Explain and evaluate socrates' claim in the apology that "the unexamined life is not worth living for a human being," and briefly analyze and discuss the particular method he uses to discover the truth (i. e., dialectics or the socratic method), using at least two examples from plato's euthyphro and/or apology. do you agree that a human being cannot live a fully satisfying life if he or she remains ignorant, like the slavish prisoners in plato's cave? why or why not?

The answer and the explanation are below.

Explanation:

In "The Apology" Plato relates what Socrates said in the trial in which he is charged for corrupting the youth and for not recognizing the gods. Apology does not mean that he is apologizing for what he is being charged for, but apology means defense. He is defending himself. The oracle told Socrates that he was the wisest of all men. As the god Apollo cannot be wrong, he is the wisest because he knows that he knows nothing. And he thinks that his mission is to make other human beings realize the little they know. So, for Socrates "the unexamined life is not worth living for a human being" because every human being has to examine his life to pursue his happiness being the best version of himself, and knowing the good and evil of his acts. For him, it is necessary to examine the virtue in our lives. Virtue, not as we see it today, but seen as acquiring knowledge. As we said he thinks his mission is to make other human beings realize how little they know. He used what we call the Socratic Method. This is a conversation between Socrates and a pupil. Socrates constantly makes his interlocutor question what he hold as truths. Trying to arrive at a deeper understanding of the issue at hand.

One example in Euthyphro is when Socrates asks Euthuphro what piety and impiety mean.

SOCRATES: And what is piety, and what is impiety?

EUTHYPHRO: Piety is doing as I am doing; that is to say, prosecuting

any one who is guilty of murder, sacrilege, or of any similar crime —

whether he be your father or mother, or whoever he may be — that

makes no difference; and not to prosecute them is impiety.

After this answer, Socrates keeps asking questions to Euthyphro to make him think about what he holds as true acts of piety. But, Socrates continues to question his interlocutor about piety as the general idea that makes things to be pious, not as acts of piety.

The example from The Apology is his dialogue with Meletus where Meletus accuses Socrates of not believing in the gods.

MELETUS] This is what I say, that you do not believe in gods at all.[SOCRATES] Wondrous Meletus, why do you say this? Do I not even believe, then, that sun and moon are gods, as other human beings do?[MELETUS] No, by Zeus, judges, since he declares that the sun is stone and the moon is earth.

I agree with the fact that a human being cannot live a fully satisfying life if he or she remains ignorant. I think we have to scrutinize what we do and be fully aware of the consequences of our actions. I don't know if this applies to the slavish prisoners in Plato's cave because they can only see the shadows on the wall, and that is what they consider reality or knowledge. As they are prisoners they only see what they are allowed to see.

raliegh, north ! hope this