... this question. On June 13, 2001 my best friend Eric died of a heart attack at the age of 15. Ever since then I"ve asked myself, why do bad things happen to good people? Eric was a one in a million friend that a boy could ever want or have. Eric's big smile and caring heart is what made Eric ... , friends, and relatives, is an evil deed. After reading several books, I"ve come upon Plato's theory of good and evil. Plato says "are not all things either good or evil or intermediate and indifferent?" (263). This basically says, can you really classify what is good and what is evil? "The ... go...

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• Grade Level: High School

... both around 500,000 - 800,000, of which 120,000 were employed in the military, which possessed 120 ships (Civilization). However, these are not the exact figures. While translating the notes of Solon, Plato made an error. He interpreted the Greek symbol for 100, as the symbol for 1000, thus throwing every statistic off by a factor of ten. Despite the resulting ... quarried from under Atlantis: "one kind of stone was white, another black, and a third red" (Plato 45). The first sight of Thera that modern tourists see are the sheer cliffs that remain. These cliffs are a breathtaking mix of...

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... I knew what I was doing. Helping humankind I helped myself to misery And yet I never dreamed it would be like this, this wasting away against the air hung cliffs the desolate mountain top the loneliness So don't now, don't cry over this, the sorrow that is." {PB, pp. 42-43, ln. 402-414) From this ... He spoke of the people of Athens who gave him such a name saying, "For those present on each occasion suppose that I myself am wise in the things concerning which I refute someone else, whereas it is probably, men, that really the god is wise, and that in this oracle he is saying that ... w...

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... . Dante makes the point that sinners elect their hell by an act of their own will. Part II - #7 "So that which gives truth to things known and the power to know to the knower is the form of the good." - The Republic The passage is central to Plato's republic because it ... benefits and pleasures, but acquaintance with the form (the perfect ideal) itself. Just the way that the sun provides illumination by means which we perceive things, the form of good provides the ultimate standard by means of which we can apprehend the reality of everything that has value. Justice as interpreted by ... ...

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... theory of forms is always presumed by Plato, as well as a moral standard that defines human good as wisdom and virtue (even if those things are hard to define), rather than wealth or status. The middle dialogues are centered on the Republic; now, Plato's own philosophy begins to ... developed from certain seldom-stated assumptions that Socrates held. Socrates' view was that the reason he and his interlocutors failed to find definitions for things was that they were stuck in case-based, specific examples. Does bravery mean fighting against a person stronger than yourself, or does it mean ...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... the democratic society could potentially lead to anarchy. In Plato's perfect society, he forged ahead to eliminate the disease (pluralism of friendship) that plagued the human character and society (Class Notes). Essentially, Plato wanted to establish the perfect form of society, linked by one single entity. Aristotle, unlike Plato, was not focused or concerned about the idea of a perfect society, ... controlling class, governing the political matters and decisions that effect the state. The Theory of Democracy that Aristotle states is that democracy is a "perversion" form of government...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... strapped down in chairs staring at shadows being made by creatures dancing in front of a fire behind them. This is all they know; these shadows are the prisoners" reality. ( Halsted notes October 6, 2003) Plato's calls this common sense. The Second stage is Recognition. The prisoners now break their chains and headgear and turn to see the creatures that are walking in ... the comfort of the cave to go into the sunlight of the world. Plato sees this as a person Neumann 2 becoming aware of a truer and more real world that exists. (Halsted notes October 6, 2003) The fourth level is Observa...

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... see what I missed and what I needed to study more, than to cheat. There are four reasons why we should behave justly. 1) To avoid punishment. (Benko, notes) If we behave unjustly we will soon be punished for those acts and most human beings don't like to be punished in any way. People will kill themselves to ... avoid punishment. 2) If we could get away with crimes, we would commit them. (Benko, notes) If we knew that we could get away with killing someone we would have a major decrease in population. Today so many people have so much hate for one ... just. To be truly unjust, he or sh...

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... see what I missed and what I needed to study more, than to cheat. There are four reasons why we should behave justly. 1) To avoid punishment. (Benko, notes) If we behave unjustly we will soon be punished for those acts and most human beings don't like to be punished in any way. People will kill themselves to ... avoid punishment. 2) If we could get away with crimes, we would commit them. (Benko, notes) If we knew that we could get away with killing someone we would have a major decrease in population. Today so many people have so much hate for one ... just. To be truly unjust, he or sh...

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... do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept." (Thucydides, pg.402), he believes that power decides how things should be, meaning that justice doesn't form part of any decision making. Those who have power have control over those who have nothing and thus take ... world, instead the ones that stay will continue to suffer. Essay #2 In Plato's "Apology" knowledge is discussed as having wisdom, being able to accept how things are and not pretending to know. In the Republic, knowledge is being compared to ignorance and opinion. Knowledge is being aware of the...

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... because of his astounding strength, but that ended when he received a serious injury. Sometime after, he met Socrates and became open-minded to his opinions. Plato would spend hours taking notes on Socrates' deepest thoughts. But Socrates was soon charged with blasphemy, the act of not expressing reverence for God. He was forced to drink hemlock and died. "It is better ... behind the Socratic method. It is critical to science and is taught by questioning. He focused more on the soul instead of science. Socrates influence Plato and let him take notes on his thoughts. Plato, Greek's best ...

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... take: (for more on this, check the listserv) - Moral sensibilities are important: we need shame and embarrassment to keep us from doing horrible things. Embarrassment: the feeling of being caught doing something private (i.e. copulating and being discovered by others) Shame: the bad feeling you get from engaging in ... a sufficient condition for having good moral character - Censorship also not necessary for a democracy's having a good general character. Why? Because without the things being censored, we won't know if we are possessed of the right type of character. But it is important (a...

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... by D. J O"Conner, he "rightly regarded logic as providing the method or technique of philosophical progress"(38). The first to develop deductive inference, Aristotle defined syllogism as "a discourse in which certain things having been stated, something else follows of necessity from their being so"(Charles 24). Syllogisms can be represented by a's are b, b's are c, a's are c. there is also a's are red, a's are ... varying situations (1). God is the ultimate final cause. Aristotle wrote a work entitled, On the Heavens where he portrayed his studies on God and heaven. Starting with ordin...

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... is that their passion for independent thought, which is alive and well in every text you read. Plato's version of Socrates and Artistotle's lecture notes both feverishly seek out new interpretations and theories of the world surrounding us and the world within us, and produce ideas whose ultimate result is ... the students of the world cannot. One comparison of ideas can be drawn from Aristotle and Plato's belief about things not of this dimension, demonstrated through Socrates and Aristotle's text. The philosophies of the two minds constantly concern themselves with the ethereal, the .....

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... of becoming and distinctly separate concepts for Plato, Pieper, and Thoreau are directly related to that capacity of understanding. For Plato, the physical things of the world must have bodily form. They must be both visible and tangible, yet their state of being is not the same thing ... philosophy that it was possible to redefine, through his time at Walden Pond, what the true "necessaries" of life really are (Walden 111). Thoreau notes that the real necessities of life, which are essential to people anywhere, can be answered with only a few items: food, shelter, clothing and ... of t...

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... one thing and different nature must practice a different thing, and that women and men are different. But at the same time, he asserts that "different natures must practice the same things" (453e). In Plato's society, "if either the class of men or that of women shows superiority in some art or other practice, then we"ll say that art must be ... assigned to it" (454c). Plato admits that, on the whole, "woman is weaker than man," although Glaucon notes that "many women are better than many men in many things" (455e, 455d). Under the Platonic system, women are permitted to develop as musi...

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... philosophies, he was not a teacher. He was merely a great philosopher that set out to open the minds of others as he questioned them, in order to make them think of things that were unthought of. In these two positive statements I shall set out to explain his thoughts in a manner that is similar to the modern thoughts of today. I will also formulate ... another musical ensemble that needs the collabaration of others in order to stay in tune. One string or person out of tune causes dissonance. Dissonance is a conflict in tonality between notes. That part of the phrase is shown in compari...

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... and were not published in his lifetime. Aristotle never intended for these particular 30 writings to be published, for it is said that they are over 2000 pages of lecture notes from the courses taught at the Lyceum. These works were first published in 60 BC by Andronicus of Rhodes, the last head of the Lyceum. These works were Aristotle's thoughts ... real or true substance? To answer this question, Aristotle uses Plato's theory of forms and comes up with three points. First, Aristotle says forms are powerless to explain changes of things and its extinction. Forms are not causes of alte...

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... their personal identity to fit in with the public's perception of what's proper. In his first poem that addresses him hometown, "when i am in Boston," Cummings describes a scene while he notes, "when i am in Boston, i do not speak and i sit in the click of ivory balls noting flies, which jerk upon the weak colour of table-cloth, the electric When in ... , Cummings supports his different style in his poem "since feeling is first." In this poetic protest, Cummings argues "since feeling is first who pays any attention to the syntax of things will never wholly kiss you;" 11 Since feeling is ...

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... " him; he wants to show the man "body wisdom". I believe this excerpt relates to Socrates because of what has been said in the excerpt is basically what is in our notes. Socrates believes that to learn, one must go farther than just books. He also says this in the excerpt, "Your only recourse has been to read books and listen to ... experts and hope that they are right." Socrates believes that not everything can be taught, experience can teach things no teacher will ever be able to. Embraced by the Light Excerpt #2 The second excerpt from Embraced by the Light talks about people judging ...

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... he gets to the sun. "I think he would need time to get adjusted before he could see things in the world above: at first he would see the shadows most easily, then reflections of men and other things in the water, then the things themselves. After this he would see objects in the sky and the sky itself more easily at night ... view one of their "members" or classmates got released. They haven't seen him in quite a while and when the freed prisoner came back he tried to tell them things like the shadows aren't real, that there is a big fire behind them with big sculptures that cast shadow...

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... the way of Athenians and obtaining the truth is not necessarily bad. Socrates is not misleading the youth, but teaching his students to look deeper of the inner workings of things. He is trying to free the minds of Athenians and have them notice what they are to Athens, slaves. The realization is a clear threat to Athens, reducing its number of ... experience develops virtue and grants wisdom. Wisdom is a form of knowledge that allows good judgment. The added ability to understand how things work like Socrates teaching allows for true understating of how things operate. Understanding pr...

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... thing that comes into mind" (73c). Thus, it could be said that people have "experiences about things that have been forgotten" (73e). Socrates states that recollection can also happen when seeing things that are similar or by things that are different. When someone sees similar things, they considered them to be equal, but what is "equal itself" (74a)? Equal ... "appear to one to be equal and to another to be unequal" (74b). Equal itself cannot be unequal; therefore, equal things and Equal itself are not the same. Though, they are different, it is from the equal things "that you have de...

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... , Augustine holds to a doctrine of gradations of goodness. The good of the body is inferior to that of the soul. One's will, in itself, may turn to higher or lower things, and may err by preferring inferior good to superior. Eros not only concerns thinking about the good and beautiful, but also "requires the active pursuit of it as to possess ... from bodies, to forms, to thoughts, to institutions and law, to science, and to absolute or ideal beauty. Stated in other words, eros moves us from physical things, that is, things that change, to permanent things. In the experience of this true...

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... the sentence after the trial. Socrates is "already advanced in years and close to death" (Apology, 38d) and he clearly knows that he won't say or do many things that Athenian people "are accustomed to hear from others" (Apology, 38e). Additionally, he understands the rumors and bad reputation he is suffering are the results of his offensive ... as well as the representative of power. Socrates accuses Meletus "dealing frivolously with serious matters, of irresponsibly bringing people into court, and of professing to be seriously concerned with things about non of which he has even cared"...

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• Grade Level: High School