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I plan to discuss a philosopher known as Plato and his philosophy of ‘Knowing the Real and the Good
Proposal
Thomas Tapp
Philosophy 1301
Professor Soden4/21/21
Plato’s Philosophy
In my final research paper, I plan to discuss a philosopher known as Plato and his philosophy of ‘Knowing the Real and the Good.’ Plato is by any way among the most astounding writers in the Western literary tradition and one of the most wide-ranging, penetrating, and persuasive writers in the history of philosophy. Numerous individuals consider him as one of the most important philosophers who ever existed. He is renowned as the father of idealism in philosophy. Plato is possibly well-known to college learners for his parable of a cave, which is found in Plato’s republic (Kamtekar, 2017). His actual name was allegedly Aristocles, signifying ‘best reputation.’ He was given that name after his grandfather, as it was common in Athenian society. In his philosophy of ‘Knowing the Real and the Good,’ he claimed that Good is the highest form and that all objects aspire to be good. He believed that actual reality is found through the senses.
The main questions I hope to explore in the final research paper include, what was Plato’s contribution? What was Plato’s view of the good? How did Plato believe in the actual reality? What did Plato say about ethics? What is Plato’s notion of the real? Does Plato believe in God? Who is a just person, according to Plato? What is the aim of education, according to Plato? What does Plato compare the world to? What was Plato’s method of teaching? and What did Plato say about ethics?
Some main points I hope to make or verify are that Plato referred to universal as forms and believed that the forms were truly reality. He was one of Socrates’s students, and his teaching mode was writing dialogues in which teachers asked questions. That kind of teaching is referred to as the dialectic method whereby a teacher asks questions that help learners define terms. He had a belief that there are truths to be discovered; that knowledge is possible. Furthermore, he thought that truth is not, as Sophist thought, relative. As an alternative, it is objective; it is that which our reason, used correctly, understands. Plato developed a formidable rejection of skepticism through his systematic philosophy, the perception that we lack knowledge in some significant way (Kamtekar, 2017). The same way as most other ancient philosophers, he maintains a virtue-based eudaemonistic conception of ethics. It is to signify, well-being or happiness (eudaimonia) is the greatest purpose of ethical conduct and thought, and the virtues are the necessary skills and dispositions required to have it.
Reference
Kamtekar, R. (2017). Plato’s Moral Psychology: Intellectualism, the Divided Soul, and the Desire for Good. Oxford University Press.
Female Moral Authority
Female Moral Authority
American women from different backgrounds faced many social problems in the early 90s and this prompted a need to offer rescue services to such women. Pascoe (5) focuses on four cases of women form different cultural backgrounds, faced by different challenges. They include a home for unmarried mothers in Denver, a program focusing on American Indians in Nebraska, a home hosting polygamous Mormon women located in Utah, and a home sheltering Chinese women in San Francisco. The book is mainly about women who established rescue centers for other women in the west of America and their relationship with the women they rescued.
The book’s spotlight is on the relationship between the female rescuers and their male opposers, and the relationship between the rescuers and the women they wanted to rescue. The mission of the rescuers was to establish female moral authority, but this came with numerous challenges. The rescuers are a group of protestant women who embarked on constructing a model female authority. Their decision was guided by the belief that women are moral guardians, and thus, the rescuers mission is to rescue women from male abuse. This answers different questions relating to social feminism, cross-cultural relations, and social control.
The rescuers were mainly disturbed by the masculine authority displayed in west American cities. They thus created a network of rescue homes that were sponsored by missionaries. These homes were free of male authority. The interactions between the missionaries and the rescued women were, however, difficult given that they all came from different cultural backgrounds. This raises the need for cultural assimilation so as to create a friendly environment for mutual understanding.
The author tries to show how the description of women, in different cultures, over the years has served as a limitation to their social roles. This is because women are portrayed as being pious and morality guards, which limits their actions. For example, the matrons at the rescue centers remain unmarried. This deliberate sidelining of men causes men to ignore them and their mission, and this leads to their eventual failure.
The other theme is the role of cultural integration in offering services to people from different social backgrounds. The lack of understanding of the cultural backgrounds was one of the major reasons of the failure of the rescue homes (Pascoe 56). The missionaries, who were predominantly white, approached the operations of homes with the mentality of the role of white people to spread civilization. This led to constant conflicts between the missionaries and the rescued women, and some women eventually opted to leave the rescue homes, leading to their collapse.
The book, however, plays a major role in reducing racial discrimination. This is specifically the highlighting of the story of LaFlesch who was a native who became a convert to Victorian ideologies of morality of Christians. She, therefore, becomes a helper in the centers and an example of how it was possible to transform from premitivity to civilization. This is because she is sponsored through school and becomes the first native female physician. Her ability to learn Victorian Christianity also served to show that natives could also grasp Victorian values in relation to women.
The other issues highlighted are the Victorian lifestyle and its definition of womanhood. The Victorian definition of a woman comes across as restrictive, and this limits the role of women in society. It creates a restriction on how women should conduct themselves and what they can or cannot do (Pascoe 126). This is taught to women with little regard for the cultural background of the women. The writer thus tries to show that in order for the teachings to be appreciated, the rescuers should have understood the cultural backgrounds of women, and assimilated them into the Victorian systems.
The writer focuses on highlighting the importance of cultural assimilation at such centers. This makes the lessons taught acceptable to those being learners. It is important to appreciate other cultures as they also have their positives and negatives, and no culture is superior to the other. The writer also tries to highlight that there are no standard moral rules of code of conduct. This is clearly brought out by the constant conflicts between the matrons and women at the centers because the matrons disregard the women’s cultural backgrounds.
The author accurately brings out the themes in the book, in the form of topics. She focuses on different topics and is very efficient in giving in depth analysis of different topics with clear examples. The book also has notes which are significant in bringing out clarity of the issues being discussed. This makes the book very convincing because the topics are discussed using relevant stories to support different topics. The main sources of information are case studies. The focus on specific topics of discussion and help in comprehending the themes of different topics. The author is also unbiased because she gives fair treatment of the cultural backgrounds of all the women in the case studies.
In conclusion, the book is insightful in Victorian way of life. It gives very deep information regarding the role and definition of women in Victorian teachings. It also delves into the cultural background of the women in the centers, all of whom are from different cultural backgrounds.
Works cited
Pascoe, Peggy. Relations of Rescue: The Search for Female Moral Authority in the American West. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1990. Print
I liked the way you explained the Yeibichai singers and how the situations that lead to their dance.
DQ 3
I liked the way you explained the Yeibichai singers and how the situations that lead to their dance. I could picture the flow of events and how the community values their culture, to have danced on special occasions such as the cleansing. It reveals the occurrence of trance after the impact of the music is felt by the participants. I also concur with you on trance occurring in spiritual setups. I have experienced this, and at the moment, one visualizes things based on the effect the environment has on them.
Music can cause a lot of emotional reaction in the body, especially when we like it, or it induces a feeling that we cannot resist. In such a situation, trance occurs. I like the way you explained trance, “..the mind enters a state of heightened consciousness”. This means that one gets to the limit of self-concept to new awareness, hence act without minding the condition of their surrounding. The feeling does not occur because of drugs or any other factor imposed, but rather the impact that the music creates in our minds. DQ4
I agree with you that Ghana’s music is part of their culture and even exists as a form of education. This aspect is interesting since the cultures they have will keep being passed to the next generation and never will it be lost. I liked the fact that body movement is considered as part of the music. That means that the community dances to every rhythm, which makes it attractive as every activity in their culture involves a dance. This is different from western culture, and I think it would be fun to have body movements integrated with different types of music.
Your statement that Ghana music seems to be of high regard than western music is genuine. The people value their culture and use music to preserve them. This is unlike the European society, which only 2% are making music and all the others are just consumers. Therefore, there is a higher chance of preserving and maintaining the Ghana culture as compared to European culture. This was also facilitated by the chieftaincy system. I think, at a point in time, the lack of embracing music by the European people, will lead to the European culture fading away.