An unexamined life is not worth living for a human being. With these defiant words spoken at his trial, Socrates summed up how he thought it best to live one’s life and why he would rather die than give up philosophizing. But what exactly is an examined life? And are there really no other ways of life that we would consider worthy? In this five-session course, students will be introduced to the activity of philosophy and why the citizens of Athens decided to kill Socrates for engaging in it. Through close reading and thoughtful discussion, we will probe a range of questions about wisdom, politics, and human happiness in order to consider for ourselves whether Socrates was right about how to live a properly human life or whether we, too, would have voted to put him to death.