The concept of Human Nature as per the Greek Tradition is unquestionably comparable to the notion of Human Nature according to St. Augustine, although there are a few distinctions. The classical Greek philosophers seemingly focused their ideals on logic and saw reason at the core of human essence, while St. Augustine saw will as the guiding light rather than reason. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosophers, all focused on the primary virtues of human nature being courage and reason, whereas St. Augustine deemed faith, love, hope, reason and courage, combining both ideologies of the Greek concept of Human Nature and the biblical teachings of the human person. St. Augustine agreed with much of the concept of Human Nature in accordance with the Greek Tradition, however, he seemed to have found some sort of gap of insufficiency and incompleteness, in which he chose to place the knowledge of Christ. The ideas of the classical Greek philosophers, namely Socrates, Plato and Aristotle and those of the medieval thinker St. Augustine are interrelated, but they have defining dissimilarities. Numerous parallels can be found between the concept of Human Nature according to the Greek Tradition and that of St. Augustine, as St. Augustine seems to accept the ideologies of the Greek Tradition in terms of human essence, but proceeds to extend it to the realm of Christianity and biblical teachings.
Socrates' ethics revolved around caring for the soul, possessing self-knowledge, regarding virtue as knowledge and focusing on the invincible nature of goodness. Essentially, Socrates' principles were based on a knowledge of human nature and proper functioning, much like Aristotle's. This proper functioning and purpose comprises o...
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...ieve in our sensory capacity, nor did Aristotle, as he believed that reason is the true self of every human being. Overall, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were all rationalists who saw logic at the heart of human essence.
St. Augustine's theory of human nature revolved around will being our dominant feature, rather than reason, as proposed by the classical Greek philosophers Socrates, Aristotle and Plato. According to St. Augustine, will is our defining feature, causing it to surpass our sense of rationale as it has the capability of being good or evil, unlike reason. St. Augustine also asserted that evil and bad decisions led to ignorance, while the ancient Greek thinkers believed that ignorance caused bad decisions to be made. St. Augustine's theory of Human Nature is a fusion between Christianity and ancient Greek philosophical ideals in terms of human essence.
Platos’ The Last Day of Socrates gives us a glimpse into the final chapter of Socrates’ life. Socrates placed his own philosophical twist on what makes something “good,” saying to the jury - that has control of his life – that he “has only one thing to consider… whether he is acting justly or unjustly, like a good man or a bad one” (Apology 54b). Later, through his dialogue in Crito, Socrates says that he has followed his own morals and values, so he is
In the humdrum and mundane events of human life, the question is often wondered if certain abstract characteristics are given to individuals via nature or nurture. This notion has been the core of debates for centuries. The nature notion suggests that individuals are innately gifted with their talent. Adverse to nature is the idea that a person’s talents or skills are acquired through a knowledge that has been taught to them i.e. nurture. Like any debate, nature and nurture have their respective followers. Philosophical greats, such as Plato even offered his perspective on the nature vs nurture debacle. In his work, The Republic, Plato vicariously speaks his thoughts through his character Socrates. Socrates defends his view of justice against his friends Glaucon and Adeimantus. Socrates asserts that justice, in itself, is a naturally good and is desired. To defend his view of justice, Socrates must first construct what he believes to be a
Stoicism is a philosophical school of thought that asserts virtue as the one true good that can produce eudemonia, the Stoic term for happiness or living well. This good is accessible to all, by means of using impressions properly and behaving in accordance with god and nature. Virtue is a good achieved through both internal and external sources. The Stoics associated virtue with the venerated status of sage, which can be achieved only when the soul is unwaveringly consistent with true human nature. But what is human nature? Unlike many philosophical theories that focus on the role of emotions in human nature, the Stoics thought human nature to be closely tied to rationality. The Stoics believed that it was human nature to seek out good and happiness, and that all wrong choices are made in the pursuit or avoidance of a wrongfully perceived value. These errors in rationale and perception contribute to the formation of false beliefs, which causes non-virtuous or vicious behavior. Determinism, or the acceptance of living in accord with events outside of our control is a key feature of Stoic theory. This strict determinism allows Stoics to distance themselves from encumbering emotional reactions that are often associated with negative or positive outcomes. A stoic would attempt to dissuade a non-sage from engaging in emotions because they lack the capacity of assenting strictly to kataleptic impressions because emotions negatively effect their beliefs. In order to behave in accordance with this logic it requires a rejection of common emotions. Ordinary emotions such as pleasure and fear are considered false impression, which contribute to a bad mental state. In order to avoid assenting to false impressions one must gain a rational und...
Although I do not totally agree with every aspect of his views, there are some firm beliefs that I agree with on a larger scale than I do with Aristotle. Upon examination of my belief system in relation to Plato’s, it appears that I am more of an abstract thinker. I believe that I possess the ability to see beyond basic objects and appreciate the artistic gestures that an object or form represents. I am also inclined to agree with Plato in the fact that there is a higher being and that the soul is capable of succeeding from life to death to life again. I firmly believe in the four cardinal virtues and that all human beings have the ability to use every virtue for good or evil purposes. Although I am more inclined to relate to Plato than Aristotle, I do agree with Aristotle’s idea of maintaining the mean. I do believe that each individual is in control of their own happiness and that a certain level of control must be utilized when it comes to
(37) The problem is that many of the citizens of Athens who wanted Socrates dead, lacked that emotional intelligence and thought highly of themselves. So of course they become defensive when Socrates sheds light on the idea that they may be wrong. As someone who cared most about the improvement of the soul, Socrates would have made a constructive role model to the criminals of Athens, as he would go on saying, “virtue is not given by money, but that from virtue comes money and every other good of man…”(35) Socrates was able to benefit everyone alike as he had human wisdom- something that all the Athenians could relate
In researching his life, I found interesting facts that originally he did have a Christian belief system. However, after the death of his mother, he returned to Rome where he by a bishop named Ambrose began teaching him scripture and later who baptized him. What I found extremely interesting is that he was not a fan of Greek literature and in fact disliked many Greek writings. Because of this one fact, he was limited to the language of the Christians, which was Latin. This I also found to be a break from previous philosophers who seem to be great thinkers of Greek society. Augustine also framed the concept of the original sins and just war. Augustine believed that Christians should be passive and peaceful people but he would lay the foundation of terms that a nation should go to war about.
The identification of the soul parts as the contributors and main elements for the function of the most important human activity (reasoning), marks the inevitable psychological asset of Aristotle’s thinking; specifically, the classification of human virtues derives from the analysis of the soul’s types, attributing to human beings the ability of reasoning which distinguishes human beings from the rest of ‘natural bodies.’ Indeed, reason exists in two parts of the soul, namely the rational and the appetitive (desires or passions), and so it expresses within two different virtues, the moral and intellectual ones. Moral virtues satisfy the impulses of the appetitive part and the intellectual virtues hav...
We have been studying in the course of the class the evolution of thought in the Western Civilization. This study has of course started with the Greek thinkers and philosophers. Their way of thought has had a great effect on the way the whole western civilization approached life, and the fundamental concepts behind it. Plato is the philosopher that most probably had the most influence on the way thought has evolved in western society. But his reasoning put Essence above Existence, which is in contradiction with the faith that is promoted later on by Aristotle at first, and then by the arrival of Christian thought into the western world.
It is Human Nature, which separates one from another; the mainly intellectual, those mainly endowed with muscular and temperamental strength, and those who are distinguished neither for the one nor for the other, the mediocre third class. The first group contains select individuals, and the last, the great majority. Plato believed people to be like ‘sheep’. In other words, people are easily swayed or deceived by their senses; people followed what they believe and not what they can know through reason. (Week Five (2) – A Tales of Two Poleis: Athens & Sparta p.8) Plato believed the Soul consists of three parts, Rational, Spirited, and Desires or the appetites. The rational seeks knowledge and wisdom; the spirted quests for honor, the appetites for pleasure. Philosophers are those who pursue knowledge; they are dominated by the rational. Warriors pursue glory and honor; they are dominated by the spirited. Workers do what is necessary to fulfill the desires and appetites that their souls are dominated by. In his society an individual needed all three parts to work together in proper balance and moderation. Philosophers rule with the help and support of the warriors and producers do the work while their desires are moderated by the guardians. Rationality and reason are in control with assistance of the spirit; balance and moderation with the assistance of
St Augustine instilled a profound impact in the interpretation of the new religion of Christianity. Augustine was well versed in various subjects such as metaphysics and politics but the most important was his engrossment in the Platonic Ideas. His understanding of the body and the soul made him one of the founding philosophers to define Christianity and how one must interpret the scriptures of God. In his era, 400 BC Christianity was emerging as a young faith with know concrete bounds; St. Augustine created a sophisticated doctrine of Christian way of life by not only incorporating but appropriating ideas taken from Platonic ideas as well as Neo-Platonism beliefs. In this philosopher’s eyes, Plato’s idea of a universal being was God himself;
There is something in every person that defines who that person is. It shapes how the individual lives their life, and what they believe. Something that acts as a lens which effects how a person sees everything. This is commonly known as a person’s worldview. Plato and Augustine were two highly influential philosophers who expressed their worldviews through their writings. In each worldview there is often a central idea or point that is fundamental to entire worldview. Plato and Augustine have similar worldviews in the sense that both have a central point around which everything revolves. They differ in that Plato sees that point as the Good and Augustine sees it as God, and each central point has a different role, type of existence, and way of being attained.
At first, the heart of philosophy lies in practicing systematic and logical reasoning which Socrates indeed was loquacious with. A philosopher has to pay great attention on how to go about reasoning with someone which characterizes a fine philosopher. Indeed, Socrates is able to accomplish that quite admirably:
Aquinas and Aristotle were both ancient/medieval thinkers. They both agree that human beings have a function and they believed that virtue is necessary to fulfill this function. They presented the idea that certain actions by human beings are intrinsically wrong and that we can know that they are by intellectual apprehension and reason. Even though they agreed on a few things, they had different views.
When Socrates was brought to trial for the corruption of the city’s youth he knew he had done nothing wrong. He had lived his life as it should be lead, and did what he ne...
Aristotle argued and disagreed with Plato’s views of the self and soul being a separate from the body. Aristotle’s view is that all humans have a soul, yet they cannot be separate from the body in which they reside. To him, there are four sections of the soul; the desiderative and vegetative parts on the irrational side are used to help one find what they are needing and the calculative and scientific parts on the rational side are