Article: Socrates stubs his toe.(The Reader Replies)

I am stunned by the arrogance with which George Watson dismisses Socrates' claim about the unexamined life as a "mistake" (SCHOLAR, Spring 2005).

The standard quote about its not being worth living is not quite accurate; what Socrates says in the Apology is that "the unexamined life is no way of life for a man," ho de anexetastos bios ou biotos anthropo, and it has to be taken in context: he is telling the jury that they won't believe him if he says that to stop his inquiries would be disobedience to the god, nor will they believe him if he says that talking about virtue and self examination is the greatest good for man. But that's what he thinks. He doesn't say ...

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