Excellence

Today in class, we talked about Excellence. Ancient greeks called it aretè.  Aretè is described as excellence of any kind, moral virtue, fulfillment  of a purpose, and the act of living up to one's full potential. The highest human potential is knowledge-highest human knowledge is knowledge itself (what separates us from dogs). We also talked about some key terms. Below are the key terms and their definitions.

• agora- public open space used for markets and meetings.
• polis- city state in Ancient Greece in its form for philosophical purposed.
• The importance of the year 508 BC to the ancient Greeks- democracy begins in Athens by a man named Cleisthenes who establishes a constitution called the "Father Of Athenian Democracy".
• Socrates- ancient Greek philosopher who was known for his self-mastery, integrity, philosophical insight, and his argumentative skill.
• Death Of Socrates- Socrates was accused of "corrupting the youth" and disrupting the gods, and sentenced to death. While he was in is prison cell, the guard came and gave Socrates a cup of poison to drink as his punishment; he was his own executer in this case.
• Socratic method- the use of questions to develop an idea founded by Socrates.
• What the ancient Greeks meant if they called you an idiot- people who didn't contribute to the community and didn't talk about politics.

We also have a test on Friday about Garcia and Excellence.