Question of the day #2
I saw this one online a few days ago, and it really got me thinking:
Is the unexamined life a life worth living?
As I understand it, this question asks whether a person who is capable of truly analysing his own actions is truly able to better himself, or if the process of self-examination somehow corrupts the essence of the individual. Can thinking about oneself too much cause a person to lose sight of the bigger picture and somehow over-complicate things? Is just letting things be the better option?
Personally, I would say that I owe a large part of who I am to my ability to be self-critical. I know lot of people who don't do this and they seem perfectly happy though. I find this question hard to answer as I really can't imagine not being self-critical. I think that it falls into the category of Ignorance is Bliss. Would you prefer ignorance if it guaranteed happiness, or do you derive a deeper level of happiness from investigating things in greater detail? Personally the latter is my choice.
What do you think?
Is the unexamined life a life worth living?
As I understand it, this question asks whether a person who is capable of truly analysing his own actions is truly able to better himself, or if the process of self-examination somehow corrupts the essence of the individual. Can thinking about oneself too much cause a person to lose sight of the bigger picture and somehow over-complicate things? Is just letting things be the better option?
Personally, I would say that I owe a large part of who I am to my ability to be self-critical. I know lot of people who don't do this and they seem perfectly happy though. I find this question hard to answer as I really can't imagine not being self-critical. I think that it falls into the category of Ignorance is Bliss. Would you prefer ignorance if it guaranteed happiness, or do you derive a deeper level of happiness from investigating things in greater detail? Personally the latter is my choice.
What do you think?
Tags: 2, life, philosophy, question, unexamined
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Daniel Ian Richardson on -
I think there's a very good place for both approaches. Self criticism and analysis is essential if we are to mature and grow into men who exude fine masculine characteristics. However I believe it is also essential to draw the line somewhere lest we become consumed with ourselves and therefore miss the whole point of self-analysis; namely to make us better, more socially useful and respectable people. A couple of areas where I think it's probably a good idea to analyise oneself are areas such as; Anger, Generosity, Love (say for your wife)...there are of course many more, but take these as a rough guide. Questions worth asking ourselves would probably be ones such as: Could I have done that better/more effectively/ should I have responded differently?
However self-analysis becomes too much if we begin worrying about it. Asking questions such as "what if", and "what do they think of me". Too much worrying isn't a particularly masculine trait neither is it at all helpful in dealing with problems. So if self-analysis turns into worry my advice is Stop it!
Those are my thoughts anyway!
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Permalink Reply by James! on -
I have a strip I wrote and illustrated awhile back dealing with a person perception of reality after developing cap graws sydrome. The final words of his doctor were "The unexamined life is not worth living and the overexamined life is unlivable. What a beautiful night." An thats my basic take on the subject.
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