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Plato's view of happiness
The republic of plato platos morality
Plato's view of happiness
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Plato sustained a virtue-based conception of ethics. He believed that human well-being is the highest objective of moral thought and demeanor, and the virtues are the necessary skills and characters needed to achieve it (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Plato believed that the four main virtues are justice, wisdom, moderation, and courage. Plato also was certain that virtue is the lifeblood of any good society. Plato argued that friendship, freedom, justice, wisdom, courage, and moderation are the key values that define a good society based on virtue, which must be protected against war. Plato said knowledge is virtue. To know the good is to do the good. He also said wisdom is the key to virtue, and virtue is sufficient for happiness.
In Aristotle 's Nicomachean Ethics, the basic idea of virtue ethics is established. The most important points are that every action and decision that humans make is aimed at achieving the good or as Aristotle 's writes, “Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and choice, is thought to aim at the good... (Aristotle 1094a). Aristotle further explains that this good aimed for is happiness.
Plato’s ideal ruler must have a good mind, always be truthful, have knowledge and discipline, and not be afraid of death. In short, the ruler is a philosopher that satisfies the four virtues of wisdom, courage, moderation/self-control, and justice. Plato, nonetheless neglects the fact that everyone sins and fails to mention it in the ideal state or ruler. However, the state and ruler was made up mainly to better understand the meaning of justice and was not made up so that it might be practiced.
Its primary aim is to praise and blame and it deals with excellence, goodness, shame, nobility, honor and matters of vice and virtue. According to Aristotle, virtue comprises courage, justice, magnificence, liberality, self-control, magnanimity, gentleness and wisdom that is speculative.
Socrates attempts to make other people reason well and therefore be virtuous by performing their human function; I believe that this action inwardly reflects Socrates’s own virtue. For example, if a professor can effectively teach mathematics to his students, then he most likely holds knowledge of the subject within himself. In a similar way, Socrates instills virtue in other people, which shows that he himself is a virtuous being. Although some people criticize him, evidence of his positive impact is reinforced by the approval and support of his friends in the Apology. While promoting virtue when alive, Socrates wishes to continue to encourage virtue even after death. For example, at the onset of his death, Socrates asks the jurors to ensure that his sons are given grief if they care for anything else more than virtue (Plato and Grube 44). While Socrates could have been thinking about himself or other things at that moment, he is thinking of how to guide people towards living virtuously. Both his actions while living and his intentions after death reveal that Socrates wished to aid people in living virtuous lives, which highlight his own state of
total good of the man. Plato holds that if the desire were truly for a good
He believes that someone cant just decide weather they were happy or not but rather that there were certain virtues that if preformed would enable somebody to be happy. Virtues acts such as courage, temperance, wittiness, modesty, patience and friendliness are a few of these virtues. In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle defines virtue as “a characteristic involving choice, and that it consists in observing the mean relative to us, a mean which is defined by a rational principle, such as a man of practical wisdom would use to determine
Human Nature and Moral Theory in Plato’s Republic. In Chapter 2 of Republic, Glaucon uses the Myth of the Lydian Shepherd to portray a pessimistic view of human nature. Plato, the author of Republic, uses his brother Glaucon to tell the Myth of the Lydian Shepherd. We are led to believe that Plato takes the myth and its implications on human nature very seriously by using a personal character.
Virtue theory is the best ethical theory because it emphasizes the morality of an individual in which their act is upon pure goodness and presents as a model to motivate others. Aristotle was a classical proponent of virtue theory who illustrates the development habitual acts out of moral goodness. Plato renders a brief list of cardinal virtues consisting of wisdom, temperance, courage, and justice. This ethical theory prominently contradicts and links to other theories that personifies the ideal being. However, virtue theorists differ from their own expression of these qualities yet it sets a tone that reflects on the desire to express kindness toward others.
In his several dialogues, Plato contends the importance of the four virtues: wisdom, courage, self-control, and justice. In The Republic, he describes a top-down hierarchy that correlates to the aspects of one’s soul. Wisdom, courage, and temperance preside control over the rational, spirited, and appetitive aspects of the soul. It is when one maintains a balance between these aspects of his soul that he attains peace within himself: “...And when he has bound together the three principles within him...he proceeds to act...always thinking and calling that which preserves and cooperates with this harmonious condition (Plato 443c).” Wisdom and knowledge consistently remain at the top of his view of happiness. During the apology, Plato is asked what punishment is best suited for him. He sarcastically answers, “to be fed...(It is) much more suitable than for any one who has won a v...
Virtue Ethics is an important topic to study, because it is Aristotle’s view on the way we should all be living our lives. This topic is also important because it allows a person better understandings on how to be a good and responsible human being. Virtue Ethics teaches people how to make the best decisions in life. Nicomachean believed that to be virtuous a person had to have the habit of behaving in moderate ways. Aristotle states that “it is clear that none of the moral virtues are engendered in us by nature, for no natural property can be altered by habit” (Nicomachean Ethics, p.71.). After reading and studying Aristotle’s views of virtue I agree with him completely. I believe that in order to live a virtuous life that we first have to
The concept of virtue ethics was first developed by Aristotle in 'nichomachean ethics '. He believed that the point of ethics is to become good, and virtue ethics highlights this well. It is an agent centred idea of morality and focuses on how a person can develop virtues and what sort of person you should be, rather than how you should act in order to be good. An alternative name for it is aretaic ethics, which comes from the Greek arete meaning any kind of excellence.
...is own desires rather than his subjects needs is not virtuous. Second, a person in the military, who is supposed to be courageous may desert his fellow troops in fear. Third, many common people commit crimes, and create conflict within the community. None of these people are virtuous. However, this is exactly what Plato was getting at. Plato believes that when each of these classes performs its own role and does not try to take over any other class, the entire city as a whole will operate smoothly, showing the harmony that is genuine justice. (ln 433e) What makes the Republic such an important and interesting piece of literature is that by examining what brings true justice and harmony to the world, we can therefore understand all of the virtues by considering how each is placed within the organization of an ideal city.
For both Plato and Aristotle, virtue was considered essential for happiness. For Plato, wisdom is the basic virtue and with it, one can unify all virtues into a whole. Aristotle, on the other hand, believed that wisdom was virtuous, but that achieving virtue was neither automatic nor did it grant any unification of other virtues. To Aristotle, wisdom was a goal achieved only after effort, and unless a person chose to think and act wisely, other virtues would remain out of reach
In Plato’s Republic I and Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (Book 1: Chapter 7), the philosophers examine function/virtue in its relation to human life through two separate function arguments. Both Plato and Aristotle reason that every material and non-material thing has a particular function and virtue that allows its function to perform better. Along these lines, Plato and Aristotle further argue that all humans possess a particular function and virtue in their souls that allows certain individuals to live better than others. For instance, Plato reasons that a just person will always live better than an unjust person. However, Plato ultimately fails to logically establish the basis for human function/virtue while also over emphasizing the value of justice in living a good life.
In conclusion, Aristotle disagreed with Socrates and Plato as he denied that humans are naturally drawn towards “the good”. He said that you can be a good person if you choose to do the right thing, if you choose to be virtuous. He categorised and defined sciences and therefore defined what virtue and ethics is and how to be virtuous. He also came up with the idea of the “moral mean”, for example, too much bravery is too rash but too little bravery is being cowardly. The most important thing he says is that you cannot just simply know what the right thing to do is; you have to do that right thing.