and understanding that wisdom offers. There are many concepts often misconstrued in philosophy that we discussed in class. For example, it is a misconception when people come to the conclusion that there are no correct answers in Philosophy. It is a fact that there are indeed correct answers
…show more content…
In the article, The Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living, School Papers explains, “ If a person does not examine his life, he may keep making the same mistakes and never change...The Apostle Peter says that while waiting for the return of Christ, one should “make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him… Despite the fact that a man with an unexamined life should still continue to exist, he will not achieve the fulfillment that an examined life will.” Therefore, a person who does not question life and the essence of it isn’t really living accordingly. It is sensible to examine our behaviors and actions, and learn from

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Philosophy is an academic subject that exercises reason and logic in an attempt to understand reality and answer fundamental questions about knowledge, life, morality, virtue, and human nature. The original word for philosophy comes from the ancient Greek word philosopha, which means love of wisdom. Although Socrates himself never claimed to have any answers to the questions he raised, his views and methods of philosophy became the foundations of what philosophy is today. Socrates actually wrote nothing, because he felt that knowledge was something to be gained by living and interacting in the world. So most of what we do know about Socrates comes from the writings of another very important person in Greek history, Plato. Socrates’ philosophy was based on pursuit of truth through the questioning of beliefs, virtue being defined as knowledge and talking about the elements that make up a good life.…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The trial and execution of Socrates was the climax of his career and the central event of the dialogues of Plato.…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Goal of the Course: The general goal of this course is to consider what philosophers call the Socratic commitment. Socrates, a Greek philosopher, 470-399 B.C., was placed on trial in Athens because he questioned the political, moral, and religious practices of Athens. He gave his own defense which his pupil Plato recorded as The Apology (The Defense). When he was convicted for impiety to the gods and for corrupting the youth because he had taught the young adults to question, he was given the opportunity to propose his own penalty. He refused to give up his mission as the one calling Athens to the examined way of life. He refused to leave Athens, if the condition were to be that he had to give up teaching. He summed up his defense in the following way:…

    • 1859 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    East and West Philosophy

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Philosophy is the systematic study of the foundations of human knowledge with an emphasis on the conditions of its validity and finding answers to ultimate questions. While every other science aims at investigating a specific area of knowledge, such as physics or psychology, philosophy has been defined as “thinking about thinking.” The word "philosophy" comes from the Greek φιλοσοφία (philosophia), which literally means "love of wisdom". When one uses the term "philosophy" in an academic context, it typically refers to the philosophical tradition begun with the ancient Greeks. The "Eastern philosophies" are typically overlooked. The term Eastern philosophy refers very broadly to the various philosophies of Iran, India, China, and Japan. Western philosophy is a line of related philosophical thinking, beginning in Ancient Greece, and including the predominant philosophical thinking of Europe and its former colonies, and continues to this day. When we look at the history of Western Philosophy we see it represents a long march from wisdom tradition to secular intellectualism. Many philosophers whether they are Western or Eastern have had many similar and different views about religion, existence, politics, and many others. Some have studied under others and all have read the views and writings of all philosophers, but this has not kept others from trying to show disbelief in these views. Many have argued that the distinction between Eastern and Western schools of philosophy is arbitrary and purely geographic, that this artificial distinction does not take into account the tremendous amount of interaction between European and Asian schools of thought, and that the distinction is more misleading than enlightening. Furthermore, it has been argued that the term Eastern philosophy implies similarities between philosophical schools which may not exist and obscures the differences between Eastern schools of…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    phil 101

    • 1237 Words
    • 5 Pages

    To me philosophy is a way of thinking, believing, and understanding. It could begin with learning how to interpret things and explore their meanings so that they make sense. I feel that a person’s philosophy can help them when making judgments. One can learn and understand insights to a subject or a dilemma. It can help with their formation of thoughts and ideas. Philosophy is not just about the facts. The facts are put together to make something significant. The facts don’t necessarily make up a person’s way of thinking either. A way of thinking is based on what is seen and heard in the world around the viewer.…

    • 1237 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    My Philosophy of Life

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The study of philosophy is a very complex and complicated task. There are so many different questions on many different topics and philosophy tries to explain them all. It tries to provide answers to the many questions that science and religion cannot explain. And from this it urges you to think about issues that may otherwise be ignored.…

    • 687 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Philosophy of Life Essay

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages

    We all seek happiness, simple as that. We as a human race desperately strive to be something, to prosper, to be revered and if nothing else to be noticed. But to what point? Happiness isn’t about the fame, the fortune, the money or the amount of things we possess, for those things will eventually run out. We should live our lives to the fullest for life is short, yet ever so precious. My life philosophy is centered around three things; three things that greatly govern my life, and the way I go about living it: be who you are, not who everyone else wants you to be, work hard to achieve your goals, and never take your friends for granted, for true friends will be with you for life.…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to Lt. Kol. Prof. Dr. Abdul Razak Chin, philosophy in general is philosophy is that branch of knowledge which relates to the concept of divinity. Besides that, with philosophy that we had use, we will endeavor to find the truth and achieve success. Al-Farabi (339H-950M) had explained that philosophy in the context of the love of wisdom or wisdom, and also become cord to every branch of science. In addition, al-Farabi also refers wisdom as makrifullah – a way to know God.…

    • 1072 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Unexamined Life

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I agree with Socrates quote that says, “The unexamined life isn’t worth living.” There is a difference between living the way you do and living the way you should. If you don’t examine your life, you’re living with no purpose and to me that’s equivalent to not living at all.…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    At first philosophy seemed so difficult to me, as if it was just making things harder for me to understand. It took me a while to actually make philosophy a part of my life. Once I learned and understood the meaning of philosophy I had a different view of the world. Philosophy means the love and pursuit of wisdom. This is a straightforward definition, but there is so much meaning behind it.…

    • 398 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    What is Philosophy

    • 774 Words
    • 2 Pages

    According to the famous Greek philosopher Socrates, “The unexamined life is not worth living”. But what does he mean by this? He means that we should look and think through life deeper. Examination of life is more than just a use of common sense. Hard thinking is necessary even though it disturbs. With the use of Philosophy, we better understand things and answer the most important questions in existence. Philosophy, according to the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle, begins with wonder at the marvels and mysteries of the world. In other words, we started to question things around us because of our curiosity and our need to attain knowledge about things. Philosophy is the love of wisdom (etymologically from the Greek word philos, meaning “love”, and sophia, meaning “wisdom”). It means that we must have the initiative to pursue knowledge because we love to have it. Seeking the truth doesn’t always mean triumph, success or satisfaction. Sometimes, giving up our received tradition and disturbing our common sense requires our intellectual and emotional strength for us to be able to grasp new ideas that would later on benefit us and free us from wrong notions, beliefs and ideas. We must not give up in philosophical inquiry and reserve ourselves for the pursuit of truth because truth will set us free from the darkness of ignorance. Philosophy is not always constant. We must learn to develop the sense of perceiving others’ viewpoints. Philosophy points out our every false perception in terms of what we believed in. But people react to philosophical inquiry in different ways — positively or negatively. In this way, Philosophy teaches us to argue. One of Philosophy’s tasks is to clarify concepts. We should learn to dispute over the different concepts by looking at the frame of reference of the phrase, note its inherent ambiguity, and to unravel it making things clearer. In short, understanding is a major factor in order to clarify concepts.…

    • 774 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thinking about what you might like to do with your life is a big head ache. The thing to remember is — it’s your life — and everything has to start from where you are now, but the thing you want to know is about your future.…

    • 592 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason,mind, and language.[1][2] Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument.[3] In more casual speech, by extension, "philosophy" can refer to "the most basic beliefs, concepts, and attitudes of an individual or group". The word "philosophy" comes from the Ancient Greek φιλοσοφία (philosophia), which literally means "love of wisdom".[5][6][7] The introduction of the terms "philosopher" and "philosophy" has been ascribed to the Greek thinker..…

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “An unexamined life is not worth living,” said Socrates who questioned everything in his life. He always asked, “Why am I here and what is my purpose.” I would ask myself the same exact thing when I was younger because I always wondered what am I doing on earth and why me, what makes me do the things I do. The saying, “An unexamined life is not worth living” is very true in its words because living life on autopilot or having no purpose in life is having an unworthy life.…

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Philosophy of Man

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Philosophy: definition and meaning  The word philosophy came from the Greek words, “phileo” meaning “to love or to befriend” and, Sophia meaning “wisdom.” Thus, philosophy means the love of wisdom.  Webster’s dictionary defines it as: “the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics.”  It is the root of all knowledge; the mother of all sciences Origin of Philosophy  According to Aristotle, philosophy arises from wonder  Desire for knowledge arises from the rational nature of man  Philosophers ask questions and these questions try to understand the metaphysical and physical world of man. Early Philosophers 1. Thales (624-526 BC)     He lived in the city of Miletus, in Ionia, now western Turkey He was not only a thinker; he was involved in business and politics He gave naturalistic explanations of the world Thales assumed that some single element which contained its own principle of action or change, lay at the foundation of all physical reality and this element is water He thought that the earth is a flat disk surrounded by water…

    • 883 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays