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Plato's insight about government
Plato's insight about government
Plato's insight about government
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Confucius and Plato
Confucius and Plato are two of the most respected and most widely studied teachers of history. There philosophies of how people should be governed and what characteristics make for a good leader. Both men’s ideas are good for the civilizations that they lived in, and they shared many similarities in their ideas. My own ideas of an ideal leader are a mixture of these two men’s ideas. The personal experiences of both men also play a key role in how they shape their ideas.
The best way to create a strong society has been discussed in depth by each of these men at great length. Plato believed that philosophers should be the ones to lead since they were those who understood absolute truth. He believed that a philosopher-king would be the ultimate leader because he had the great knowledge combined with leadership qualities to govern the people. Therefore he could effectively rule a civilization with both his moral views and his intelligence of military and economic issues.
Confucius believed a similar aspect to an extent but differed in a way. He too believed that a well-rounded moral man should be the leader of a civilization whether or not he was of noble birth. He felt that if a leader was of the utmost of moral goodness, no matter his upbringing, then he could be the best kind of leader because he would be a great example of how his people should live their own lives. He also placed much importa...
Plato and Aristotle Plato and Aristotle have two distinct views on wellness. However, each man’s opinion on wellness is directly tied in to his respective opinions on the idea of imitation as a form of knowledge. Their appreciation or lack thereof for tragedy is in fact directly correlated to their own perspective on wellness and emotion. Firstly, it is important to consider each man’s view of wellness—that is how does each man go about addressing emotional stability. One important consideration is the approach Plato takes in relation to Aristotle.
Confucianism is tradition of political and social thought named after the scholar Kongzi (Confucius 551-479 B.C), it is still widely practiced/ seen in social, legal, theological, ethical and political thought. Kongzi was born into low aristocracy and held an administrative government post. He was a social and political critic throughout his life as a public administrator and teacher to future political advisors. His teachings were focused on how to live one's life in accordance with traditional virtues of ; hummaneness (ren), ritual propriety (li), righteousness (yi) and wisdom (zhi). According to Kongzi the key to social and political stability is the virtue of ren which means “the overarching virtue of being a perfected human being”. Everyone is capable of achieving ren although only a gentleman properly educated in ritual propriety (li), righteousness (yi), right action (xin), and revengance (jing) will be a superior man and able to rule in accordance. consistant with ren. Tu Wei-ming a scholar of Confucianism categorizes confucian thoughts into "political Confucianism," and "Confucian personal ethic". Political confuncianism consists...
Niccolio Machiavelli (Born May 3rd, 1469 – 1527 Florence, Italy.) His writings have been the source of dispute amongst scholars due to the ambiguity of his analogy of the ‘Nature of Politics'; and the implication of morality. The Prince, has been criticised due to it’s seemingly amoral political suggestiveness, however after further scrutiny of other works such as The Discourses, one can argue that it was Machiavelli’s intention to infact imply a positive political morality. Therefore the question needs to be posed. Is Machiavelli a political amoralist? To successfully answer this it is essential to analyse his version of political structure to establish a possible bias. It would also be beneficial to discuss and compare another philosopher’s account to the nature of politics, and in this instance I have chosen the works of Plato in particular The Republic, establishing a comparison to define whom has the more convincing argument and why?
Confucius wanted people to be the best that they can be. Because of this idea, Confucius thought that people should one get power when they were good and skilled, and not because they came from powerful families that make up the dynasties. In the Ta Hsueh, Confucius talks about how people should act towards one another. I quote, “Thus, where the man of mean character takes his delight only in his own delights and his profit only from what profits himself, the man of noble character honors those of honorable worth and treats as kin those of kindred spirit around him” (Plaks and Yao 2003, 9). Confucius wanted people to think about other people more than, about what they owned. He wanted to build a community in the Zhou dynasty. He always wanted the best for people and that everyone should work hard to achieve their
There are thousands of credible philosophers for people to study today, therefore the choice of who to study becomes a burdening task. Each single one has amazing knowledge and insight that we could all learn something from. There are people who don’t call themselves philosophers but bring philosophical thought to us, and then there are those who dedicate their lives to the love of wisdom. Philosophers have existed for thousands of years, and as long as the sun comes up, there will be philosophers in the future. The human mind is made for philosophizing. So as we young, blossoming philosophers try and make sense of the world in general and the philosophical world specifically, we must find people to enlighten us and share with us their knowledge and theories. These people can range from ancient Chinese philosophers such as Confucius, to early Greek philosophers such as Plato, to more modern philosophers such as Descartes or Locke. Each philosopher brings a different aspect to our learning in their differences in time, culture, knowledge and personality. Many philosophers have a great and withstanding reputation attached to their name, therefore gaining worldwide respect and inquiry. Two of those philosophers are Plato and Confucius. They are perhaps two of the most recognized names in philosophy, and rightly so because of their contributions to the world. All the knowledge that is spoon-fed to us today was not available to these early philosophers, so it makes their ideas even more commendable. Both of these men dedicated their lives to philosophy, and because of that, they have everlasting places in the philosophical world. They are widely followed even today because of their breakthrough theories. Plato an...
Philosophy can best be described as an abstract, scholarly discourse. According to the Greek, philosophia refers to ‘love of knowledge’. This is an aspect that has involved a great number of clever minds in the world’s history. They have sought to deal with issues surrounding the character of veracity and significantly exploring the endeavors to respond to these issues. This paper seeks to compare and contrast the philosophy of Aristotle with that of Confucius. This is with a clear concentration on the absolute functions of these philosophies and how they take care of the particular responsibility of a person and the broader society and the resultant effects on societies (Barnes, 1995).
Since the early beginnings of society, in which people began living in gathered communities, there can be seen a constant progression, upon a steady time line, of the increased order of the organization of society. However, this is not the kind of progress that was sought by two widely known philosophers and teachers, Plato and Confucius. The kind of social reform and alteration displayed in the teachings and writings of both of these men, examine a movement from societies viewed as chaotic and barbaric toward societies consisting of gentleman, practicing prescribed values, morals, and actions. Confucius and Plato both emphasized a moral conduct that went above and beyond the socially accepted norms of their times. Despite the concentration on these factors in Chinese and Grecian cultures, the progress attempted by both of these philosophers was not achieved by their own standards within their own societies.
The citizens of Socrates’ Republic are divided into three classes. Those who are deemed fit to rule, the philosopher/rulers, are those who have been chosen to pass through several stages of training and preparation. They are the most fit to rule, because the...
If leaders were to follow these guidelines, success of the state could be attainable in any time. The obvious challenge is finding leaders that can actually follow the guidelines set forth by Plato. Socrates concludes his dialogue with Glaucon by finishing up his story and explaining that once we understand what reality is (the forms), it is the job of the informed to lead all of the ignorant people “out of the cave” and into what is reality and true knowledge. He adds that those who continue to be like others and resist true knowledge will continue to be ignorant and blinded by fiction. However, the enlightened people should still continue to try and help their peers.
Plato vs. Aristotle How do we explain the world around us? How can we get to the truth? Plato and Aristotle began the quest to find the answers thousands of years ago. Amazingly, all of philosophy since that time can be described as only a rehashing of the original argument between Plato and Aristotle. Plato and Aristotle's doctrines contrast in the concepts of reality, knowledge at birth, and the mechanism to find the truth.
"Society originates because the individual is not self-sufficient and no two of us is born exactly alike." How do those two assumptions/principles lead to Plato's ideal society being ruled by philosophers? Are you convinced by his claim that Philosophers should rule?
Confucius was first a teacher he studied and did well. “ On reaching the age of 15 I bent my mind to learning”. (Hudson Smith ,World Religions 155). Confucius was also a tutor. “He had complete confidence in his ability to reorder society. (155). Confucius believed you should “enrich and then educate”. (Smith pg. 155). Confucius went state to state teaching people giving advice to their leaders. Confucius failed as a politician but was successful as a teacher. In China he is known as the mentor to many, Confucius believed there were four things to a profound person. They are as follows “To serve my father as I would expect my son to serve me. To serve my ruler as I would expect my ministers to serve me. To serve my elder brother as I would
Aristotle and Plato were once philosophers in Ancient Greece who studied to a great extent ethics, politics and science. Aristotle was influenced by Plato as Aristotle was his student, just as Socrates, another big Greek philosopher, influenced Plato. Although, their ideas may be obsolete by modern standards, they still continue to have historical value. Thus, these ancient notions are often explored as they molded modern thinking to what it is today. Regularly examined, The Republic, by Plato and Politics by Aristotle, were each written in attempt at explaining political theory. Despite the fact, Plato taught Aristotle, Aristotle had different philosophical ideas on justice and injustice, morality, human life, the human soul, regimes, political
Confucius believed that a person's humaneness came from how disciplined they are as a human being and how disciplined they were at wanting to be good human beings. His teachings say that in order to understand a situation we must thoroughly think things through, and try to understand why we must act the way we do before we reach a decision ( Bonevac, Phillips- page 39, paragraph 1). But before a person can make a decision and have true understanding they must acquire knowledge. They must have basic knowledge of the world as well as knowledge of tradition and knowledge of proper social behavioral rules (Bonevac, Phillips- page 39, paragraph 1). According to Confucius the superior person does the right thing in a situation because it is right, not for his or her own personal gain (Bone...
For many centuries, Confucianism has been widely revered by the Chinese for its emphasis on morality. Confucius, who lived from 551 to 479 BCE, is different to most philosophers in that he showed no interest questioning his existence, the possibility of a God, or the reality that he seemed to live in; instead he focused on the human relations side of philosophy as it was his belief that people should “give (themselves) earnestly to the duties due to men … (and) keep aloof from (spiritual beings)” (Confucius 195). By negating the metaphysical side of philosophy, he was able to devote himself to mold his disciples into ideal gentleman who were morally righteous, and were able to benefit society. He believed in the importance of individuals who knew their roles in an well-structured society, that was a feudal system. In his opinion, the ideal gentleman should be obedient to his elders, have humanness and be morally righteous. Through his teachings, he was able to reform an entire country; the Chinese found Confucianism to embody practices of humaneness that they could apply in their daily lives through his religion.