The U.S. government would not exist today if it were not for the Ancient Greeks and their trend-setting new idea for how a government should be run. They created the first true democracy which set the stage for future democracies including the modern U.S. democracy. That said, they are not not completely similar. Democratic values between Ancient Greeks and modern U.S. society are different because the Greeks valued honesty more than appearance, humor and quick wit. The Ancient Greeks valued honesty more than the modern U.S. society. Some of the most honest U.S. candidates were actually hurt from their honesty. This can be demonstrated in the debate of Michael Dukakis and George Bush Sr. When Dukakis was asked if he would support the death …show more content…
penalty if his wife was brutally raped and murdered and he replied without hesitation or remorse that he would not. True, this supports his position on the death penalty and he was being honest about what he believes, he came across insensitive and almost like a robot with no emotion. This cost him the debate and possibly even the election. This shows that the modern U.S. society does not value as much about honesty, but would rather have a “nice” or maybe even sensitive person whereas in Ancient Greek, they would appreciate the honesty and react positively to the strength of his leadership. “Is there not another trait which the nature we are seeking cannot fail to possess- truthfulness, a love of truth and a hatred of falsehood that will not be tolerate untruth in any form?” The Ancient Greeks valued honesty greatly and would not appreciate being lied to or having a politician flip flop his stance on an issue. As you can see, the honesty demonstrated by a given person was valued greater to the Ancient Greeks than the modern U.S. society. While the U.S. accepts some lies, the Ancient Greeks would not allow them. In fact, honesty was one of the most important thing to the Greeks whereas the U.S. does not care near to as much. The Ancient Greeks did not value appearance as much as modern U.S. society does. The U.S. society today values how people portray themselves so much so that some debates were considered won or lost by how the debaters looked. You can tell this is the case from the debate of John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. In this debate, Kennedy looked more confident, relaxed, and more appealing than the older, sickly Nixon. People who watched the debate were more drawn to Kennedy and what he had to say than they were to Nixon. In some cases, listeners to the debate on the radio thought that Nixon won but once they saw the debate, thought that Kennedy did in fact win. The result of the election was the same as the result of the debate, Kennedy coming out victorious. As you can see, modern U.S. society values appearance so much so that they would decide who to vote on almost strictly on that basis. Looking back on former presidents and their opponents, often times the more visually appearing, the more well liked. This was not the case in Ancient Greece though. “We must not, then, count a forgetful mind as competent to pursue wisdom; we must require a good memory.” This shows that they cared more about memory than someone's appearance. As you can see, the Ancient Greeks did not value appearance, but instead valued a good memory. This is different from modern U.S. society because today, memory is important, but is not stressed as much as it was in Greece. The modern U.S. society values a quick wit and humor much more than the Ancient Greeks did. In some recent presidential debates, the quick wit of candidates ended up winning them the debate. One example of this is in the debate of Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. In this debate, Carter was persisting with a question on Reagan when Reagan chuckled and replied “There you go again.” This got a big laugh from the studio audience and ended up helping him win the debate and election. As you can see, modern U.S.
values humor and a quick wit to the point of one line in a debate, not relating to the subject, to win the entire thing. This would not pass in Ancient Greece. “...a constant passion for knowledge that will reveal to them something of reality which endures forever.” This shows that they care and value knowledge and the craving for more knowledge. As you can see, Ancient Greece valued knowledge much more than humor or a quick wit. They would care more about the substance of the debates than who had the best line. Some may say that the values are infact similar because they both value experience. This is displayed in the debate of Dan Quayle, a young and inexperienced candidate, and Lloyd Bentsen who was older and well respected for his experience. However, I say that this is not as important because while this played a part in the outcome of the election, the less experienced Dan Quayle still won. Overall, the U.S. and Ancient Greek have different values because the U.S. values appearance and humor while the Greeks value honesty. Modern candidates in the U.S. use humor and quick wit to win over voters during debates. They also put their appearance over their substance in the debates which sadly works. On the other hand the Ancient Greeks valued more important things like the honesty of the
leader. In my opinion, the Greeks had better, more valid values that helped them pick leaders who would best suit their needs.
The democratic ideals in ancient Athens are different from the imperialist actions and building the empire that the government and military did good on. The Athenian political body did not stand entirely unified in its support of imperialist action but most of the citizens supported them. The fact that most of the eligible voting people supported imperialist conquests allowed for limited tension between the democratic and imperialist ideas. Athenian democracy centered around the equality of citizens under the law, and freedom of speech, which meant that imperialist action mostly did contradict the principles of Athenian
Many people liked the ideal change from an ancient Romanesque republic to an ancient Greek democracy. After visiting the United States during the early 1830’s, Alexis de Tocqueville put all of his observations into a book entitled Democracy in America. In this significant book, he depicted democracy as “not only deficient in that soundness of judgment which is necessary to select men really deserving of its confidence, but it has neither desire nor the inclination of find them…” (Document 3)
In Athens, there were two wise men named Socrates and Pericles. In the short story "Plato's Apology", Socrates is on trial, and is speaking before his peers so that he may be judged. In "Pericles's Funeral Oration", Pericles himself is giving a speech at a funeral on behalf of the fallen soldiers of Athens. In both speeches, Socrates and Pericles believe it will be hard to talk about the subject because the people listening might not believe what they say to be the truth or the whole truth. Both men were considered wise, but Socrates believed men were not virtuos, and Pericles believed that man does strive to become virtous. I believe that Socrates's arguments are a rebuttal to Pericles's Funeral Oration, and although they are both wise, only Socrates has true wisdom.
Western thought and culture grew out of Greek ideals. Since “there is nothing new under the sun,” (Ecclesiastes 1:9) many of the ideals expressed by Homer, Sophocles, and Hesiod ring true for Westerners today. Part of the myth of a tragic hero includes a leadership position of some sort: often noble birth, kingship, or military leadership. Tragic plays like Oedipus Rex, Antigone, and the Iliad served as worship, entertainment, examples of virtue, and cautionary tales. Modern Americans can look back at such works and apply the ideas to selecting and serving as leaders on a national, community, or family level. Some of desirable qualities illustrated in Archaic and Classical Greek works include self-control, fairness, respect for moral law, service to one’s community, courage, and honor.
The Ancient Greeks were nothing if not influential. Ever since it 's formation in the 8th century B.C., Greek civilization has impacted many of the world 's greatest thinkers and shaped the landscape of Western Civilization. Aside from their art and philosophy, the Ancient Greeks were particularly interested in politics and, in the case of Athens, a new system of government known as: democracy! Long before the American founding fathers declared their independence from Britain, Athenian citizens governed their own state and voted to solve political turmoil. However, ancient Athens was no perfect twin to American democracy, and being an upstanding Athenian citizen meant more than simply voting and going about one 's business. A standout Athenian
Greece and Persia are two of the four great empires that rose to the top rapidly. Both empires have well organized political systems that greatly influenced the way later governments were structured in the United States and Europe. Greece and Persia empire’s structures weighed greatly on their development and growth, but the diverse topographies of Greece and Persia also made a vast impact. These features affected the cultures and even how the political government changed overtime.
The Greeks placed great importance on personal honor. Why is this? Is it because to them man I nothing without honor. Or is it that the honor is more important than the man? "Honor to the Greeks is something that is won by a man's prowess, his ability to fight and be victorious on the battle field"(Schein 62). This is just one example of how honor is obtained. A second method of gaining honor is to be a great orator, one must posses the ability to speak in the assembly and express his ideas eloquently, and persuasively to the gathered body. A third way of achieving personal honor is to demonstrate athletic ability.
Modern culture relates much of its development to the ancient Greek societies; still, the two eras do differ individually. Throughout the text, the idea of honor reigns as the
In this paper, I will first extract Thucydides views from the Melian Dialogue and then analyze whether or not these views are well founded. Thucydides believed that the Athenians had the stronger argument. Proof of this lies in the way Thucydides picked the arguments for each side. For the moment, we will disregard the actual content of the arguments, and look at argumentation forms and the flow of the debate. The Melians argued using consequences of an Athenian take over.
The origins of American democracy took root hundreds of years before the Founding Fathers were even born. Greece and Rome, powerful nation states well-known for their expansive empires and widespread influence, have survived the test of time through their impact on other civilizations (i.e. America). America, founded on Greco-Roman principles, has grown “from sea to shining sea” on a government recognized for its stability and opportunity. The Founding Fathers used their education of ancient history to create the foundation of American law and government. By studying the past’s success and mistakes, the Founders were able to shape a system of policies that they hoped would ensure freedom and happiness for their posterity. The ideals of famous Roman writers fermented into the democratic character of the American Constitution. The problems of the Greek city-state of Sparta steered the Founders to disfavor collectivism. The Founding Fathers were influenced by Greco-Roman governmental structure, ideological principles, and murderous mistakes.
The system of government we have today was starting to developed centuries ago by the Athenians and Romans. Both governments were established with the intent to give power to the people, even though it did not always play out that way in society. The Athenian democracy and the Roman republic were two very different governments in practice, but also maintained similar characteristics in both systems of government.
In Plato’s Gorgias, Socrates discusses the nature and uses of rhetoric with Gorgias, while raising moral and philosophical perspective of rhetoric. Socrates believes that rhetoric is a kind of false knowledge whose purpose is to produce conviction, and not to educate people about the true extent of knowledge (Plato 15). On the other hand, Gorgias argues that the study of rhetoric is essential in any other professional fields, in order to provide an effective communication (Plato 19). After their discussion of rhetoric, Socrates seems to understand the true extent of rhetoric better as compared to Gorgias, as he is able to use rhetoric appeals as a device to dominate the conversation. During their discussion, Socrates seems to have use rhetorical appeals, such as ethos appeal and pathos appeal to connect and convince the crowd of audiences, and logos appeal to support his claims. His speeches seems to have shown sarcastic aspects and constantly asking questions in order to keep Gorgias busy, at the same time preparing an ambush. Since rhetoric is the art of effective communication through the form of speaking and writing, with the appropriate knowledge and virtue, it can be used for good purposes. On the other hand, rhetoric also can be used as an act of conviction because rhetorical appeals can be defined as an act of persuasion as well. Learning the true extent of rhetoric can help an individual strengthen their verbal communication skills. Socrates uses rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos and logos appeal to win his argument against Gorgias, as he is able to get the audiences’ attention through rhetoric and cornered Gorgias into revealing the true extent of rhetoric.
One important contribution of Ancient Greek to the Western Culture is Democracy. The very term itself is of Greek derivation, meaning "People’s Rule". Unlike modern states which call themselves "Democratic". For example, Pericles Funeral Oration gave the greatest contribution to our today’s society. In .(Doc. 2) Pericles stated "Our plan of government favors the many instead of the few". Because of this quote it has contributed the society tremendously due to the fact that the democratic society is a direct democracy. Yet in a way, people have the power to overthrow other powerful representatives; Pericles Funeral Oration, gave us the idea of keeping the civilization as a democracy rather than Oligarchy, Monarchy, and many more. Moreover, Solon an Athenian tyrant discussed his thought about democracy. In .(doc. 4) Solon stated, "I drew up laws for bad and good alike, and set straight justice over each". Solon reveals that he has created laws for the good of others. He wanted every individual having the ...
...escence of the most influential values of a human being. Greeks fully embraced the concept of hospitality. Some feared to be punished by the gods and some were hospitable just out of the pureness of their heart. Loyalty is the base of many of the abilities humans possess: love, friendship, patriotism, honesty, and integrity. Homer proved that Greeks valued loyalty through his epic. Perseverance is a phenomenal trait that only the strongest possess. The Greeks signified perseverance in a person, because it is what makes a person thrive. It is values and morals that differentiate people from any other beings in the world. Our morals are how we view a situation and how we act upon it. Our values are what makes us a unique individual. Maybe it is the Greek influence on our culture today or it is just a human nature but our values have stayed the same throughout time.
In brief, the U.S. Democratic Republic, Roman Republic, and Athenian Democracy have similar and different functions of how they run their government. The U.S. Government uses characteristics from these other cultures.