Thursday, October 29, 2009

Two Plus Two is.....

Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living."
Russell said, "Most people would sooner die than think; in fact, they do so."

Does that mean that most people's lives are not worth living?

5 comments:

unkleE said...

I suggest Socrates meant it would not be worth living for him. Most people don't share his view (obviously, and perhaps unfortunately).

Shackleman said...

Perhaps we read this too literally. I take it as an admonishment---a sort of shaking and rattling of people in the hopes of waking them from their zombie-like plodding.

Blue Devil Knight said...

Elitist snobbery from Platrates.

Most philosophers would rather die than perform manual labor; in fact, they do so.

Timothy David said...

Hah, hah! Thank you, BDK. Funny and true.

amandalaine said...

Yes, according to Socrates, most people's lives aren't worth living - to answer the question.

But his phrase begs an addendum: the overexamined life is not worth living either.
- and it might be fair to point out that that is exactly what philosophy is (overexamination).