Introduction
Philosophy is an ancient field of study that entails systematic study of knowledge, nature, existence, reality, mind, and reason through logical and rational arguments. Philosophers use logical and rational arguments when explaining their perception of life and their existence. For centuries, humans have been accumulating knowledge about their existence in a bid to understand the nature of life.
In Athens, Socrates was the most prominent philosopher who examined the lives of Athenians and found that they were groping in the darkness of ignorance since they did not understand their existence. Thus, Socrates argued that ‘unexamined life is not worth living’ after observing the how the Athenians lived.
As he tried to enlighten the people, Athenians leaders observed that Socrates was spoiling the minds of the youths, and thus guilty of using his philosophies inappropriately. Hence, this essay argues that Athenian leaders put Socrates and his philosophy on trial, for they did not like to examine and assess their lives using philosophy.
Unexamined Life
Socrates was an Athenian philosopher who made a significant contribution to the development of the Western philosophy. Although Socrates was one of the wisest men in Athens, he considered himself as ignorant. He argued that gaining wisdom only begins when one understands own ignorance as it forms the basis of knowledge.
During his life, Socrates observed that Athenians lived miserable lives since they could not understand the essence of life. Thus, Socrates decided to examine the lives of the Athenians and teach the youths on how to attain better lives as he envisioned.
According to Socrates, ‘unexamined life is not worth living’ because people are groping in the dark, and thus unable to attain real meaning of life or live worthy lives. Therefore, Socrates talked to Athenians while examining their lives and teaching youths on how to gain wisdom and live worthy lives.
Socrates used the Allegory of the Cave to describe how Athenians are groping in the darkness without hope of attaining real meaning of life. In the allegory, Socrates argues that Athenians are seeing illusions in life and taking them as reality, just as prisoners in the cave assumed that shadows are real people walking across the wall.
The prisoners in the cave have accustomed to the shadows until they could not differentiate reality and illusions. In this view, Socrates asserts that philosophers like him are among people who have come out of the cave and are able to differentiate reality and illusions. Hence, the work of Socrates was to enlighten the Athenians so that they can transform their understanding of life from cave illusions to the reality in the world.
Although Socrates tried to enlighten the youths, Athenian leaders had a different perception. The Athenian leaders perceived that Socrates was spoiling the minds of the youths with philosophical doctrines that are against laws and regulations of the Athenian empire. In essence, what Socrates did was to examine the lives of the Athenians in a bid to enhance their understanding of life and resolution of issues affecting their lives.
Despite Socrates’ important role in enlightening the youth, the Athenian leaders charged Socrates and dismissed his philosophy as destructive. In response, Socrates protested that the jury did set the penalty very high that he could not afford to pay, and thus putting him and his philosophy on trial. Despite his plea and protest, the jury still sentenced Socrates to death.
In the course of examining the lives of the Athenians, Socrates also questioned the existence of the piety. Socrates analyzed Euthyphro concept and asserted that the gods love pious things and hate impious things. In his argument about piety, Socrates came up with the Euthyphro dilemma since he wondered whether the gods loves pious things or the gods make things pious by loving them.
Socrates believed that things are pious on their own and independent of the gods. Hence, piety is an inherent attribute of things and not gods. The Euthyphro dilemma attracted massive criticisms from Athenians because it touched on a sensitive matter about the Athenian gods and their deity roles.
If god cannot make anything pious, it means they have no ability to transform the lives of people from impiety to piety. Such dilemma made the Athenians charge Socrates for introducing new doctrines that are against their gods. Hence, Athenians accused Socrates of introducing foreign gods while relegating Athenian gods.
Conclusion
Socrates was a noble philosopher who examined the lives of the Athenians and realized that they were ignorant about life. According his assessment, Socrates argued that ‘unexamined life is not worth living’ because people grope while searching for the real meaning of life.
Despite the fact that Socrates examined the lives of youths and taught them, Athenian leaders accused him of corrupting their minds while introducing foreign gods. Eventually, the jury sentenced Socrates to death for alleged destructive teachings and impious philosophy. Thus, the Athenians put Socrates and his philosophy on trial when they sentenced him to death and rejected his philosophy as destructive.