Pericles (495 BC-429 BC) was an Athenian statesman and strategos during the “Golden Age” of Athens. His father Xanthippus fought in the Persian wars and his mother Agariste belonged to the powerful Alcmaeonid family, so he was brought up with considerable wealth and power. Pericles placed much value into philosophy and the arts as a result and was even personal friends with famous philosophers such as Anaxagoras and Zeno.
Plato creates a whitewashed image of Socrates, completely undermining the image presented in Aristophanes Clouds. As compared to Aristophanes' clouds, Plato portrays Socrates as wise, humble and sophisticated. Plato was a student of Socrates, whereas Aristophanes was a comic writer and a friend. The original Socrates is unknown, therefore we can only evaluate what others have written about him. Aristophanes writings seems to be a reflection of the public opinion.
Do we only care about diversity in America when we’re amongst people of different races? In David Brooks, “People Like Us,” he explores this taboo topic, originally published in the issue of the Atlantic Monthly, 2003. In the first few sentences of the essay he states that perhaps there is somewhere in the United States that there is a really an area where people are diverse (62). But then again he has not ever been made aware of such an area.
A major contribution of the Golden Age of Greece is the physician Hippocrates disagreed with the belief supernatural spirits were the sole cause of human disease. He shared with Pythagoras that the brain was the center of intelligence and mental disorders were specifically the malfunctioning of the brain. Another contribution to the Golden Ages is that Hippocrates development of psychiatric labels of a pattern of deviant behavior, which the labels included melancholia, mania, and epilepsy. The theory that disease is of the natural and not of the supernatural. The change in belief origin of the disease.
His mother, Agariste, provided him with many political connections. His education in his early life was led by Damon, a wise musical theorist. Soon, philosophers began to arise in Athens, and he and his family took advantage of this. He was then taught by the society of Zeno, particularly a scholar by the name of Anaxagoras. Once in adulthood, Pericles was elected to be a general, or Strategos, for the Athenians.
Socrates is known as one of the most eminent Greek philosophers, but history has also told that the man was primarily infuriating. Born in 471 B.C.E, Socrates followed the life of a traditional Greek citizen by working as a mason and a hoplite until he became a popular instructor of philosophy. The man was not fond of traditional religion, and began questioning concepts of life, such as justice, knowledge, and wisdom. This incessant questioning eventually led to his execution by the Athenian government in 399 B.C.E. Socrates gained many followers before his death, and the most renowned example is Plato. Much of what we know today about Socrates was originally recorded in 380 B.C.E. by Plato in his dialogue, The Republic.
Plato an ancient Greek philosopher, whose philosophical work influenced the founding of western thought. Born in 427 B.C in the town of Athens, during the time of the Peloponnesian War Plato witness the collapse of Athenian democracy and emergence of an Oligarchy, establish by the Spartan. The repressive system of government was known as the “the thirty” the thirty were elected officials who managed all of Athens affairs. However, the end result of the thirty was repressive governing for the Athenian people who were accustom to democracy. This was one major event, that had a profound impact on Plato life, due to the unjust ruling placed upon the Athenian people, by 403 B.C democracy was restored once again and Plato had an interest in politics,
Socrates started his life as an average Athen citizen. His parents worked, making an honest living. But as Socrates grew up, he began to realize that his mind questioned things and wondered how come no one else questioned the same things or at least think about the answers to the questions that were not answered. So, as his mind kept wandering, he began to acknowledge the questions that were not answered and sought for those answers. He ended up believing and teaching things to other people, whether it went against the way the Athen government or not, he still continued his work.
Part A- Socrates In thinking of Socrates we must recognize that what we have is four secondhand sources depicting him. That of Plato, Xenophanes, Aristophanes, and Aristotle. All having radically different accounts on Socrates and his views. Out of all them we consider Plato’s to be the most possible account, even though we face a problem of different versions of Socrates.
The various ideologies of love mentioned by speakers in Plato’s Symposium portrayed the social and cultural aspect of ancient Greece. In the text, there were series of speeches given by Phaedrus, Pausanias, Eryximachus, Aristophanes, Socrates, and Agathon about the idea of love, specifically the effect and nature of Eros. Within the speakers, Agathon’s speech was exceptional in that his speech shifted the focus of the audience from effect of Eros on people, to the nature and gifts from the Eros. Despite Agathon’s exceptional remarks about Eros, Socrates challenged Agathon’s characterization of Eros through utilization of Socratic Method.
His writings explored justice, beauty, and equality, and contained discussions in aesthetics, political philosophy, theology, cosmology, epistemology and the philosophy of language. Plato founded the Academy in Athens, one of the first institutions of higher learning in the Western world. Due to a lack of primary sources from the time that Socrates and Plato lived, much of Plato's life has been constructed by scholars through his writings and the writings of colleagues and classical historians. As with many young boys of his social class, Plato was most likely taught by some of Athens' finest educators (including Socrates). “The Apology of Socrates” was written to keep the trial against Socrates alive for centuries to read and study the justice system of Athens.
Ancient Greece was a time when mythology thrived the most. Influenced by the folklore of his own birthplace, Sophocles was one of the many contributors to the writings of Greek mythology. Not only was he influenced by his home, Sophocles’ works were also greatly impacted by his time in public office. His loyalty to his birthplace was the reason he never left and even held public office. A well educated dramatist and loyalist from Colonus in Athens, Greece, Sophocles was known for his innovative, theatrical plays before his death.
He taught many of his works in his academy such as, Spuria, Epigrams, Structures, Analogies, Themes, Metaphysics, Theory of Forms, Epistemology, Platonic Scholarship, and many more. His Academy was known for philosophy, but he also incorporated arts such as dance, music, architecture, drama, ethics, and morality. In the Academy, the classes and teachings were not split up into groups but were all under the same category. This relates to alchemy through the fact that Plato combined many different subjects under one universal category, art. The Academy was not a school, but was actually a group of people that came together to be taught by Plato and learn his philosophy and teachings (Martin, “An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander”).
This ideology will be addressed in the essay with substantiated reasons on why Plato thought that philosophers should rule. 1.1 DEFINITIONS OF KEY TERMS 2 PLATO BIOGRAPHY Plato was born around the year 428 BCE in Athens. Plato 's birth name was Aristocles, and he gained the nickname Platon, meaning broad, because of his broad build. His family had a history in politics, and Plato was destined to a life in keeping with this history. He studied at a gymnasium owned by Dionysios, and at the palaistra of Ariston of Argos.
“Plato’s philosophy is an attempt to justify Socrates’ belief in the objectivity of moral virtues.” As one of Socrates’ most loyal disciples, Plato’s own philosophy was heavily influenced by Socrates’ own thoughts and teachings. Much of Plato’s philosophy is a direct extension of some of the questions Socrates posed, i.e., Socrates asked what justice is, and Plato explored this question in his own writings. It is Socrates’ code of ethics, however, that most closely corresponds with Plato’s ethics.
