Socrates is widely recognized as one of the most influential philosophers and thought leaders to ever exist. He was a man who questioned everything, promoted virtue and morality, and ultimately died for his beliefs. Socrates was one of the first to introduce ethics and morality and the importance of it in our daily lives.
Above all else, Socrates was a thinker. He thought about life in a very different manner than most other people who lived during his time period. He believed in questioning of the self. Getting to the root of your beliefs and ways of thinking. Socrates believed that thought, self-reflection, and living a virtuous life were three responsibilities that all humans needed to understand and practice.
Why are these the responsibilities of humans?
In order to understand yourself and the world around you, quality time must be spent in thought. Our thoughts are responsible for our reality. If our thoughts are impure and immoral, our actions will follow suit. It is our thoughts that ultimately determine the actions that we take. We have all had experiences where we viewed something in a certain light but the more we thought about it, our mind changed. Without quality time spent in thought, our instincts will drive our outlook and ability to make decisions.
The purpose of self-reflection is to discover your true beliefs. To understand why you believe what you believe, and why you think the way you do. Still to this day, many people lack an understanding of why they hold certain beliefs, live certain lifestyles, and behave in the manner in which they do. What’s the point of doing something you don’t even know why you’re doing it?
Living a virtuous life was at the core of who Socrates was. He strived to live a moral and ethical life. He never compromised his virtues under any circumstance. A virtuous life is about developing a set of values, or rules that help govern your life. These values are meant to help you make decisions, solve problems, and establish relationships. Our values and ability to live them out determines our character. Someone who lives out their values can be seen as someone with a high character. While someone who seems to have no values, also has no character.
Why you should question everything:
Socrates said “The unexamined life is not worth living.” In other words, what is the point of living your life if you do not take a closer look at yourself. If you are not questioning your beliefs and assumptions about yourself and the world, than how will you ever gain understanding? An effective and high quality life cannot be, unless you are on the pursuit of knowledge and understanding.
Understanding comes through thoughtful evaluation and the ability to ask good questions. The smartest kid in the classroom is not the one who pays the most attention to the teacher. The smartest kid is the one who asks the teacher the most questions. Good questions lead to good answers. The person with the most amount of good answers is the one with the most knowledge.
We as humans have a unique ability to think abstractly and critically. Yet we also can become prisoner to our instincts and impulses. We have strong desires and we give into them even though we know they are not good for us. An “unexamined life” is not understanding why we feel certain impulses and why we give in to them. This is our animalistic side taking over control on us. Animals cannot think abstractly like we can. We have the ability to think outside of our current situation or set of circumstances. In other words, we can see things for what they can be or should be and not just what they are.
If we simply take everything at face value or the way it appears, we are neglecting the most significant differentiating factor between us and animals. Which is the ability to think in a rational way. This is doing a disservice to all the progress we have made as humans. Our impulses can be strong, but our ability to think and reason is much stronger. Our ability to think and rationalize is our greatest superpower.
With all the change that has occurred since the times of Socrates, his lessons and values still ring true today. Socrates believed not just in knowledge, but knowledge of the self. Many things have obviously changed since the times of Socrates, but he recognized that most people do not take time to think, self-reflect, and understand their values. In a way, nothing has changed since Socrates first made this discovery. It is beyond apparent that many people still do not value self-reflection, setting aside time to think, and understanding and living out their values in daily life.
Making quick and rash decisions, acting on impulse, and immediately responding to stimuli is a problem that we still face today, in 2020. With the constant influx of information we are faced with, we feel the need to respond and let our judgement be heard. We fire off tweets, texts, and emails without putting any thought into them. With so much fake and misleading news, we adopt whatever fits with our personal narrative. We are also lead by a man who promotes racial intolerance, bigotry, and ignorance. Socrates viewed ignorance as an evil of the world.
Conclusion:
The importance of thought and living a virtuous life that Socrates promoted are still absent in present day. It is evident that ignorance is just as prevalent today as it was in the times of Socrates. Our job as humans is harness and unleash the power of our minds. It is our responsibility to understand why we hold certain beliefs and place importance on the things we do. This is the only way we can gain knowledge about ourselves and the world. Our ability to think and rationalize is a superpower unique to us as humans. We have all been asked the question, “If you could have one superpower, what would it be?” We already have a superpower, we just don’t use it.
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