Both Plato and Aristotle devoted much thought to proper government, especially of a city-state, which both men believed was the best type of state in which people could govern themselves. Furthermore, living a "good life" was central to Greek politics and culture, and affected both Greek philosophy and literature.
The excerpts of two works by Plato and Aristotle available here Download available hereprovide a view of Greek values during a particularly challenging time near the end of the era of Classical Greece, when Athens had been defeated, but Macedonia was beginning to threaten the conquest of Greece, which would put an end to the autonomy of the Greek city-states.
With that historical context in mind, compose two paragraphs of about 5-6 sentences each in which you answer the following questions.
Paragraph #1: What are the most important differences in how Plato and Aristotle define a well-governed city-state? Choose examples from the sources that support your point.
Paragraph #2: How do you think each author might define the "good life?" How does their vision of the good life compare to your definition? Whose city-state would you rather live in, Plato’s or Aristotle’s?
These sources might be one of the more challenging document sets, so I encourage you to carefully read the relevant content in this weeks Module, read Chapter 6 in the textbook, and complete the Viewing Guide on Greek philosophy before starting this assignment. The due dates are also different from the usual due dates for Discussion Boards for the same reason.
