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The features and the limitations of the Athenian democracy
The features and the limitations of the Athenian democracy
Man by nature as a political animal
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Ryan Park
Intro to politics
Essay #1
February 1, 2016 From the readings of Plato’s republic, it is very apparent that the philosopher Socrates had a very different way of thinking about politics and how society should live. Many people today and back then do not always agree with Socrates thinking but his thoughts and ideas about politics are very well known today. He did not conform to how everyone else thought and acted. I think that he was so well known because his thoughts went against the norm and conformity during his time period. I like to think of Socrates as an outcaste to Athens at the time. I have even seen a part of today’s society take on certain ways of this philosophers thinking, which is anyone who does not favor democracy because they believe things can fall apart in a democracy. He did not agree with the way the city of Athens lived as a whole. This philosopher was uncertain of our human nature and he makes us realize that yes in fact we do use it to justify our actions especially when we are wrong. Some of Socrates views on politics are quite controversial and especially poles
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It is another way to think and not just about politics but basically everything. The people of Athens are prisoners of the Cave because they are so conformed to a specific way of thinking and living. The sun is the good and the actual truth. They cannot escape it because as we learned in class, people cannot learn what they do not want to know. Once the people, if they were even able too, get out of the cave, they would be able to see the light and not take things for granted. Socrates believes that the political world is a lot like this cave. Cave dwellers are the non-philosophers and even philosopher kings can be examples of someone who escaped the cave. The Cave dwellers or people in society basically wanted the shadows and illusions to keep
The Allegory of the Cave by Plato, shows the contrast between sense experience and rationalism. The story explains that in the cave where some people have known nothing of the outside world and can only comprehend what they see based on what little they do know of their cave. The people have come to the conclusion what the shapes represent and what causes them and believe it to be correct and thus believe it as the reality of the world. However what they don’t know is that this is not the world and what they will soon find out is that the things they once saw with their eyes what they smelt, what they heard, what they felt were just shadows of real images and objects cast on the wall by fire. What this does is show that sense experience can be at fault because the one perceiving is at times is ignorant of the fact that they know nothing of the true reality of the world and its workings. One must be showed how things are in order to learn and thus no longer be ignorant but have now begun taking steps towards wisdom.
Alain de Botton commences the section by delineating the story of how Socrates became the figure he became. Socrates lived a lifestyle in which he did things that he thought were correct and did not worry much about approval from society. de Botton states, “every society has notions of what one should believe and how one should behave in order to avoid suspicion and unpopularity” (9). In other words, de Botton believes that society has placed views for people to know what is right and what is wrong. People will submit to conformity by behaving in ways that people will view as “acceptable”.
In his Plato’s Republic Socrates tries to find the values of an ideal city in order to rightly define justice. Although I agree with most of his ideals for the city, there are also many that I disagree with. Some of his ideas that I accept are that women should be able to share the same responsibilities as the men, having women and children in common, , the recognition of honor based on the self rather than heredity, that the best philosophers are useless to the multitudes, and the philosopher / king as a ruler. I disagree with his views on censorship, having assigned positions in society, his views on democracy, and that art cannot be a respectable occupation.
I think the prisoner is pulled out of the cave by the enlightened ones, the ones who have reached this essential wisdom They also might stand as deities asserting there power over the prisoner because according to Socrates Plato's teacher only a diety or auricle has the wisdom of the gods and as a result the beings that pulled the prisoner out of the cave and into the light must be deities seeking to grant humankind the wisdom they
American’s education system has been entering crisis mode for a long time. Throughout the past few years, the overwhelming question “Is college needed or worth it?” While it is an opinion, there are facts that back up each answer. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” mentions that the enlightened must help the unenlightened and further their knowledge. The problem with America today is that high school students are given the option of college and that makes for less enlightened people. While it is possible to learn in the work force or Army, college is a better option. Mary Daly wrote the article “Is It Still Worth Going to College?” which talks about the statistical value of attending. Michelle Adam wrote the article “Is College Worth It?” which mentions the struggle young people are going through to even get into college. Caroline Bird wrote the chapter “Where College Fails Us” in her book The Case Against College where she
James Baldwin once said “It is only when a man is able, without bitterness or self-pity, to surrender a dream he has long cherished...that he is set free, that he has set himself free - for higher dreams, for greater privileges.” This quote displays the abundance of courage that is needed to leave everything an individual has in order to move forward. The bravest thing he can do once he has lost his identity, is to surrender who he was and open his mind to the possibility of wo he is going to be.
The people in Athens are still respect him, that is why they will treat him seriously and put him in jail. Drifting away the idea of justice, Socrates’s idea challenges the society. Each society has its limit to tolerate, the behavior of Socrates provoke the authority of Athens openly. In this case, Socrates die for the insistence of his own
Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" presents a vision of humans as slaves chained in front of a fire observing the shadows of things on the cave wall in front of them. The shadows are the only "reality" the slaves know. Plato argues that there is a basic flaw in how we humans mistake our limited perceptions as reality, truth and goodness. The allegory reveals how that flaw affects our education, our spirituality and our politics.
In the Allegory of The Cave, Plato states that "the prison world is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world according to my poor belief". Everything described in the Allegory of The Cave holds a double meaning as a symbol for something else; the prison world symbolizes our world and the fire casting shadows on the walls of the cave is in actuality the sun. Only the sun isn 't just the sun, it is a representation of the good and the truth in this world. When one reaches this level of enlightenment, according to Plato they not only find the truth of their existence, but they also find the good in life, and
...litical figure came close to challenging Socrates' unique philosophical plan. In the Republic, Socrates' ideas of how ignorant a democracy is, is portrayed in the Apology when Socrates' proclamation resulted in death. A democracy is supposed to be about individuality and freedom, however it was contradicted when Socrates was put to death because he had ideas for a better system of ruling. He wanted a ruler to be somebody who would see truth, not shunning certain ideas and keeping others solely because it is not understood. These ideas are portrayed in both excerpts.
Concerned with making the best and most rational choice, people’s opinion of his actions does not affect Socrates, for "why should we care so much for what the majority think?" (Crito,44c) Using Socrates’ own standards we can use this to see if Socrates makes a good and rational decision, we can argue that, contrary to what he says, it would not harm the state if Socrates escaped. I begin by arguing Plato’s conception of the state that would lead to the conclusion
Back in Athenian time just as in the world today people hold age to wisdom. When a young man is preaching against the beliefs of many others it is brushed off to their age, or blamed on his teachers. When you are known as the teacher and a great teacher to some society will hold you accountable to up-keeping their views and laws. Right or wrong as an influence during Athenian time Socrates was expected to know what his associations and teachings would cause and maybe that is why is was so vocal with his views. He admits to his urge to be listened to. Socrates could have been just feeding his ego through the courts the almighty listeners or maybe he knew that if he didn 't change his opinion in front the courts and was put to death that he would be embedded into history forever, all press is good press! People now argue what they believe in when it comes to Socrates cause there is no actual proof which is what he pushed people to
About the year of 470 B.C, a man was born in Athens and his name was Socrates. He was a son of a working sculptor and a midwife. Socrates lived in the greatest and most exciting period of his country's history, when Athens developed from a mere city-state to be the head of an empire. He studied problems of Physics, Biology, and other sciences, and learned the art of making the worse argument appear the better. He could easily be involved in public decisions but he did not enjoy politics so he stuck to his interests and life that consisted the qualities of a thinker. He would constantly be thinking about the "ordinary man" and the interests of an "ordinary man". He had many companions, men of all ages and from all parts of the Greek world. This already tells us that he is very pre-occupied with how other people's minds worked and if he could figure out how to teach them rational thinking. Easily most of his ideas would come from talking to other people
In book seven of ‘The Republic’, Plato presents possibly one of the most prominent metaphors in Western philosophy to date titled ‘Allegory of the Cave’.
In the story of "Allegory of the Cave", Plato illustrates his concerning on humanity and education. By the meaning of "Allegory of the Cave", we understand the effect of education on us. Most of the people ignore the importance of teaching, and they seek to learn the knowledge of the book or other materials. Therefore, they don 't care the truth or ignore it, which leads the truth far from us. "Indeed, the very principle that education ought to be more concerned with drawing out various human potentials than with only depositing information into students owes its origin to Plato" (Burch 7). To improve people 's educational level, we should realize that what