Socrates in a Different Key

This chapter takes Baldwin up on his assertion and argues that Baldwin’s belief is a transformation of Socratic thought, namely that the unexamined life is not one worth living. Joel Alden Schlosser’s work examines Baldwin’s fiction and essays as a method of understanding Baldwin’s argument that self-examination is perhaps the championing tenet of American individualism. In order to confront historical atrocities and violence in and of communities, examination of oneself and one’s role in the Great American Drama is irreplaceable. This essay sets up an examination of Baldwin’s take on individualism and the citizen’s responsibility, duty, and obligation to examine oneself by means of addressing societal ills.