to this question. "As his position takes form in the Republic‚ Plato claims that only a very few individuals are capable of understanding how human life is to be lived. If it could be done‚ the rest of us would be best off it we were to let out lives be controlled by such individuals". This position held by Plato has been one of much discussion and disagreement over the years. In this paper I will attempt to give my own insight and stand on Plato ’s position and will evaluate his position as it emerges
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greater good of the state. On the other hand‚ in Plato’s Republic Thrasymachus believed that justice was best defined as that which is done to benefit the stronger‚ meaning that in a democracy democratic laws are just and in tyranny‚ tyrannical laws are just‚ and this applies to all other forms of government. Both Thrasymachus and Machiavelli have overlapping points in them views of justice and virtu. In Thrasymachus’s definition of justice and Machiavelli’s definition of virtu some of the concepts
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Looking up in the Merriam Webster dictionary justice is defined as "the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments". The fact that the word itself is being used for its definition explains how ambiguous the concept of justice can get. It is because of the very same reason that some time between the years of 470 to 399 BC a very well-known argument took place in Piraeus. The mentioned
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The Allegory of the Cave" by Plato represents a metaphor that is to contrast the way in which we perceive and believe in what is reality. What is reality exactly? What may we see that others may not? These questions can be simply answered with one word: ignorance. Ignorance is what may hold us back from seeing the big picture. In his story‚ Plato establishes a cave in which prisoners are chained down and forced to look upon the front wall of the cave. Behind the prisoners‚ lies a bridge‚ a fire and
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Thrasymachus argues for the view that justice is the advantage of the powerful – that it is “simply the interest of the stronger” (Plato’s The Republic‚ translated by Richard W. Sterling and William C. Scott‚ page 35). Laws‚ he says‚ are specifically “designed to serve the interests of the ruling class” (36). Of course‚ the ruling class is the strongest class‚ so it follows that the laws serve the advantage of the strong. The citizens under the ruling class serve “interests [of their strong unjust
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Even today‚ people admire the ideas of Socrates‚ Plato‚ and Aristotle. Their teachings are at the root of modern philosophy and science. Alfred Whitehead is quoted as saying: “The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.” If you really know how to read Plato‚ the truth behind this statement is easy to see. Nearly every great philosophical idea was discussed by Plato to some extent. The best way to put it is the way
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Plato‚ student of Socrates‚ and Aristotle‚ student of Plato‚ two of the most influential philosophers to have ever walked the earth‚ take two completely different approaches whilst talking about the formation of city states and epistemology itself. Plato primarily defined the nature of things in theoretical terms through metaphysics‚ in contrast to actual terms. Thus by looking to the ’higher forms’ he aimed to explain the function of existing knowledge and understandings in the search for the ’absolute
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is today‚ one of them being Plato. In addition to being an outstanding philosopher‚ he was also a mathematician and a writer. One of Plato’s biggest inspirations was his very own teacher Socrates. Socrates never wrote down a word of what he said‚ but thankfully Plato was able to record it all down for him and wrote many dialogues about Socrates words and teachings. One of Plato’s most famous works was his dialogue‚ The Republic which was written in 380 BC. The Republic consists of ten books total
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Western Theories of Justice Justice is one of the most important moral and political concepts. The word comes from the Latin jus‚ meaning right or law. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the “just” person as one who typically “does what is morally right” and is disposed to “giving everyone his or her due‚” offering the word “fair” as a synonym. But philosophers want to get beyond etymology and dictionary definitions to consider‚ for example‚ the nature of justice as both a moral virtue of
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alteration; as a foreign seed sown in an alien soil is wont to be overcome and die out into the native growth‚ so this kind does not preserve its own quality but falls away and degenerates into the alien type. - Plato‚ Republic 497 c I. Introduction In the sixth book of the Republic‚ Plato describes a philosophic soul as an exotic seed planted in strange soil. Because the soil is foreign to the seed‚ its growth is stunted‚ if not overwhelmed‚ by the forces alien to its nature. The context of
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