American vs. Athenian Democracy Athens created the first democracy, which redefined the way countries could be run. The city-state of Athens was strong and had a very strong military and naval reinforcements to keep it safe. A democracy is defined as; “a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections”(Merriam Webster). The development of the Athenian democracy
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To evaluate wisdom, people use a myriad of different metrics depending on the context of the measurement. Yet, of all the possible measurements of wisdom, one that categorically does NOT provide an accurate measurement is the degree to which the wise person is happy. History is filled with heroic figures who have sacrificed their very lives in a quest to add their measure of wisdom to the world. One of the most notable figures in this category was Martin Luther King, Jr. So too, literature is filled
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According to Aristotle in the excerpts from Nicomachean Ethics virtue is a mean between two extremes. A “mean” meaning your drive or emotion is not too constrained, or too unconstrained. A better explanation would be the emotion of fear. If you let your fear get too unconstrained it turns you into a coward, and if you let it get too constrained you become rash. To be virtuous you must be courageous, which is the mean of the two examples. However, the amount of virtue a person has or needs is dependent
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Friendship in the Lysis Llasua Aguero-Witte 11/2/2015 Plato is well known for his writing method that revolves around dialogue through a dialectic mode of speech and listening. With that being said, the form of Plato’s writings, the dialogue form, carries difficulties that have no other purpose than to reflect the circumstances of our own lives. Comprehension, and being comprehended, is not easy. However, the dialogue form is important in that it invites further dialogue, which allows for a more
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Two of the most famous philosophers of the 4th Century B.C. were Plato and Aristotle. Plato’s philosophy was based on “arête”. He created the theory of Forms and with the Parable of the Cave to help explain his theory. He wanted to understand the soul. He believed the soul was a Form. This influenced modern Western ideology of Christianity because Plato suggests the Form occupied our bodies. According to Plato, “when the body dies, the soul is judged and sent for 1,000 years to tenfold rewards in
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represent knowledge that they do not have. According to dictionary.com knowledge is facts, information and skills acquired by a person through experience or education. In the Meno, Plato says true opinion and “knowledge” are two separate ways of knowledge. In Frank A. Lewis’ book, “Knowledge and the Eyewitness: Plato "Theaetetus” he shows in detail how different true opinion and knowledge are. Lewis states, “He has been correctly persuaded, assuming that he has judged well. But if Knowledge
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Plato’s theory of forms was established to solve the ethical problems humans have today. The purpose of the theory of forms is to show how a human sees the world differently when they perceive it from the aspect of their minds. The senses of humans are much different from what the mind of the human believes. People see what they want to see and do not look beyond the physical features. Society has a small understanding of the real world. To find reality, people must look beyond the physical appearances
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My opinion about Edith Hamilton’s belief is that the people today do not believe that we have an immortal soul, so in turn we do not have immortality. In Greek times if you believe that your soul is immortal and that you can live forever, it is possible. There is also the people in Greek times that would think they are not worthy enough to have an immortal soul like the gods, so they would die a normal death once they got too old. The theme of Deception can be analyzed in many of the myths
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Is Knowledge A Double Edge Sword? The Greek philosopher Socrates once stated “the only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.” Individuals seek knowledge and/or the truth to understand why they are in a situation, to make better decisions, etc., without being aware that knowledge has a limited ability to present happiness for those who attempt to obtain it. Yet, it can fill the void created by the unknown. In the Greek tragedy, Oedipus the King, Oedipus’s quest for knowledge leads to
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“The Abolition of Man” by C.S. Lewis, is largely based on an ideal called the Tao. He defines the Tao as the unchangeable way that the universe has always worked, and the way it will always keep working. This is the core of his argument: Lewis aims to convey the message that this natural state of the universe ties into our lives, values, emotions, and education. Moreover, that there is no amount of knowledge that will ever make man more powerful than the Tao. He expresses this point through three
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