Our 10 questions for study is:
Who was put to death for asking too many questions?
Socrates
Who is Plato's most impressive student?
Aristotle
Plato's parable of the cave was intended to illustrate the distinction between appearance and reality, and to introduce his Theory of _____
Forms
What modern governmet does Plato's ideal/book represent?
Totalitarian
In the Raphael painting School of Athens, is Aristotle pointing up?
No he is pointing down.
What was Aristotle's word for happiness or success?
Eudaimonia
What does ethika mean?
Study of character
Who was one of Aristotle's most impressive students?
Julius Caesar
Boethius was killed very swiftly and without too much pain. T/F
True
Where does Augstine come from?
Hippo, in Algeria.
Also we can post our 250 word summaries here for our project.
Who was put to death for asking too many questions?
Socrates
Who is Plato's most impressive student?
Aristotle
Plato's parable of the cave was intended to illustrate the distinction between appearance and reality, and to introduce his Theory of _____
Forms
What modern governmet does Plato's ideal/book represent?
Totalitarian
In the Raphael painting School of Athens, is Aristotle pointing up?
No he is pointing down.
What was Aristotle's word for happiness or success?
Eudaimonia
What does ethika mean?
Study of character
Who was one of Aristotle's most impressive students?
Julius Caesar
Boethius was killed very swiftly and without too much pain. T/F
True
Where does Augstine come from?
Hippo, in Algeria.
Also we can post our 250 word summaries here for our project.
After reading Nicomachean Ethics Book 1 by Aristotle translated by Roger Crisp, we learn many things but first we must tackle the language barrier. Ancient Greek language is very different than English, furthermore Ancient Greek culture is very different than modern culture and there are some concepts that cannot be directly translated. One central theme of Aristotle’s first book is Eudaimonia which is roughly translated to happiness, success or fulfillment. Aristotle explains that Eudaimonia is what everyone wants to achieve. He explained-contrary to popular Ancient Greek culture- that Eudaimonia is achieved when a virtuous person starts living well. The Greek culture was based on duties of each person in society. If you achieved respect through your duties you were considered virtuous and should be content, but Aristotle went one step further and said to be content you should follow a “good” lifestyle and not just finish your duties for society.
ReplyDeleteAnother important concept in Aristotle’s Book 1 of Nicomachean Ethics was the word telos which roughly translates to “goal”. He explained this in the first sentence of his book, “Every skill and every inquiry, and similarly every action and rational choice, is thought to aim at some good; and so the good has been aptly described as that at which everything aims.” This sentence clearly states every action or skill that we undertake is to reach a goal. I write this blog post to make a good grade in my Philosophy class, is a telos. Aristotle claims the ultimate telos of any action is Eudaimonia. Happiness is the ultimate goal and there is nothing greater.
Aristotle was born in 385-4 B.C. at Stagirus, a little city of the Chalcidic peninsula. His pupil, Alexander The Great, overthrew the Persian Empire and carried Greek civilization to the banks of the Jumna. Early in the fourth century the Chalcidic cities had attempted to form themselves into an independent federation, but the movement was put down by Sparta, and the cities had fallen under the control of the rising Macedonian monarchy, when Aristotle was a baby. His father Nicomachus was court physician to Amyntas III, the king for whose benefit the Spartans had to put down the Chalcidic league. At age eighteen, in 367-6, Aristotle was sent to Athens for “higher” education in philosophy and science. He entered the famous Platonic Academy. He remained there for 20 years, until Plato’s death in 347-6. Shortly after Plato’s death, Aristotle had been one of the group of disciples who had published their notes of their teacher’s famous unpublished lecture “On the Good.” In 343 Hermeias was assassinated at the instigation of Persia; Aristotle honored him by a hymn setting forth the godlike of virtue by the life of his friend. Aristotle’s influence counted for much in forming the character of Alexander. Aristotle’s dislike of Monarchies and their accessories is written large on many a page of his “Ethics” and “Politics.” Aristotle had very little sympathy when it came to his pupil’s ambitions. Towards the end of of Alexander’s life his attention was unfavorably directed to his old teacher, Aristotle. Aristotle died in 322 B.C.
ReplyDeleteI'm not an author so I'm going to post my summary here for the Thomas More group.
ReplyDeleteEarly Life
Thomas More was born on February 7th, 1478 in London. His father was an influential judge, so he sent him to study at St. Anthony's School in London, one of the best schools at the time. Somewhere from 1490 to 1492, More served as a page to the Archbishop John Morton. This relationship secured him a place at Oxford where he studied French, Greek, and Latin literature, along with logic and mathematics under Thomas Linacre and William Grocyn. After two years at Oxford, Thomas More’s father ordered him to pursue legal studies. In 1496, More was admitted to Lincoln’s Inn, a prestigious law school of the 12th and early 13th century, and by 1501 More was a barrister. However, while More was practicing law, he also kept up with his spirituality. In 1503, he moved to a monastery as he contemplated whether or not he wanted to become a Carthusian monk. Ultimately he was elected to Parliament in 1504. At this same time, More developed a friendship with Desiderius Erasmus. This friendship become lifelong and together they worked on Latin translations of Lucian's works. Erasmus would eventually write Praise of Folly and dedicate it to More. In 1505, More marries his first wife, Jane Colt, and together they bear four children and an adopted one.
Sources
http://www.philosophybasics.com/philosophers_more.html
http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl302/philosophers/more.html
http://www.egs.edu/library/thomas-more/biography/
http://www.biography.com/people/thomas-more-9414278#the-legal-profession-and-the-monastery
SIR THOMAS MORE
ReplyDeleteSir Thomas More was a man who excelled in numerous areas of study and wrote many astounding works. It is mainly through these works of novels, letters, biographies, and many more that his philosophical views can be seen. More had a variety of beliefs, but his main contributions were to humanism, religion, and socialism.
Thomas More was deeply inspired by the ancient Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and many others, and he felt that people had begun to forget about their importance. He wanted to return to classical literature at its roots, instead of translations that had been altered again and again over time. In addition, one of his humanist goals was to revive the use of rhetoric, much like the style of Socrates, and use language as a way to bring about moral and political changes.
Because More was a very strong Catholic, he used his humanist ideas to also push for a stronger study of the bible and the writings of the “Church Fathers” who had used more of the classical Greek traditions. Contrary to the time, Thomas did believe in religious tolerance, however he did not believe that atheism should be an option and that anyone who was an atheist could not be trusted. All in all, Sir Thomas More felt that God designed us to be happy, and we should use that to motivate one another to behave morally.
Lastly, More had a strong belief that the need for social order and discipline outweighed the need for more freedoms. These socialist-like beliefs were largely shown in one of his most famous works, Utopia, where he tried to bring to light the problems of economic and social exploitations. In this fictional story describing More’s own potential paradise, private property is not permitted, women are allowed rights, and teaching is important.
Works Cited:
Mastin, Luke. "Sir Thomas More." The Basics of Philosophy. Luke Mastin, 2008. Web. 20 Feb. 2015. http://www.philosophybasics.com/philosophers_more.html.
Baker-Smith, Dominic. "Thomas More." Stanford University. Stanford University, 19 Mar. 2014. Web. 20 Feb. 2015. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/thomas-more/.
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ReplyDeleteSir Thomas More wrote "Utopia" which is separated into two books. The book includes a factious version of himself, Peter Giles, and Raphael Hythloday conversing about Europe’s current state of affairs but more specifically the issues that England had at the time. More and Giles suggest that Hythloday serve in counsel to help mankind but Hythloday disagrees explaining that the counsel would not listen to such idealistic and philosophical views. More and Giles debate that a man with experience and integrity should play an active role in service since Hythloday did a lot of traveling. Criticism of European nations are discussed as well as the severity of the Penal Code. Book one mainly speaks on negative aspects of the wrongs in civilization in More’s time. The three men compare contemporary issues in Europe to the government of a remote island “Utopia” which Hythloday visited on his travels, which leads to book two. While having dinner, Hythloday speaks on the aspects of Utopia. He gives descriptions of their economy, government, law, family life, education, architecture, clothes, values, exports, beliefs, importance of marriage, treaties, religion, court system, and philosophies. More also wrote “The History of King Richard III” which was unfinished due to incoherent facts due to his unreliable source, John Morton. This work of his was found posthumously and published by More’s son-in-law, Rastell. More accused Richard III of being “evil” and “scheming” but still maintaining that it was hearsay. This accusation made More the first historian to make such accusations.
Augustine believed that people have free will. He said that God knew everything that was going to happen, but did not decide the fate of people. He also said that free will was affected by sin. Sin impairs free will but grace restores it. As for his views on sexuality, he believed that sexual immorality was sinful because of the emotions that accompany it. He said that love is a moral and godly feeling, whereas lust is not. He said that proper love is a rejection of selfish pleasure so as to be pleasing to God. He viewed women as man’s temptation, and sought to limit the temptation by placing controls on women. He believed that the serpent in the Garden of Eden approached Eve because she was less rational and lacked self-control, and that Adam took it so that Eve wouldn’t be alone. Also, he thought that there was sin because man did not exercise control over women.
ReplyDeleteCentral threads running through Plato's philosophy, both largely plausible and, at times, compelling. I was convinced at least that the search for such principles does require rethinking certain generally accepted positions, a valuable exercise in its own right, l must admit that Clegg never quite convinced me about Plato that "there is a sense in which his entire philosophy is an exercise in self-justification" (p. 21; see also pp. 33, 190), nor even that Clegg must read Plato that way ---but no matter. Given its general unorthodoxy, and its valuable general enterprise, Clegg's works is both refreshing and challenging, even if sometimes incomplete or convincing. At least Clegg has seen a unity of Plato's doctrines "as in a dream." Unluckily for the rest of us who might have hoped for more, a clear waking vision is yet to be achieved. Aristotle's Topics has been relatively neglected by nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholar- ship. Though there are a number of reasons for this neglect, perhaps the most important is the fact that scholars have thought the Topics to be an early and ultimately unsuccessful Aristotelian at- tempt at logic, still heavily dependent on Plato and later superseded by Aristotle's discovery of syllogistic and demonstration. So the Topics has been passed over as having little to contribute to our understanding of Aristotle's logic or the rest of his mature philosophy, and there has been a tendency to study it just for the sake of illuminating Aristotle's development as a logician. Some recent work on the Topics, such as that produced by the third Symposium Aristotelicum, ~ consti- tutes an exception to this general pattern insofar as it studies some part or feature of the Topics in its own right and for its own sake. But the accounts of the Topics produced by such work have tended to be only partial, focusing on particular features of the work such as the rules for a dialectical disputation or the nature of a dialectical topos, and they are compatible with the general view of the Topics as a failed attempt to do what Aristotle finally succeeded in doing in the Analytics. Evans's book Aristotle's Concept of Dialectic reexamines the nature and function of the Topics as a whole; it provides a reevaluation of Aristotelian dialectic that is careful, scholarly, and, I think, successful. It should have an important impact on our understanding of Aristotle's logic; it certainly has significant implications for our view of the chronology of his logical works and his development as a logician, though Evans does not deal explicitly with these last two issues. The style and organization of the book make it very difficult to read, however. Much of the book, for example, involves complicated and elaborate analyses of various Aristotelian texts, not always immediately relevant to the issue under discussion, so that it is often hard to extract Evans's main theses from the mass of details surrounding and supporting them. Because of this flaw, which tends to obscure the scholarly significance of the book, this review will be devoted mostly to a description of Evans's most important theses and the general nature of his support for them. Though I disagree with some of the details of Evans's account (and with many of the expressions he chooses to convey what he means), it does not seem worthwhile presenting those differences of detail in light of the overall accomplishment of the book. Evans's concern is with Aristotle's theoretical understanding of dialectic
ReplyDeleteBasics of Moral Weakness
ReplyDeleteThere are four kinds of men, morally weak man, morally strong man, wicked man, and virtuous man. The virtuous man and the morally strong man both do the right thing, but the morally strong man still has bad desires to struggle with, while the virtuous man does not. The morally weak man and the wicked man both do the wrong thing but unlike the morally weak man who knows, he should do the right thing and fails, the wicked man chooses to do the wrong. Aristotle wanted to understand the morally weak man and why even though the man does have knowledge of the right thing but still acts against it. He states that there are two sense of the word "know". The first is that you can have knowledge, but not exercise it OR you can exercise the knowledge you say you already process. Aristotle viewed moral weakness has a lot to do with ignorance and that ignorance can be dissolved only once a wrongful act has already been committed and recognized by the morally weak man. He does understand that unlike the wicked man, the morally wrong man does have the "right desire" and that he can exercise the knowledge he has of a "good man". Aristotle also explanes that the morally weak man has rational wishes and appetite (the bad choice) and they are at battle with each other at all times.