Plato Aristotle Essays and Term Papers
Last update: September 6, 2014-
The Mind: Aristotle Kant and Socrates
Daniel C. Dennet said in A Glorious Accident that, "our minds--if you like-- [are] just as real as our dreams"(Kayzer, 37). The implications of this statement are substantial, for if this is true--if our minds and our consciousness are just dreams or the constructs of our brain, what we perceive, our memories, and our sense of reality are nothing more than illusions. Not only is this scientifically a valid statement, but it forces us to
Rating:Essay Length: 2,327 Words / 10 PagesSubmitted: April 25, 2010 -
Aristotle’s Moral Theory
In this paper, I will examine Aristotle's understanding of virtue and his explanation of virtuous actions as presented in Nicomachean Ethics. In Book II of the work, Aristotle distinguishes between moral virtues, which are learned through habit and practice, and intellectual virtues, which are learned through instruction. However, it is not until later in Book II that Aristotle actually defines virtue. He opens Chapter 5 with, "Next we must consider what virtue is" (35) and
Rating:Essay Length: 593 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: April 26, 2010 -
The Republic, Plato
Readings: Book 1, Plato, The Republic, [W] Assignment: Write brief answers to the following questions: 1) Describe the different notions of Justice discussed in the reading. 2) What is the value of justice, or what purpose does it serve in both individual lives and in the lives of societies? In Book I of the Republic, Plato ponders the different notions of justice. He considers the nature and value of justice and the other virtues as
Rating:Essay Length: 514 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: April 27, 2010 -
Machiavelli Aristotle Comparison
Machiavelli and Aristotle's writings on man, The Prince and Nichomachean Ethics respectively, and the management thereof contain divergent ideas of how man should act and reason. They have a similar view of the end: greatness, but the means which the two philosophers describe are distinctly different. Machiavelli writes about man as mainly concerned with power and self-assertion, while Aristotle desires a society of individuals, of honorable men. An excess of the power seeking Machiavellians and
Rating:Essay Length: 913 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: April 28, 2010 -
Ibsen’s Ghosts Vs.Aristotle’s Poetics
Ibsen's Ghosts, although a relatively modern drama, maintains many classical elements of tragedy as defined by Aristotle and championed by the ancient Greek playwrights and poets. One element of displayed prominently in this case is character. Aristotle believed that there were four main elements to a good tragic hero: 1) the character must be good, 2) decorum, 3) the character must be true to life, and 4) constancy within the characters demeanor and actions. The
Rating:Essay Length: 276 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: May 1, 2010 -
Plato
Plato 1."Plato's beloved teacher was tried on trumped-up charges of impiety and corrupting youth, and sentenced to death. In Plato's eyes, democracy was now tarred wit hthe same brush as tyranny." [19] 2."Possibly during his stay in Megara, or during a stop on his travels, Plato wrote his earliest extant works. These are in the form of dialogues and are heavily influenced by Socrates, both personally and intellectually." [20] 3."No less than three of Platos's
Rating:Essay Length: 1,029 Words / 5 PagesSubmitted: May 6, 2010 -
Aristotle and Friendship
Aristotle and Friendship According to Aristotle, there are three kinds of friendship based on three kinds of love that unite people. Aristotle defines friendship through the word, philia. Philia is the emotional bond between human beings which provides the basis for all forms of social organizations, common effort, and personal relationships between people. The three kinds of friendship Aristotle explains are utility, pleasure, and complete friendship. Friendship based on mutual utility is the kind of
Rating:Essay Length: 592 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: May 7, 2010 -
Aristotle’s Views on Education
Who am I? I am a mathematician so therefore my expertise is in algebra, calculus, geometry and trigonometry. I am not versed in economics, politics and astronomy therefore my opinions of these are foolish. And I quote now each man judges well the things he knows and of these he is a good judge. And so the man who has been educated in a subject is a good judge of that subject, and a man
Rating:Essay Length: 538 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: May 9, 2010 -
Plato's Apology
Apology By Plato Translated by Benjamin Jowett Socrates' Defense How you have felt, O men of Athens, at hearing the speeches of my accusers, I cannot tell; but I know that their persuasive words almost made me forget who I was - such was the effect of them; and yet they have hardly spoken a word of truth. But many as their falsehoods were, there was one of them which quite amazed me; - I
Rating:Essay Length: 11,479 Words / 46 PagesSubmitted: May 11, 2010 -
Aristotle's Ordinary Versus Kant's Revisionist Definition of Virtue as Habit
Aristotle's Ordinary versus Kant's Revisionist Definition of Virtue as Habit L. Hughes Cox Centenary College of Louisiana lcox@beta.centenary.edu ABSTRACT: In what follows I examine the following question: does it make a difference in moral psychology whether one adopts Aristotle's ordinary or Kant's revisionist definition of virtue as habit? Points of commensurability and critical comparison are provided by Kant's attempt to refute Aristotle's definition of virtue as a mean and by the moral problems of ignorance
Rating:Essay Length: 3,823 Words / 16 PagesSubmitted: May 12, 2010 -
Antigone and Aristotle
Antigone was first produced in 441 B.C. It was written by a Greek playwright Sophocles. Antigone is the third play in an epic about a man named Oedipus and his family. This third installment is considered a Greek Tragedy, even today it is still being produced in theaters all around the world. It has had many critics, Aristotle being the most famous. Aristotle ideas and thoughts on tragedy were implied throughout the play. He was
Rating:Essay Length: 513 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: May 12, 2010 -
Plato's Apology
Plato's Apology Socrates was a very simple man who did not have many material possessions and spoke in a plain, conversational manner. Acknowledging his own ignorance, he engaged in conversations with people claiming to be experts, usually in ethical matters. By asking simple questions, Socrates gradually revealed that these people were in fact very confused and did not actually know anything about the matters about which they claimed to be an expert. Socrates felt that
Rating:Essay Length: 1,334 Words / 6 PagesSubmitted: May 16, 2010 -
Plato’s Cave
Since the words "academy" and "academic" come from the name of the area where Plato taught, it is worth spending a moment to describe the park which was used for gymnastics from the sixth century BC. Academus or Hecademus, a mythical hero who had a cult following, left a garden and grove, which was about a mile north west of the centre of the city of Athens, to the citizens to use for gymnastics. The
Rating:Essay Length: 1,227 Words / 5 PagesSubmitted: May 17, 2010 -
Plato: Impact on Christianity
Drafty Plato was born in 427 BC in Athens, Greece. He was born into a wealthy and aristocratic family with a political background. Plato's father claimed he was a descendent of Codrus, the last king of Athens; on his mother's side he was related to a Greek lawmaker by the name of Solon. Plato's father died when he was still young and the rest of his childhood was spent with his mother and her new
Rating:Essay Length: 1,246 Words / 5 PagesSubmitted: May 18, 2010 -
Aristotle
Aristotle was born in Stagira, located in northern Greece, in 384 B.C. He died in Chalcis, on the Aegean island of Euboea, in 322 B.C. Aristotle's father had been court physician to the Macedonian king Amyntas II. Aristotle lost both of his parents when he was child, and was brought up by a friend of the family. Aristotle wrote 170 books, 47 of which still exist more than two thousand years later. Aristotle was also
Rating:Essay Length: 499 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: May 19, 2010 -
Plato - the Greater Part of the Stories Current Today We Shall Have to Reject
"The Greater Part of the Stories Current Today We Shall Have to Reject" The Influence of reading material and television on children's abilities to distinguish between what is true and not true Throughout time and history, the concerns of many have been made regarding the influence of the media on children and our young people. Although media, its various forms and those who are in control of them have changed throughout as time has progressed,
Rating:Essay Length: 793 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: May 30, 2010 -
Plato - Last Days of Socrates
Plato's Crito Plato's "Crito" is a dialogue between Socrates and one of his closest friends Crito. The entire dialogue takes place in Socrates prison cell, where he awaits execution. Crito visits Socrates before dawn in order to persuade him to escape from prison and flee to another city or country. Crito has made all the necessary arrangements to smuggle Socrates out of prison to safety. To Crito's despair Socrates seems quite willing to accept his
Rating:Essay Length: 742 Words / 3 PagesSubmitted: May 30, 2010 -
Aristotle
Aristotle Aristotle was born in 384 BCE. at Stagirus, a Greek colony and seaport on the coast of Thrace. While he was still a boy his father died. At age 17 his guardian, Proxenus, sent him to Athens, the intellectual center of the world, to complete his education. He joined the Academy and studied under Plato, attending his lectures for a period of twenty years. In the later years with Plato and the Academy he
Rating:Essay Length: 446 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: May 31, 2010 -
Plato
Plato. By Plato was the best known of all the great Greek philosophers. Plato's original name was Aristocles, but in his school days he was nicknamed Platon (meaning "broad") because of his broad shoulders. Born in Athens circa B.C. 427, Plato sought out political status. But during the Athenian democracy, he did not actively embrace it. Plato devoted his life to Socrates, and became his disciple in B.C. 409. Plato was outraged when Socrates was
Rating:Essay Length: 441 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: May 31, 2010 -
Philosophical Heavyweights - Marx Versus Plato
Karl Marx and Plato are two names heard all across the world. Their names ring in halls of philosophy everywhere, and their ideas run rampant in the heads of bright young thinkers. Karl Marx was a very prominent and influential philosopher from Germany. While Marx addressed a wide range of issues, he is most famous for his analysis of history in terms of class struggles, made very evident in his book titled The Communist Manifesto.
Rating:Essay Length: 972 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: June 8, 2010 -
Plato’s Theaetetus
In Plato's Theaetetus Plato attempts to show what knowledge is. Socrates asks Theaetetus what he thinks knowledge is. Since Theaetetus answers incorrectly, Socrates presents other definitions about knowledge. One theory is "Man is the Measure of all things." Although this theory comes from Socrates, he still believes it is in need of more explanation. Socrates reverts to Protagoras' teachings and explains his theory on the idea that "Man in the Measure of all things" Socrates
Rating:Essay Length: 1,340 Words / 6 PagesSubmitted: June 9, 2010 -
Justice in Plato
What is justice? Why do men behave justly? Is it because they fear the consequences of injustice? Is it worthwhile to be just? Is justice a good thing in and of itself regardless of its rewards or punishments? Speaking through his teacher Socrates, Plato attempts to answer these questions in the Republic. In book I Thrasymachus, a rival of Socrates makes the claim that justice is nothing but the advantage of the stronger. It does
Rating:Essay Length: 2,035 Words / 9 PagesSubmitted: June 13, 2010 -
Allegory of the Cave by Plato
In the Allegory of the Cave Plato represents man's condition as being "chained in a cave," with only a fire behind him. He perceives the world by watching the shadows on the wall. He sits in darkness with the false light of the fire and does not realize that this existence is wrong or lacking. Much like the matrix, it merely is his existence — he knows no other nor offers any complaint. In the
Rating:Essay Length: 996 Words / 4 PagesSubmitted: July 28, 2010 -
Machiavelli Vs Plato
Many people in history have written about ideal rulers and states and how to maintain them. Perhaps the most talked about and compared are Machiavelli's, The Prince and Plato's, The Republic. Machiavelli lived at a time when Italy was suffering from its political destruction. The Prince, was written to describe the ways by which a leader may gain and maintain power. In Plato?s The Republic, he unravels the definition of justice. Plato believed that
Rating:Essay Length: 1,886 Words / 8 PagesSubmitted: May 1, 2011 -
Aristotle
"The division of beings in this section is said to be related to the subject of the being, as it is opposed to the subject the being that is alternately classified as "in a subject." What Aristotle is doing in this section of the Categories is dividing the essential reality of things, or their existence, into four separate classes. Each of these classes has its limitations and parameters, but not all of them are mutually
Rating:Essay Length: 360 Words / 2 PagesSubmitted: May 5, 2011