Philosophy

Abstract

The article discusses a philosophy that was discussed during Plato and the Socrates time, the philosophy I used to guide the practices in the class room was “Who can take your happiness away? And how “Other people can beat, imprison or even kill your body, but they cannot alter the virtuous state of your soul.” These theories came from Plato and the Socrates, but instead of using them the way he did in his society. I gave examples and true influential stories, about how we can use Plato’s theories and use them in our society today. The article states how it is effective, and some society issues that correlate into classroom behaviors.







Introduction
Education is your way to the future, but before we can look into the future of education, what made education was its past. We believe in order to fix the future we must look at the past; I believe that in order to see the future, we often predict the past. We use many methods of the past in today’s education. Obviously we do not beat kids until they memorize the commandments, or the fifty states, yet instead we reward them and encourage them to learn. But why would students want to learn? What makes knowledge so powerful, that everyone must have it? I believe it strives with being the better person, and being the best in society. Society helps shift and make the person, who we become, and the person who we want to be.
A great man, named Plato once asked “Who can take your happiness away?”(Garth Kemerling, 2001) The response is, you. You are either happy with yourself and your decisions. Or you live trying to fix yourself, trying to improve your well being, trying to improve what you are and what you do. When a student in class acts up and doesn’t want to do work. In the long run, the student has inflicted evil upon himself. Plato stated that “No one can inflict fate upon someone else. Only you can make yourself evil, and only you can make yourself virtuous.”(Garth Kemerling, 2001) I believe that your character has a lot to do with how you handle school, whether or not you participate, and whether or not you do well. Your social actions affect how you live your everyday life, whether you see things optimistic, or pessimistic. Even someone who is having a bad day can be turned around with someone else who is having a good day. These emotions and interactions allow the other person to look on the brighter side. For example a student can show another student that there is no reason to mope around because, you received a C on a paper, when you knew you deserved an A. Instead of saying oh that’s too bad and walking away. Just being there for the student, list suggestions to help a person out, or hanging out with the student, this can change a person’s perspective for ongoing events in the day.
Plato also states that “Other people can beat, imprison or even kill your body, but they cannot alter the virtuous state of your soul.”(Lee Adams Young, 2000) Have you ever head the saying “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me?” This is what Plato was trying to perceive to his listeners. But in the long run is this even true? Audrey Witterup came up with an influential story that had the views of Plato, it went like this, and “There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven six nails into the fence. Over the few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the numbers of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and then the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that we was able to hold his temper. The day passed and the boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, you have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out, It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the world is still there.( Audrey Wittrup, 1989) As for in Plato’s case no matter how many hurtful things people say to you, your soul should not be effected, because such words are meaningless.
I believe that no matter what you do in life, it is a lesson well learned. The fact that we make mistakes, and terrible things happen to us, as well as good things, it allows us to live life to the fullest. Plato and the Socrates were all about living life their way, how you have to be virtuous and you had to live life according to the rules. Everyone has to live life by some book or another, but which book, and what rules, are up to you. Society can only alter your ego, and your self esteem. You alter your soul, and your actions to confide in society, to make the world a little less complicated and a little more direct. The question that I ask you is, are you living your life, or are you living there’s?