The Meditations was written by Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor, almost a hundred years after the birth of Christ. This man had all the power in the world, but he remained virtuous and pious as illustrated through his book. This book was never intended to be published. It is a collection of exhortations, reminders, reflections, and ideologies meant for his own self-improvement. By reading his Meditations, I have grown in thought and character. Aurelius has wonderful lessons everyone can learn from. Author Marcus Aurelius was born 121 AD in Rome. His father died three years after. He was then adopted by his grandfather who provided teachers for Marcus, all of whom he expresses gratitude for in Book 1. At age seventeen, Marcus was adopted …show more content…
Marcus’ incorporation of Stoicism is evident in my favorite lessons from his book. History and Impact The first clear reference to Marcus’s Meditations was made around 300 AD by Themistius in his speech to the eastern emperor Valens. He calls Marcus’s aphorisms ‘exhortations’. From then on, the Meditations has been translated hundreds of times from Ancient Greek. Marcus never titled his notes, they were just ‘jottings’ in his journal. There are multiple titles for them, but the one that has stuck the most is, of course, his Meditations. The Meditations has impacted men of power and soldiers the most. Marcus was the emperor when he wrote his exhortations. Therefore, leaders are able to identify with his wisdom. There are a lot of excerpts that would be helpful to leaders. For instance: “‘The man without one and same aim in life cannot himself stay one and the same throughout his life.’ The maxim is incomplete unless you add what sort of aim that should be. Judgments vary of the whole range of various things taken by the majority to be goods in one way or another, but only one category commands a universal judgment, and that is the good of the community. It follows that the aim we should set ourselves is a social aim, the benefit of our fellow citizens. A man directing his own impulses to this end will be consistent in all his actions.” 112:21 If I was in a position of power, I would consult this book because Marcus was in a position of power too and he has
In Descartes’ First Meditation, Descartes’ overall intention is to present the idea that our perceptions and sensations are flawed and should not be trusted entirely. His purpose is to create the greatest possible doubt of our senses. To convey this thought, Descartes has three main arguments in the First Meditation: The dream argument, the deceiving God argument, and the evil demon “or evil genius”. Descartes’ dream argument argues that there is no definite transition from a dream to reality, and since dreams are so close to reality, one can never really determine whether they are dreaming
Both Marcus Aurelius and Cicero try to create a guide, based on their stoic views, on how a person is supposed to live a purposeful life. Marcus Aurelius was an emperor and Cicero was a politician, so both serve somebody or something. In Cicero’s “On Friendship” he bases his guides on what he has learned from important people in his life. In Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations” he bases his guide off of what he has learned as an emperor with stoic views. Some of what he Aurelius has learned is different from Cicero’s view of stoicism; an example of this is in section seven of Meditations. Section seven of Meditations is about what Aurelius learned from his tutor. He states, “Endure hardship, and have few needs; to do things for myself and not
In Descartes’s Meditations III, the Meditator describes his idea of God as "a substance that is infinite, eternal, immutable, independent, supremely intelligent, supremely powerful, and which created both myself and everything else."(70) Thus, due to his opinion in regards to the idea of God, the Meditator views God containing a far more objective reality than a formal one. Due to the idea that of God being unable to have originated in himself, he ultimately decides that God must be the cause of the idea, therefore he exists. The meditator defines God as such, “by ‘God’ I mean the very being the idea of whom is within me, that is, the possessor
In the Meditations, Rene Descartes attempts to doubt everything that is possible to doubt. His uncertainty of things that existence ranges from God to himself. Then he goes on to start proving that things do exist by first proving that he exists. After he establishes himself he can go on to establish everything else in the world. Next he goes to prove that the mind is separate then the body. In order to do this he must first prove he has a mind, and then prove that bodily things exist. I do agree with Descartes that the mind is separate from the body. These are the arguments that I agree with Descartes.
During his childhood Marcus studied Stoic Philosophy. Stoic Philosophy deals with the teachings of living simply and being down to Earth and logical about situations. Marcus wrote about this philosophy in his book Meditations. Also during his childhood Hadrian had appointed Marcus to equestrian rank, at the age of six. Then at the age of eight he was appointed Priest of Salian. During his youth he was called “Verissimus”, by Hadrian, which means genuine or true.
In the Meditations, Descartes abandons his views about everything he knows in the world. During this he discusses the idea of senses relying on the mind rather than the body. The role of senses is shown through his demonstration of the wax example and the ever changing properties the wax entailed. “The perception I have of it is a case not of vision or touch or imagination…but purely of mental scrutiny.” (Descartes 31) To Descartes, the senses were deceiving and could not be solely trusted in the understanding of a worldly object, in Meditation II he adequately defends this argument. Throughout this paper we will examine how this example was important to the entire argument that Descartes discusses in this paper, along with Descartes ultimate conclusion: “One cannot be deceived of their existence” and how these views may relate to other philosophers such as Locke and Berkeley.
In the year of 115 BC, Marcus was born, taking his place in his miniscule house that already held two of his brothers, and their families, and both of his parents. Though born within a minute household, that did not stop Crassus from doing great things, for when Crassus was in his late twenties, he and the majority of his family (including a man named Cinna), stole Rome right out from under Sulla’s supporters.
When Augustus died in 14 AD, some of his famous last words were, “I found Rome a city of clay and left it a city of marble.” But, Livia and Tiberius claim his actual last words were, “Have I played the part well? Then applaud me as I
Marcus Aurelius and his philosophies were composed down in a collection of his intimate writings titled Meditations. The compilations and stories that Meditations follows are the influence of Stoicism along with
Even today, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is read by every class from kings to common people. The book is a universal classic, meaning it can be related to at any time, by anyone. The philosophies included in his book have spanned the centuries, and Meditations remains to be one of the most influential books ever written.
"The first precept was never to accept a thing as true until I knew it as such without a single doubt."
At the beginning of the fourth meditation Descartes has developed three main certainties: 1) God exists. The understanding that God exists, comes from the intellect and not from the senses or the imagination therefore God exists 2) God is not a deceiver because deceiving is a sign of weakness or malice and because God is perfect he would not be allowed to do things of such evil nature. And 3) if God created him, God is responsible for his judgment, and so his ability to judge must be sound; so long as he uses it correctly. Yet, If God has given Descartes indubitable judgment how is it Descartes makes an error from time to time?
Descartes' meditations are created in pursuit of certainty, or true knowledge. He cannot assume that what he has learned is necessarily true, because he is unsure of the accuracy of its initial source. In order to purge himself of all information that is possibly wrong, he subjects his knowledge to methodic doubt. This results in a (theoretical) doubt of everything he knows. Anything, he reasons, that can sustain such serious doubt must be unquestionable truth, and knowledge can then be built from that base. Eventually, Descartes doubts everything. But by doubting, he must exist, hence his "Cogito ergo sum".
Stoicism: “a systematic philosophy, dating from around 300 b.c., that held the principles of logical thought to reflect a cosmic reason instantiated in nature.” (dictionary.com). Marcus Aurelius (the author of “Meditations”) was a stoic as well as an emperor. The book he wrote was a collection of thoughts, things he advised himself to do, a piece reflecting his stoicism, and a personal diary of sorts. The kinds of things put into this book were sometimes crazy, sometimes contradictory, yet sometimes very true and insightful. Marcus wasn’t a professional philosopher, and this comes out in his work, but he had an interesting way of living his life. His writings
Even today, Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is read by every class from kings to common people. The book is a universal classic, meaning it can be related to at any time, by anyone. The philosophies included in his book have spanned the centuries, and Meditations remains to be one of the most influential books ever written.