Catiline and Cicero were fierce rivals for positions within the magistracy. Cicero was famous for his orations which is what helped his rise in power within the government. Catiline was plotting to kill Cicero and overthrow and take control of the government; however, he was thwarted when his plot was discovered. He was stripped of his power and run out of the city. Catiline was later killed in a battle as he continued his fight to overthrow the government from his stronghold in Etruria.…
Source 1 is a description of the Republic of Rome from Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 - 43 BC). Cicero was a writer and philosopher who is famous for his vast collection of private letters to various individuals, such as Titus Pomponius Atticus to whom he wrote to without fear about every day Rome and it's politics.…
Aeneas’ relationship with his own father and son is central to the action of The Aeneid. The image of him fleeing the burning city of Troy carrying his father, Anchises, and accompanied by his own son Iulus is one of the most symbolic images of family devotion and perfectly encapsulates the theme of parental fidelity; the notion of leaving his father and son behind to die in Troy would have been a “sacrilege” (Book 2, pg 44) to Aeneas. An important theme throughout the Aeneid, is the pietas of Aeneas towards his father.The concept of pietas “captures the unity in the Roman attitude that individual lives are part of the whole, that is, the family, the state and the universe ” and highlights the unbreakable bonds between the individual and their family. After saving him from Troy, together they share the leadership of the Trojan expedition until the death of Anchises in Sicily. The funeral…
Sometimes we are asked whether virtue ethics can be understood by utilitarianism or Kantian moral philosophy, or if it is a distinct position. Taking a look at Aristotle’s ethics shows us that it certainly can be different. In particular, Aristotle presents us with an ethics of aesthetics in contrast to the more standard ethics of cognition: A virtuous cause can classify the right actions by their aesthetic qualities. Additionally, the person’s concern with their own aesthetic character gives us a key to the important role the emotions play for Aristotle, which further distinguishes him from the other two theories we have…
According to Cicero’s De Officiis, one should embrace his gifts from nature rather than envy other for theirs, i.e. an artist is better off perfecting his artistic talent than studying law. He also argues that fraud is the worst form of injustice, that is, the one who “practice[s] fraud to the utmost ability [to] do it in such a way that [he] appear[s] to be [a] good m[a]n (I.13). Although Cicero condemns fraud for obvious reasons, such as, corruption, is one unjust for using this gift against the enemy?—more so, what if one uses the gift of fraudulency, ((that is to say, a trained spy)) to do good for the community? The answer to those questions is no because Cicero’s argument on fraud and justice overlap in that scenario. For example, one…
My moral beliefs also correspond to the philosophy that is taught by Aristotle. In my opinion, happiness comes from within ourselves, not from our surroundings. I think this is a very important part of Aristotle’s teaching. I believe that in order to accept others and enjoy life, we must first learn to accept ourselves and be proud of who we are. If we are constantly ashamed with who we are, then we are not free to live a happy life. I think this is the main idea in Aristotle’s teaching. He believed that in order for us to be happy we must build our own character by choosing to live virtuously.…
Aristotle accepts the individual choices and experiences of people and was more concerned with virtue ethics. He doesn't have an idea of free will. Along with Socrates, Aristotle believes that someone may know what the best outcome is and still do wrong, but draws the line between happiness and moral virtue. This includes depression and unhappiness. The world has moral meaning. He explains that moral virtue does not mean the end of life. His theory is that happiness is the end of life, which comes together with reason. Virtue is a state of personality that has to do with someone’s choice.…
A married couple, both addicted to drugs, is unable to care for their infant daughter. She is taken from them by court order and placed in a foster home. The years pass. She comes to regard her foster parents as her real parents. They love her as they would their own daughter. When the child is 9 years old, the natural parents, rehabilitated from drugs, begin court action to regain custody. The case is decided in their favor. The child is returned to them, against her will. Do ethics support the law in this case? Discuss…
In this essay, with all the information I have gathered from the readings and lectures, I will be discussing an essential concept of Aristotle’s virtue ethics; his “doctrine of the mean”. I will provide a detailed explanation of Aristotle’s mean, how it is meant to be applied when making decisions, provide arguments from various sources that agree with the main concept of the “doctrine of the mean” and with all of the information gathered, I will prove that this doctrine is extremely useful to people when it comes to making moral decisions in life.…
In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle states that everything a person does, whether it’s creating something, asking about something, deciding something, or doing an action, is done so in the pursuit of an end goal, or “to seek some good” (1094a2). For every action we take, there is a specific benefit, or good, that we hope to gain. For example, when you prepare food for yourself, you hope to satisfy your hunger or taste something good, and when you ask a question, you hope to receive an answer that makes the topic clearer. In addition, when doing a certain action in order to acquire the good or the end, that end that is being sought after may be for the sake of another good down the road, another good down the road and itself, or plainly for the sake of itself. Everything we do is done with the intent of achieving either of those three entities.…
Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics provides a sensible account for what true moral virtue is and how one may go about attaining it. Aristotle covers many topics that help reach this conclusion. One of them being the idea of mean between the extremes. Although Aristotle provided a reliable account for many philosophers to follow, Rosalind Hursthouse along with many others finds lose ends and topics which can be easily misinterpreted in Aristotle's writing.…
In the Republic, Plato sets up a framework to help us establish what the four virtues are, and their relationship between them to both the city and the soul. According to Plato, the four virtues are wisdom, courage, moderation, and justice. There are three classes within the city: guardians, auxiliaries, and artisans; and three parts within the soul include intellect, high-spirited, and appetitive. By understanding the different classes of the city or parts of the soul, one will be able to appreciate how the virtues attribute to each one specifically.…
Socrates begins this dialogue by hesitating to explain his thoughts about what the good is considered to be. After much persistent pleading by Glaucon, Socrates agrees to discuss the topic, however on a smaller level. He promises to discuss the offspring of the good as he calls it and save the father of the good for another time. Glaucon accepts this proposal and anxiously waits for Socrates to begin. Socrates begins his dialogue with a statement which he has spoken about before, “that many beautiful things are visible, but not intelligible, while the forms are intelligible, but not visible.” With this statement, Socrates moves on to ask Glaucon with which part of ourselves do we see visible things. Glaucon responds by saying with our sight. Socrates then proposes that in…
Happiness is the goal that everyone seeks. Some people think that they seek honor, wealth, or any number of things. For example, if someone claims that they seek wealth in actuality they are seeking what they can do with that wealth. The same is for honor; they seek what other is giving them by being honored. Happiness is more like contentment. We do not make choices for the sake of something else; we make them for our own sake. The highest form of good which will create the most happiness must be something final. Happiness is the final goal that we want to reach. We reach happiness sometimes but it is something that cannot be achieved all at once. It is something that must be achieved by constantly striving for it. “Happiness is self-sufficient”, it needs nothing else because it has everything it needs. What gives someone happiness is relative to that person and different for everyone. If our ultimate goal is happiness then we have everything that we need. So striving for happiness is actually striving for everything we want and need. Therefore if we have happiness we need something else. (Book 1 Ch. 2 p.48, Ch. 7, p.50, Ch. 7 p.51-52)…
Russian Studies in Philosophy, vol. 42, no. 1 (Summer 2003), pp. 84–95. © 2003 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. All rights reserved. 1061–1967/2003 $9.50 + 0.00.…