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Written Assignment

Decent Essays

Michael Scorza
Student ID# 0584210
2015SEP PHI-286-OL008
Written Assignment 1; 1of2

The “nature of the good life” from a philosophical point of view is not as simple as the typical picture that may pop into one’s head of lying on a beach in a tropical paradise sipping frozen daiquiris. Depending on which type of ethical model you use will change the picture. For Thucydides his view point seems to be that “Might is Right” versus Plato’s “Might for Right” as well as a search for what is right. Another way to differentiate the two would be to say one is for what I have the right to do and that makes it right verses what is the right thing to do and what makes it right.
To determine whether the claims that Thucydides is making are …show more content…

He is clearly stating that one plus one is two. If we (the Athenians) attack, the Spartans are not going to help you because based on our observations they are more about serving their interests than yours (the Melians). Thucydides, further illustrates this by proving the Athenians were right in their calculations of the situation. His story is not only empirical, they are a direct attack on normative ethics. The Melians believed they knew what was right and that the Spartans would come to their aid because they believed it was the right thing to do. But they were proven to be incorrect, supporting the idea that this story was not only empirical but a disagreement in the validity of normative ethics.
Plato however I believe would have been on the side of the Melians in Thucydides’ story. Interestingly enough Socrates would have died just as he does in his own story “The Apology” of placing all his beliefs in normative ethics. In Plato’s “The Apology” he begins his tale with a blatant normative argument. He states that the Athenians assigned Socrates a post during a battle and that he stood his ground and did not leave because he believed it was the right thing to do. By definition normative ethics are ethics based on values. There is no way to measure values. Unlike a math equation there is no right or wrong answer. What I believe to be true and just is not the same for all others. Plato goes on further to

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