Comparison Of Unjust Speech, And 'Clouds' By Aristophanes

Philosophers as well as ordinary people have different ideals and morals. They sometimes agree on things, but most of the time they contradict each other on certain ideas or principles. Both Pericles and Aristophanes were wise men that analyzed certain aspects of life that are essential for a thriving society. Although Pericles has a point on democracy being the essential way to rule Athens, through seeing Aristophanes’ evidence I argue that unjust speech can corrupt the society because it makes people engage in selfish behavior and make bad decisions that affect everyone.

First, I will explain Pericles view on a perfect community and how it is later affected by unjust speech. A successful society requires the commitment of the whole community

In “Clouds” by Aristophanes, he takes his stand against unjust speech by depicting how it has corrupted the young ones and how it affects Athens. For example, Strepsiades is a citizen of Athens that wants to get rid of his debts without having to actually pay them off. Therefore he took his son, Pheidippidies to the “thinkery”, so that Socrates could teach him unjust speech. Strepsiades implies that, “He’s to learn those two speeches: the stronger, whatever it may be, and the weaker, which argues the unjust things and overturns the stronger,” (West and West 151). Unjust speech questions everything that just speech tries to explain and it does so by rephrasing and contradicting it. In this case, Strepsiades is corrupting his son’s future by making him forget about his democratic and religious ideals so that he could defend him and he could stop stressing about being prosecuted for his debt. Yet, he did not take into consideration that the new knowledge that his son Pheidippidies learned was going to eventually hurt him instead of benefiting him. Pheidippidies was enragde by what his father had done to him, and decided to use unjust speech against him. He confronted him by questioning him over his childhood development, “Did you beat me when I was a boy? Strepsiades: Yes I did; I was well-intentioned and concern for you. Pheidippidies: Then tell me, isn’t it also just for me likewise to be well-intentioned toward you and to beat you, since in fact to be well intentioned is to beat?” (West and West 173). The knowledge that Pheidippides learned, prove to be effective but not in a way that is completely moral. It is against democratic values for a child to talk back to his parents or to be in question them. As a result, unjust speech is corrupting young ones in ways that do not bring any positive outcomes to the community. For example, if Pheidippides went against his own father it is more