Case Summary: Confucius‚ Machiavelli‚ and Rousseau Wen Wen 8/24/13 We discussed great philosophy of Confucius‚ Machiavelli and Rousseau last Thursday. Confucius developed his ideas about the year 500 B.C. He believed that it is the virtue such as diligence and good faith that characterized superior rulership and virtue also enabled the ruler to maintain good order in his state without recourse to physical force. For him‚ men are
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As the world becomes more immersed in advanced technology and more discoveries are made‚ we assume we know everything. If Socrates were here today he would repeat what he said to Athenians 2‚400 years ago‚ that we know nothing. After Socrates encountered the Oracle of Delphi‚ which told him he was the wisest man in Athens‚ he went on a journey to try to disprove the oracle. He did this by asking politicians‚ poets and craftsmen questions. He knew that he didn’t know everything and along the way‚
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One could argue that Socrates examined life‚ and yet what does that mean? From my understanding of the Apology‚ Socrates did not just live the life of the ordinary Greek he questioned life. What did he mean by “the unexamined life is not worth living?” I believe he meant that we must question everything around us. That the answer “things have always been this way” wasn’t a good enough answer. If we look at Sparta‚ they lived their lives as dictated by the government. There was no “I” in Sparta‚ Sparta
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Sophocles’ play "Antigone" illustrates the conflict between obeying human and divine law. The play opens after Oedipus’ two sons Eteocles and Polyneices have killed each other in a civil war for the throne of Thebes. Oedipus’ brother in law Creon then assumes the throne. He dictates that Eteocles shall receive a state funeral and honors‚ while Polyneices shall be left in the streets to rot away. Creon believes that Polyneices’ body shall be condemned to this because of his civil disobedience and
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Socrates argues that parallel to the city he had created a just person is comprised of three parts. Justice in the individual‚ as in the city‚ involves the correct power relationship among parts‚ with each part occupying its appropriate role. rational part of the soul that lusts after truth‚ a spirited part of the soul that lusts after honor‚ and an appetitive part of the soul that lusts after everything else. In his extended metaphor the appetite is represented by the lower consuming class ‚ the
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Socrates was a man that questioned all. He looked into the words people spoke discovering that they were mere soap bubbles. Why he did this‚ only Socrates knows. He believed that a life not looked into was a life that could have been done without. What did Socrates mean by this? Possibly that a life lived only on the surface was meaningless. If one could not dive deep into the oceans of his or her own thoughts it would be better for them to drown‚ so to speak. Perhaps the philosopher was trying to
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Both Woolf and Socrates have been questioning society as a whole. Woolf questioned the ideals about how men and women where treated in society and how gender is just a social construct people made up. While Socrates questioned why society made something pious or impious and people followed it without understanding why. Why do Woolf and Socrates ask and tell us all these things? Its not as though they would be able to change the world‚ but just to be able to make people to think about the construct
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world beyond his lifetime and culture‚ as time passed his reputation only increased. Due to his new method of thinking‚ Socrates was able to inspire people to think for themselves and it was ok to question things. This mindset later caused a huge effect in his life‚ from how he interacted with his wife‚ to how bystanders thought of him‚ and even cost him his own life. Socrates had lived through the Golden Age of Athens‚ this great era was the birth of many great philosophers. Often crowds would
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In Plato’s “Euthyphro”‚ Socrates has a conversation with Euthyphro about a young man that goes by Meletos‚ who had plans of indicting the philosopher following the claim that he’d been corrupting the youth. In what sounds like a hellacious situation to be part of‚ Socrates remains optimistic when he says‚ “And he alone seems to be starting out in politics correctly‚ because the correct way is to first pay attention to how our young people will be the best possible‚ just as a good farmer probably
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MACHIAVELLI VS. ROUSSEAU Machiavelli and Rousseau were two great minds of European history. They both developed ideas on how to run a country. The two shared some of their views even though they were centuries apart‚ however‚ some ideas were very contradictory. Machiavelli believed in a very strict form of government. His time‚ 15th century Italy‚ was a time of princes and control over everything. People fought wars just to gain another city and blood and guts was a common occurrence
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