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Aristotle's Theory Of The Good Life
Aristotle's Theory Of The Good Life
The pursuit of happiness philosophy
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Aristotle disagrees with his teacher, Plato in numerous ways, one of which is based on the concept of the “good.” While Socrates and Plato both believe in a highest Form of the “good” Aristotle believes that the Good is that which all things aim. However, some aims are only good instrumentally, such as money, so the ultimate Good must be something that is good in and of itself. What is the means of reaching this Good however; what allows us to pursue the highest Good? It seems to Aristotle that science is the answer. Science charges the rationality in human beings in order to perpetuate the actions that will lead us to happiness and he further extends this to say that political science must be the highest science that can be wrought. Political science is the science of running a state and further this is the means with which we dictate all else; therefore it is the highest science because it pursues the highest goals in everything that we do. This science is that which determines all other subordinate ends and hence, is made to be the highest means of reaching the highest end. Statesmen and political figures work to attain a good life for all and therefore represent the good of all humankind. However, what then is the highest Good to which political science now aims? In Aristotelian terms, happiness is the best good that deals as an all-inclusive end, or goal. We pursue political science in order to master this goal. Following this logic; we say that there is a highest goal to which we all aim, this goal is that of the highest science. The highest science is political science and it seeks the happiness of all others; therefore happiness is the highest Good to which we aim.
However, happiness is subjective so Aristotle lays our va...
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...… This act must be regretted afterwards to constitute as involuntary. For example, if a person mistakenly kills his father thinking that he is an enemy and regrets the act after discovering the truth has performed an involuntary act. However, if this same action is performed unknowingly and not regrettably then it is not involuntary, but non-voluntary.
For an action to be moral and virtuous it must be voluntary. The doer who performs an act involuntarily does not necessarily have the virtue that is required for the act. For example, if someone accidentally interferes with a murder and subsequently saves an innocent life, that does not make him morally responsible for the act. He did not choose to save the innocent nor did he necessarily have the proper virtue that would give the courage, or desire for justice which are integral in morally performing such a deed.
In Walter Mosley’s Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, the reader is introduced to Socrates Fortlow, an ex-convict who served twenty-seven years for murder and rape. Fortlow is plagued by guilt and, seeing the chaos in his town, feels a need to improve not only his own standards of living, but also those of others in Watts. He attempts this by teaching the people in Watts the lessons he feels will resolve the many challenges the neighbourhood faces. The lessons Fortlow teaches and the methods by which he teaches them are very similar to those of the ancient Greek philosopher for whom Fortlow was named: “‘We was poor and country. My mother couldn’t afford school so she figured that if she named me after somebody smart then maybe I’d get smart’” (Mosley, 44). Though the ancient Greek was born to be a philosopher and Fortlow assumed the philosopher role as a response to the poor state of his life and Watts, both resulted in the same required instruction to their populations. The two Socrates’ both utilize a form of teaching that requires their pupil to become engaged in the lesson. They emphasize ethics, logic, and knowledge in their instruction, and place importance on epistemology and definitions because they feel a problem cannot be solved if one does not first know what it is. Socrates was essential in first introducing these concepts to the world and seemed to be born with them inherent to his being, Fortlow has learned the ideals through life experience and is a real-world application in an area that needs the teachings to get on track. While the two men bear many similarities, their differences they are attributed primarily as a result of their circumstances provide the basis of Fortlow’s importance in Watts and as a modern-...
Plato’s character in “The Ring of Gyges” is trying to convey certain points about human nature and wisdom. In Glaucon’s fictional story, Gyges is a shepherd who stumbles upon a mysterious ring which allows him the power to become invisible. Gyges eventually gives up his lowly life as a shepherd and becomes an authoritative and crooked dictator due to the power of the ring. Glaucon’s main point in this story is that people are inherently immoral and will look out for themselves over the good of others. Due to his assumption about the nature of the human race Glaucon proclaims that in order to keep human’s from causing damage to others our social order should emphasize a government that will contain their constituents. Glaucon’s proposed social order became the building blocks of the social contract theory of government; “People in a society mutually agreeing not to harm one another and setting up sanctions when they do,” (Caste, 2014).
There are times in every mans life where our actions and beliefs collide—these collisions are known as contradictions. There are endless instances in which we are so determined to make a point that we resort to using absurd overstatements, demeaning language, and false accusations in our arguments. This tendency to contradict ourselves often questions our character and morals. Similarly, in The Trial of Socrates (Plato’s Apology), Meletus’ fallacies in reason and his eventual mistake of contradicting himself will clear the accusations placed on Socrates. In this paper, I will argue that Socrates is not guilty of corrupting the youth with the idea of not believing in the Gods but of teaching the youth to think for themselves by looking to new divinities.
Socrates: A Gift To The Athenians As Socrates said in Apology by Plato, “...the envy and detraction of the world, which has been the death of many good men, and will probably be the death of many more…”(Philosophical Texts, 34) Throughout history, many leaders have been put to death for their knowledge. In Apology, Socrates- soon to be put to death- says he was placed in Athens by a god to render a service to the city and its citizens. Yet he will not venture out to come forward and advise the state and says this abstention is a condition on his usefulness to the city.
Aristotle begins his ethical account by saying that “every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and every choice, is thought to aim for some good; and for this reason the good has rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim” (line 1094a1). Though some things might produce higher good than others, Aristotle looks for the highest good, which he says we must “desire for its own sake” and our actions are not decided on some other goal beyond this good itself (line 1094a20-25).[1] This highest good is then realized to be happiness (line 1095a16-20).
The great philosopher Aristotle was born in 384 BC and he was well known for formalizing the model of what he believed to be the perfect tragedy. Plato was his teacher and he was the tutor of Alexander the Great. He managed to produce almost a thousand books and pamphlets, from which only a few have survived. He was also well known as a peripatetic philosopher, from the verb peripateo, that is, to walk around since he really liked giving lectures while he was walking. An important subject in his thought is that happiness is the real goal of life. The Greeks used to believe that tragedy was actually the uppermost form of drama and Aristotle’s ideas were based on this belief. He pointed out that tragedy should
According to Aristotle, a tragedy is “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions”(Nahm 7). Aristotle categorizes the six basic parts of any tragedy as plot, characters, thought, diction, spectacle and melody. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet follow this definition of a tragedy and adhere to Aristotle’s six elements of a tragedy: plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle, and song. The Plot, the first principle, refers to the combination of incidents in the story. Aristotle thinks this to be the most important feature of the tragedy. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet contain a plot that complies with the first line of Aristotle’s definition of a tragedy, which states “the imitation of an action is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself”(Nahm 7). This refers to the first element of a tragedy, the plot, implying that Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet deal with one issue that is very serious in magnitude such as the conflict between the two families which lead to innocent deaths. Shakespeare also follows Aristotle’s idea of the tragedy being of a certain magnitude. This is because the characters are realistic therefore the audience is capable of relating to them easily. Romeo and Juliet are upset, while grieving over their impending separation and angered about the circumstances surrounding their families. They are also unsure of themselves how they should handle the situation. The audience can relate to this uncertain feeling and they are able to empathize with Romeo and Juliet.
As students file into the auditorium of the Academy the first thing that we all notice is the two professors that were standing at the front of the room. After all the students were seated that is when the first professor stepped forward to address the class. Plato: Good Morning Students! Students: Good Morning Professor! Plato: Many of you may know who I am and then there are those of you that do not. For those of you that do not know who I am, my name is Plato. I founded this Academy in 387 and it is the first of its kind (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_Academy). I have studied under many great philosophers. After Plato got done speaking he stepped back and the professor standing to the left of him stepped forward and addressed the class. Aristotle: Good Morning Student! Students: Good Morning Professor! Aristotle: Like Plato there are many of you that know me and there are those of you that do not. So I will introduce myself to those of you that do not know me. My name is Aristotle. I was a
Aristotle is a historic and global face who in his life made some of the most monumental discoveries and conclusions in many fields. These fields are such as the topics of logic, metaphysics, the law of nature, physics, biology, and even the arts. The theories and methods he came up with were not only thought of and lived by in his days, but are still believed in to this day. His laws within these topics have held up through out the years, and continue to be followed to this day. Not only is he famous for making his own theories, but he is also widely known for disproving previous theories and conclusions that were believed to be true. Aristotle’s thoughts, experiments, and reasoning has changed the modern world as it is known by disproving previous theories and paving the way for science and logic to correctly explain the details of the world.
Aristotle feels we have a rational capacity and the exercising of this capacity is the perfecting of our natures as human beings. For this reason, pleasure alone cannot establish human happiness, for pleasure is what animals seek and human beings have higher capacities than animals. The goal is to express our desires in ways that are appropriate to our natures as rational animals. Aristotle states that the most important factor in the effort to achieve happiness is to have a good moral character, what he calls complete virtue. In order to achieve the life of complete virtue, we need to make the right choices, and this involves keeping our eye on the future, on the ultimate result we want for our lives as a whole. We will not achieve happiness simply by enjoying the pleasures of the moment. We must live righteous and include behaviors in our life that help us do what is right and avoid what is wrong. It is not enough to think about doing the right thing, or even intend to do the right thing, we have to actually do it. Happiness can occupy the place of the chief good for which humanity should aim. To be an ultimate end, an act must be independent of any outside help in satisfying one’s needs and final, that which is always desirable in itself and never for the sake of something else and it must be
How would you feel if someone called you a sophist? Before you answer, it's important to know how the meaning of this word has evolved. "During the fifth century, sophists were teachers, speakers, and philosophers who were paid to use rhetoric (Mardner 1)." But many people opposed their style of teaching. Socrates was a philosopher who disagreed with the Sophist's point-of-view. The main differences between the Sophist and Socrates were their views on absolute truth.
Philosophies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. The philosophies of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle had different points of view but they were also similar in some ways. For example, all three philosophers had their own thoughts on the subject of justice and government. Socrates belief on this matter was that democracy was an unwise form of government.
Aristotle was a student of Plato, learning everything that his teacher passed on to him including his understanding and beliefs of the soul. However, Aristotle completely rejects his teachers ' belief about the soul. Aristotle wrote the De Anima to explain his thoughts on the Soul. In his writings, Aristotle says to forget the beliefs on the soul that our teachers have given us, and lets try to understand what the soul truly is (Cahn 230). When trying to determine the true nature of the soul, Aristotle takes a scientific approach to see the soul for what he believes it is. In his writings, he talks about determining what the soul is. He ponders on the essence, quantity, and many other factors of the soul. He believes that souls have three different parts: Matter, which is the soul’s potentiality; Form, which is the actuality which is the state of knowing or attending to what
The philosophies of Plato and Aristotle and their contributions to the development of western philosophy.
Philosophy can be defined as the pursuit of wisdom or the love of knowledge. Socrates, as one of the most well-known of the early philosophers, epitomizes the idea of a pursuer of wisdom as he travels about Athens searching for the true meaning of the word. Throughout Plato’s early writings, he and Socrates search for meanings of previously undefined concepts, such as truth, wisdom, and beauty. As Socrates is often used as a mouthpiece for Plato’s ideas about the world, one cannot be sure that they had the same agenda, but it seems as though they would both agree that dialogue was the best way to go about obtaining the definitions they sought. If two people begin on common ground in a conversation, as Socrates often tries to do, they are far more likely to be able to civilly come to a conclusion about a particular topic, or at least further their original concept.