Socrates’ Views on Life Essay
Socrates states that life, which has not been properly examined, is wrongful and even unworthy of living. This may sound quite controversial, but the philosopher provides strong arguments to support his idea. He argues that a wise man has to examine the life of others and especially his own life. According to the philosopher, it is important to understand whether people live rightful lives and share their views to make wrongdoers change their ways.
Only this can help create the society of rightful people who live in accordance with laws of morality. The philosopher stresses that a righteous man has to be able to administer the society (state, community, family) and contribute to its development while the righteous woman has to focus on her household, her children, and her husband.
Any deviations from these norms may lead to negative changes in society that may be destroyed. If the person does wrong and immoral things, he/she corrupts the world. This person does not have the right to live as his/her life undermines the perfection of the world and may corrupt others. According to Socrates, the wrongful life may break the world order that has been set and bring chaos.
Of course, it is impossible to understand whether an individual lives a rightful life without questioning each of his/her actions or statements. Without questioning people’s behavior and its outcomes, it is impossible to evaluate the impact each individual has on the development of the world. If this examination is not held, there are high chances that the person lives a wrongful life and contributes to the chaos. Of course, people should not live such lives according to the philosopher.
Socrates emphasizes the importance of looking into people’s lives carefully to trace possible errors or sins made. More so, the thinker notes that it is essential to make the wrongdoer and people around him see the immorality of certain actions to avoid the same behavior in the future. Importantly, when addressing his accusers and his friends, Socrates asks them to examine the life of his own children.
The philosopher stresses that his children have to be punished and even condemned to death if their lives are not righteous. He shows that the truth is the primary value in people’s lives, and wrongful people do not have the right to live.
Obviously, people are unprepared for such examinations as they often act immorally when pursuing their goals. Such people accused Socrates of numerous sins, but his major ‘fault’ was revealing the wrongdoings of others. The philosopher was firm and never betrayed his beliefs. He chose to die rather than live without making the world better by examining the actions of people. This can also be seen as another support of his words and beliefs. He decided that his life was not worth living without telling the truth.
Socrates’ view on life also reveals his view on philosophy. According to the thinker, the role of philosophy is to identify major moral guidelines for people and to establish the truth. Socrates, as well as other thinkers, already had a set of virtues that had been identified by their predecessors. Thus, philosophers contemplate and consider various trends that occur in society, and they manage to see whether the changes that take place are beneficial or harmful.
Thus, examining the lives of people, philosophers are able to see the outcomes of various actions. They also check whether people’s actions follow moral rules and conventions that already exist. It is possible to state that philosophy enables people to maintain the world order that has been established. Philosophy provides a set of rules that help govern human society.
Importantly, Socrates focuses on virtues rather than the consequences of people’s actions, and he believes that laws of morality have been developed on the basis of people’s knowledge and experience. Therefore, there is no need to consider the outcomes of actions, as it is possible to check whether the action is right or wrong. Rightful/moral actions are those that lead to positive outcomes for the development of society. Hence, people should simply follow the guidelines established to make sure they live rightful lives.
In conclusion, it is possible to note that Socrates believed that immorality has to be detected and eliminated. He also argued that each life, as well as each action, has to be examined; otherwise, such a life is not worth living. The thinker stressed that people have to make sure they do the right thing in every situation, and they should also examine other people’s actions. Only this attention to actions and virtues will enable people to trace and eliminate the wrongs in human society.
Philosophy serves as the guarantee of the world order. The discipline provides major moral guidelines to be followed to maintain the existing world order. Philosophers are also seen as the guards of morals and virtues. They also interpret actions and can judge whether this or that action is rightful or not. Sometimes philosophers become victims of the society that does not want to accept the rules of morality. Socrates became one of these victims who had to die for the sake of truth.
