The unexamined life

Why it stays with me

Socrates said this at his own trial, in Plato’s account, when he could have saved himself by agreeing to stop questioning people. He chose to keep asking questions over keeping quiet.

I find the line a little too absolute. Plenty of people live good, kind lives without much philosophy. But I think the core of it holds: if I never ask why I believe what I believe, then my beliefs aren’t really mine.

That is what reflection means to me in practice. Not endless doubt, just the habit of stopping now and then to ask whether the way I’m living still makes sense.