Ancient Greek And Roman Philosophy Essays Examples For College & High School Students in PDF

7500 total results

An Analysis of Plato’s Critique of Democracy in The Republic (910 words, 3 pages)

Platos Critique of DemocracyAlthough many people today view the idea of democracy to be the perfect form of government, Plato found several issues with Athenian democracy. Whether shaped by the teachings and death of his mentor, Socrates, or by a simple belief that hierarchies are the natural form of government, ... Read More

A Philosophy Contest: Pre-Socratic Schools and Their Influence on Modern Beliefs (670 words, 2 pages)

Historical importance often dictates which philosophers get taught about, in efforts to convey what is thought to be the most important in the small amount of time given teachers per topic area. The crime in this behavior lies in the system of ranking being ill-defined or worse, never having the ... Read More

The Idea of Absolute Truth by Plato (282 words, 1 pages)

Platos Absolute TruthThe term absolute truth appears prominently in the ideas and theories of philosophers. To analyze a concept or idea, one needs to define the specific term. Absolute truth refers to permanent, unalterable facts. Everything remains a fact and nothing changes such as definitions no matter where one is ... Read More

The Nature of Aristotelian Perfect State and Just Laws (1023 words, 4 pages)

All men desire to be free. It is inherent to every man's heart.Though the means by which one becomes truly free have always been debatedever since the formation of the first human society. Some believe thatfreedom consists in the ability to choose, others in the lack of externalrestraints. Many of ... Read More

Socrates on the Real Meaning of True Happiness (1007 words, 3 pages)

At a time of great turmoil, civil war, and many other great evilsthat afflicted Greece shortly after the devastating Peloponnesian War,there seemed to be a great discontent in the hearts of many Greeksconcerning their present condition. Many began to look at the changingworld around them, and wonder if there even ... Read More

An Analysis of Reality According to Plato’s Philosophy (972 words, 3 pages)

Reality, according to Plato, is a result of our conscious and sensual perception. As seen in his Allegory of the Cave, perception and the 5 senses rule the conscious. This objective ideal emphasizes that the mind constructs our reality but does not create it. Meaning that material things existbut our ... Read More

Aristotle’s Concept of Rhetoric (460 words, 2 pages)

A) Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. Whether it is in writing or speaking, its sole purpose is to persuade anothers opinion on the subject. This was true back when Aristotle proposed the idea, as it is still true today. In 6th century B.C.E, Greek reforms were taking place in ... Read More

The Development of the Virtue Ethics of Aristotle (1634 words, 5 pages)

Virtue ethics dates back to Aristotle (348-322 BCE), and it does not focus on the action of being right or wrong but on how to be a good person. It looks on what makes a good person and the qualities or virtues that make them good. Virtue ethics is agent ... Read More

The Relationship of Happiness to Virtue According to Aristotle (576 words, 1 pages)

Happiness and VirtueAn important point that Plato makes in in the allegory of the cave is that the puppeteers are the ones who shape the society. In Platos day, they were the poets and the sophists. In our day, they could be compared to leaders in the media, opinion leaders, ... Read More

The Use of Tricky Speech by Philosophers and Socrates in The Clouds, a Play by Aristophanes (566 words, 1 pages)

Socrates SentenceIn The Clouds, Aristophanes depicts philosophers and Socrates in specific as using tricky speech to get out of things and making the weaker argument become the stronger. He also argues that philosophy and such speech is useless and detrimental to society. This opinion is somewhat common in todays world, ... Read More

The Charges Against Socrates and His Self Defense in The Clouds, a Play by Aristophanes (628 words, 2 pages)

Socrates Self DefenseIn Aristophanes depicts Socrates in The Clouds as an atheist and a corrupter of the youth. Ultimately, these are the charges that are brought against him later on. Another problem with Socrates that Aristophanes puts forward is that Socrates tries to make the worse argument the better. For ... Read More

The Definition of Justice in the Republic by Socrates (622 words, 1 pages)

Justice DefinedIn Book II of The Republic, Socrates still does not come right out and give his defense of justice in plain and simple terms. Instead, he endeavors to build a city in speech with Glaucon. He is not the one building the city, but rather leading Glaucon to build ... Read More

The Definition of Justice in the Apology by Socrates and the Republic by Plato (539 words, 2 pages)

The Virtue of JusticeIn The Apology, Socrates professes to know that he does not know. However, he explicitly states I do know that injustice and disobedience to a better, whether God or man, is evil and dishonorable. From this it can be inferred that Socrates supposes to know what is ... Read More

The Idea of Having a Philosopher King in the Philosophy of Socrates (632 words, 2 pages)

A common thread in Socrates argument is that of the role of education in the city. He discusses censoring the stories that are told to the guardians to make sure only the purest of motives and actions are shown by heroes and gods alike. He argues that the right disposition ... Read More

The Views of Aristotle and the Gospel on Friendship (475 words, 2 pages)

Aristotle argues that we are each responsible for our own character. It follows, then, that each person is responsible for his or her own happiness or unhappiness. This rests the blame on the individual when he is not happy. Agency is one of the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel. We ... Read More

Differences Between Socrates in The Apology and Maximus in Gladiator (1008 words, 3 pages)

A lot of people mainly live with material gains as their primaryfocus. The two main protagonist in both The Apology and Gladiator founddifferent ways to deal with this common way of life they both go throughlife dangerous events, but they still they stand by their beliefs. I amgoing to talk ... Read More

The Characteristics of a Just City According to Socrates (591 words, 1 pages)

Building a Just City The argument that Thrasymachus poses is one in favor of tyranny. His argument is that justice is the advantage of the stronger. The people who come to power are the ones who make the decisions about what the conventions of the society should be. He argues ... Read More

The Contrasting Views of Aristotle and Plato on the Elements of a Tragedy (1664 words, 7 pages)

Sophocles infamous drama Oedipus Rex, documenting the fall of the mythical Theban king Oedipus, survives in modern times as an example of the relationship between fate, hubris, and the workings of prophetic vision amongst the gods and their messengers. The whole idea of tragedy as viewed by prominent ancient philosophers ... Read More

A Discussion on Aristotle’s Definition of Eudaimonia (687 words, 2 pages)

According to Aristotle, what is eudaimonia? DiscussAristotle says that there is a purpose to life and that purpose is eudaimonia, which is happiness. Stevenson says to use caution when approaching Aristotles meaning of happiness. This is not the happiness that we think of as pure pleasure and the satisfying of ... Read More

An Opinion on Socrates Being Justly Charged Under the Athenian Laws (581 words, 2 pages)

Determining whether Socrates was justly charged or not requires to first have a definition of justice. Merriam-Websters dictionary defines justice as the establishment or determination of rights according to the rules of law or equity. Using this definition, it posits that Socrates was unjustly charged. However, a second definition for ... Read More

Socrates’ Views on Goodness and Beauty (657 words, 2 pages)

SymposiumThe story of the symposium is set in the House of Agathon, on the day after Agathon had had his first victory in a dramatic competition. This banquet is less of a drinking party because they are all still recovering from the night before, and what it becomes instead is ... Read More

An Analysis of Stoicism and the Kingdom of Marcus Aurelius (3494 words, 11 pages)

Walker Percy, an affluent member in southern society during the early 20th century said in his memoir, "There is left to each of us, no matter how far defeat pierces, the unassailable wintry kingdom of Marcus Aurelius, which some more gently call the Kingdom of Heaven. However it be called, ... Read More

An Understanding of Plato’s Theory of Forms (1900 words, 6 pages)

It is a very common notion that people spend a large portion of their lives searching for their true purpose or invest time into finding ones self. This idea can be traced back thousands of years to the ancient philosopher Plato who declared Earth as a structured and stable world. ... Read More

The Differences between Plato’s and Aristotle’s Ideas on an Ideal Polis (1637 words, 5 pages)

In pursuit of the ideal civilization, Plato and Aristotle lay out the foundations to new societies that can accomplish this. A lot of thought was put into the tenets of property and familial structure. Plato, focusing much on the relationship amongst citizens, devises a system without property and the traditional ... Read More

An Analysis of Plato’s Belief That Protagoras’ Measure Doctrine is Self-Refuting (876 words, 3 pages)

Platos Refute of Protagoras Measure DoctrineOne of the arguments made by Plato in his dialogue Theaetetus, translated by John McDowell, is whether or not Protagoras Measure Doctrine is self-refuting. The framing of the text is a procedural method of questioning ultimately leading to the argument of self-refutation. In this paper ... Read More

The Inherent Connection of Virtue with the Citizens in the Laws of Ancient Athens (670 words, 2 pages)

All ancient Greek laws were rooted in the intention to create citizens who were moderate and virtuous. Two such nebulous terms communicate almost nothing without context in ancient Greece moderation was best defined as being unspoiled, with all passions and desires in check, and virtue meant being war-ready, law-abiding, hard-working, ... Read More

The Acquisition of Virtue (634 words, 2 pages)

MenosFrom the text, Socrates did not directly answered Menos question on how virtue could be acquired, but he diverted the conversation between him and Meno to a question of what virtue can be. Socrates was reluctant to answer Menos question because he admitted that he didnt know how virtue could ... Read More

An Analysis of Plato’s Idea of Warfare in Polis (598 words, 2 pages)

PlatoPlato introduces the idea of warfare in polis as one that was used by the classical Greek in sustaining their independence. This tactic of warfare was used by to defend the polis against their enemies during times of war. Some infantry fighting tactics were used where some heavily armored men ... Read More

A Comparison of the Differences Between Socrates and the Sophistry (567 words, 2 pages)

Socrates and SophistryThere are many ways in which Socrates differs and resembles the Sophists. In Apology, Socrates concedes that he is often confused with Sophists and he does try his best to distinguish himself from them in the following ways he does not teach public speaking as they do and ... Read More

The Life and Ideas on Civic Relationship of Aristotle (2437 words, 8 pages)

Introduction Born in 384 BC, Aristotle was a great Greek philosopher. Until hisdemise in 367 BC, he had studied medicine as well as philosophy where he isbelieved to have written close to 150 philosophical treaties. Although somedo not qualify as practical and polished treaties, the make excellentlecture presentations. A variety ... Read More

Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy Essay Examples