The Iliad by Homer The Iliad was a really good representation of the chaotic war-torn times of the area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea; this includes the countries Rome and Greece. It was a time where nations were trying to expand their power and influence and warriors were claiming their spoils of war. I mean the beginning of book I of The Iliad, Achilles and Agamemnon are arguing over the rewards and the spoils of war. Agamemnon didn’t want to give up his prize girl Chryses in order to please the God Apollo and stop the plague and the rain of arrow falling from Olympus. However, in the end Agamemnon took Achilles’ girl, Briseis, which really hurt Achilles in the end. These warriors took a lot of pride in the things or people that they …show more content…
While he wasn’t very popular when he was alive, his teachings eventually gained popularity and evolved into what we know today as Confucianism. Confucianism can be described in many different ways; for example, it can be called a religion, a way of governing, or just simply a way to live your life. Through his writings and teachings Confucius taught what he believed they way that people should live their life or at least how people should strive to live their life.
Confucius and his disciples focused on many things though his teaching in the Analects, one being goodness. The teachings of Confucianism focused heavily of respecting and being kind to one another. Confucius and his disciples believed that people had a natural sense of empathy and that we owed it to one another to be kind to each other. This is a really big belief in modern society as well. We are taught as children that we should be kind to one another and care of one another. This has been a teaching throughout the centuries of human existence, and this isn’t just mentioned in the writings of Confucius and his disciples it’s also in the writing of other literary works as well. The Bible tells it reads to, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you,” (Ephesians 4:32). People have been told to care for each other since the beginning of human society. It’s one of the
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The Confessions is a literary work that tells Augustine’s life from boyhood to adulthood and list his sins. He confesses things he had did wrong. Confessions can also be used as a way for us, the reader, to see Augustine’s journey to becoming a Christian. The Confessions is very interesting and relatable autobiography about Augustine’s life. We can see the struggles and the conflictions he faces throughout his life in the Confessions. Augustine faces many decisions in his life which lead to him feeling grief or sorrow about the decisions he makes. This allows the reader to relate to Augustine because many people have felt the same way before about their own life. The emotions that Augustine feels and the struggle he has with his belief in God and the Christian belief are very relatable to many people. I mean in today society many people struggle with their own standing with the Christian
Confucianism acknowledges that the best way to make people behave is to govern them with virtue
“Man’s nature at birth is good” (). Referred to as “Master Ming”, Mencius was a fourth century Chinese scholar whose significance in the Confucian mythology is second to that of Confucian himself. In numerous ways, he contemplated the thought of the master for successive ages while synchronously inspiring Confucian’s perceptions alongside his own profound approaches. Mencius was predominantly renowned for his famous ideology of human nature, conforming to which all beings engage in innate integrity in which either can be refined through literacy and determination or brutalized through negligence and pessimistic factors. Ming genuinely views human nature as superior as they acquire an inborn aspiration towards goodness.
The Iliad is a war story. The characters in the Iliad get angered easily and react quickly. “At one glance Hector
Up to now, the teachings of Confucius is still being practiced in China. Imagine, a philosophy over 2000 years old, is still applicable towards the modern lives of the Chinese. Since Confucianism is a rather comprehensive topic, in this paper, we would be briefly discussing some of the fundamental concepts of Confucianism, specifically the moral philosophy of Confucius. When one reads through
5. The Confessions is the story of Augustine 's return to God, so it is appropriate that story should begin with Augustine 's tribute of praise to the God he loves. In making a confession of praise, Augustine says, God is as close to him as his own life and experiences, always working for Augustine 's good, even when Augustine is unable or unwilling to recognize that truth. Throughout his youth when he lived a dissipated life of sin, and drifted away from the Church, it may have looked like God was hidden; however he was very much present within the lives of those interacting with Augustine on a daily basis. Many people who helped God be present in Augustine’s life include his mother, St. Monica, his friends, Alypius, Nebridius, Ponticianus, Victorinus and Simplicanus, as well as St. Ambrose.
Augustine put it this way, “When sin is committed, we have… preferred… goods of a lower order and neglect the better and the higher good — neglecting you, our Lord God.” At this point Augustine describes what he believed to be the most pervasive sin affecting his life, which will continue to torture him for the rest of his life, lust. “Then bushes of lust grew rank about my head, and there was no hand to root them out.” Augustine then moves away from his home to Carthage to study the art of rhetoric. This time in is life was what he’d describe as the darkest time, when his lust and urge for power guided him.
Augustine had no need to steal those pears because he was hungry, but because he and his friends just wanted to steal. “If the object of my love had been the pears I stole, and I simply wanted to enjoy them, I could have done it alone…” (8.10) Augustine states that he did not steal those pears from the tree alone, but with his friends. It is most likely for you to do something you know is wrong when you have other people with you, you do the wrong things because you are pressured by your peers, and do not want to be looked down on because you did not do what everyone else was doing. In that case it was Augustine stealing some pears as well.
He taught only well educated people and believed that if they were appointed to education they follow would virtues. Where as Chuang Tzu believed that “The Tao has no place for pettiness, and nor has Virtue. Pettiness is dangerous to Virtue; pettiness is dangerous to the Tao. It is said, rectify yourself and be done” ( ).Chuang Tzu also stats that people should not strive for material, wealth, and they should shun the idea politics by not to seeking power.(quote). .
Although both Confucius and Mencius have a lot in common with regards to governance, the two do have varying opinions on certain matters such as the legitimacy when rulers are overthrown, and the relationship between the ruler and his people. In precedence to coming up with policies and administrative measures, one has to first consider the issue of human nature as it plays an essential role in the development of a state 's political system. In the Confucian philosophy, the belief is that goodness is innate in humans and that everyone shares this same trait [子曰:“性相近也,习相远也。”] (Analects, 17.2). Mencius further elaborated on this doctrine by stating that it is mankind’s natural tendency to be kind to others, just as water would naturally flow downwards (Mencius, 6A2).
The Iliad is an epic poem written by Homer; it tells a story of the final year of the Trojan War and its heroes. The Iliad is one of the greatest epics of ancient Greece. In addition, Homer is a very well-known Greek poet; he was born sometime between the 12th and 8th centuries BC. Prince Paris of Troy abducts Helen, the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, therefore, the Trojan War begins. The Iliad centers around Achilles, the events he went through, and his wrath.
Instead of his lustful habits he channeled all that energy into something good which is his friendship with God. Augustine has grown personally through moral and
Free will: the doctrine that the conduct of human beings expresses personal choice and is not simply determined by physical or divine forces. However, do human beings truly have free will? If we have free will, then we are able to act for ourselves and be judged rightfully in the sight of God.
The inner problem of all human problems of eternal salvation or immortality, which was so keenly felt by pagan antiquity, was solved by Christ when he came to earth to make mortal man immortal. Time, eternity, and Christ’s role as mediator are the basic lines of force by which we can interpret Augustine’s spirituality. This spirituality is a constant conversion lived out in two key areas: dialectic and agony, which find their synthesis in conversion. Of course the word dialectic, as we use it here, is absent from Augustine’s vocabulary, but its inner content inspires the best sermons and pages of his works. This is because the positive and negative elements, light and darkness, the repeated antitheses, not only give a special form to his style
In addition, Augustine tackles each issue knowing that regardless of his past that God loves and forgives him for all his mistakes. Vulnerability, in my opinion, is a trait that not everyone
Materially, Augustine would describe himself as a soul and body made one at his birth. He says that God is the instantiation of both life and being, and He joins these two qualities in humans when they are born into the world. To ask Augustine who is he as an immaterial person, he would answer that he is a gift from God, and a sinner. He is very harsh on himself, especially as a young boy, of being a terrible flawed sinner, only saved by the things from God he sought. In the ending of the chapter talking to God he concludes, “…I will be with you; because this too is your gift to me – that I exist” (24).