Plato and Aristotle Essay Example for Free

Plato and Aristotle Essay Plato and Aristotle both have been very influential as the ancient Greek philosophers. Aristotle was a student of Plato and there are many similarities between these intellectual giants of the ancient world but there are also many things that distinguish them from each other. Aristotle was far more empirical-minded than Plato. First, Platos philosophy relegated the material, physical world to a sort of metaphysical second class. His contention was that the abstract truths of the mind-mathematical truths, moral and normative truths about ideals-are what really matter in life and in philosophy, and that the empirical world around us consists of merely poor copies of these ideals. By contrast, Aristotle did as much or more work in what we would today call science (physics, biology, etc. ) as in what remains a part of philosophy. While Aristotle certainly did important work in ethics and related areas, he concentrated as much or more on examining the material world. Plato can be read at times as being quite disparaging of science. This is not true of Aristotle. Second, the difference in the approaches and values of these two philosophers resulted in very different political philosophies. Platos political philosophy, which can be found principally in the Republic. For him, the just state is one ruled by ascetic philosophers who have been raised from birth not to value material reward or exclusive human connections, even with their own kin. They are the ideal of wise, objective, fair-minded, ultra-rational beings. In contrast to Platos utopian political philosophy, Aristotles political philosophy, which can be found principally in the Politics, has a large component of descriptive political science. When he does argue for certain political schemes, they tend to be incremental improvements on existing systems. Like his teacher Plato, Aristotles philosophy aims at the universal. Aristotle, however, finds the universal in particular things, which he calls the essence of things, while Plato finds that the universal exists apart from particular things. Aristotle makes philosophy coextensive with reasoning, which he also would describe as science. Note, however, that his use of the term science carries a different meaning than that covered by the term scientific method. For Aristotle, all science is practical, poetical or theoretical. By practical science, he means ethics and politics; by poetical science, he means the study of poetry and the other fine arts; by theoretical science, he means physics, mathematics and metaphysics. In general, Plato is the more extravagant thinker, the thinking outside the box type who was equal parts brilliant and bizarre in his ideas. Aristotle is more the cool, logical, dry, systematic thinker whose works tend to read like encyclopedias.

gatdream Exploding the American Myth in The Great Gatsby :: Great Gatsby Essays

Exploding the American Myth in The Great Gatsby      Ã‚  Ã‚   The American Constitution declares the freedom and equality among all people. On this declaration was built the collective dreams of a nation as well as millions of personal dreams. F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, exposes the American Constitution for the myth that it always was by revealing the existing class distinctions. The Great Gatsby provides the petty details of the aimlessness and shallowness of the idyll rich, the extravagance of their parties, and the illegal sources of the funds that fueled such mindless activities.    Myrtle's attempt to become a "member" of Tom's group is predestined to fail, because he is of the wealthier, more "sophisticated" class. Taking advantage of her animation, her lively nature, she tries to elude the rest of her class. She gets involved in an affair with Tom, and inherits his values, and his way of living. By doing so, she only demoralizes herself, and becomes corrupt like the rich are stereotyped to be. She belittles people from her own class, and loses all sense of honor that she once had. And for all her social desires, Myrtle never does find her place in Tom's "high brow" world of the rich.    Fitzgerald portrays Myrtle's condition, obviously, as a minor reflection to Gatsby's more substantial struggle. While Myrtle's ambitions come from her social desires, Gatsby's are linked more to his idealism, his strong belief in life's opportunity. For sure, his desire is influenced by social considerations as well; Daisy, who is beautiful and rich, shows a lifestyle that is distant to Gatsby's and therefore is more attractive to him, because it is so far out of his reach.    However, social status is not his premier reason for loving Daisy. It only leads him, and makes him subject to believe in life's great opportunity. Like Myrtle does, Gatsby fights to fit himself into another social group, the one of old money, but his attempt is more significant, because his whole faith in life is rested upon it. Therefore, his failure is much more frightful to him, as any larger dream's failure turns out to be. His whole objective, his confidence in life and himself is completely smashed when he fails to win Daisy's love. His death, when it arrives is nearly meaningless, for, with the defeat of his dream, Gatsby is already spiritually murdered, and would lose all faith in life.

Morality and Ethics

Morality and Ethics Morality and ethics are terms often used as if they have the same meaning. At other times, they are used as if they have no relationship to one another. I think most people realize ethics and morality have something to do with the concepts of good and bad. However, English is not like French, which has the Academic Fantasies acting as its linguistic jury – establishing what proper French is. English changes at the impulse of the crowded. One can bomb, and that's bad, but if one is the bomb, and that's good.The word â€Å"morality† has been co-opted by groups, such as the Moral Majority, making us think morality only deals with acts these religious groups think aren't proper, or are therefore immoral. The meanings of the terms â€Å"ethics† and â€Å"morality† can be differentiated based on their origins in ancient Greek and Latin, respectively. As a result, words that come into the English language from the Greeks often have meanings th at are primarily philosophical study, while the Latin-derived words imply â€Å"doing the thing. Ethics comes from the Greek word ethos – moral character or custom. Morality comes from the Latin word moralist – custom or manner. The words both deal with the customs or the manner in which people do things. Their modern meanings relate to the way people act – either good or bad. Morality, strictly speaking, is used to refer to what we would call moral conduct or standards. Morality is looking at how good or bad our conduct is, and our standards about conduct. Ethics is used to refer to the formal study of those standards or conduct.Sometimes, one refers to the study of conduct as moral philosophy, but that is less common than just saying â€Å"ethics. † One might say that morality is ethics in action, but in the end, the two terms can be used interchangeably. The study of ethics or moral philosophy can be divided into three broad areas: descriptive, normat ive and analytical or met ethics. Ethics deals with such questions at all levels. Its subject consists of the fundamental issues of practical decision making, and its major concerns include the nature of ultimate value and the standards by which human actions can be judged right or wrong.The terms ethics and morality are closely related. We now often refer to ethical judgments or ethical principles where it once would have been more common to speak of moral judgments or moral principles. These applications are an extension of the meaning of ethics. Strictly speaking, however, the term refers not to morality itself but to the field of study, or branch of inquiry, that has morality as its subject matter. In this sense, ethics is equivalent to moral philosophy.Although ethics has always been viewed as a branch of philosophy, its all-embracing practical nature links it with many other areas of study, including anthropology, biology, economics, history, politics, sociology, and theology. Yet, ethics remains distinct from such disciplines because it is not a matter of factual knowledge in the way that the sciences and other branches of inquiry are. Rather, it has to do with determining the nature of normative theories and applying these sets of principles to practical moral problems.Virtually every human society has some form of myth to explain the origin of morality. In the Louvre in Paris there is a black Babylonian column with a relief showing the sun god Shamash presenting the code of laws to Hammurabi. The Old Testament account of God giving the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mt. Sinai might be considered another example. In Plato's Protagoras there is an avowedly mythical account of how Zeus took pity on the wretched humans, who, living in small groups and with insufficient teeth, weak claws, and lack of speed, were no match for the other beasts.To make up for these deficiencies, Zeus gave humans a moral sense and the capacity for law and justice, so that they c ould live in larger communities and cooperate with one another. There is some difficulty, already known to Plato, with the view that morality was created by a divine power. In his dialogue Euthyphro, Plato considered the suggestion that it is divine approval that makes an action good. Plato pointed out that if this were the case, we could not say that the gods approve of the actions because the actions are good. Why then do the gods approve of these actions rather than others?Is their approval entirely capricious? Plato considered this impossible and so held that there must be some standards of right or wrong that are independent of the likes and dislikes of the gods. Modern philosophers have generally accepted Plato's argument because the alternative implies that if the gods had happened to approve of torturing children and to disapprove of helping one's neighbors, then torture would have been good and neighborliness bad. That morality should be invested with all the mystery and po wer of divine origin s not surprising. Nothing else could provide such strong reasons for accepting the moral law. By attributing a divine origin to morality, the priesthood became its interpreter and guardian, and thereby secured for itself a power that it would not readily abandon. This link between morality and religion has been so firmly forged that it is still sometimes asserted that there can be no morality without religion. According to this view, ethics ceases to be an independent field of study. It becomes, instead, moral theology.

Adhd, Whether or Not to Medicate a Child - 1195 Words

ADHD, Whether or Not to Medicate a Child Samantha Edmondson COM/155 September 21, 2014 Laura L. Griepp ADHD, Whether or Not to Medicate a Child With the diagnosis of ADHD in children becoming such a controversial subject because of the medications that doctors prescribe; parents have difficult decisions to make. My son, T.J., has had ADHD since he was five years old, and has had many trials and tribulations with the medication that his doctor placed him on to help with the issues that come from ADHD. The medication has made him very violent with his little brother, and he has had emotional episodes to the point of hospitalization and has also excelled in school because of the choice that I made to place him on the medication. For†¦show more content†¦The risk of giving the medication is the problems with loss of sleep, and the messing up of their sleep schedule altogether. And finally, a benefit of giving the medication is how it can help a child live a normal life by making them feel normal while on the medication. A risk of giving the medication to a child can be that they become more emotional than they normally would. After learning about some of the benefits and risks that the medication has on a child, now a parent must decide if it is the right treatment plan for them, and also learning about whether it is a real disorder. There has been so much controversy around the diagnosis of ADHD. There is also a big debate about whether a child has a disorder or not. There is also a huge controversy over whether a parent should give their child the medication that a doctor prescribes for the disorder. Once parents finally decide to place their child on the medicine. They are making the decision that they feel is the best option for their child. Other parents may decide that other treatment options may be better to begin with to see if they cannot fix the problem therapeutically instead. Parents that decide that medicine is the best route may feel that their child would benefit from it, and that benefits outweigh the risks. Whereas to parents that decide otherwise; feel that their child is not that severe with the ADHD, and can handle trying other ways to dealShow MoreRelatedEssay about Children and ADHD Medications1305 Words   |  6 PagesChildren and ADHD Medications What is attention deficit hyper disorder? ADHD is a â€Å"chronic condition that affects pre-school or very young school children (Zivkovic 3822). ADHD symptoms are difficulty sustaining attention, impulsive behavior and hyper activity (3822). There was a research conducted by Cordest hat ADHD prevails in 3 to 5% of preschoolers and is more common in boys than in girls (3822). 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