Plato and Augustine’s Conceptions of Happiness Essay -- Philosophy Essa

two Plato and Augustine offer unusual conceptions of what unmatched must acquire to live a truly happy life. While the conventional view of happiness commonly pertains to wealth, financial stability, and material haveions, Plato and Augustine suggest that true happiness is informanted in something independent of objects or people. Though dissimilar in their notions of that actual root, all(prenominal) respective philosophy views the attaining of that happiness as a path, a direction. Platos philosophy revolves around the attainment of eternal knowledge and achieving a metaphysical balance. Augustine also emphasizes champions knowing the eternal, though his focus is upon alimentation in humility before God. Both assert that human beings possess a natural desire for true happiness, and it is only through a path to something interminable that they will satisfy this desire. In his several dialogues, Plato contends the brilliance of the four virtues wisdom, courage, self-con trol, and justice. In The Republic, he describes a top-down hierarchy that correlates to the aspects of adepts soul. Wisdom, courage, and temperance preside control over the rational, spirited, and appetitive aspects of the soul. It is when one maintains a balance between these aspects of his soul that he attains peace inside himself ...And when he has bound together the three principles within him...he proceeds to act...always cerebration and calling that which preserves and cooperates with this harmonious condition (Plato 443c). Wisdom and knowledge systematically remain at the top of his view of happiness. During the apology, Plato is asked what punishment is best worthy for him. He sarcastically answers, to be fed...(It is) much more suitable than for every one who has won a v... ...ath is led by humility, directing one toward a better understanding of God. Perhaps it is not important, however, which source, if either, is the correct root of happiness, but merely tha t ones source stretches beyond the margins of what is temporal. full treatment CitedAugustine, Aurelius. Confessions. 400. Trans. Henry Chadwick Oxford Oxford University Press, 1991. Kant, Immanuel. An Answer to the Question What is Enlightenment? Online Essays Appropriate to Foucoult. 1997. 3 April 2001. available URL http//www.csun/edu/hfspc002/ fouc.essay.htmlPlato. Five Dialogues. Trans. G.M.A. Grube Indianapolis Hackett Publishing Company, 1981.Plato. The Republic. Exploring Platos dialogues28 process 2001. Available URL http//trill.cis.fordham.edu /gsas/philosophy/quotedpassage.htm