The Socrates quote, "The unexamined life is not worth living" has always been one that was intriguing to me because of the significance it has in such few words. The tone of the language behind the words, "not worth living" is what mainly stands out for me because it raised the question of whether or not a certain type of lifestyle is one that's not worth living? I feel that the only way we can thoroughly answer this quote by Socrates would be by looking at life through our own thoughts and ideas, and not anyone else's. It's about reflecting upon and evaluating our own personal thoughts, beliefs, and perspectives because it's those core values that shape each and every person. To look at life through another person's lens would be extremely difficult because who are we to to judge other people's practices and evaluate their lives? There's a lot more to people than we can see through our eyes, and it does society no help by judging everybody.
The next quote by Socrates, "To know, is to know that you know nothing", is one that also stood out to me. In my opinion, what Socrates meant by this quote is that the only way we can be true learners is by opening up our minds and realizing when we're wrong, so that we can learn from our mistakes. There's no way that we can learn if we think that we know everything already, which is absolutely impossible. Instead of holding ourselves to such a high standard of being an so called 'expert' on every topic, a wise person would admit that he or she doesn't know something, therefore allowing themselves to be educated.
General Ignorance and TED Talk Pursuit of Ignorance
According to Firestein, we can get students to step outside the boundaries of facts by putting into their minds that those who are able to get comfortable with uncomfortable topics will be the ones who reap the biggest benefits. The reasons why students don't always step outside the boundaries of facts is because they're afraid to challenge those thoughts and ideas. A lot of students don't feel comfortable stepping outside those boundaries of facts because facts are usually what drives beliefs.
For students to pursuit ignorance, they can't be afraid to ask the questions that go against the facts that are presented in everyone's daily lives. According to Lloyd, experts, specialists, and institutions are nervous about admitting ignorance because higher ups in the world don't want to be associated with ignorance. We can get people to deal with difficult or troubling ideas that challenge our beliefs by first identifying the belief and then searching for ways in which we can challenge it. A quote that stood out for me from the Firestein video was the one by Marie Curie where she said, "One never notices what has been done, one can only see what remains to be done..." This stood out to me because when you look at the notion of challenging others ideas and beliefs, you can only achieve that goal if you look at what has to be done in order to get your point across. When Lloyd says information is always challenging, that doesn't necessarily mean that we can never really know anything because information can always be challenged. We can always go against information presented to us because that's what really allows us to be educated.
Of
course, as Socrates demonstrated in his own life (and death) being
fully human (in the sense sketched above) can be extremely challenging.
In a world of abiding uncertainty and complexity one can recognise a
certain attraction in not examining too much, for too long in life. -
See more at:
http://www.newphilosopher.com/articles/being-fully-human/#sthash.f7Hv1IWP.dpuf
Of
course, as Socrates demonstrated in his own life (and death) being
fully human (in the sense sketched above) can be extremely challenging.
In a world of abiding uncertainty and complexity one can recognise a
certain attraction in not examining too much, for too long in life. -
See more at:
http://www.newphilosopher.com/articles/being-fully-human/#sthash.f7Hv1IWP.dpuf
Of
course, as Socrates demonstrated in his own life (and death) being
fully human (in the sense sketched above) can be extremely challenging.
In a world of abiding uncertainty and complexity one can recognise a
certain attraction in not examining too much, for too long in life. -
See more at:
http://www.newphilosopher.com/articles/being-fully-human/#sthash.f7Hv1IWP.dpuf
"TThe unexamined life is not worth living
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