“The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allen Poe contains a single major message which is that no one can escape disease and death. This message is underlined by the overall dark and ominous tone that is presented throughout the work. Poe's choice of words he used is very dark and horrific as well, which also lets the reader feel the works underlying message. In regards to symbols, the giant ebony clock represents the passage of time and the sound it makes when it chimes causes the party to stop and become nervous. Through the ebony clock, Poe pairs the opposites of the macabre with a grand party. Another symbol used is the mask every party goer wears, which…
Plato considered the soul ‘to be the immortal essence of the person’ and to house three individual parts- Reason, Emotion, and Desire (Jowett, 2007). While the soul…
Politically, Plato explains the paradox of justice and the law. Plato believes that absolute justice is the same for everyone without exception. This justice goes beyond power and or money. He feels justice is not necessarily the law. "Law is an imperfect form of justice." What is legal is not necessarily moral. In Book 1 of Plato 's The Republic, Plato explains that justice is a balance between reason, courage and man 's needs or in other words, the head, the heart and the stomach. He goes on to explain that justice or fairness does not always mean equal. The law may change but justice remains constant. A good rule or law however is a just rule. Plato felt that to get people to act justly one must teach them ethics and values. He also believed that along with these ethics and values we must have a reasonable understanding of these rules. An understanding of these rules is needed so people are more apt to comply with them and therefore maintain a just and fair society.…
In his philosophy, Plato places a large emphasis on the importance of the idea of justice. This emphasis can be seen especially in his work ‘The Republic’ where, through his main character Socrates, he attempts to define the nature of justice and to justify this definition. One of the methods used by Socrates to strengthen or rather explain his argument on justice is through his famous city-soul analogy, where a comparison between a just city and a just soul/individual is made. Through this analogy, Socrates attempts to explain the nature of justice, how it is the virtue of the soul and is therefore intrinsically valuable to the individual, but it becomes apparent in the analysis and evaluation of the analogy that there may have been several purposes behind it. Inconsistencies within the analogy itself also raise questions to the validity in Plato’s definition and justification of justice.…
Plato’s theory of the Forms is one of the most important philosophical concepts. In short, the Forms set a universal standard that particular objects in the physical world are compared to. In order to better understand the Forms and why they exist, however, one must understand more of Plato’s point of view of the world. One must also understand the Form of the Good. The Form of the Good can be relatively hard to grasp but luckily, Plato gives many analogies to help explain the differences between physical objects, the Forms, and the Form of the Good.…
Plato’s moral theory consisted of the concept of the soul and the concept of virtue as function. To Plato, the soul has three parts; reason, spirit, and appetite. The reason we do things is to reach a goal or value, our spirit drives us to accomplish our goal, and our desire for things is our appetite. The three virtues that must be fulfilled to reach the fourth, general virtue are temperance, courage, and wisdom, which correlate with the three parts of the soul. In order to achieve inner harmony, every part of the soul must be fulfilling its proper function.…
At first glance, one would see the "Euthyphro," by Plato, to be a near explanation of holiness from one friend to another. Opinions are introduced, positions are presented, and friendly banter ensues. Would this lead to any breakthroughs? One would think so. Perhaps, though, that was not the intent. Plato uses the dialogue between Euthyphro and Socrates to convey to his audiences that holiness cannot be defined in just one way. Instead, it is a quality that changes from person to person. He uses inductive reasoning through rhetorical questions and blatant logic; and even seems to use Euthyphro as a tool to leave the conversation open ended and show this.…
He divided the soul into these three parts based on the different classes he has seen in the society. He noted that people were mostly motivated by wants, needs and desires in the society. For instance, a person could thirst for water and that represents the first part of the brain that is appetitive. The rational or rather the logical part of the soul is the one that seeks the truth and seeks to learn from it. It separates the truth from false and makes just decisions based on the truth. Spirited is the part of the body where we get our emotions that are temper or anger. This part aligns with the logical part to resist the desires of appetite. In unjust people it aligns with appetitive to fulfill the desires of the body. The appetitive part of the soul is where we experience the feelings of carnal desire, hunger, thirst and other desires that are against the logical part. Plato associates this part with human reproduction and the love for money (Smith,…
Plato has a different sense of justice than what we ourselves would consider to be justice. Justice starts in the heart and goes outward. Justice is about being a person of good intent towards all people, doing what is believed to be right or moral. Plato believes that once a person has a true understanding of justice that they will want to be “just” for its own benefit regardless of good or bad consequence. Though being just is known to have good consequences also makes being “just” a positive trait. (Clark, 2003, 13) Living a “just” life is good and good is the “well being of well living, the best life is supreme good.” (Bao, 2011, 259) The cause of our happiness is better than being happy itself, which is why this is powerful. We can look at supreme good as experiencing all good things without feelings of regret. (Bao, 2011, 259)…
The idea of harmony is very important for Plato to definite justice. As Plato explains: “Justice, I think, is exactly what we said must be established throughout the city when we were founding it that everyone must practice one of the occupations in the city for which he is…
With these upcoming elections around the corner, it has come to my attention how knowledgeable the citizens of the United States are about potential leaders and their civilians. In Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” written in his book, The Republic, he explains in an allegory on how people are blinded by what government leaders (in his era) were actually doing. He uses the allegory of prisoners limited of moving their heads around, forcing them to see that shadows that passed on the cave’s wall. These prisoners sought to shadows to be reality when the truth is that the shadows were a disguise to the reality. When one prisoner was freed from imprisonment, he left the cave and began to see the reality of things; at first he was distraught by…
Appetite is a desire for the world; although not real, Plato claims, the world is comfortable and familiar so the human soul craves to stay in the world. The Will is the part of the soul drawn to the World of the Forms. The Will recognises the truth and beauty represented by the Forms and strives to attain access to the perfect world. However, the human soul is being forced into two different directions, so there is a third part of the soul: Reason. Plato claims that reason is the guide for the soul, creating a balance between a desire for comfort and a desire for truth.…
For this reason, Plato believes that we must separate the soul based on how it…
According to Plato, individual justice mirrors political justice. He discusses the tri-partite soul in his Republic. The tri-partite soul consists of three parts: the rational, the spirited and the appetitive. The rational part of the soul searches after the truth. The spirited part desires honor and is responsible for our feelings of anger and indignation. The appetitive part is lust, especially for money. Justice in the individual is analogous to justice in the society. An individual is just when the three parts of his soul are fulfilling their intended roles. The rational part rules the soul, the spirited part supports the rule of the rational…
Plato was a totalitarian judging from The Republic. With the definition of totalitarianism in mind, Plato illustrates features of authoritarianism and ideology in his political worldview, which entails a strict division of classes, the dependency of the fate of the state on the ruling class as well as the superiority of the interests of the ruling class over the subservient and inferior classes. Furthermore, the uncompromising rules for breeding and educating this class combined with the strict supervision and collectivisation of the interests of its members create a close enough representation of the totalitarianism depicted in the definition. Firstly, in addressing the issue, which Plato begins with in The Republic of what justice is Plato, asserts that justice is that which is in the interest of the…