Philosophies from Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero

Philosophy on Plato, Aristotle and Cicero
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Philosophy On Plato, Aristotle and Cicero
Ring of Gyges Myth
In the Republic II excerpt, Glaucon uses the myth of Gyges ring to describe the nature of justice. The myth has it that Gyges, a shepherd who worked for the king of Lydia, picked a magic ring, which could make him invisible. Gyges then takes advantage of the ring's ability to engage in unjust behaviors like seducing the queen and even went collaborating with her in the plan to kill the king. Gyges does this without the fear of losing his reputation as his identity is unknown (Crisp, 2014). Therefore, Glaucon uses the myth story to describe and even prove his argument that human beings are naturally designed to be selfish and unjust. Their just characters are usually influenced by the consequences of their actions, such as the fear of losing a good reputation.
Throughout the rest of the republic, Socrates' response to Glaucon Glaucon'st is that human beings are not necessarily unjust naturally. Instead, humans choose the types of nature that are key in safeguarding the city (Crisp, 2014). Ultimately, one is likely to be left unpersuaded by SocratesSocrates't about the unjust nature of human beings. This is because admitting that not every human being is expected to engage in unjust behaviors if given the freedom to do so is enough to ascertain that people are likely to behave the same. Secondly, SocratesSocrates't that human beings choose natures that are key in safeguarding the city implies that human beings are likely to become unjust by default without protecting the town. Glaucon’s argument, therefore, remains relevant here compared to Socrates'.
Three parts of soul in Plato
Throughout Glaucon and Socrates' arguments and counter-arguments about humans' innate nature, Plato highlights three parts of human beings' souls. The first is the rationally calculating soul, which prioritizes deliberation of what is just or unjust. The second type is the appetitive soul, which is drive by human desire or passion for acting or behaving in a certain way. The appetitive soul does not pay any attention to the consequences. Instead, it aims at fulfilling the desires of an individual. The third one is the spirited soul (Gertz, 2011). The spirited part of the soul prioritizes the braveness or determination to behave in a certain way. The spirited soul is termed as an auxiliary to the rationally calculating spirit. Understanding the makeup of a human being through the spirit and the soul is usually a deep one, as that defines the fundamental basis of a person’s very existence.
With the three forms of soul, Plato seems to define justice behaviours or acts as those driven from the appetitive soul and deliberated upon by the rationally calculating soul before being presented through the spirited soul's help, especially before the spirited soul is corrupted by poor upbringing (Gertz, 2011). Unfortunately, even up to this point, the argument lacks substantial strength to convince an individual that justice is natural rather than conventional. The main reason for this is that the moment rationalization comes in through the rationally calculating element of the soul, it shuns justice's naturality. It indicates a deliberation on specific actions or activities. This way, an individual is likely to shy away from his desires hence ascertaining that justice is more of a conventional issue than a natural element. Whether it is the way to do it or not, depends on a person’s decision.
Socrates on the need for philosophers to welcome death
Socrates encourages philosophers to welcome death to attain knowledge without being misled by the body. In his argument, Socrates claims that it is the soul tasked with acquiring proficiency in human beings. During the process, the body stands as an obstacle as it is most likely to sway the soul from getting truthful knowledge. Therefore, since after death, the body is usually separated from the end, then the soul salvages itself from the bondage of being misled (Gertz, 2011).
As much as Socrates' argument here makes sense in that the soul is the provider of knowledge and that the body is an obstacle to this, the statement contains some limitations. For instance, the body's criticism is brought about by philosophers' need to rectify the mistake that human beings make. Therefore, embracing death implies that philosophers won't establish other philosophies that help human beings live a just life. They shall lack human behaviors and actions to observe and enable them to think critically.
Diotima’s Objection to Aristophanes’ Definition of Love
Aristophanes defines love as the desire of a human to regain his original wholeness nature. In his definition, Aristophanes claims that god splits people into two whenever they become disobedient (Crisp, 2014). As a result, humans tend to seek to get back together by continuously encouraging others to behave well towards god. Diotima refutes this claim by stating that love is the desire by the human to seek beauty, which in most cases begins by seeking the outward beauty of the body, and later as the love grows, the lovers seek the inner beauty of the soul (Crisp, 2014). In this definition, Diotima is against Aristophanes' meaning of love as it claims that an individual shall not pursue his other half unless he sees good or beauty in half. Generally, Diotima claims that human beings are get to love what they perceive to be beautiful and good and not what is ugly or bad.
Therefore, Diotima's claims about love seem persuasive as they relate to contemporary examples of love. An element of the beauty of good is usually the catalyst that attracts individuals together or even an individual towards an object. It is sporadic for love to exist without the presence of an element of beauty and sound.
Components of Happiness
Critical of the components that Aristotle points to for a happy life is life satisfaction (Crisp, 2014). This implies that living a life without limits on what to do or engage in. The other component of a happy life is the ability to engage in an activity without a condition such as a failure to lose a reputation. This aspect implies that ...