Unexamined Life

As recorded by Plato in the Apology (399BC), Socrates was charged by the Athenians with corrupting the youth, not believing in the gods whom the state believes in, but believing in new divinities. Socrates accepts the death penalty because to cease his activities would be impossible: “no greater good can happen to a man than to discuss human excellence every day…an unexamined life is not worth living” (XXVIII.38).