William Henry III - Essay Example

In Plato's Allegory of the Cave, Socrates presented a caveman who only knows of darkness. He further presented another caveman who went out, saw the light, came back and considered blind in the darkness. And then he asked who is better off between the caveman who remained and the caveman who left and then blinded by the light. (350 B.C.) The caveman who left is better learned but the caveman who remained can better see. So, are they equal In my opinion, men are never equal. With regard to the cavemen, being in the cave at that point in time, I think the caveman who remained is superior compared to the caveman who left.

For if you are bound and chained inside the cave with no chance of escaping, what use is your knowledge of light However, if eventually, the caveman who left was able to adjust his vision so he is no longer blind in the darkness, he is superior. For he no longer has a handicap and yet he knows something the other caveman does not. In Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics he said that every art, inquiry, action and pursuit is aimed at some good. And that certain activities produce different ends. Some might result to the end itself or master end, while some might result in a product leading to the end or subordinate end. (350 B.C.) For example, the end of Medical Arts is health.

Thus the act of the doctor of prescribing medicine to the sick and the act of the nurse of taking care of the patient all leads to the master end: health. However, the act of an x-ray technician only leads to a subordinate end: the production of the x-ray result. This is because without analysis of the result and without a cure given, health is not attained. Hence we can say a doctor is superior that an x-ray technician. With respect to medical arts, they are not equal. And this even applies to the normal work setting.

In the office there are maintenance people, there's the staff and there's management. All of which are not equal. We have discussed the 'master end' in a particular art. However, there are different kinds of art and sciences. But is there a master art that in which all the ends of all the art fall unto to, the most superior art According to Aristotle, it is politics. Politics uses all the sciences, like medicine and economics. Thru legislature ordains what sciences to be studied, who should learn it and to what extent.

It determines what we ought to do and what we should avoid doing. (350 B.C.) Politics directs the state and thus directs all individual men. In the modern day setting, politics is represented by the government. We abide by the law that it legislate. We pay taxes. And we accept punishment from it. Even the richest and most powerful private company answers to the government. Indeed, the government is superior compared to all the other institutions. So far we have established that within a certain activity, art, science or institution, there is inequality between men.

William A. Henry III was right. Some are smarter, more diligent, harder to replace and simply better. So is this necessarily anti-egalitarian Does