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A social influence on individual behavior
Social influence on behaviour
A social influence on individual behavior
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In this week’s reading, we have had the ability to read about what drives people to be good and moral. Plato divided the human soul into three parts, thus creating the tri-partite soul. These three parts are the rational, the spirited and the appetite. These three parts assist in understanding police deviance and how to account for such behaviors. Before delving into Plato’s tri-partite soul, we will discuss the differences between misfeasance, malfeasance, and nonfeasance, as they relate to police deviance.
According to Williams and Arrigo (2008), misfeasance is the improper performance of some act that an official may lawfully do. For example, if an officer accepts free meals in exchange for special privileges. This could be as small as allowing someone to park illegally
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without writing them a ticket. Within the prison system, it could be conveyed as providing a prison with the privilege of going to a particular cell block that is known to have “extra benefits”. Malfeasance is the direct misconduct by a public official, according to Williams and Arrigo (2008). This particular type of misconduct is what is often seen and heard about in social media reports. They can include but are not limited to corrupt acts such as theft, embezzlement, trafficking, extortion and even counterfeiting rings. Williams and Arrigo define nonfeasance as the failure to act according to one’s responsibilities, or the omission of an act that an official ought to perform (2008, p.99). Essentially, the authors are pointing out that one’s failure to act makes them just as guilty as if they were the one that committed the act to begin with. An equivalent to the term would be to turn the other cheek. Often times, we see this within the correctional system. Chief Randall Kirkland of the Vonore Police Department reported that when he was a jailer, he had seen this first hand when other officers were in the jail receiving oral sex from the female inmates between the jail cells as a means of controlling conduct. The fear of losing one’s job by reporting the occurrences within the jail were great. However, Chief Kirkland did not commit nonfeasance as he reported his fellow officer’s which were subsequently terminated. How does misfeasance, malfeasance and nonfeasance correlate with Plato’s tri-partite soul theory?
According to Cerrato (2013), Plato defines a moral individual as the one who has attained a supreme control over the spirit and the appetite through his rationality. This was applied in the three classes of society, namely the ruling class, the military class towards honor, and the commoners towards appetite. The rational symbolizes the mind and represents the ruling class. A rational mind thinks, analyzes, and gauges options for the best outcome of any given situation (Williams & Arrigo, 2008, p. 113). The spirited is associated with bravery, honor and the ability to overcome great challenges. The appetite symbolizes one’s desire to fulfill their life and not reach for a higher goal. It is the appetite that is commonly associated with police deviance as greed often takes over one’s otherwise moral character. Cerrato (2013) states that the tri-partite soul seeks spiritual attainment but the worldly cares of the universe pull it back from its divine goal; the whole purpose of the soul was to attain perfect knowledge form like the gods-truth, justice, beauty, and rational knowledge
(p.275). In reviewing Plato’s notion of the tri-partite soul, one could visualize how this could play into understanding police deviance. In reviewing what the terms nonfeasance, malfeasance and misfeasance, we were able to see how each of them individually play into police deviance. Most often times, officers do not go searching for ways to become deviant. The opportunity randomly presents itself and it is at that time, when the appetite for greed takes control.
Plato's philosophy of government sees the State as a larger version of the individual, and the soul of an individual is comprised of three parts. Plato states that these three parts include the appetite, the spirit, and reason (167), and these parts have goals and desires that pertain only to them. For example, reason finds fulfillment in the study ...
Aristotle’s psychological types, as described in “Nichomachean Ethics,” are a categorization of different internal moral characters. These categories are a comprehensive attempt - for ancient philosophy - at identifying which internal psychologies manifest virtuous or morally bad behaviour. His moral categories are somewhat obsolete in a post-modern world, where science and politics are far more developed than in Ancient Greece. However, moral psychological ethics and normative debate still holds a relevant position in the moral undercurrent of society – it is dispersed through legal, political, military and medical activity, in relationships and familial function. It is for this reason, that Immanuel Kant examined a similar issue in “Pure Practical Reason and the Moral Law,” and that it still makes for interesting philosophical discussion.
The philosophical ideas of Plato that relate to the Parthenon include whether the structure is an element of the Visible World or the Intelligible World. In my opinion, Plato would view the Parthenon as an object in the Visible World. The Parthenon is a one of a kind monument that is tangible and exists in our real world. The Parthenon is an architectural project and deals with forms of science and mathematics. Plato's view of science and mathematics are categorized as forms in the Intelligible World, which are intangible. Through analysis of illusory tactics, the Tripartite Soul, the simile of the line, and the artistic qualities of architecture, Plato's, as well as my view of the Parthenon will become evident.
Plato pushes the idea of harmonizing the soul. The soul guides the mind and body. According to Plato, the soul can be divided into three parts; the appetite, the spirited, and the logical.
These duties, which vary in accordance with the metal an individual possesses in his soul, are clearly outlined in Plato’s Myth of the Metals. Thus, a just man from the bronze class will possess different characteristics than a just man in the silver or gold classes. Despite these differences, both men may still be considered virtuous human beings. The most virtuous man, however, is an individual who possesses not only the qualities of his own class, but also those of the remaining two classes. For example, an individual from the gold class must certainly have a wise soul. However, if this individual is also appetitive and spirited like the individuals in the bronze and silver classes, then he is a most virtuous and just
In his philosophical text, The Republic, Plato argues that justice can only be realized by the moderation of the soul, which he claims reflects as the moderation of the city. He engages in a debate, via the persona of Socrates, with Ademantus and Gaucon on the benefit, or lack thereof, for the man who leads a just life. I shall argue that this analogy reflecting the governing of forces in the soul and in city serves as a sufficient device in proving that justice is beneficial to those who believe in, and practice it. I shall further argue that Plato establishes that the metaphorical bridge between the city and soul analogy and reality is the leader, and that in the city governed by justice the philosopher is king.
It is often said that power brings corruption, but in reality it is an individual’s lack of character, self-discipline, and integrity that leads to corruption. Law enforcement can bring many temptations on the job, and maintaining an up most level of personal integrity can often times be very difficult. The very nature of the job surrounds officers with all of the bad things that society, produces. There can be an endless amount of training and rules put into place to try and deter officers from committing unethical acts, but in the end it really just comes down to the specific individual and their willingness to do the right thing.
The problem of moral motivation is one that, as Scanlon correctly identifies, every competent moral theory must recognise. While chapter 4 of Scanlon's What We Owe to Each Other, `Wrongness and Reasons', is praiseworthy in its extended and subtle inspection of why we should be provided with a satisfactory reason for being morally good, there are elements of this piece that I find difficult to swallow, regardless of the tenacity with which I ruminate; in particular, Scanlon unsatisfactorily addresses the problem of the amoralist in his framework. I feel this is due to an incorrect charaterisation of those `left cold' by morality, and, as a result, Scanlon's conclusions concerning amoralist position are incorrect as a result. This essay hopes to provide a more phenomenologically accurate description of the psychology and sociological footprint of the amoralist.
According to T.Z. Lavine, currently Elton Professor of philosophy at George Washington University, “The specific function which man has which distinguishes him form other living things, is his power to use language and to reason. His other two elements are his bodily appetites, desires, needs, and a spirited element, expressed in emotional drives such as anger, aggression, ambition, pride protectiveness, honor, loyalty, courage” (Lavine, 1984). It would seem that in Plato’s opinion, a man’s
Plato’s Concept of the Soul and its Relationship with the Body. Plato’s theory of the body and soul originated from his earlier theories and dialogs, ‘the analogy of the cave’ and ‘the theory of the cave’. forms’. The. Plato believed that the soul is immortal.
Recently, the scientific and religious communities are sparring over life’s biggest existential question; how do humans exist? Throughout the 20th and 21st century, many ardent believers in God, specifically believers of the Judeo-Christian God, believe in a literal translation of the Genesis stories. These Evangelicals believe that whatever happened in the Bible is the verbatim truth and accurately describes how humanity was created. This philosophy, namely Creationism, states that the physical and spiritual worlds were created by God in seven days around six thousand years ago. However, a new belief system arose on the creation of humanity: evolution. Created by the natural sciences, evolution states that, just like all living beings, humans
...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.
This essay will be examining the ethics of Plato (428-347 BCE) and Aristotle (384-322 B.C). I will firstly attempt to summarise the three fundamental concepts of Plato and Aristotle before providing my own opinion and view on their ethics. I will concentrate on their theories on the good life as a life of justice, censorship and knowledge.
Plato believed that the body and the soul were two separate entities, the body being mortal and the soul being immortal. In Plato’s phaedo, this is further explained by Socrates. He claims that by living a philosophical life, we are able to eventually free the soul from the body and its needs. If we have not yield to our bodily needs, we should not fear death, since it can than permanently detach the soul from the body. The most convincing argument for the immortality of the body is the theory of recollection, which shows that we are already born with knowledge of forms and that learning is thus recalling these ideas. If we are already born with knowledge this implies that are soul is immortal, since it would otherwise be a blank page.
When a person hears the word “moral” they think about the various ways that a person or creature is supposed to carry themselves. Things will never be what they appear to be in the eyes of someone else. People tend to do things or ask certain questions that they may not know how to react to. How we answer these inquiries depends to a limited extent upon the qualifications we make among the implications of the expressions "moral," “amoral,” “immoral” and “non-moral”. A person has a distinguishing piece of each one of these characteristics that they carry or are aware of whenever they are doing something.