Aristotle vs. Plato Excellence is a function which renders excellent the thing of which it is a function is Plato’s definition of virtue. What does this definition really mean though? Plato and Aristotle both had their own unique arguments devoted to the topic at hand‚ and their own ways of describing what virtue really is. Defining virtue may seem to be an easy taste‚ but to truly understand the arguments behind the definition can prove to be very challenging. Before discussing virtue‚ the
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Religion According to the dictionary "religion is the service and worship of God or the supernatural."1 I challenge that definition. It is true that all religions do involve the worship of some supernatural force‚ however‚ it is also true that no religion in history has ever stopped at that. For a more complete definition of the word religion we also have to examine two other aspects. How has it affected man over the centuries? And what is the true motivation of its leadership? Some
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Plato’s republican Plato is very clearly a feminist although he does not hold women completely equal to men. In fact Plato states that the majority of women are inferior to all men‚ but not all women were inferior. Plato was indeed a feminist‚ but his feminist views were as a result of decisions made for what he thought was in best interest of the good city. A feminist is a described as an advocate for women’s rights and legal protection. Within book V of the Republic‚ Plato advocates equality
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Plato vs. Aristotle Plato and Aristotle‚ two philosophers in the 4th century‚ hold polar views on politics and philosophy in general. This fact is very cleverly illustrated by Raphael’s "School of Athens" (1510-11; Stanza della Segnatura‚ Vatican)‚ where Plato is portrayed looking up to the higher forms; and Aristotle is pointing down because he supports the natural sciences. In a discussion of politics‚ the stand point of each philosopher becomes an essential factor. It is not coincidental
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Comparing the political theories of any two great philosophers is a complex task. Plato and Aristotle are two such philosophers who had ideas of how to improve existing societies during their individual lifetimes. While both Plato and Aristotle were great thinkers‚ perhaps it is necessary first to examine the ideas of each before showing how one has laid the groundwork and developed certain themes for the other. Plato is regarded by many experts as the first writer of political philosophy. He fashioned
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Imitation Background Plato was born in 427 BC—3 years after the outbreak of the Peloponnesian war. At the time ancient Greek was divided into several city states‚ and each state has its own government. At that time there were two city states which were powerful and strong enough to influence the governing system of whole Greek. The states were “Athens” and “Sparta”. Both the states were at war‚ when Plato was born ‚ due to the conflict of choice of democracy rule or military rule. Plato was born in a
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Comparison Between Plato´s Allegory and Today´s Time Can you imagine the relationship between old works of philosophers and today’s world? Could you imagine how it would be if you discovered that the world you think you live in is not exactly what you think? Or the things you see are not exactly what you see? The Allegory of the Cave by Plato represents an extended metaphor; a figure of speech in which a phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest
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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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What is the good life? The Epicureans and the Stoics had rather differing philosophies on what the good life actually entailed. Epicurious‚ a Hedonist believe that pleasure was the ultimate good. That the elimination of pain was essential to pleasure and thus a good life. Epicurus‚ believed that the best way to achieve happiness is to reduce one’s consumption of materialistic things to only the necessities. To elaborate‚ eat bland foods‚ wear bland clothing‚ Epicurious‚ for example‚ lived in isolation
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In the following paragraphs I will discuss what justice in the soul is‚ why justice in the soul is choice worthy and lastly to what extent this choice entails. Justice in the soul is not an easily understood concept. The definition of justice according to Socrates builds upon itself throughout the
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