Socrates and The Allegory of the Cave

According to Socrates, the number one responsibility that we have in life is to better ourselves everyday. In his mind, a life that is not examined and questioned, is not a life that is worth living. Socrates, lets remember, was in fact condemned and given the death penalty due to his beliefs. During his trial,not once did he ask for clemency, nor did he fight for his innocence. Until the very end, Socrates kept true to his morals and values and asked the jury to really question themselves along with their own morals. 

For Socrates, philosophy was a road people follow when questioning what really was. His method of questioning, also known as "dialectic", was so unique in the sense that he never made himself out to be better than anyone else. In fact, he would claim ignorance in order to provide room for the other person to fully explain his/her ideas. The latter, provided the perfect opportunity for their ideas to be fully exposed and therefore be open to growth. One could argue that the liberating aspect of philosophy, by Socrates' standards, is that by exposing one's ideas, personal growth can therefore be achieved. By questioning the aforementioned, the flaws and contradictions are hence uncovered thus allowing for further examination. All this is in the hopes that a new more evolved and clear idea is achieved. 

By following Socrates' logic, the lack of self examination is indeed deserving of pessimism. If people choose to "stay in the cave" and accept everything that is being told to them,then they are not reaching (or even trying to reach) their full potential. Moreover, if questions are not asked, there is the threat for society to become stagnant and the possibility for progression to be missed altogether.