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The Republic- Book 3

Book III starts by exploring the concept of courage. The idea of the Gods for the Athenians is something that is bothering Plato. His main concern is if the traditional way of thinking about the Gods is fostering real virtues of courage.   This dialogue makes us understand the importance of questioning the consequences of things that we hear or read. Socrates questions Homeric writing “ It’s not that they are not poetic and sweet for the many to hear, but the more poetic they are, the less should they be heard by boys and men who must be free and accustomed to fearing slavery more than death.” (387b) It seems then that the media is that shapes what we ought to fear and we ought not to fear. This is interesting because I am currently taking a class where we are talking about End of Life and how currently the media has distorted our perception of death. If an alien were to land on earth and tried to understand the concept of human death and got his first glance from a TV news feed i
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Aristotle- The Politics Book 1

The Politics is a book dedicated to concepts of state, political communities. Aristotle starts his writing by defining state as a community of communities. All communities  aim for a good. The state is the largest community and embraces the rest. Because of this relationship, it aims at a deeper and larger good. Aristotle debunks the qualifications and conceptions people have for rulers of a certain community (king, statesman, householder, master). The mistake he identifies is people differentiating between rulers by the number of their subjects. Aristotle suggests politics should not be viewed this way but rather as a compound composed of elements. This statement sets the tone for book 1. His mission now is to reveal these elements.  According to Aristotle, looking at the origin will reveal "the clearest view" of the essence of a state. Family is first elements identified. Family is the union of people, starting with that of man and woman, who need each

Eye for an Eye- Book 1 of The Republic of Plato

The first section of Book 1 was really interesting. Specially because I enjoyed the way Socrates has conversations with people, questioning everything they say and hence making them reflect about what they just said. This is an example of how dialoguing can help you create new ways of thinking. I will write about the first two conversations he has. The first one with the respectable Cephalus.  The talk between Socrates and Cephalus reminded me of the talks my parents and I have before I come back to college after a break. Socrates, thought, is clearly more willing to ask questions to the elders than I normally am. Socrates eagerly, with a tone of respect, wants to know how Cephalus directs his life. Socrates learns from the wisdom of an old man.   It is interesting because it reminded me of Plato’s Pheado where Socrates is summing up his life moments before dying in the presence of other philosophers. This is a foreshadowing of what he will do when its close to his last moments of