This chapter examines Socrates' conception of philosophy itself as a way of life, of philosophy as something to be lived, not merely thought and talked about. It argues that for Socrates, living a philosophical life meant living with the idea that reason — conceived as the capacity for argument and analysis in pursuit of the truth about things — is our highest and most essential capacity. To live a philosophical life is therefore to live consistently on the basis of reason so conceived in everything that we do. Socrates had a quite particular conception, not followed by all his successors in this tradition, of what living on the basis of reason entailed; those particularities are explored. For both Socrates and all his successors, being a philosopher and living a philosophical life meant living according to reason, conceived as a capacity for argument and analysis in pursuit of the truth.
Keywords: reason, Plato, philosophical life, truth, argument, analysis