Clouds Socrates Unjust Speech Essay - 2141 Words

The Carnage of Just Speech William Myers Section Eschenburg Thursday 9:00am Topic B Aristophanes Pericles In Aristophanes’ play, â€Å"clouds†, there is a battle between the â€Å"old† and â€Å"new† way of going out about life. This can be seen through the â€Å"just† and â€Å"unjust† speech, whose argumentative outcomes dictate the way in which society should go about educating its citizens. The â€Å"unjust speech†, which is a heavy logical and manipulative approach to thinking about life (â€Å"new†), seems to subvert the â€Å"just speech†, which appears to rely on moral and mythical justification (â€Å"old†). Pericles, a prominent and influential Politian in Athens, has argued that democracy is the best form of government because it†¦show more content†¦The people who make the laws usually do so in a way beneficial to them â€Å"in public affairs†(West). Unjust speech has the power to diminish the collective wisdom the Athenians have built up by pointing out small contradictions and using manipulative reasoning that just speech can’t defend through logic. Just speech can only be defended through the centuries it has successfully survived and through the strong bond each citizen shares with each other (West). Therefore, Aristophanes argues through â€Å"clouds† that unjust speech has the ability to break down collective wisdoms, win arguments, create unequal powers, and ultimately dismantle democracy (West). For example, unjust speech states, â€Å"I quite deny that Justice even exists†(West 902) to which just speech replies â€Å"It does with the gods† (West 904), then unjust speech ask the question â€Å"then why didn’t Zeus perish when he bound his father?†(West 906) to which just speech replies â€Å"give me a basin: to vomit in†(West 907), basically stating if just does exist withi n the gods then it makes no sense because the gods are not just themselves. In this case unjust found a logical approach to dismiss the presences of just speech. This small contradiction discredits just speech as a whole, aids to the confusion of just speech, and gives power to unjust speech. This result causes just speechShow MoreRelatedPoli Sci Midterm1155 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿ What did Socrates Stand for? 1. What are the needs of the political community? What must all political communities do to insure their survival? What about Philosophy? What does philosophy seek? How does it go about this process? 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