...The Greek philosopher Plato’s concept of philosophy entails it as a process in which there is constant questioning and the process of questioning is done by way of dialogues. The dialogues through which he represents his thoughts conclusively have no definite point of justification, instead they end in a way that raises questions in the mind of the reader making him/her think for themselves, rather than putting a definitive conclusion of logic. Some of the dialogues that do reach a conclusion are not simple statements of facts. Instead, they end up in doubts, casting parallel counterarguments on the doubts and their possibilities. Plato’s...
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...Aristotle and Plato’s Meno written by Plato both address the concept of virtue. With the system of Eudaimonism, Plato and Aristotle attempt to arrive at a theory or system or set of moral principles or values dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation. They further go on in applying these principles of conduct in governing an individual or group. Their main concern with conformity to this standard of right is the idea of virtue. They also seem to place one virtue as being of particular moral excellence. The widely accepted definition of Eudaimonism is having a good attendant spirit or a theory that the highest ethical goal is happiness and personal well-being. This definition of Eudaimonism...
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...Anthony Pulliam Humanities 09/17/2010 Plato's and Aristotle's Views on Knowledge Plato and Aristotle view knowledge and the process whereby it is obtained. They both point out that many epistemological concepts which they believe where knowledge comes from and what it is actually. Most of them have been astonished me in certain ways, but I found that rationalism and "wisdom consists in knowing the cause which made a material thing to be what it is" make the most sense to me regarding the nature of knowledge. As the following, we will discuss about why these two philosophical viewpoints are superior and the others are inferior. Aristotle believes that sensory perception of material objects is knowledge and he says, "Our senses begin the process of finding the answer, because they are physically close to our minds." However, sensations and feelings are very subjective, and the results of sensation vary from person to person and even within the same person, depending on the circumstances. What to one person is cold might be warm to another, one person may be more fatigued in the afternoon than in the morning, so that his or her perceptions may temporarily less accurate. Therefore one cannot claim that sensations provide sure knowledge for human beings. | On the other hand, Aristotle sustains that the perceptions of the senses form the foundation which leads to true knowledge. The senses "give the most authoritative knowledge of particulars" (individual material objects)...
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...having a chain of teacher-student relationship. Socrates was the teacher of Plato; Plato was the teacher of Aristotle; and Aristotle was the teacher of one of history’s greatest conqueror – Alexander, the Great. The Greek Triumvirate & the Three Oriental Sages * Although the teachings of the Three Oriental Sages and the Greek Triumvirate are dissimilar, they however, have a resembling view on the soul of man. * The Oriental sages and the Greek triumvirate believed that man’s soul pre-existed his body. * The Greek triumvirate believes that man, in his original and ideal existence as a soul or a « pure mind », knew all things by direct intuition and had all knowledge stored in his mind. However, when man was banished into his world of sense, man blurred out and forgot almost everything he ever knew. * The Greek triumvirate posited that the present problems of man was caused by ignorance or lack of knowledge and that the only way for man to solve these problems is by recalling all his previous knowledge. * However, while they believe in the vitalityt of looking into one’s self as a method to resolve man’s problem, there are still major differences when it comes to the ‘specifics’ of their ideologies. Socrates * He was born in Athens circa 469 B.C. and died in 399 B.C. * He is known as one of mankind’s greatest teachers. * During his times, the task of inculcating critical thinking in the society was way more difficult compared today. ...
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...TOPIC OF ASSIGNMENT: “PLATO’S CONCEPTION OF GOD AND HOW IT IMPACTED HIS VIEWS ON LITERATURE” Plato considers God as having perfect goodness; and that the fundamental reality exists in the mind of god who directs other souls to spread righteousness in the world; every soul is responsible for its actions therefore it must do goodness to become like god in order to get an ideal society. Plato refutes literature, especially poetry, on the basis of this conception. He believes that purpose of creating this world is to spread goodness. Hence literature must possess elements of true reality in it to convey to the readers. In this task, I am assigned to give a glimpse on Plato’s conception of God and his process of creating this world with the help of fundamental reality. I will describe his beliefs with the help of examples from some of his works. At the end, I will sum up by describing his preference of dialogue over poetry which depicts his views about literature. Plato belongs to philosophers of Greek era. There were many school of thoughts concerning with the existence of God. Three of them were very popular which were consisted of denial of God’s existence; God’s indifference to the world; and that god can be bribed. Plato refuted these principles and established god as having “absolute reality”. Every action has some driving force behind it which is soul. God creates those souls therefore we cannot deny god’s existence. He establishes that God is not indifferent to the...
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...Epistemology: How do we know what is true? Aleisha Roche 11/9/12 Empirist those of the philosophers who believe that it is not rationalism but your senses that tell us the truth about knowledge. Philosophy could be something no one, not even philosophers, could actually agree on how to view life. Philosophy is divided into multiple branches and Epistemology deals with the “theory of knowledge.” A philosopher’s job is to figure out what is truth, weather relevant or irrelevant and discover how it is that we know something and if it is true. Epistemology of Philosophy shows how truth fits into life. We will be looking into the Western and Asian views on truth from Aristotle to Plato to Kant. This philosopher is known for his study of matter being reality. Plato’s epistemology is that we can have guiene knowledge only on things that are perfect and unchanging. We have knowledge about the forms, but not the material things. Beliefs and opinions are the only thing we can have in a material world. Plato says that before we are born our souls live in a realm of the forms and have complete knowledge of the form but we don’t realize it. We can only recall when in difficulty. Now this philosopher’s theory is the view that all Knowledge originates from experience bases his study on question and answer. Aristotle believes that the object of real existence is the ones that we encounter through our sense perception. Humans, according to Aristotle, do not acquire knowledge all in one moment...
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...Plato and Play Taking Education Seriously in Ancient Greece Armand D’Angour In this article, the author outlines Plato’s notions of play in ancient Greek culture and shows how the philosopher’s views on play can be best appreciated against the background of shifting meanings and evaluations of play in classical Greece. Play—in various forms such as word play, ritual, and music—proved central to the development of Hellenic culture. In ancient Greece, play (paidia) was intrinsically associated with children (paides). However, both children and play assumed a greater cultural significance as literacy—and, consequently, education (paideia)— developed during the classical age of 500–300 BCE. Uniquely among ancient thinkers, Plato recognized that play influenced the way children developed as adults, and he proposed to regulate play for social ends. But Plato’s attitude toward play was ambivalent. Inclined to consider play an unworthy activity for adults, he seemed to suggest that intellectual play in some form, as demonstrated in the dialectical banter of Socrates, could provide a stimulus to understanding. Key words: education in ancient Greece; play and child development; play and education; play and Plato; Socratic dialectic Among various plausible misquotations that surface from time to time is a piece of popular wisdom attributed to Plato to the effect that “you can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” It was quoted by Alaska Governor...
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...Administration (2010-2014) Truth and knowledge People have various ways in which they look at things. Some think in ways that are good and others in ways that are bad. Some people look at things differently from others. But who really knows what is true and what is real. Some people stay in the darkness for a long time without have the true knowledge. This essay explores how Socrates looked at things and his beliefs and perception as compared to how Voltaire looked at life. This is a summary of what was captured in Apology, allegory of the cave and the Good Brahmin. These stories have good implication on the essence of philosophy in life. What is philosophy and how should we consider it? In short, these essays talk about enlightenment, which is a process whereby a person comes to know the truth as opposed to being ignorant. Socrates’ views of life are shown in the stories of Apology and allegory of the Cave. The main one that shows Socrates’ ideas is that of the allegory of the caves, which will be explained briefly in this essay. In the allegory of the cave there is a tantalizing scenario. The scenario is as follows. It is shown in a state of things that a young person has been in. The scenario is like that of a person who was born and ever since his youth hood was placed in a cave. In this cave there is no light. This person is chained there in that he is not able to turn even his head to see what is around. The person looks in one direction. In the direction in which he...
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...Administration (2010-2014) Truth and knowledge People have various ways in which they look at things. Some think in ways that are good and others in ways that are bad. Some people look at things differently from others. But who really knows what is true and what is real. Some people stay in the darkness for a long time without have the true knowledge. This essay explores how Socrates looked at things and his beliefs and perception as compared to how Voltaire looked at life. This is a summary of what was captured in Apology, allegory of the cave and the Good Brahmin. These stories have good implication on the essence of philosophy in life. What is philosophy and how should we consider it? In short, these essays talk about enlightenment, which is a process whereby a person comes to know the truth as opposed to being ignorant. Socrates’ views of life are shown in the stories of Apology and allegory of the Cave. The main one that shows Socrates’ ideas is that of the allegory of the caves, which will be explained briefly in this essay. In the allegory of the cave there is a tantalizing scenario. The scenario is as follows. It is shown in a state of things that a young person has been in. The scenario is like that of a person who was born and ever since his youth hood was placed in a cave. In this cave there is no light. This person is chained there in that he is not able to turn even his head to see what is around. The person looks in one direction. In the direction in which he...
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...called the mind and body debate. This is the debate about what gives us our personal identity as to whether it is our minds, our bodies or whether it is both. A number of philosophers have commented on the mind and body debate. These are dualists, monists and materialists all of which have theories explaining what gives us our personal identity. Dualists believe that the mind and body are separate, monists believe that the mind and body are one but can be separated and materialism is the view that there is no such thing as a mind or a soul and that when we die we die. Philosophers such as Plato and Descartes are dualists. In this dualist argument, Plato presents four arguments for the immortality of the soul which are cyclical – everything comes into existence from its opposite which sets up the cycle of birth and death, recollection- Plato believed that the knowledge we acquire is not learnt but remembered or recollected. Plato believed that the soul existed in a realm of forms before coming into the body, where it acquires this knowledge. As evidence of this he cites the slave boy who has no education but can grasp complex mathematical concepts just like the film ‘Good will hunting’, Affinity – Plato believed that the body has an affinity with the earth and that the soul has the affinity with the eternal real of forms. Because the soul is composite, at death it is dispersed at death and so it returns to the real of form to which it has an affinity and final – The final argument...
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...statement is the basis of Nietzsche’s argument in the Genealogy: origin is not equal to essence. It Nietzsche’s belief that the origin of something is not related to its purpose/utility or vice-versa. This is the point that he is making in the provided passage. The text states, “…the utility of [anything]…means nothing regarding its origin” (p.77). This statement is put into effect through various ways in the text. To accentuate this point, he uses a relationship between a creditor and a debtor and its relationship to punishment. According to Nietzsche, humans are in a relationship of debt and credit. When society was created, the relationship of the creditor and the debtor began. According to Nietzsche, the people who created the society that one belongs to are the creditors. The creditors...
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...‘norms’ of the societies of their time period. Second Treatise of Government, by John Locke, and Aristotle’s Politics, written by Aristotle, both outline each philosopher’s ideal political regime in which each political system described is tailored to each individual’s self-thinking. Past experiences as well as prior knowledge is used by both Aristotle and Locke to formulate their political regimes. When comparing the two previously mentioned books and analyzing the regimes proposed by both novels it is evident that both Aristotle and Locke differed in their respective evaluation of commercial or economic life. The biggest point of difference between the two had to do with humanity as Aristotle believed acquisition of necessities to be a natural process whereas Locke believed the onus was on human beings to go out and acquire which would naturally bring about commerce into existence. This essay will examine the reasons why they differed in this aspect of politics with further detail provided as well. When highlighting these reasons it will be very clear as to why their ideas of economic and commercial life did not parallel each other. Aristotle was a student in Plato’s Academy and he also was a tutor to Alexander the Great. In 335 BCE, Aristotle would go on to establish his own school in Athens, Greece in which his school was referred to as The Lyceum. He would be accused of impiety in 323 BCE and although he did not revere God in the same breath as his peers, his ideals would go...
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...Hello Here are 10 ways to do it. 1. Build momentum. The first cardinal rule of opening lines is that they should possess most of the individual craft elements that make up the story as a whole. An opening line should have a distinctive voice, a point of view, a rudimentary plot and some hint of characterization. By the end of the first paragraph, we should also know the setting and conflict, unless there is a particular reason to withhold this information. This need not lead to elaborate or complex openings. Simplicity will suffice. For example, the opening sentence of Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” tells the reader: “The grandmother didn’t want to go to Florida.” Already, we have a distinctive voice—somewhat distant, possibly ironic—referring to the grandmother with a definite article. We have a basic plot: conflict over a journey. And we have a sense of characterization: a stubborn or determined elderly woman. Although we do not know the precise setting, we can rule out Plato’s Athens, Italy under the Borgias and countless others. All of that in eight words. Yet what matters most is that we have direction—that O’Connor’s opening is not static. Immediately, we face a series of potential questions: Why didn’t the grandmother want to go to Florida? Where else, if anywhere, did she wish to go? Who did want to go to Florida? A successful opening line raises multiple questions, but not an infinite number. In other words, it carries momentum. 2. Resist the urge...
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...K99/1302/2014 | | PETER NJOROGE NGUCHIE | K99/1746/2014 | | YEGO SANCTA KANGONGO | K99/1726/2014 | | NDIRANGU SIMON MWANGI | K99/1590/2014 | | 1. Focus on one philosopher discussed in class and their racial attitude towards Africa showing whether it is true or false * It is false; this is brought about by the German philosopher Wilhen Fredrick Hegel where he said that Africa is divided into THREE different parts namely; Egyptian Africa where there is philosophy and civilization, European Africa where there is philosophy, civilization and critical thinking and finally the is Africa proper where there is no philosophy, no critical thinking and no civilization. * Basing on Africa proper, just as viewed they is no philosophy, no critical thinking and no civilization, this is because geographical does not allow this. Not all Africa countries have acquired civilization and are critical and creative thinkers, thus Fredrick Hegel was correct regarding his views. * Being more precise, some Eastern African countries have been viewed to lack knowledge and critical thinking. This is categorized as follows; * Firstly, most Africa countries involves themselves in violence, the rebelling parties has taken advantages to make their fellow suffer by burning, raping, killing and kidnapping the old aged and young ones. If there was some kind of civilization, they would have solved their differences and engage in more productive activities rather than immorality...
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...experimentally based theory of ethics or justice, but we are concerned with the general order of nature and how human life is nestled in and depends on that order. For example, life (& its preservation) depends on observing the necessities and limitations of nature, how we are dependent on food, shelter, parents and a community and the satisfying of other natural needs for life to exist, continue and prosper. The most prominent philosophers & political thinkers in this line of thought include the following: ancient - Plato, Aristotle, & later Cicero & other Roman statesmen; medieval - St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas & other thinkers in the Judeo-Christian tradition; modern - John Locke, & of course Thomas Jefferson & the “founding fathers” of the American republic. According to almost all of these authors, the natural order ultimately depends upon a first ordering principle that established the relation between man and nature. That first principle is commonly referred to as God or Creator, as indicated, for example, in the opening of Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. One line of reasoning introduced by Plato is based on the law of the Division of Labor. This law holds that given our natural needs, it is most efficient, effective & conducive to our flourishing for each of us to specialize by developing our skills & talents, and exchange the product of our labors with one another for the overall good of the community. This presupposes an order in nature & between man and...
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