1:
Hegel mentions that certain individuals move history forward. Napoleon is one of those world-historical individuals. Hegel watched in fascination and then disappointment as the tragedy of the French Revolution unfolded and then as the country was brought to order under Napoleon. Unfortunately, Napoleon over reached .
There is so much to Hegel’s philosophy that it would take years to master even some small pieces of it, but our text does a good job of explaining his ideas of History and freedom and the place world-historical individuals have to make our world either better or worse. So in the reading this week in the section that deals with his view of history and freedom. give a detailed explanation of how the World Spirit works through important historical people to advance the course of history and of our lives.
2:
Aristotle’s view of life is a teleological one, meaning that it has a goal. All things have goals, he says. For example, the goal, and therefore purpose of an acorn, is to become an oak tree. The goal of a tadpole is to become a frog. Since we know that as a materialist Aristotle did not believe in an afterlife as a goal, what can be said about the goal or purpose of human life? Aristotle’s answer to this question is a refreshing change from Plato who believed our goal is that our psyches travel to the world of Forms and discover absolute truth and goodness, and to the Sophists who focused on material success and wealth as our ultimate purpose. Aristotle’s answer is connected to his idea of causality and to an understanding of the function of a thing. To explain Aristotle’s conception of the purpose of human life, review the chapter discussions on the four causes and on the purpose of nature. Explain the four causes, and explain how our nature is tied to our function and purpose to reach the mature state of humanness. What is your view? Does his answer satisfy you?
3: In Plato’s Republic he paints a very poor picture of human nature–a nature unable to resist corrupting influences. He depicts this in his story of Gyges, an ordinary sheep herder who stumbles upon a sunken ship within a pond and within the ship a body and a golden ring. The ring, similar to the ring in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings has magical powers, but those powers lead the finder, a character named Gollum, to evil ways. In the same way, the sheep herder uses the invisible powers of the ring to kill the ruler of his country and become king himself. Plato has two questions for us concerning this. He asks first, if we had such a ring, could we stay good, or would we succumb to doing things we shouldn’t?The second question Plato entertains is more subtle. What if someone uses evil means to become rich and powerful and once he has everything he wants, he pretends to be good, so that others admire him and look up to him for all that he has become. He enhances that image in his later years, when he becomes generous in helping others, but only for show, not because he truly cares about anyone but himself. On the other hand, what if a person is a good person throughout life, and yet to do this he or she never is able to save much money or gain any power. So then in hard times, this person is unable to help others because he or she does not have the means to do so. Plato asks, what is the better scenario, to do help others after wrong doing, or to not to help because one is too poor to do so? What is better for us to be?Use the Module Lecture and the Reading this week to explain Plato’s view of how self-interest can corrupt our natures such that we might follow in the footsteps of Gyges. Given Plato’s negative view of human nature, explain too whether wealth naturally corrupts or whether you believe we can overcome the tendency to hold onto too much wealth to the detriment
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