The fictional Situation
Introduction
The fictional situation incorporates three Greek writers Euripides, Plato, and Aristotle. These writers are at a movie theater arguing about different themes and ideas presented in their works Medea, Phaedrus and Poetics respectively.
Discussion
According to Euripides, passion and rage is the main theme presented in his play, Madea. Madea has been presented as a woman who has extreme emotion and behavior. She however, sacrifices all that due to her passionate love for Jason hence committing acts that are unspeakable on his behalf. Moreover, Euripides thinks that extremes of emotions and consequences associated with unchecked emotion were of great interest to the Greeks. These group of people viewed rage and strong passion as depictions of greatness. A good example of passion carried too far is Madea since she decides to choose rage instead of reason and mercy.
Euripides argument is followed by Plato’s point of view, whereby he stresses the essence of education for the health of the state. Education has been identified by Plato as the most important aspect of a healthy nation. Detailed education programs beginning with those involving pregnant women are laid down by Plato. Plato further gives an explanation on the values that children ought to be exposed to in addition to the physical activities and the types of arts they should take part in. According to Plato, majority of people from Athens are easily seduced by easy pleasures, inflamed by hollow rhetoric with ease and hopelessly corrupt. The essence of teaching children from a tender age to live lives that are virtuous and to seek wisdom is also recognized by Plato. Moreover, Plato holds an opinion that the last thing that needs to be left to parental whim or chance is a child’s education.
Plato and Aristotle had conflicting views regarding the theory of forms and this raised a major debate or argument. According to Plato, there are two key distinct reality levels maintained in the theory of forms. These levels are the intelligible world of forms and the visible world of sound and sights. Plato then goes further to giving an example of beauty, whereby he comments that human beings have the ability to define the general beauty concept in addition to identifying a beautiful object or person. With this, Plato implies that objects or persons are considered to be beautiful due to their participation in a form of beauty that is more general, unchanging, invisible and everlasting. The intentions of Plato’s theory of forms are to cultivate people’s capacity for intangible thinking. Through the theory of thought, people are bale to separate the world of senses from the abstract world.
Aristotle on the other hand rejects Plato’s theory of forms. He instead holds the view that observation has to come first followed by reasoning. Due to the fact that Plato’s academy is the place where Aristotle received his education on philosophy, he is obliged to give a detailed justification of his deviation from Plato’s doctrines. Aristotle argues that the theory of forms asserts of the universals superiority over particulars. Plato denotes that the existence of particular instances such as justice or beauty is due to their participation in a general form of justice or beauty. This is opposed by Aristotle who holds the view that the basis of the general concepts of justice or beauty is the instances of justice and beauty occurring in the world. In addition to this, observation of particular instances of beauty is what makes individuals arrive at the conception of beauty should take precedence over universals at any given time.
The other concept that Euripides talks about is the position of women in the society. The thing that fascinates Euripides is women and the sex-gender system contradictions in the Greek. The most eloquent statement regarding the injustices befalling women is presented in the opening speech of Medea. Euripides further denotes that women oppression and slave labor were common practices in Athens. The Greek society’s reaction to oppression and slave labor was through evading and giving excuses. Most importantly, it is worth noting the fact that Medea has not been portrayed as a true epitome of feminism. This is due to the fact that Euripides only illustrates how women face difficulties and there is not even a single virgin heroine presented. What Euripides portrays is a conflict between the two sexes and not a story.
Cleverness is a theme that Euripides thinks to be linked to the position of women and pride. Medea has been portrayed as clever and cunning woman though is evident that these traits that ought to be admired eventually result to her suffering. The Greeks treat Medea unfairly due to her barbarian origin and gender. Though people who are less resourceful and intelligent that she is surround her, these people have more respect and social power. Instead of Medea winning praise for the talents she has, she is looked down upon. This therefore further emphasizes Euripides though of women regarded lowly in the society and despised.
Plato talks about a new idea, which is dialectic and dialogue. He notes there is more to the dialogue form he uses other than just a literary device. Plato uses dialogue to express how he understands the purpose of philosophy’s nature. According to Plato, a process of questioning is what defines philosophy. The questioning most of the times takes a form of dialogue. Plato is seems to be careful when noting down his thoughts since he wants readers to think for themselves instead of borrowing his thoughts. Majority of the dialogues presented in Phaedrus have no concluding statements. The ones that have conclusions often leave the reader in a state of confusion and suspense. The key objective of Plato’s thoughts is to enable readers to think through them since Plato’s intentions seem not to be sharing his thoughts with the readers.
Aristotle and Euripides agree with Plato’s thoughts on the use of dialogue and dialectic. Aristotle then proceeds to giving his comments on how vague the field of practical sciences is. Due to the thought that the fields of practical sciences are vague, Aristotle does not set down fast and hard rules in the field. He was the first philosopher to hold the view that there is compartmentalization of knowledge. An example that he gives is the less preciseness of the practical sciences in their procedures and methods. Additionally Aristotle holds the view that there are different approaches for different forms of study. These differences are accounted for by the vague nature of practical sciences field.
Euripides then brings up the idea of manipulation, which is evident in the play, Medea. The characters who attempt to manipulate different situations include Creon, Jason and Medea. The Royal family of Corinth is manipulated by Jason, who intends to secure his own ends. The key manipulation master however is Medea, who manipulates her friends and enemies by taking advantage of their needs and weaknesses.
Plato presents the idea of tripartite soul, which implies that the soul has three divisions namely the rational, spirited and appetite. Through these divisions, Plato offers an explanation of human complexity psychologically. Moreover, the tripartite nature accounts for philosophy’s nature as the highest level of pursuit, representing the highest division of the soul. The sensual pleasures are craved by the appetitive part of the soul while the spirited part exerts a sense of pride in human beings endeavors. By proposing the tripartite nature, Plato gives an account of human inner confliction from time to time. Hence, a starting point for psychology may be presumed to be the tripartite nature of the soul.
Finally, Euripides presents the idea of revenge as portrayed in the play, Medea. The play’s popularity has been promoted by use of appeal for revenge. In order to perfect her revenge, Medea has the will to sacrifice everything. Medea kills her own children out of revenge and desire to hurt Jason. Majority of the people often fantasize about the sense of satisfaction associated with revenge.
In conclusion, all the ideas presented in this situation present the thoughts of the three Greek writers concerning their writings.
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