depicts a dialogue between Evodius (the interlocutor) and Augustine himself. In this dialogue‚ Evodius and Augustine delve into an argument regarding the author or source of evil in the world. Initially Evodius questions Augustine if God is the author of evil and Augustine’s standpoint on this statement is based from a theoretical and existential angle: Evil doesn’t exist because it’s simply the privation or lack of good. Augustine points out that God gave us free will and if we think that God
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Plato Defends Rationalism Plato was a highly educated Athenian Philosopher. He lived from 428-348 B.C. Plato spent the early portion of his life as a disciple to Socrates‚ which undoubtedly helped shape his philosophical theories. One topic that he explored was epistemology. Epistemology is the area of philosophy that deals with questions concerning knowledge‚ and that considers various theories of knowledge (Lawhead 52). Plato had extremely distinct rationalistic viewpoints. Rationalism
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THE CONCEPT OF IMITATION IN PLATO AND ARISTOTLE Abstract Plato and Aristotle argue that artist (Demiurge) and poet imitate nature‚ thus‚ a work of art is a reflection of nature. However‚ they have different views on the functions of imitation in art and literature. Plato believes in the existence of the ideal world‚ where exists a real form of every object found in nature. A work of art –which reflects nature is twice far from the reality it represents. Aristotle‚ on the other hand‚ does not
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Saint Augustine was born November 13‚ 354 AD in Thagaste‚ Berber North Africa. He lived in a Roman Colony‚ with two parents‚ a brother‚ and a sister. He was the only one out of his siblings to be sent off to receive a first class education. He started to study in Thagaste then Madauros‚ then he went to a university in Carthage. He wrote a book about is how is good at his job. Then in 383 AD he moved to Rome to continue his job. Saint Augustine got a reward for his writings from the government. He
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Mimesis: Plato and Aristotle 1‚515 Words Philosophy 2348: Aesthetics\ The term ‘mimesis’ is loosely defined as ‘imitation’‚ and although an extensive paper could be written about the cogency of such a narrow definition‚ I will instead focus on Plato and Aristotle’s contrasting judgements of mimesis (imitation). I will spend one section discussing Plato’s ideas on mimesis and how they relate to his philosophy of reality and the forms. I will then spend a section examining Aristotle’s differing
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a) Explain how the theodicy of Irenaeus differs from that of Augustine. One of the main arguments used by non-believers against the existence of God is the presence of evil and suffering in the world. The term ‘evil’ is often used to describe something that is morally wrong. Philosophers make a distinction between moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil results from human actions that are morally reproachable‚ and Natural evil results from the malfunctioning of the natural world‚ which produces
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(25) Plato originally thought of the forms because of the concept of beauty. Although we see objects and think that they are beautiful‚ we never ‘beauty’. Also many different things can be beautiful‚ but in different ways but they all still have one thing in common‚ beauty. This leads to Plato concluding that there must be something which is ‘beauty’ that all of these things get it from. This idea of a universal thing that more than one thing can have was the first thought that lead Plato to the
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PHAEDO: IMMORTALITY OF SOUL In the dialogue Phaedo Plato discusses the immortality of the soul. He presents four different arguments to prove the fact that although the body of the human perishes after death; the soul still exists and remains eternal. Firstly‚ he explains the Argument from Opposites that is about the forms and their existence in opposite forms. His second argument is Theory of Recollection which assumes that each and every information that one has in his/her mind is related to
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some person or persons and fostered by institutional means in order to direct all aspects of private and public life2 that are significant to politics. With this definition in mind‚ this essay will put forward an argument in favour of the notion that Plato was a totalitarian‚ evident in his conception of the kallipolis which drives forward a totalitarian and utopian dream for a ‘natural class rule of the wise few over the ignorant many’3. On the contrary‚ a literary reading of Plato’s Republic could
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Connor High Classical Political Thought 12/15/10 Examining Plato and Aristotle’s Political Regimes Structures Plato and Aristotle both understood the importance of wisdom and virtue in founding a good regime. In their writings‚ they suggest the effect they felt a ruler had on a regime and vice versa. Where Plato saw a linear slope of five increasingly misguided and degenerating regimes‚ Aristotle saw six regimes: three true and three corrupt. Each regime has a ruling political good. This
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