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Comparing Aristotle's 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'

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Assignment 5
In the Politics, Aristotle describes three basic sorts of people, known as the beast, the citizen, and the god. Gods and beasts are both barbaric to Aristotle, because their ends are needs, not virtue. This is illustrated on page 109 when he says, “He who is without a polis, by reason of his own nature and not of some accident, is either a poor sort of being, or a being higher than man” (Aristotle, 1996, pg. 109.) This means that man is either a beast or a god if he chooses to be apart from the polis. Aristotle also says, “Not being self-sufficient when they are isolated, all individuals are so many parts all equally depending on the whole. The man who is isolated—who is unable to share in the benefits of political association, …show more content…

Jen is a beast because to her, being free means being outside the polis, which is why she leaves to live in the desert. She also thinks power is freedom, which is shown by the scene she beats everyone up in the criminal underworld. She also states in the movie that being a fighter would be exciting, to be totally free, in which Yu responds that fighters also have rules, such as friendship, trust, and integrity. Lo, also known as Dark Cloud, is also a beast because he, by choice, was living with his nomadic tribe instead of living in the polis. Also in the movie, one character is striving to reach the truth, which means he wants to be a god. This character is Li Mu Bai. He attempts to reach the truth by going to Wudan. However, he rejects god and the truth after he had reached it. He stated, “No. I didn't feel the bliss of enlightenment. Instead I was surrounded by an endless sorrow. I couldn't bear it. I broke off my meditation. I couldn't go on. There was something pulling me back” (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2000.)
The citizen described by Aristotle is a member of the polis. The polis is particularly important in defining the citizen because it is what allows self-sufficiency. This self-sufficiency creates an artificial equality that causes people to do things for the public good. This is virtuous to Aristotle. Virtue is important to the community because it is contributing to the community’s

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In Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle argues that the human good is the soul’s activity that expresses virtue. Aristotle concludes this from an invalid argument. On the one hand I do agree that the activity expressing virtue is a requirement for the human good. But on the other hand, I insist that the human good is a state and not an action. By modifying this argument, I believe we can reach a new conclusion that will help us better understand what Aristotle meant by these concepts.

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The founders also stated that for their to be virtue there needs to be religion, as one must render god and put all faith in him as the source of all organisms and the principles of daily routines. As the founders mentioned, virtue is vital because without virtue there can be no liberty, which is key in American societies. In order for one to be virtuous they need to display morally good or righteous qualities. According to the founding fathers the moral man knows that there are set parameters regarding how he can live.

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Today people are not doing as well with other people because they can shut down their ideas ect. People need to be on their own sometimes to accomplish big dreams. Ludwig Van Beethoven relates to this quote because he has walked alone in his life being a musical artist. Beethoven walked alone because he was the first to create this kind of music in his era. “His father, a court musician, subjected him to a brutal regimen hoping to exploit him as a child prodigy” (Columbia 1).

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Even in suffering? Even in suffering.” Even in suffering, he said. He eventually returned to his faith, even though he never thought he would be able to do

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In the words of David Gemmell, “there is evil is all of us, and it is the mark of a man how he defies the evil within.” The beast in the novel starts as a symbol of fear and something that was ignored but ends up creating chaos and representing evil. In William Golding 's, Lord of the Flies, the boys making fun of the little boy for being scared of the beastie and the boys doubting Sam and Eric, Simons hallucination, and Simon 's death are evidence that show the evil and ignorance in the boys. There are many signs of ignorance towards the beast in the novel. One example of ignorance towards the beast is when the boys made fun of the little boy for being scared of the beast.

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From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me.”(115). Not only did he nearly escape death itself, but he escaped the death of his own faith.. Although finding his faith a little bit again, it was only a shadow of what it used to be. It used to fill him with pride, and joy.

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Citizenship is a status given by a government to some or all of its people. Being a citizen means not only meeting certain responsibilities, but also enjoying certain rights. In the U.S. today, many of our governmental institutions are based on concepts of the Ancient World. Citizenship in the United States resembles the concepts of citizenship in both Ancient Athens and Ancient Rome. Ancient Athens believed that participating in government and making the city-state work was a part of being a good citizen.

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In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Book ll, he explains that virtue is a habit of right action, formed by acting rightly (Nicomachean Ethics, p. 71). What he means by this is that everyone has the chance to act virtuously, but we must for work at doing what is right. Aristotle thought we should be virtuous because if we live virtuously than we will have a better life over

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Does John Locke have an answer to Aristotle’s question of: “what is a good citizen”? Aristotle wants to explore and understand nature of different states and constitutions but in order to do that, he argues that first we would have to take a deeper look at the nature of citizenship. Aristotle believes that saying that a citizen is someone who lives in a city or has access to the courts of laws is not enough, he supplements this argument by mentioning other people groups that has access to these things as well, specifically slaves and resident aliens (The Politics of Aristotle, 2009, p. 122). Instead, Aristotle proposes an idea that citizen is someone who upholds the public office and participates in administration of justice, this definition, which he suggests is only applicable to individuals in democratic state, is then further broadened stating that: “a citizen is anyone who is entitled to share in deliberative or judicial office”. To understand if John Locke has an answer to Aristotle’s question or if he’s even interested in such a question it is necessary to look deeper and explore more how Aristotle and John Locke views the states and constitutions, how they explain them and what are their views on citizenship (if they have any).

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Since “any action is well performed when it is performed in accordance with the appropriate virtue”(1098a15), a good performance of function (which is a display of goodness) is virtuous. For example, a good lyre player is a virtuous player. In the previous part, he concludes that function of humans is rational activity, or the soul acting in accordance to reason. In humans’ case, a good performance of rational activity is thus a display of virtue. For example, as morality is a part of rationale, the good performance of morality can lead an individual towards a virtuous and good life.

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The Republican Theory, or form of government, is one where the power is placed in the people, mainly through representatives whom are delegated by the people. The purpose of this was to increase fairness as well as a spread of common welfare where all citizens would be able to have freedom under established laws. Two men, Aristotle and Michael Sandel believe that the Republic Theory is one of, if not the best form of government to establish, and have thus based their beliefs on it. Aristotle focused his writings on specific topics within the Republic Theory, the first of which was the principle of citizenship.

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Aristotle did not consider all people equal; Locke and Aristotle had differing views on citizenship in their respective polity or commonwealth. He, Aristotle, argued that only certain people should participate in the political process. This contrary to Locke’s ideals that all people were created equal. Moreover, Aristotle did not consider all inhabitants of a state as citizens; he did not think women, aliens, or vulgar people, to name a few, should be granted the rights of citizens. According to Locke, all members of a society had equal rights, except for

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For Aristotle, citizens accomplish this by leaving the state of nature to pursue the chief goods in life. Whereas, for Locke, this is accomplished by creating and watching over a government to ensure protection. Aristotle believed that a citizen can contribute positively to the collective community in a variety of ways. He asserted that the greatest contribution a citizen can make is serving in deliberative and judicial office. An individual becomes a citizen when one obtains the ability to participate in deliberative and judicial office because they have reason and the ability to discuss political affairs.

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Debate surrounding the question of citizenship, and the ensuing ideals about what makes a good life, has existed for as long as citizenship itself – providing many contrasting views and interpretations about the peak of human flourishing. Aristotle himself recognizes this fact, stating that “…there is often dispute about the citizen…since not everyone agrees that the same person is a citizen” (Politics 65). This is indicative, then, of the fact that there will be many different interpretations of human existence and its purpose; due to the fact that there is not even agreement on citizenry and what the ideas of it reflect for human life. The juxtaposition of two such views, those of Aristotle and Locke, allow thinkers to evaluate not only two

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Virtue in his term is one that can meet the highest point of happiness; rich, fame, power, etc. In today’s society, it is kindness, intelligence, friendlessness, courage, etc. He would consider a celebrity to be at the highest peak of virtue and gain happiness, however, the happiness is normally attained even at that height. Someone who is poor and is sacrificing their food and money to help another poor family is someone to be considered as a true virtuous person. Aristotle didn’t think of how differently society would be then and now.

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