One of the first and greatest Greek philosophers was a man named Democritus. He is not as well-known as other great philosophers like Socrates, Plato, or Aristotle but he contributed greatly on the development of philosophy up until today. He, along with all pre-socratic philosophers, was a natural or physical philosopher. He is sometimes referred to as the father of modern sciences after his major discoveries and works. He was born in the city of Abdera, Greece, although some reports called him a Milesian, on c. 460 BCE and died at the age of about 90 years on c. 370 BCE. He was born to a wealthy family and enjoyed traveling. He was known as the laughing philosopher because of he emphasized the importance of the value of cheerfulness. Democritus is said to have written more than 70 books but none of them survived. Most of his works were unreliable because they, along with the works of most ancient Greek philosophers, were only in secondhand reports. Most of his works were told secondhand by another great philosopher named Aristotle because he considered Democritus as his biggest rival in the natural sciences. He seems to have taken over the works of his mentor, Leucippus. Both of them were very accomplished. His knowledge was vast for he worked on different fields such as cosmology, music, mathematics, ethics and physics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2004).
Democritus, along with his teacher Leucippus, was an atomist. Atomists believed that nature is composed of two fundamental principles, atoms and void. Atoms came from the Greek word atomos which means indivisible or something that cannot be broken down further. Parmenides, another well-known pre-socratic philosopher, believed that everything in existence has always b...
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...on is because Democritus focused more on the ‘many’ rather than the ‘one’ while Plato, on the other hand, focused more on the ‘one’ rather than the ‘many’. In my opinion, Plato placed Democritus on the bottom class of his ideal state together with the producers who see beautiful objects and believes in change rather than beuty itself which lasts forever. They might be opposite of each other but both contributed greatly in the progress of philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2004).
Even though he wasn’t as famous as Socrates or Plato, Democritus was one of the greatest Greek philosopher ever lived. His works might not be very reliable because none stayed in tact but they were a huge contribution to the development of philosophy, especially his atomic theory. His works made him known as the laughing philosopher and even as the father of modern sciences.
The Romans called their political system not democracy but republic. Republic is something that belongs to the people. In Rome the right to take part in the governing belonged only to the men and those who had the statute of being citizens. The differences of republic and democracy are because of the origin of the two terms Greek and Latin language. The ancient Greeks discarded the tyranny as well as the disorder. Plato as well as Aristotle stabilized the complete democracy which was not based on the laws, with the power of the crowd and considered it as a form of ruling based on the jealousy and sweet talk of demagogues. Both of them considered the democracy to be wrong kind of state governing. Plato considers the democracy as nice and various public orders but without the necessary governing. The main good of democracy is freedom.
Socrates was a renowned philosopher in the ancient Grecian times. His peak was around the Peloponnesian War, when the Spartans defeated the Athenians and ended the Golden Age. The reason Socrates is one of histories most famous philosophers is largely due to Plato's writings. Two of Plato's famous works include The Apology and The Republic, both written about Socrates' views about the so called "wise philosophers" of his time. The two works hold unique views about government, as well as opening the eyes of the Grecian people to the world as they knew it.
No one would deny that Pericles was the most prominent Greek statesman and spokesperson during the Golden Age. His contribution was largely felt during the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars having obtained power from his family link to the Alcmaeonid family. He commanded a lot of respect to from the Athenian citizens with Thucydides describing him as "the first citizen of Athens” . He was born at around 495 BC north of Athens in the ...
There is considerable evidence for the praise of democracy in the Histories. An example of praise for democracy is Herodotus’s disregard for tyranny as a political system . Through the description of Peisistratos’s rule, Herodotus acknowledges the limitations and faults with having a tyrannical government. Herodotus describes Peisistratos rule as period of Athenians being oppressed, held down form being truly free, unable to reach its potential. According to Herodotus, even the best of all men, if they are presented with the power that comes with being a tyrant, that moral man will inevitably fall to power and corruption. Herodotus gives the impression that the Athenians under Peisistratos were oppressed and divided, because of this Herodotus, through evidence of Peisistratos’s rule, suggests that tyranny leaves the state in a weakened condition. However, Herodotus believed that in a democracy no one man can have absolute rule or power, so there can be no corruption of the law.
Augustus DeMorgan was an English mathematician, logician, and bibliographer. He was born in June 1806 at Madura, Madras presidency, India and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1823. Augustus DeMorgan had passed away on March 18, 1871, in London.
However, Plato now describes the Democracy that has been implemented by the lower classes with the aim of leading onto the democratic character. With new freedom and liberty, the average individual will arran...
Socrates (470-399 BC) was a credited philosopher born in the city of Athens to father Sophroniscus and mother Phaenarete. Despite his world-renowned contributions, he did not leave any written accounts of his life. His story was taught through the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, along with Aristotle and Aristophanes in various forms of dramatic texts and histories. Among others, Plato wrote many dialogues that quoted Socrates’ exact words. Much of what we know comes from this greatly influenced student. However, Plato being a literary artist, leads many to think that he brightened up Socrates’ teachings as a result of his positive bias. For this reason, much of his history remains uncertain.
Plato was not a fan of the democratic government. Democracy can create commotion between the people because of the lack of experts in ruling positions. Plato tells the story of a ship that was run by the sailors. The ship could not sail properly because everyone wanted to sail it. Similar to the democratic government.
Plato's concept of what politics and government should be is a direct result of his belief in the theory of forms. The theory of forms basically states that there is a higher "form" for everything that exists in the world. Each material thing is simply a representation of the real thing which is the form. According to Plato, most people cannot see the forms, they only see their representation or their shadows, as in the simile of the cave.
Plato defines Athens as a democratic society that “treats all men as equal, whether they are equal or not.” Therefore, believes that there are those that are born to rule and others that are born to be ruled. Plato presents the argument that democracy does not achieve the greatest good, giving four main objections to democracy. Firstly, he identifies that most of us are ruled by passions, pleasure, sentiment and impulse. Hence, th...
These are the words of Socrates, who spoke before the Athenian jury in the trial that would, ultimately, condemn him to his death. Through works such as the Apology and The Republic, we can see Plato’s distaste of the concept of democracy. Why does he consider democracy to be so flawed? Let us look through his own eyes and see what his individual criticisms are, and determine if the very concept of democracy is as flawed as he believes it to be.
The ancient Greek philosopher Plato is one of the most famous philosophers in the history of philosophy. This is largely due to the fact that Plato considers a lot of philosophical issues and provides a holistic philosophical view of the world, able to explain the different levels of human life such as religion and politics. In this regard, the political views of Plato are still quite relevant in relation to different political regimes including democracy. In fact, Plato negatively assesses the democratic regime as a form of power that leads to tyranny and disorder in conditions of total permissiveness and promiscuity. His allegory of the cave allows one to equate the prisoners of the cave to the supporters
He thought that the election of the people was unfair justice. Plato had some of the same beliefs. He believed that government should only have rulers who had the intelligence and education appropriate for the matter. His thoughts were that a job should be done only by those who are best suited for it. To him, aristocracy was a perfect form of government.
... state. In Plato's argument for the ideal state, the fundamental bonds which hold together his republic are unity and harmony. He explains how the just state is held together by the unity of each individual in each social class, and harmony between all three social classes. Plato explains how the ideal state must have citizens who are united in their goals. It is not the happiness of the individual but rather the happiness of the whole which keeps the just state ideal. At the same time, Plato argues that there must be harmony within the individual souls which make up the state. The lack of unity and harmony leads to despotism through anarchy which eventually arises within a democracy. Plato makes a clear argument, through The Republic, that without the unity and harmony of the individual and the state there can be no order and therefore there can be no ideal state.
Among the most revered philosophers of all time was Socrates. Living around the 5th century B.C.,