They know very little of who he was before he was a leader, and what kind of childhood made him into the man he became. That childhood was fraught with peril, as his father, Philip II, was a leader and a conqueror (Badian, 425)
A number of those pupils became good friends of Alexander, and when he came into power they were generals of his in a number of cases. During their time learning under Aristotle, they were all taught philosophy, medicine, art, morals, logic, and religion (Engels, 44)
It was how he achieved a lot of merit and respect from other people at the time, and also how he was able to receive so many supplies he needed or wanted so he could teach others. Aristotle was chosen as a tutor when Alexander the Great was only thirteen, and he taught him until Alexander reached the age of sixteen (Roisman, 35)
" In other words, for Aristotle, the idea of virtue encompassed those attributes that are today associated with the words "humaneness" and "humanity" and that include goodness, tolerance, mercy, and compassion, mercy. For the classical Greeks like Aristotle, the subject of virtue was synonymous with life (Engstrom and Whiting 105-8)
This paper proposes to show how Aristotle's Poetics still holds true today, in spite of the modern way human nature is perceived. The human need for poetry, (set forth by Aristotle in the Poetics) as Halliwell states, appears to be regarded by many Aristotelian scholars "as marginal or digressive" -- but Halliwell suggests that it is an important part of the overall explanation for the importance of drama: "In Poetics 4…Aristotle identifies two features of human nature which explain the existence of poetry" (Halliwell "Pleasure, Understanding, and Emotion" 241)
This paper proposes to show how Aristotle's Poetics still holds true today, in spite of the modern way human nature is perceived. The human need for poetry, (set forth by Aristotle in the Poetics) as Halliwell states, appears to be regarded by many Aristotelian scholars "as marginal or digressive" -- but Halliwell suggests that it is an important part of the overall explanation for the importance of drama: "In Poetics 4…Aristotle identifies two features of human nature which explain the existence of poetry" (Halliwell "Pleasure, Understanding, and Emotion" 241)
As a response to Plato's Republic, a treatise on the ideal state, the Poetics sets forth the important role that drama (poetry) plays in society. Contrary to Plato's argument that mimetic poetry is inherently dangerous because it arouses a range of passions, Aristotle's Poetics asserts that poetry must be mimetic, because human nature responds to representations of actions (Janko 349)
In other words, rhetoric might be a way for Aristotle to lower the virtue bar for successful politics." (Abizadeh, 2002) This functions because of the way that good and moral arguments, as Aristotle suggests, tend to be more convincing, and therefore more appealing to lawmakers
." (Haskins, 2004, 3) Aristotle is likely not the first philosopher to argue from a rational, humanistic perspective, nor to suggest that debates and arguments should be performed as an art form known as rhetoric
The enthymeme, far from being a means of audience participation as some critics have suggested, is a mechanism for the interpellation of the audience into a kind of scripted rationality." (Hoffman, 2004) it can be argued that Aristotle's rhetoric is a means of population control and propaganda and is not fitting to a democratic dialog
This relationship of rhetor and audience makes practical reasoning ethical and creative." (James, 2005) Aristotle's arguments have been applied to the idea of practical reasoning, particularly as one of his focuses is on the need to understand the audience and to meet them in their own comfort zone
both traditionalists and rationalists were churchmen, and 'the leading force for transformative change in Western thinking [was] the leadership of the Catholic Church.'" (Miles, 2004) In fact, one of the leading Aristotellians of the day, Thomas Aquinas, not only revolutionized science, medicine, philosophy, and the practice of rhetoric -- he was also sainted by the Church
Our politics would be 'unnatural' to Aristotle." (Moss, 1997, 12) However, Aristotle's arguments are actually adaptable to the modern world because they are not based solely on appeals to shared values, but also on appeals to both reason and emotion and the undisputed good, which may be capable of spanning worldviews and conflicts of interest
." (Rudebusch, 1998) This justification of committing the truth in order to have the "right thing" be accepted by common sense is applied to mere political (or religious or cultural) "truths" then one enters the dangerous territory where a rhetor may comfortably justifying lying at will in order to convince his audience
According to Smith, an activity at which a person experiences eudaimonia is an indication to what that person's life work (as far as spiritual and personal fulfillment are concerned) is. In the Nicomachaean Ethics, philosopher Aristotle expresses many fundamental concerns, including the following: "What objective grounds do we have for arguing that there is a way of evaluating moral life so as to counter the skepticism of the sophists, including the view of Thrasymachus that justice is merely the interest of the strong in society who create laws and moral systems to provide a conventional justification for their own self-interest? (Johnston
Aristotle In the first line of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle writes, "Every craft and every inquiry, and likewise every action and every choice, seem to aim at some good; for which reason people have rightly (kalos) concluded that the good is that at which all things aim" (Lear, 2004)
Primarily, slavery was designed as an economic way to work agriculture or household duties. In the Roman Empire, for instance, slavery was such a large part of the overall economic system that without it, Rome could not have expanded or retained power for such a long period (Westerman)
Characterizing the sullen masses who stood at the shores of the River Acheron, unwittingly following the weakness of desire into Hell, as "the people dolorous, who have foregone the good of intellect," Dante's Inferno proposes to argue that there is a strict logic to evasion of or commitment to the eternal underworld. (Alighieri, Canto III) but as exploration of his work illustrates, the 'good of intellect' to which he refers is represented not in the formulation of a core morality but in the acquiescence to good as it is defined by the Christian ideology
For some identify happiness with virtue, some with practical wisdom, others with a kind of philosophic wisdom, others with these, or one of these, accompanied by pleasure or not without pleasure; while others include also external prosperity." (Aristotle, I: 8) Aristotle uses this as a divining rod for dissecting the various relationships which are perpetuated amongst men
And they seem to become still better from their activities and their mutual correction (1172a 10-15)." (Thunder, 4) Thus, the virtue in a true, good act will be self-evident in the resultant degree of happiness