What is a hero? To most, it’s probably the classic superhero- the one with superpowers and can fly. To others, it might be a fictional character with a magic wand or a demigod in a prophecy. To some, it might be a real life person- a famous one or the ones who raised you.
Why Americans Would Benefit from Reading Plutarch’s Roman Lives. A recent article by Rebecca Burgess and Hugh Liebert from the Wall Street Journal argues that Americans would benefit from reading Plutarch. The authors give very little evidence to support their case. Plutarch’s Roman Lives could be beneficial for not only Americans, but most of the population to read.
The Life of Marius, written by Plutarch, is a fascinating ancient source detailing the career of the Roman Gaius Marius, 127-86BC. While there are interpretive and reliability issues, the Life of Marius is a particularly useful and significant source. It is our only extensive primary source on Marius, who was a key political figure of late Republican Rome. Additionally, Plutarch’s work indicates not only many crucial military and political development in Rome in the time period, but also gives a reflection of Plutarch’s own Rome and its values and political climate.
Epictetus’s handbook describes in detail what it means to be a Stoic, we find that it means to be detached from the things that one cannot change, and although it may seem contradictory, this very detachment is what allows or them to be such great members or society. I believe that a good member of society is one that can keep the peace and also can be able to get important things done and decisions made. The detachment the Stoic has allows for him to keep the peace by realizing that he cannot change other people instead the Stoic must, “…act conformably to them. Thus, at an entertainment, don 't talk how persons ought to eat, but eat as you ought” (#46).
Apart from Marcus Aurelius's prestigious political position, he was a well-known practitioner of stoicism. In fact his writing commonly old as "Meditations" is considered by many to be one of the greatest works of all of philosophy. The overarching theme that Marcus Aurelius attempts to convey, insta deal with your problems in an ideal and effective manner. He felt if you just miserably observe your problem, you wouldn't solve it as well as if you had just gotten it done
He also mentions how we attempt to numb sensation, and ignore our problems, when it's in sober reasoning where we find the answers we're in search of. It was rather difficult for me to determine Epicurus's contributions to Western Civilization besides his Principle Doctrines. Epicurus's ideas were all significant, but his perspectives of government were
As we all know Aristotle is the founder of western science and has his own theory about moral luck. Epictetus, on the other hand, has his own theory about the topic as well. Moral luck is considered to be when a person takes full praise or blame for an outcome of a situation, even when the person did not have full control over the action or the consequence in the first place. While having an open mind to both sides of the debate, let's compare Aristotle and Epictetus’ viewpoints on the issue. Although they share some similarities in their findings, the difference between Aristotle and Epictetus is clear.
Elise Beauchemin Mr. Mosher English 2 2/23/18 Aeneas and the Quintessence of Stoicism The Aeneid, an epic written by Virgil, thousands of years old and yet still read today by many. It tells the story of the Trojan hero, Aeneas, and his efforts to establish order and defend his homeland. Throughout the 9,896 lines of the poem, he lives according to the Ancient Roman ideals of the Stoic. He is the paragon of a Trojan hero who places duty above pleasure, controls his passions and appetites through the power of reason, does not let the storms and stress of life disturb his self-possession and composure, and practices the virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.
Epictetus did not have any rivals. He was well liked and was influenced by many philosophers. Stoicism’s closest rival was Epicureanism. Epicureanism was founded by Epicurus and taught people how to not fear death and the supernatural, as well as finding happiness at any given time. Its main belief is that pleasure is the end of life.
Critic Northrop Frye claims that tragic heroes “seem the inevitable conductors of the power about them… Conductors may of course be instruments as well as victims of the divisive lightning.” A perfect example of this assertion would be King Oedipus in the classical tragic play “Oedipus Rex,” written by Sophocles, where Oedipus, himself, becomes the victim of his doomed fate. As someone who was born and raised of royal blood, he becomes too proud and ignorant, believing that he was too powerful for his fate. Using the metaphor “great trees [are] more likely to be struck by lightning than a clump of grass,” Frye compares the heroic but unfortunate Oedipus to the great trees as they both are apt to experience victimization of tragic situations
What he is saying is that it is a waste of time to value capitalistic ideologies, for example, wealth and fame. He implies that we are so wrapped up in our unnecessary desires that it just clouds our minds with things that really aren't important. By giving into temptations one has lost the ability to have self control. Epicurus tells us that when it comes down to it we will always pick things that bring us pleasure. He says what we don't think about is that a lot of our decisions we have made in hopes of the pleasure we were looking for only caused us pain in the end.
Epictetus’s way of philosophy is one that is purely Stoic, imploring that the solution to human finitude is one where humans can live life without showing feeling or complaining about pain and hardships towards unsavory situations. Each of his rules in his handbook offers advice in which the subject simply “deals” with disappointment, or rather, doesn’t expect something out of the scopes of reason and logic, so that, figuratively, when occurrences don’t go their way, they aren’t disappointed. This is because to Epictetus, all external events in life are pre-determined by fate, so it’s already out of our hands from the beginning. With a calm dispassion, or indifference, we approach our fate and accept it. This is shown in his rules in The Handbook,
“Liberal arts do not conduct the soul all the way to virtue, but merely set it going in that direction” this quote shows that Seneca believes liberal arts are the building blocks to wisdom but however having knowledge does not make you virtuous. He believes that yes liberal studies can help you be knowledgeable but that doesn’t make you wise
One notable Stoic was Marcus Aurelius who was a Roman emperor. The stoics believed that in order for us to be better, people who are just and wise, we must train our impulses which influences how we behave. We must always be in harmony with our nature. Another Hellenistic philosophy that existed during that period was skepticism. The skeptics uphold that humans must refrain from believing all dogmas.
In the Story of the great Julius Caesar by Shakespeare there are two philosophies which include Stoicism and Epicureanism. Two characters that clearly stand by their beliefs are Brutus and Cassius. However before being explained, what is Stoicism and Epicureanism anyways? First off, what is Stoicism? Stoicism is a school that was founded in medieval times, it is a way of life for Brutus.
