1. Plato believed that justice is good in itself, or “an intrinsic good”. He showed this by arguing in the Republic that justice is an essential part of living a happy life. In the Republic, Plato separates the soul into three parts he calls reason, spirit, and appetite. A moral or just person would be a person whose soul is functioning in equilibrium. By this, Plato meant that reason did not overcome spirit, spirit did not over come appetite and so on. The soul was essentially balanced. Plato believed that a soul that is in disorder is miserable and that person will never achieve happiness. He compared the soul to that of a city. An ideal city is that where all parts of the city are working together. Plato separated the city into three parts
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“Rid yourself of false beliefs” is an appropriate characterization of Epicureanism for the following reasons. Epicurus like Aristotle believed that the highest good is happiness however unlike Aristotle he believed that the path to happiness is pleasure. The main reason Epicurus associated happiness with pleasure is because people do everything for their own sake or their own pleasure. Everything we do in life is for our own pleasure. This can clearly be seen in infants. A baby does not touch a stove when it is hot because they will get burnt and that is not pleasurable. Infants seek pleasure and not pain. This is the same for adults. Adults seek pleasure in everything they do like an infant however sometimes it is harder for adults to see what is the clearer path to pleasure because adults have more complicated beliefs about what pleasure is. This in turn gets in the way of people achieving happiness because they are unable to find what is pleasurable. That is why an appropriate characterization of Epicureanism is “rid yourself of false beliefs” because if you do than you will be able to achieve pleasure and ultimately happiness. Epicureanism is an interesting eudaimonia because it requires pleasure in order to live a good life but it is a eudaimonia no less than any other. Eudaimonia is defined as a right action that leads to a well being of an individual. Almost all ancient philosophers agree that happiness or virtue is the ultimate state of wellbeing. Epicureanism teaches a way to achieve happiness or virtue through pleasure and if happiness can be achieved through pleasure than the person is virtuous and in a state of
“Rid yourself of false beliefs” is an appropriate characterization of Epicureanism for the following reasons. Epicurus like Aristotle believed that the highest good is happiness however unlike Aristotle he believed that the path to happiness is pleasure. The main reason Epicurus associated happiness with pleasure is because people do everything for their own sake or their own pleasure. Everything we do in life is for our own pleasure. This can clearly be seen in infants. A baby does not touch a stove when it is hot because they will get burnt and that is not pleasurable. Infants seek pleasure and not pain. This is the same for adults. Adults seek pleasure in everything they do like an infant however sometimes it is harder for adults to see what is the clearer path to pleasure because adults have more complicated beliefs about what pleasure is. This in turn gets in the way of people achieving happiness because they are unable to find what is pleasurable. That is why an appropriate characterization of Epicureanism is “rid yourself of false beliefs” because if you do than you will be able to achieve pleasure and ultimately happiness. Epicureanism is an interesting eudaimonia because it requires pleasure in order to live a good life but it is a eudaimonia no less than any other. Eudaimonia is defined as a right action that leads to a well being of an individual. Almost all ancient philosophers agree that happiness or virtue is the ultimate state of wellbeing. Epicureanism teaches a way to achieve happiness or virtue through pleasure and if happiness can be achieved through pleasure than the person is virtuous and in a state of