Plato‚ or Aristocles as is his real name‚ was one of the most influential thinkers of history. Plato set up a school called the Academy in Athens in 387 BC. He wrote down his ideas in the form of dialogues‚ or discussions between people. The dialogues explain Plato’s metaphysics or ideas on subjects such as politics‚ law‚ science‚ education‚ art‚ and the nature of knowledge. One of the best known dialogues is The Republic‚ in which Plato describes his idea of an ideal‚ or perfect‚ government. All
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Plato‚ Heracleitus and Parmenides all had their own metaphysical views each with their own sets of similarities and differences. Plato’s views were that there were two worlds the physical and the spiritual. According to him‚ the physical world was not the real world and that physical things were only shadows of their ideal form. An example of this that he gave was the cave allegory. Where the prisoners are left in a cave staring at their shadows and those of the outside world. One breaks
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Two very important thinkers‚ Plato and John Locke‚ have varying views on politics and society. Both of their views contribute greatly to world politics and the United States politics. Plato values justice as the most dominant concept of society. In The Republic‚ he used the Greek word "Dikaisyne" for justice which can also be loosely translated to ’morality’ or ’righteousness’; it includes within it the duty of man. Justice is order and duty. It is a harmonious strength including the effective harmony
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Yebeman Asseged Core 140 Roots of World Views and Culture Professor Mark McCarthy November 8‚ 2012 Compare and Contrast Plato vs. St. Augustine of Hippo Our world has developed and flourished by the thoughts and contributions of many leaders. Among those leaders were Saint Augustine and Pluto. For many historians‚ Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and Augustine’s The City of God‚ are historical pieces that point out what had happened during ancient times. These pieces are significant because they
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In ‘Citro” by the greek philosopher Plato‚ one of the wise lessons Socrates‚ the classical philosopher‚ taught us was to not let the opinion of the people worry us. This lesson taught by a man who died in 399 BC is still thriving today in modern society. In this literary review I will prove that worrying about the opinion of the people can be harmful and even deadly. In proving this‚ we will see the importance of this lesson Socrates has taught us. In this dialogue‚ Socrates has been sentenced to
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True Knowledge – Descartes vs. Plato Many philosophers have tried to figure out what exactly true knowledge is. For years they have been asking questions and looking deep into the mind to better understand the methods needed to get to true knowledge. If we go back to some of the earliest philosophers we meet Plato in Greece. Plato tried to take on the question himself in a fictional conversation he wrote up between Socrates and Meno‚ and in which we see some insight to what he believes it is
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lecture by asking the question: why do Americans love and aggrandize democracy so much‚ but Plato criticizes it? This was the same question I had throughout Book Eight. It seems that our entire goal as a country is to spread democracy to the rest of the world and to find ways to make ourselves more democratic than we already are. But‚ why spread something that is apparently so corrupt‚ according to Plato? Plato bases his argument on Athens and what his own personal experience with democracy. Professor
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Plato’s “Defense of Socrates” is a detailed account of Socrates being tried before the Athenian court. The “Defense” is written in first person‚ though it is actually written by Plato‚ who is an outside observer to the trial. According to Plato‚ there is a manifold of reasons as to why Socrates was on trial. The Athenians believed Socrates as guilty of blasphemy‚ investigating concepts that failed to acknowledge the presence of gods‚ as well as‚ corrupting the youth. Socrates was on trial for
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A look into Plato and his understanding of the philosophical ways of life; in this paper we will do just that. There are many aspects of Plato’s understandings of philosophy and its relationships within a society and we will dig into a handful of them. Those few being Plato’s understanding of philosophy and its relationship with politics; The Allegory of the Cave and how it shines light on Plato’s concept of education. The next being the characteristics and abilities of a philosopher making them
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The allegory of the cave describes a group of people who have lived chained to the wall of a cave all of their lives‚ facing a blank wall. The people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them by puppeteers‚ and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Socrates‚ the shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality. He then explains how the philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand that the shadows
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