Plato

Greece is often credited as the birthplace of western civilization, as well as creating the foundation of political ideologies still used today. The development of these bases of governments would not be possible without input from the bright thinkers and philosophers of the ancient world. Of the ancient Greek philosophers, many had different ideas on what the ideal form of government was, and the city states of Greece allowed the many different forms to rise and fall. The many forms of…

lie” is defined as an untruth or a myth. A noble lie is typically told by someone of power in order to keep a sense of harmony amongst a group. In The Republic, Plato coins the phrase “noble lie” in a fictional tale on which Socrates is telling of the origins of the social classes and where they came from. The noble lie, coined by Plato, told through Socrates, describes the social classes and their relevance to society and have a great importance to politics. The tale Socrates tells can be…

about some of the Stories that the famous philosopher Plato wrote and talk about his view and mine on the question. Some will say truth can be different for the individual and in this essay i will argue that that statement is false. Truth is truth it doesn't matter what you throw at it truth is still truth. At the start of this semester we read a very informal text by Plato which was called “Plato's Cratylus “ and the story behind that text is Plato and Hermogenes started discussing where did…

republic. Plato and Aristotle exemplify this idea as although Plato taught Aristotle, they have vastly different answers to the question. Both wrote books explicating their different opinions, Plato wrote The Republic while Aristotle wrote The Politics. The two books work towards a common goal but they go about doing this in different ways. Plato argues for an oligarchy dominated by one percent of the population who are born with virtue and among…

In order to better understand the concept of Virtue ethics it is necessary to analyze certain philosophers. These philosophers are Socrates through Plato, and Aristotle. There are three branches of normative ethics, and virtue ethics composes one of them; unlike deontology and consequentialism, virtue ethics focuses on the moral character of the individual, hence the name virtue – ethics (Hursthouse). Even though Aristotle’s and Plato’s approach to ethics, are that of virtue ethics, their points…

University of St. Thomas Philosophy Department The Good Life According to Aristotle and Plato Heather Abadie Philosophy 2314 Dr. Oliva Philosophers and humans over the course of existence have continued to contemplate the meaning of life. While it is important to consider the question “what is the meaning of life” – there is possibly an even greater question – “what does it mean to live a good life?” Is the contemplation and understanding of the meaning of life enough, or is it…

books the Republic by Plato and Politics by Aristotle, the idea of democracy is analyzed. These philosophers have various, distinct parallels with their stance on democracy. Both have made some revolutionary remarks that have shaped how people today view democracy and how the government itself is ruled. Through this essay, their critiques on democracy will be compared along with explaining what both Plato and Aristotle believed to be some of the most important aspects of it. Plato and Aristotle…

will argue that according to Plato and Aristotle, a good leader is someone who is a person of upstanding moral value with rational thinking, and friend-like qualities and these qualities can be obtained through the teaching of these qualities and continuously practicing them. To prove this claim, I will be introducing arguments from Plato and Aristotle and counter-argument from Glaucon. Plato thought that a good leader is a just man who is wise. To be a just man Plato believed that he had to…

In the text “the Cave Allegory” by Plato is about people who are confined Plato states, “ their legs and neck chained” in a cave facing one direction of a wall, with a fire as the only light and a roadway behind them. The confined people are only able to see the shadows of the objects which people are holding as they pass by on the roadway. Plato talks about the tiresome and challenging journey of how one achieves real truth not second hand truth, which the prisoners perceive is real. In this…

Plato, Descartes, and The Matrix Essay Upon reading Plato, Descartes, and the synopsis for the Matrix I do say that their thoughts are very insightful in questioning our so called reality, if there is one, and our actions. When comparing and contrasting The Matrix with the readings from Plato the Allegory of the Cave and Descartes Meditation I of the Things of Which We May Doubt I reason Plato’s writing and the matrix have much more of a reflection of one another than the Matrix and Descartes.…