Term Paper on "Sophocles Plato Aristotle"

Term Paper 4 pages (1044 words) Sources: 0

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Education and Proper Behavior for the Ancient Greeks

Sophocles, Aristotle and Plato all made enormous contributions both to their contemporaries' decisions on how to lead their lives, and also to our modern day understanding of how the Greeks lived. Of course, this is in addition to their contributions to western philosophy and political understanding.

Sophocles' Antigone is a perfect example of a work that defines the Greek theory of education, grounded in rules for behavior. In Antigone, contempt of death allows a weak woman to conquer a powerful ruler. Therein lies the crux: Death, for Sophocles, should not be a motivating factor or fear-inducing behavior modifier. Rather, humans should move forward with their goals and ideals in the face of death.

On the flip side of the coin, the powerful ruler is far too proud of his wisdom and ventures into hubris to pit it against the divine concept of law and human sentiment, and learns too late, via the destruction of his house, that Fate will eventually bring punishment upon outrage.

These are the most powerful behavior concepts in Sohpocles. First, divine law is supreme. Any laws that man constructs may be well-thought, fair and just, but divine law trumps them at every turn. Any attempts to subvert or hijack divine law.

Also, hubris is the least desired element in human behavior. Pride in one's own wisdom, strength or prowess is the surest route to downfall. Sophocles desires humans to behave in such a manner that hubris is literally checked at the door. Here, the powerful ruler is defeated not only by his contradiction of divine law, but by his hubris and the woman's strength without hubris.

Finally, Fate reigns supreme. To use the catch phrase, from Fate, "one can run, but one can't hide." Regardless of what the ruler might have done, once he flew in the face of hubris and human sentiment and divine law, Fate would eventually catch up to him and punish him. That, for Sophocles, is the single greatest motivator - and indeed predictor - of human behavior. We must comport ourselves in a matter consistent with an understanding that our conflicting behaviors with the divine laws will result in punishment by Fate.

Plato took a similar, but slightly different, stance on human behavior. In penning the Republic, Plato saw a Greek society filled with corruption and untruth, and decided to commit his life to helping design a society moved forward by truth and justice. For instance, the work is a rectification of Socrates as a just man killed by unjust men and beliefs.

Again, Plato defends Socrates on his support for divine law. In fact, Plato writes that his early hopes for statesmanship had been defined by the ill behavior that resulted in Socrates' death.

The main points Plato fought in Socrates' death were the fact that the restored Athenian "democracy" felt that Socrates introduced new Gods to the city, engaged in unusual religious practices and was, on the whole, undemocratic. Plato pinned this ill-beliefs down to their purest form: unjust behavior.

For Plato, logic ruled all in political thought, as is evidenced by his… READ MORE

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