Plato 's Republic And Other Philosophers

Plato is remembered as one of the worlds best known philosophers who along with his writings are widely studied. Plato was a student of the great Greek philosopher Socrates and later went on to be the teacher of Aristotle. Plato’s writings such as “The Republic”, “Apology” and “Symposium” reveal a great amount of insight on what was central to his worldview. He was a true philosopher as he was constantly searching for wisdom and believed questioning every aspect of life would lead him to the knowledge he sought. He was disgusted with the common occurrence of Greeks not thinking for themselves but simply accepting the popular opinion also known as doxa. Plato believed that we ought to search for and meditate on the ideal versions of beauty, justice, wisdom, and other concepts which he referred to as the forms. His hostility towards doxa, theory of the forms, and perspective on reality were the central ideas that shaped Plato’s worldview and led him to be the great philosopher who is still revered today.

One of the inventions the Greeks created was the odometer. Odometers help us calculate the miles we take, whether we are traveling for business or pleasure or measure the distance for road building (Adhikari, 2017). A famous Greek physician, Hippocrates, was referred to as the “Father of Medicine,” as he created the Hippocratic Oath (Adhikari, 2017). His famous oath is similar to nowadays HIPAA laws, a doctor-patient confidentiality contract. The Greeks also have influence in many subjects such as astronomy, biology, physics, mathematics, and even the alphabet (Adhikari, 2017). When we think of the number 20, we look at the number, however, when we see the word twenty, without numbers, we would not know what the word symbolized. While mathematics and sciences may teach us how or why things work, the alphabet on the other hand, teaches us how to read and

In Book VII of the Republic, Plato intimates that someone “returning from a mode of existence which involves greater lucidity” (63-4) would “much prefer, as Homer describes it, ‘being a slave labouring for someone else – someone without property’ […] than share [the] beliefs and [the] life” of ignorant “people who [have, by virtue of being (born) astute, managed to accrue a great deal of] status and power” for themselves despite the sizeable odds stacked against them (62).

At the beginning of Book I, we are introduced to the narrator, Socrates, and his audience of peers. We are made aware, however, of Socrates' special charm and intellectual gifts through the insistence of Polemarchus and the other men for the pleasure of his company. The tone is casual and language and modes of expression rather simple, as is commonly the case in Plato's dialogues. However, Plato's unaffected style serves at least two purposes. For one it belies the complexity and elevation of the ideas, thus it is in accord with Socrates' characteristic irony itself, which draws the "fool" in by feigned ignorance, only so that the master can show that he does not know what he thinks he knows. And second,

In Book IV of The Republic, written by Plato, Socrates makes an argument for why an individual should strive to be just, or more importantly, why being just is more profitable than being unjust to the individual. The three parts of an individual: rational, spirited, and appetitive, must all strive to pursue truth in the just individual, but it is possible that this requirement may not be met while still profiting the individual. Through an analogy between justice in the city and justice in the individual, Socrates makes an argument that is impossible to accept on the basis of false assumption. The assumptions that the rational part of the individual must rule over the spirited and appetitive parts, and that just actions always engender justice and unjust actions engender injustice, can easily be shown to be false under certain circumstances.

Plato was a philosopher who was born in Athens (470-390 BCE), and was also a student of Socrates. He felt that intelligence and one’s perception belonged to completely independent realms or realities. He believed that general concepts of knowledge were predestined, or placed in the soul before birth even occurred in living things. Plato believed that the cosmos was intelligible, and the the universe was mathematically understandable. He believes that mathematical objects could be seen as perfect forms. Forms, a doctoral of Plato, can be understood as an everyday object or idea, which does not, exists in the everyday realm, but merely is existent in the hypothetical realm or reality.

Socrates continues the conversation with Glaucon and now focuses on the obligation of the guardians and philosophers to serve the people as a result of their education.

In the Republic, Plato divides social classes into three categories. These categories were Rulers, Guardians, and Craftsmen. These classes work together to ideally create Utopia. Plato believes social order must be maintained in order to have a fully functional society. These social classes are similar to the Feudal System, and modern day social classes. Each class has its own role, which if not carried out can disrupt the flow of society. Within each social class all men, women, and children had their own roles that they also had to fulfill.

“the having and doing of one’s own and what belongs to one would be agreed to

believes that the son will realize to be just is only worth it if you can get a

workers, so that they do not desire to be in the ruler's position. It is seen

Mathematics has always been described as the purest science and considered as one of the most important aspects in many countries around the world, especially developed countries. Theoretically, the most significant requirements for a life of a mathematician is the mathematical ability. Nevertheless, very few women get involve in this field, which creates a myth, and slowly develops into a stereotype in society, that women are naturally not good at math. However, many people would be surprised, that “the world’s greatest living mathematician for a time was a women” (Deakin 13). Hypatia of Alexandria was, indeed, a physically beautiful woman who used her talent and intelligence to defy the stereotypes against

Greek philosopher, Plato, is considered to be one of the most influential people in Western Philosophy. The fact that he was a student of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle leaves no questions about his competence. One of his fundamental works is the “Republic”. Even though it was written in 380 BC, Plato’s and Socrates’s thoughts are still relevant in twenty first century. This paper will evaluate the quote from the “Republic” and provide a summary of a quote; provide a context from the text for the quote; and finally, it will include my own thoughts on the quote and the Socrates’s argument as a whole.

The Republic by Plato was a fascinating piece of literature to read. This book focuses on issues that are still very relevant to this day. That just really shows two things, how smart Plato was and also how humans haven’t changed. Over the years’ humans may have developed and advanced so much, but who we are and how we behave, think and feel hasn’t changed a bit. Prior to reading this, I believed that as time has gone on we have developed as a people, but Plato shows that the problems and issues of Ancient Greece are similar, if not the same as our modern day ones. Plato has made me aware that we have only developed on the surface, our natural desires and instincts however are something that hasn’t changed. In fact, it bares to question if we will ever change.

Ethics? Philosophy? What do these two words mean? Living life the right way? Always doing what parents instruct? Some people walk through the motions of life and never fully understand what living is really about—it is more than paying bills, earning an education, and having a family. By definition, philosophy is: “a search for a general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means”.1 Humankind has studied philosophy for many years trying to figure out the complex meaning of life, an example being Plato one of the greatest Greek philosophers. Philosophy can be very complicated, but life is a beautiful thing (Thesis statement).