ontemporary Thinkers Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aguinas...

Contemporary Thinkers: Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aguinas Question #1 : Please discuss the political organization of the Greek city- states, particularly Athenian democracy at the time of Pericles, Plato, and Aristotle. Also discuss the backgrounds of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle and the fate of the Greek city-states historically. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;During the time of Pericles, Plato, and Aristotle, Greece was divided into city-states with a wide variety of constitutions, ranging from Spartas military dictatorship to Athens direct democracy. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Most city-states had about 300,000 people, each divided into one of three classes : citizens, metics, or slaves. The citizens represented a total of†¦show more content†¦After peace was declared, he tightened Athenian control of the empire. â€Å"He crushed major rebellions, imposed democratic government, dispatched colonies of Athenian citizens to strategic areas, and made tribute collection (the main source of Athenian wealth) more efficient. Convinced of the inevitability of war with Sparta and the Peloponnesians, Pericles made an alliance with Corinths enemy, Corcyra , knowing that it could lead to armed hostilities. He refused Spartas demand that he revoke the Megarian decree, which denied Megara access to the harbors of the empire. These actions led to the Peloponnesian War . Pericles, who was relying on the fleet and the empires resources, planned to avoid a pitched battle with the Peloponnesians and to abandon the countryside to them. He fell victim to the plague, however, never to know that the war he initiated would result in the disastrous defeat of Athens. â€Å"(GME â€Å"PERICLES†) nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Socrates, was a Greek thinker whose work marked a decisive turning point in the history of philosophy. He invented a method of teaching by asking questions (the Socratic method), pioneered the search for definitions, and turned philosophy away from a study of the way things are toward a consideration of virtue and the health of the human soul. Socrates believed that to do wrong is to damage ones soul, and that this is the worst thing one can do. From this it