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The whole point of Plato’s Republic is the pursuit of justice, but in practice, it is wildly unrealistic. I can say with certainty that I would not care to live in Plato’s ideal city-state because, in a sense, I already have. I was a citizen of the closest attempt at this utopia: The Soviet Union. … Read more
Intro to Philosophy How did Plato use the sun to explain the good? In the Allegory of the cave, there are four main stages of enlightenment. The four steps cover all aspects of enlightenment, from knowing absolutely nothing and perceiving reality only through your sensory organs to reaching full knowledge and having the capacity to … Read more
The Socratic method of investigation, the elenchus, is explained by example in Plato’s Five Dialogues. In Euthyphro, Apology, and Crito, Plato’s character of Socrates employs the elenchus as a way to challenge interlocutors. If an Athenian claims to be knowledgeable about a subject, Socrates sets out to prove that this knowledge is unfounded. With the … Read more
What is Goodness? For most people today, being a good person simply means following a set of commonly agreed upon moral guidelines. However, those guidelines have increasingly been getting blurred and convoluted from culture to culture and generation to generation. The question remains whether the definition of morality really can be universal, and whether this … Read more
Plato’s dialogue Euthyphro occurs outside the court of Athens, after running into Euthyphro and knowing about why Euthyphro is there, Socrates is not convinced that Euthyphro prosecuting his father for murder is the just or pious thing to do. He asks Euthyphro to educate him about what piety and impiety are, so that he can … Read more
The synopsis of The Matrix and the readings from Platos and Descartes all have similarities as well as differences. One thing that all three of these writings have in common is the topic. The synopsis of The Matrix and the readings from Platos and Descartes all discuss the topic of reality. They tackle the concept … Read more
In his Republic, Plato enlivens the character of Socrates with his own views of how a just and virtuous city would grow into existence. In describing his ideal city-state, a society ruled by an aristocratic Philosopher-king, Plato also makes note of the four other possible constitutions: timocracy, oligarchy, democracy and tyranny. In spite of living … Read more
Being treated like a criminal when you’ve done nothing wrong, is something no innocent person should go through. An injustice like this is not only harmful to the victim (because they know they’re being wrongfully punished), it is also a betrayal to the rule of law, in terms of rightfulness. This display of injustice demonstrates … Read more
Not all are equal in Plato’s Republic or Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics and Politics. Plato and Aristotle argue that people possess a certain natural ability that determines their role in society. The fundamental character of one’s soul, in part, determines this natural ability. As not all humans have the same capabilities, Plato and Aristotle are proposing … Read more
Philosophy dwells on ideas and theories that tend to surpass the thoughts of human perception and the nature of reality. An idea may be perceived idealistic rather than based on knowledge. The following quote, “And now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened: Behold! Human beings … Read more
Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home. – William Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood, 62-65 Though Plato died nearly 2500 years ago, the English language still keeps his definition of love in common usage. … Read more
Plato’s Republic utilizes a political approach to answer what is essentially a moral question. In attempting to identify justice in the individual, Socrates takes an unmistakable turn toward the direction of political philosophy, describing the formation of his ideal city Kallipolis. It can hardly be disputed that the ideal state described by Socrates in Plato’s … Read more
With the goal of creating the perfect society, the utopia of Plato’s Republic rather presents a dystopia that enforces the marginalization of the individual. Plato believes a strict regulation that constricts independence and individuality makes it possible for citizens to live simple and peaceful lives. Because Plato views freedom as a threat of gaining unnecessary … Read more
Plato’s “Symposium” is an essential piece of philosophical literature that concerns itself with the genesis, purpose and nature of love, or eros. Love is examined in a sequence of speeches by men attending a symposium, or drinking party. A symposia, or drinking party in ancient Greece, was an occasion for passing the cup, reciting poetry, … Read more
In the Praise of Folly, Erasmus creates a character critical of, yet indebted to, philosophical wisdom. Through Folly, Erasmus weaves his own ideas into her message, confusing readers unable to distinguish between the two voices. In Praise of Folly, Folly refers to Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” from The Republic to enhance her statements of … Read more
The concept of the virtuous city is central to both Plato’s and Alfarabi’s treatments of political science. The respective analyses of Plato and Alfarabi bear many similarities, but their final goals differ radically. Plato’s description of the republic is both an ideal towards which cities should aim and a metaphor for balance in a virtuous … Read more
Plato wrote the Republic in 380 BC. The first book of Plato’s Republic is concerned with justice. What is justice and why should one behave justly are two questions which Socrates and hisinterlocutors attempt to answer. The first definition of justice is proposed by Cephalus. Cephalus is an old, wise, and very wealthy man. He … Read more
Stories are an important part of society, an element that provides humanity with a way to connect, separate, cry, laugh, be happy or be sad. In fact, life is nothing but a story. Human history is a story. The universe is just a massive collection of stories that make up one big dissertation that put … Read more
According to Plato, true knowledge originates in the realm of the Forms, or universal, eternal, constant, and absolute truths that only the mind can access, such as the Form of the Good or the Form of the Just. Forms are not part of the visible world, they are abstract, non-material ideas that are responsible for … Read more
Plato is known as one of the greatest philosophers and most profound thinker of all time. Born in the year 427 B.C. at the city of Athens, he belonged to an aristocratic family that for a long time had been recognized with leadership in Athens. He is the youngest son of Ariston, who was a … Read more
A seemingly excited lad initiates Plato’s Meno. Meno appears to have learned what virtue is and is eager to share this knowledge with the renowned Socrates. Thus, Meno tactically lays out calculated questions to Socrates: “…is virtue something that can be taught? Or does it come by practice? Or is it neither teaching nor practice … Read more
Translations of Sophocles’ play are generally interpreted in one of two ways, ‘Oedipus Rex’, meaning Oedipus the King, or ‘Oedipus Tyrannus’, meaning Oedipus the Tyrant. The exact distinction between the two titles is undefined, though through the lens of Socrates’ five characterizations of the soul, the readers can identify what type of man he is. … Read more
While many scholars are of the belief that Vergil penned the Aeneid to provide the Roman people with a propagandized epic glamorizing their own history, there is great evidence for Vergil’s intending the Aeneid to be something vastly more valuable: a parable on the powers of the Platonic soul. In his Republic, Plato outlines the … Read more
Philosophy is widely known around the world and famous philosophers originate from all around the world. In the Analects, Confucius believes that an exemplary person (junzi) is one who does believes and acts out every aspect of filial piety, ritual propriety and humanity. He was someone who believed in maintaining and respecting the relationship one … Read more
Analysis of Plato’s The Republic, City-Soul Analogy In an elaborate effort to comprehend individual justice, Socrates engages in a lengthy debate which explores intricate details, structures, and overarching principles of a just city. This analysis will explore the City-Soul analogy through three separate human lenses. Section 1 will delve into the secondhand accounting of Socrates’ … Read more
In Plato’s five dialogues specifically in the Euthyphro and the Apology, Plato is using the characters in order to draw out the overarching definition of philosophy and the practice of it. In the Euthyphro, Socrates exemplifies how tough the practice of philosophy can be even to get one definition. To do this involves series of … Read more
Intro to Philosophy How did Plato use the sun to explain the good? In the Allegory of the cave, there are four main stages of enlightenment. The four steps cover all aspects of enlightenment, from knowing absolutely nothing and perceiving reality only through your sensory organs to reaching full knowledge and having the capacity to … Read more
Plato whose original name was Aristocles was born into one of the most known aristocratic families of Athens. His father name was Ariston and his mother’s name was Perictione. His aristocrat family and the historic period created lots of impacts for Plato’s point of view on life. He also born in the illustrious city and … Read more
“The Myth of the Cave” by Plato , depicts a very important message. This book was written over 2500 years ago in the year 400 B.C. The excerpt is a conversation that Socrate speaks with Glaucon. Socrates tells Glaucon the people in an underground cave , these people have been in the cave since childhood, … Read more
How can you classify forms according to Plato? According to Plato’s Theory of Forms, the physical world isn’t necessarily the real world, rather reality exists beyond the physical world. There are two realms; the physical realm and the Realm of Forms. The physical realm consists of material things we come into contact with in our … Read more
You will find in Plato’s Phaedrus a story about Thamus, the king of a great city of Upper Egypt. For people such as ourselves, who are inclined (in Thoreau’s phrase) to be tools of our tools, few legends are more instructive than his. The story, as Socrates tells it to his friend Phaedrus, unfolds in … Read more
In Platos The Allegory of the Cave, he allows an individual to realize that which they already know. The situation in the cave seems dark and gloomy, like a place no one would ever want to go. However, the reality is that some people are at a point in their lives, in their own cave. … Read more
Plato battles that the spirit contains three fragments especially sensible, appetitive, and the vivacious. These parts also sort out the three spots of a fair framework. Solitary esteem consolidates keeping up the three zones in the correct change, where reason rules while hunger comes. As appeared by Plato, the appetitive piece of the spirit is … Read more
From historical sources it is known that Socrates was Plato’s teacher and that Socrates was Plato’s elder by at least a few decades. Other than this, things become far less clear when examining the relationship between these two founders of western philosophy. Since Socrates never wrote down anything, scholars have become totally reliant on the … Read more
In book two of Aristotle’s Politics, Aristotle defines his ideal state by criticizing the values put forward in Plato’s The Republic. In doing so, Aristotle censures Plato’s idea of state unification through sharing as much as possible, including wives, children, and property. Aristotle counters that Plato’s concept is detrimental to the state’s unity because it … Read more
In Books II and III of Republic, Plato[1] argues for the censorship of stories and tales for the youth of their imaginative, Utopian city, and specifically for the youth of the ‘ruling’ class named the Guardians. He asserts that censoring certain tales, notably ones with violent themes or notions of change and transformation, would prevent … Read more
You will find in Plato’s Phaedrus a story about Thamus, the king of a great city of Upper Egypt. For people such as ourselves, who are inclined (in Thoreau’s phrase) to be tools of our tools, few legends are more instructive than his. The story, as Socrates tells it to his friend Phaedrus, unfolds in … Read more
In Plato’s Symposium, Socrates’ eulogy, though delivered with the stated intent of praising love, is not truly about love at all. Instead, Socrates claims that the typical definition of love does not exist and instead praises wisdom. In saying that love is desire, and that you cannot want what you already have, Socrates asserts that … Read more
Numerous experts in modern time regard Plato as the first genuine political philosopher and Aristotle as the first political scientist. They were both great thinkers in regards to, in part with Socrates, being the foundation of the great western philosophers. Plato and Aristotle each had ideas in how to proceed with improving the society in … Read more
Plato was born 427 B. C. and died 347 B. C. He was a pupil under Socrates. During his studies, Plato wrote the Dialogues, which are a collection of Socrates’ teachings. One of the parables included in the Dialogues is “The Allegory of the Cave”. “The Allegory… ” symbolizes man’s struggle to reach understanding and … Read more
Fantasy is a tough sell in the twentieth century. The world has been fully discovered and fully mapped. Popular media has effectively minimized the legend and the fantastic rumor, though to make up for this it has generated falsities not as lavish but just as interesting. Satellites have mapped and studied the earth, leaving only … Read more
Critics of The Republic, Plato’s contribution to the history of political theory, have formed two distinct opinions on the reasoning behind the work. The first group believes that The Republic is truly a model for a political society, while the other strongly objects to that, stating it as being far too fantastic for any society … Read more
Excellence is a function which renders excellent the thing of which it is a function is Platos definition of virtue. What does this definition really mean though? Plato and Aristotle both had their own unique arguments devoted to the topic at hand, and their own ways of describing what virtue really is. Defining virtue may … Read more
Plato and Aristotle, two philosophers in the 4th century, hold polar views on politics and philosophy in general. This fact is very cleverly illustrated by Raphael’s “School of Athens” (1510-11; Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican), where Plato is portrayed looking up to the higher forms; and Aristotle is pointing down because he supports the natural sciences. … Read more
The Unexamined Life is not Worth Living. This is the famous quote proclaimed by Socrates, a controversial philosopher of ancient Athens. He believed that anyone could lead a significant and meaningful existence by examining his or her own life and ideas very thoroughly. (Soccio) Socrates was wise in respect to the fact that he never … Read more
Plato was a great philosopher and one of the first true intellectuals of his time. In his life he educated Aristotle, founded the Academy, Europes first university, and did numerous experiments and established some of the first thoughts on many subjects. Plato was truly one of Greeces gifts to the world. Plato was born into … Read more
In Robin Waterfield’s translation of The Republic,Socrates attempts to give a definition of justice. At the end of Book II he began a detailed description of the construction of a good city. The good city is a relation to the human soul, and its four virtues. In the following paper I will discuss the virtues, … Read more
Plato (circa 428-c. 347 BC), Greek philosopher, one of the most creative and influential thinkers in Western philosophy. Plato was born to an aristocratic family in Athens. When Plato was a child, his father died, and his mother married Pyrilampes, who was an associate of the statesman Pericles As a young man Plato had political … Read more
One of the most interesting and influential thinkers of all time was Socrates, whose dedication to careful reasoning helped form the basis for philosophy. Socrates applied logical tricks in the pursuit for the truth. Consequently, his willingness to call everything into question and his determination to accept nothing less than an adequate account of the … Read more
Socrates has undoubtedly had a major impact upon western philosophy and society in general. Plato, whose work is essentially an elaboration and expansion upon that of Socrates, has had a similar effect. Naturally, these two philosophers have been subjects of immense academic interest for over two thousand years. With this great interest comes both praise … Read more
