Shivam Batra

September 18th, 2015

Weekly Questions #4
1. The soda-can analogy states that if we come across a half empty soda
can, we arent going to just pick it up and start drinking from it. Its
only reasonable to wonder where the soda came from or why is it half
gone before we start drinking it. This analogy is tied in with Socrates
view that an unexamined life is not worth living. The purpose of human
life is spiritual and personal growth and that wont happen unless we
take the time to reflect and examine our life, so that we understand
our true nature. Without self-awareness, we are just drinking the left
over soda from the can, without even wondering whats in it. If we
dont even know if the can (our life) is half empty or half full, we
wouldnt know whats missing. If we dont realize how we are living, we
are bound to succumb and bend under the pressure that society puts
on us. Our society discourages self-awareness with a continuous cycle
of working and consuming, we keep too busy to self-reflect. We are
forced to ignore that the can is half-empty and without self-reflection
we dont even know what we really want. Hence, we just bend how
society wants us too instead of making conscious decisions for
ourselves.
2. The horse analogy is a justification of Socratess view on Meletuss
attack on him being an atheist. Meletus believes that being an atheist,
contributes negatively to the learning of the young students he
teaches. Meletus accuses Socrates of being the sole corruptor of the
youth while the majority of others are innocent. The horse-breeder
analogy asserts that horses are improved by only a handful of people,
namely, those with required knowledge, the horse trainers. Thus, the
majority people, those without the requisite knowledge, would actually
be expected to make the horse worse. Socrates uses this analogy
between the rearing of horses and rearing of men, to answer the
question who improves the youth? He explains that only a few men
are skilled enough to train the horse well, so reasonably, one would
believe that there are few men who possess the more complicated
skills of rearing young men well.
3. I absolutely agree with Socrates that things of the mind/soul/spirit are
more important and meaningful than the things of the body. The
human body is a highly complex machines, whereas the soul is a
conscious life force within our bodies. We are the soul and completely
different from our bodies. Our body is constantly changing but our soul
remains unchanged. Moreover, the body is subject to illness and
weakness but the soul is not affected by this. Thats why, even though

Shivam Batra
September 18th, 2015
our body changes throughout life, we always keep our sense of
identity. The soul is just like the intellect. The intellect exists, but its not
matter. If we search the brain, we wont find intellect. Similarly, the soul
resides in the body but it cannot be found. We are not human beings
seeking spiritual experience instead we are spiritual beings
experiencing human life.