Essays on Beautiful Things

Final Reflective Portfolio

This paper is a reflection of the skills I have gained in this class. It focuses on four texts and analyses them as indicators of my development as a reader and creator of literary and cultural texts. Three of the analyzed texts were created for this class while the fourth was written for a math class.

Part 1: Texts

The Ultimate Book of Martial Arts Fay Goodman's book entitled The Ultimate Book of Martial Arts is already an entertaining read by itself. However, different parts of the book contain paratextual elements that give it a new meaning and make it a more ...

The Relationship of Beauty and Death in Yukio Mishima’s “The Temple of the Golden Pavilion”

Introduction The novel written by Yukio Mishima represents a true incident happened in Japan in 1950, when a boy set fire to one of the most beautiful and well-known Zen temples. This event caused shock among the public and raised serious and controversial questions regarding the cultural and social issues in the country. In the trial, the boy claimed: “I hate myself, my evil, ugly, and stammering self”. In the result, it was concluded that the boy has burnt down the temple due to self-hate and obsession with everything beautiful. He could not help to remain calm when he ...

Not many thinkers in the history of the western civilization have been more cited than Plato. For the most part of the middle ages, the majority of lines of thought were developed around his philosophical arguments. Either to defend him or to contradict him, the new ideas could not get rid of his influence. Christianity was almost uniquely influenced by the works of Plato until at least the thirteenth century . One of the most important parts of Plato´s works is his theory of Ideas. This was an attempt to make a distinction between two things that were his ...

In Socrates' recounting of her speech, Diotima gives an account of what she considers being the best form of love. (Nye 137). The question “what is love?”, has troubled individuals often, but Plato, in the symposium, offers a solid understanding through Socrates, the philosopher. In identifying the means of pursuing love, Diotima defines Love as a craving for happiness. According to the Greeks, Happiness was regarded as an end of its own, with much of the Greek ethics centered on it. One may criticize the scope of the word “Love” as inflated in order to embrace all forms of desire which ...

In his relationship with Socrates, has Alcibiades been made into a true lover; that is, is Alcibiades now a philosopher. To answer this, love must be defined philosophically or otherwise. Socrates, in his speech, says that love is a feeling for some object. Love is a desire for an object. Eros is the Greek god of love. The Roman god of love is called Cupid. In his speech, Cupid says that love is a feeling for beautiful things. Socrates philosophically says ‘love’ is not good or beautiful’. He goes on and says that if it were the contrary, then he would not be ...

Plato's Influence on Medieval Thought

Plato's Influence on Medieval Thought

Introduction

Plato was born in 428/427 BCE in Athens, Greece. He was a Greek philosopher and Socrates’ student. Plato founded the Academy and best known for his efforts in philosophical works depicting unparalleled influence. Building on various demonstrations by individuals like Socrates that those considered as experts in every ethical matter did not have proper understanding necessary for a prompt human life, Plato came up an idea that the mistake were caused by their lack of proper engagement with a class of identities that he referred to as forms. Key examples of these forms include equality, beauty, and ...

God has created this world and all goodness that we see in this world comes from the god. This is the duty of every individual to believe in the goodness of the god and show veneration to the god for the same. This world exists because of goodness of the god and humans ought to extend their thankfulness to the god. This paper intends to discuss goodness of god and several other related aspects of the goodness of god along with discussing some literary works that corroborate that all goodness comes from the god. The scholars and people, ...

According to White (2004); several scholars have said that Plato’s Symposium was able to get to the summit because of Diotima’s love due to her thoughtful and great admiration of beauty. However, this is not so. He attributes this to the ability of the philosopher to introduce the true virtue and its eternal existence. The author further argues that the virtue that has been brought into question was not from within the soul but from the outside and that the element of living forever should be based on the work that the philosopher was able to leave ...

Throughout Sappho’s poetry, one can hear a vibrant, yet somewhat melancholic voice that brings out sentiments of love and affection correlated with powerful natural imagery. The verses reflect a certain communion between love, reflection, natural symbolism and the act of communicating with the gods. It is both spiritually soothing and enlightening to read Sappho’s poetry, even though the bittersweet feeling of yearning is persistent in her lyrics. At the same time, Sappho’s verses are sensual and daring – no bashful tone resides in her expression of true and powerful emotions. Moreover, a nice feeling of intimacy is established between the ...