Exercise Self-Talk in Peer Assessment: Building Self-Awareness Greek people have a long, and rich, history in sarcasm; it is telling that the word itself is a loan from the ancient Greek verb σαρκάζειν, or to tear flesh. For example, look at the comedies of Aristophanes, where not even gods escaped his ridiculing. While acceptable and prevalent in modern Greek culture, sarcasm is no virtue but a sin based on a sense of self-superiority with a license to judge others. In truth, even if we are to make allowances for cultural upbringing, sarcasm is usually an indication of a severe lack of self-knowledge—the virtue that begets empathy and sympathy. This is a long way of saying that my biggest weakness is, indeed, sarcasm—even if, nowadays, it is mostly contained inside me. Given the above, it is no wonder …show more content…
Whether or not one waives their anthropology as metaphysics, one cannot deny that much of their ascetical works revolve around the guarding of the νοῦς, or mind. Their premise is that there is an obvious division between immanent reason and external speech; thus, external silence does not automatically imply an internal silence as well. In fact, the Fathers had noted that the human mind rarely, if ever, stays silent; as modern emotional psychology stresses, the human mind is constantly buzzing with thoughts. Furthermore, they had noted that thoughts can be “simple” as comprised by observation alone, or “complex” comprised of observation and desire and/or judgement (Βλάχος, 1989); in this, they were verified by emotional psychology which distinguishes between observations and judgement. Finally, the Fathers had noted that thoughts, in time, define a man’s personality; therefore, it is our duty to keep the good thoughts, and reject the
In the Symposium, a most interesting view on love and soul mates are provided by one of the characters, Aristophanes. In the speech of Aristophanes, he says that there is basically a type of love that connects people. Aristophanes begins his description of love by telling the tale of how love began. He presents the tale of three sexes: male, female, and a combination of both. These three distinct sexes represented one’s soul. These souls split in half, creating a mirror image of each one of them. Aristophanes describes love as the search for the other half of your soul in this quote: “When a man’s natural form was split in two, each half went round looking for its other half. They put their arms around one another, and embraced each other, in their desire to grow together again. Aristophanes theme is the power of Eros and how not to abuse it.
In his Birds, Aristophanes seems to favor the creation of an escapist or fantasy utopia. Indeed, the two main characters, Pisthetarios and Euelpides are tired of their current situation in Athens and leave behind the city in search for greener pastures. After convincing the birds to give consent to share some of their space, Pisthetairos and Euelpides establish Cloudcuckooland and proclaim tyrannical rule. Pisthetairos, the leader of the project, outlines the functions of the new city-state in the agon on page 228-229 as well as assigning the name of the new city-state Cloudcuckooland. The outline provided clearly shows that Pisthetairos intends this new city-state to function opposite current Athens, thereby presenting a purified Athens of
The Lysistrata of Aristophanes Aristophanes was a satirist who produced Lysistrata around 413 BC when the news of Athen’s warships had been destroyed near Sicily. For twenty-one years, while Athens was engaged in war, he relentlessly and wittliy attacked the war, the ideals of the war, the war party and the war spirit. This risked his acceptance and his Athenian citizenship. Lysistrata is probably the oldest comedy which has retained a place in modern theatre. It primarily deals with two themes, war and the power of sexuality.. Lysistrata (an invented name meaning, She Who Puts an End to War) has summoned the women of Athens to meet her at the foot of Acropolis. She puts before them the easy invitation that they must never lie again with their husbands until the war is ended. At first, they shudder and withdraw and refuse until, with the help of the women from Sparta and Thebes, they are impelled to agree. The women seize the Acropolis from which Athens is funding the war. After days of sexually depriving their men in order to bring peace to there communities. They defeat back in an attack from the old men who had remained in Athens while the younger men are on their crusade. When their husbands return from battle, the women reject sex and stand guard at Acropolis. The sex strike, portrayed in risqué episodes, finally pressure the men of Athens and Sparta to consent to a peace treaty. Ancient Greece in 431 BC was not a nation.
“Before him alone I feel ashamed, for I am conscious that I cannot contradict him and say it isn’t necessary to do what he bids, but when I leave him, I am worsted by the honors of the multitude. So I desert him and flee, and when I see him I am ashamed by my own arrangements. ” But then again, Alcibiades thinks he could gratify Socrates and pursue good things and some wisdom from him by using his youthful beauty. But he
The pursuit of knowledge has led many a philosopher to wonder what the purpose of life truly is, and how the material and immaterial are connected. The simple fact is, we can never know for certain. Arguments can be made, words can be thrown around, and rationale can be supported, but we as mere humans are not capable of arriving at the perfect understanding of life. Nonetheless, in the war against our own ignorance, we seek possible explanations to explain that which science and math cannot. Philosopher 's such as Plato and Aristotle have made notable contributions to our idea of the soul and its role in the grand scheme of life, while some, such as Descartes, have taken a more metaphysical view by pondering the impact one 's mind has on
Pericles is one of the most important figures in Greek history. He was born c. 490 B.C. in Athens, and he died in 429 B.C. in Athens. His greatest accomplishments were creating the Golden Age and planning the invention of the Parthenon. Pericles made Athens the capital of Greece, and he was re-elected as its leader every year from 461 B.C. to 429 B.C.. He founded the Delian League, a group of Greek city-states whose purpose was to protect and liberate Greek cities from Persian control. Pericles was the greatest of the many leaders that ruled Greece as he was responsible for making Athens the powerful and cultural center of Greece.
...of the body, and no problem arises of how soul and body can be united into a substantial whole: ‘there is no need to investigate whether the soul and the body are one, any more than the wax and the shape, or in general the matter of each thing and that of which it is the matter; for while “one” and “being” are said in many ways, the primary [sense] is actuality’ (De anima 2.1, 12B6–9).Many twentieth-century philosophers have been looking for just such a via media between materialism and dualism, at least for the case of the human mind; and much scholarly attention has gone into asking whether Aristotle’s view can be aligned with one of the modern alternatives, or whether it offers something preferable to any of the modern alternatives, or whether it is so bound up with a falsified Aristotelian science that it must regretfully be dismissed as no longer a live option.
Parmenides presents an interesting theory concerning the meta-theoretical issue of what can be legitimately thought and said. Initially, his theory seems to be logically sound based on the premises presented. However, upon closer analysis, the theory weakens due to flawed reasoning. Parmenides attempts to refute the existence of certain concepts when, according to his theory, those concepts must necessarily exist. Also, Parmenides writes off the senses as deceptive, but no thoughts could be had without the senses, thus creating a paradox. Since Parmenides presents both sound logic and flawed reasoning, his argument can only be partly right.
It is said that the truth will set you free, but in the case of Sophocles’ Oedipus, the truth drives a man to imprison himself in a world of darkness by gouging out his eyes. As he scours the city for truth, Oedipus’ ruin is ironically mentioned and foreshadowed in the narrative. With these and other devices Sophocles illuminates the king’s tragic realization and creates a firm emotional bond with the audience.
The Birds and The Frogs, written by Aristophanes, show a strong dichotomy between the pragmatic and romantic. This dichotomy is prominent in both stories because it voices a perspective on the evolution of Greek culture. Although written for entertainment, many of the punchlines refer to the real life triumphs and crises of Greece. For example; both plays were written during the 4th Century BCE, during which, Athens was on the brink of war with Sparta. The crisis in Athens is used as a plot point in both plays, with many characters desperately trying to find a way to resolve this conflict or run away from it. This relates back to the dichotomy. In The Birds, the characters of Pisthetairos and Euelpides start off with the intention of running away from the possible destruction of Athens. They represent the pragmatist who decide face this possible reality. In The Frogs, the satirized version of real life Greek poet, Aeschylus, is obsessed with idealizing Greece, and believes that Athens can save itself from despair. He is represents the romantic who refuses to face this possible reality.Although both perceptions are subjective, both plays depict those who have this idealistic and impractical attitude, are the ones who actually succeed in their objectives. These characters triumph because of their obsession with preserving these romantic concepts instead of accepting a more realistic perception. This leads the character to be resolute.
In the play Wasps, Aristophanes informs the audience about the fact that their leaders are completely corrupted. This is done frequently throughout the play through the use of the humour device of ridiculing of an individual, in this case, Cleon is that individual. Using comedy to his advantage, Aristophanes continuously mocks Cleon in the play. In fact, at one point he even calls him a ‘whale-creature’ to describe his physical appearance. i.e. “And this disgusting whale-creature had pair of scales and it was weighing out bits of fat from a carcass… Dividing up the body politic – I see it all. Horrible!” Aside from insulting Cleon’s appearance, Aristophanes also addresses the fact that political leaders are stealing from the people and, that
However, this is not always the case. An exception is the covering around the brain. That covering has to be massive to give maximal protection but that very massiveness would impede sensation. Therefore a preferential choice should be made among the conflicting demands. This kind of cases of resistance by Necessity to the “persuasion” of Intellect limit the degree of excellence the created world can gain. Timaeus’ discourse goes on with an account of the mechanisms of digestion and respiration, and classification and etiological discussion of various diseases of both body and soul. It is a preparatory to an exhortation to properly exercise both the body and soul to recover or to maintain physical, psychic well being. This well being of the soul in particular is emphasized:
While the great philosophical distinction between mind and body in western thought can be traced to the Greeks, it is to the influential work of René Descartes, French mathematician, philosopher, and physiologist, that we owe the first systematic account of the mind/body relationship. As the 19th century progressed, the problem of the relationship of mind to brain became ever more pressing.
But, “human persons have an ‘inner’ dimension that is just as important as the ‘outer’ embodiment” (Cortez, 71). The “inner” element cannot be wholly explained by the “outer” embodiment, but it does give rise to inimitable facets of the human life, such as human dignity and personal identity. The mind-body problem entails two theories, dualism and physicalism. Dualism contends that distinct mental and physical realms exist, and they both must be taken into account. Its counterpart (weak) physicalism views the human as being completely bodily and physical, encompassing no non-physical, or spiritual, substances.
...have struggled with the nature of human beings, especially with the concept of “self”. What Plato called “soul, Descartes named the “mind”, while Hume used the term “self”. This self, often visible during hardships, is what one can be certain of, whose existence is undoubtable. Descartes’s “I think, therefore I am” concept of transcendental self with just the conscious mind is too simplistic to capture the whole of one’s self. Similarly, the empirical self’s idea of brain in charge of one’s self also shows a narrow perspective. Hume’s bundle theory seeks to provide the distinction by claiming that a self is merely a habitual way of discussing certain perceptions. Although the idea of self is well established, philosophical insight still sees that there is no clear presentation of essential self and thus fails to prove that the true, essential self really exists.