Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle

Socrates' proof in the Protagoras that evidenceableness cannot be overcome by the passions has from Aristotle on been treated as a denial of akrasia, of the phenomenon that was later dubbed 'weakness of the will'" (Stanford1).

In his early dialogues, Plato, by means of his spokesman Socrates, essenti all in ally boiled ethics down to the struggle mingled with reason and emotion. Reason was the cornerst iodin upon which all the rights were founded, and reason could ne'er be overcome by passion in a just and virtuous man.

This central tension is fully know in Plato's masterpiece, The Republic. In The Republic, Plato establishes a clear hierarchy among the virtues. He places wisdom, which he considered the completely cerebral virtue, as the basis for all other virtues, and noted that "Courage, moderation, as well as jurist, imagine a certain steadfastness of convictions and a harmony among the different parts of the reason, provided their goodness depends entirely on the intellectual part of the soul, just as the virtue of the citizens in his introduce depends on the wisdom of the philosopher kings" (Stanford1). Plato thus places reason as the posterior for all virtues in that it is the only component of wisdom. In Plato's woldview, as expressed by The Republic, it is possible to arrive at a definition of justice solely through the

Aristotle thus agreed with Plato in the proposition that reason was the foundation of knowledge and virtue. However, Aristotle was more pragmatic, in a sense, than Plato, because he acknowledged the primacy of emotion in the human condition. Aristotle conceived of the human soul as a bifurcated thing, with an ir sharp-witted, or emotional, element, and a rational, or reason-based, element. The human soul, in Aristotle's conception, contains an appetitive faculty of desires and emotions that is both rational and irrational. The human ability to control these appetites, desires, and emotions is called moral virtue. Intellectual virtue comes from the calculative part of the soul, which is responsible for humanity's ability to reason logically and contemplate the world (IEP).

Singer, Peter (1985). "Ethics." Encyclop?dia Britannica. Chicago, IL. pp. 627-648.

Aristotle, on the other hand, did not believe that reason and emotion could be entirely separated, or that a definition of justice could be arrived at only through the exercise of reason. Aristotle, in his masterpiece Nicomachean Ethics, does not cut through himself, as Plato did in The Republic, to an audience that has genuine doubts about the take to be of justice. It appears that Aristotle believes "that happiness consists in exercising some skills or other, but that the moral skills of a virtuous person are what one needs is not a proposition that can be established on the basis of argument" (Stanford2). Aristotle points out in his opening statement, which describes what happiness is, that his philosophy is an outline that must be filled in by the reader later. The Ethics, then, are a guide to why the virtues are important generally; the pass judgment behind specific virtues such as courage and justice can be only be understood later further reflection. That, in effect, is one of Aristotle's main point: we cannot agnise things without beginning from certain assumptions. Theoretical or practical i
Ordercustompaper.com is a professional essay writing service at which you can buy essays on any topics and disciplines! All custom essays are written by professional writers!