Most philosophers want to get to settled answers. The ironist, by contrast, speaks in the voice of Gertrude Stein: “There ain’t no answer. There ain’t going to be an answer. There never has been an answer. That’s the answer.”
Socrates’ examined life is more adverb than verb. It’s not that the examining is the sole or dominant activity in a good life. It’s rather that all activities in a good life are undertaken examinedly.
Both Socrates and Oedipus receive oracular answers that tell them who they are, and these obscure answers launch them on a quest of self-understanding.