The Socrates Express: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers

by Eric Weiner

The examined life demands distance. We must step back from ourselves to see ourselves more clearly. The best way to achieve this perspective is through conversation. For Socrates, philosophy and conversation were virtually synonymous. Socrates talked to all sorts of people: politicians, generals, craftsmen, as well as women, slaves, and children. He talked about all sorts of subjects, too, but only important ones. Socrates wasn’t much for chitchat. He knew life was short and he wasn’t about to waste one second of his allotted time on trivialities. “We are considering how to live the best possible life,” he said, exasperated, to a sophist named Callicles. “What question can be more serious than this to a person who has any sense at all?” As much as he loved conversation, Socrates, I think, saw it as simply another tool in his kit. All this enlightened kibitzing had a goal: to know himself. By talking to others he learned how to converse with himself.