Examples Of Modern Forms Of Tyranny

She talks about power of the masses, stating that power is not attainable by the individual but only by masses. Arendt opens her book by directly saying we are the most violent century known to man, always trying to be bigger and better than another country in this arms race. She talks about the ways in which our society views violence and says humans are naturally violent. Arendt is clearly against war in this book as being unjustifiable and says that war, and violence regarding to politics, is not a means to an end because if we look back in our history we have been fighting war after war with no end. The end will never come; so how then, can one justify the violence of war? In the book, she argues that many of the traits we see in ourselves regarding violence, we see in animals, except animals do not have the ability to reason. Arendt states that, “violence is neither beastly nor irrational- whether we understand these terms in ordinary language of the humanists or in accordance with scientific theories” (62). The author makes is very clear that when we fail to use our ability to reason and instead introduce violence, we are only repeating our past of being a violent being in which the means to our end keeps getting further and further away.

Aristotle and St. Augustine have both been influenced by Plato. Their philosophy on morality, politics, and the purpose of life has been platonically influenced. St. Augustine is the true heir of Plato because he has taken Plato’s ideal state, and revealed the implications of the lives that the citizens of the earthly city lead, in the City of God. Plato’s state is an ideal state, that would not function in reality. St. Augustine has taken Plato’s notions, and have furthered the implications of living a life that strives towards a common good. The consequences, whether negative or positive, cannot be seen in the earthly state, but can be seen in the City of God.

Both men lived in 4th century BCE Athens, so much of their background and experience was shared. Aristotle was the younger of the two, and he was Plato’s student. Where leadership is concerned, both philosophers agreed that the

Plato and Aristotle both believed a fair society is one not ruled by tyranny or someone who rules with greed. While Plato thought a just and philosophical king was the best form of government,

The United States, fighting to not be under England’s rule, feared falling back into a monarchy. The governmental power in America is separated into three different branches or "departments" of government, modeled after Greek political ideas. The government was divided in this way to prevent any one entity from containing all the power. Thusly, keeping any form of a monarchy from coming into power. “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” (201-202).

In ancient Greece two great written philosophers lived. First there was Plato and then Aristotle. Aristotle was a pupil of Plato. Despite being taught by Plato they had different theories and views. Their ethics were very typical and traditional of ancient Greece but Aristotle detailed virtue ethics and the path to happiness. Plato’s political theories for a utopian society varied from Aristotle’s view of ‘best state for each society’. Their metaphysical theories are complete opposites and very contradicting. Even though Plato and Aristotle came from the same era and were closely linked they had very different philosophies.

Plato also associates democracy with tyranny, noting that when freedom is taken to an extreme it

Not all men are made of good to protect us from tyranny. Some are made of evil. As James Madison quotes “If all men were angels, no government would be necessary.” Tyranny is always a possibility for anything anyone. This government of ours is a good guard against tyranny. But how good is it really? Does it really protect us against tyranny? Does it really help in any way?

War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, written by the talented author Chris Hedges, gives us provoking thoughts that are somewhat painful to read but at the same time are quite personal confessions. Chris Hedges, a talented journalist to say the least, brings nearly 15 years of being a foreign correspondent to this book and subjectively concludes how all of his world experiences tie together. Throughout his book, he unifies themes present in all wars he experienced first hand. The most important themes I was able to draw from this book were, war skews reality, dominates culture, seduces society with its heroic attributes, distorts memory, and supports a cause, and allures us by a

Philosophy Writing Assignment Write an essay in which you compare and contrast the philosophical anthropology (view of what it means to be human) and the political philosophy (what is the best form of human government) of Plato to that of Thomas Jefferson. “Compare” means explain ways their ideas are similar. “Contrast” means explain ways their ideas are different.

Plato was the father of the “Utopian” idea in which several features were essential. He broke down the human soul in three parts; Desire spiritual and rational. Plato addresses the three features as being a key to the establishment of the perfect society. If every person counterweights with the whole of society and these features than society can understand each other and progress and work towards the advancement of the society. Aristotle takes the same concept but more clearly defines it and takes it to the next level that goes beyond the perfect state and allows its applications to influence the whole system rather that purely serve as its basis. Aristotle has a perfect society but is not as nearly exaggerated as that of a utopia. Aristotle takes a more lenient attitude in his philosophy in

Plato and Aristotle are philosophers that both have an idea of an ideal state but they have their differences. While there are benefits to each of their views on politics and society, there are also many negative things about their views. Some of their negative views were realistic at one point in time but few are the same in today 's society. Although I don 't fully agree with either philosopher, I would have to side with Aristotle overall.

Herodotus’ Histories serves as a principle source about ancient Greece. However, within in it there is an added complexity of Herodotus’ own attitudes towards archaic tyrants versus what the actual attitudes of Archaic Greeks were. As for traditions, Archaic tyrants cannot be accurately confined to singular traits or patterns of operations. Lineages of tyrants, the Kypselids and Pisistratids, do not have an overarching flavor, the rulers vary. Additionally, singular rulers, such as Polycrates, have variations in their description.

Plato and Aristotle, arguably the most important philosophers of their time, both made attempts to define justice. Being that Aristotle was a student of Plato, their ideas share many similarities. Both viewed justice as the harmonious interaction of people in a society. However, Plato defined his ideal of justice with more usage of metaphysics, invoking his Form of the Good, while Aristotle took a more practical approach, speaking in terms of money and balance. Although Aristotle's ideal of justice may seem superior, upon further inspection, Plato's ideal of justice is the stronger.

Aristotle and Plato were philosophers in ancient Greece who searchingly studied matters of ethics, science, politics, and more. Though many more of Plato's works survived throughout the centuries, Aristotle's contributions have arguably been more influential, particularly when it comes to science and logical reasoning. While both philosophers' works are considered less theoretically valuable in modern times, they continue to have great historical value.