Ежелгі грек философиясы: Арете тұжырымы

Greek philosophical concept
the philosophical concept

Arete is a concept in ancient Greek thought that, in its most basic sense, refers to "excellence" of any kind—especially a person or thing's "full realization of potential or inherent function." The term may also refer to excellence in "moral virtue."

The ancient Greeks applied the term arete to anything: for example, the excellence of a chimney, the excellence of a bull for breeding, and the excellence of a man. The meaning of the word changes depending on what it describes since everything has its own excellence; the arete of a man is different from the arete of a horse. This way of thinking originates from Plato, where it can be seen in the Allegory of the Cave. In particular, the aristocratic class was presumed, essentially by definition, to be exemplary of arete:The root of the word is the same as aristos, the word which shows superlative ability and superiority, and aristos was constantly used in the plural to denote the nobility. By , arete as applied to men had developed to include quieter virtues, such as dikaiosyne (justice) and sophrosyne (self restraint). Though Plato tried to produce a moral philosophy that incorporated this new usage, it was in the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle that the doctrine of arete found its fullest flowering. Aristotle's Doctrine of the Mean is a paradigm example of his thinking. Aristotle deliberated on the various goals of education: including practical skills, arete, and theory. Educating towards arete means boys would be educated towards things that are useful in life. However, there is no agreement about what constitutes arete, which leads to disagreement about how to train students for arete. To say that arete has a common definition of excellence or fulfillment may be an overstatement simply because it was very difficult to pinpoint arete, much less the proper ways to go about obtaining it.

In Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, arete mainly describes heroes and nobles and their mobile dexterity, with special reference to strength and courage, though it is not limited to this. Penelope's arete, as another example, relates to co operation, for which she is praised by Agamemnon. Though associated with "manly" qualities, Dying in battle or securing a victory in the Olympic Games were considered agathos ("good") and, hence, deserving of timê ("honor"). So, not only is Achilles a brave and brilliant warrior but also, from the outset, he is destined to die in battle at Troy with the utmost glory—a guarantor of arete.

Arete was occasionally personified as a goddess, the sister of Homonoia (goddess of concord, unanimity, and oneness of mind), and the daughter of Praxidike (goddess of justice). Arete and Homonoia were known jointly as the Praxidikai ("Exacters of Justice"). As with many minor Greek deities, there is little or no real mythical background to Arete, who is used at most as a personification of virtue. The only surviving story involving Arete was told in by the sophist Prodicus. Known as "Hercules at the crossroads", it concerns the early life of the hero Heracles. At a crossroads, Arete appeared to Heracles as a young maiden and offered him glory and a life of struggle against evil; her counterpart Kakia offered him wealth and pleasure. Heracles chose to follow the path of Arete. This story was later used by Christian writers, such as Methodius of Olympus, Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, and Basil of Caesarea.

Arete was also used by Plato in his discussion of athletic training and the education of young boys. It was commonly believed that the mind, body, and soul each had to be developed for a man to live a life of arete. This led to the thought that athletics had to be present in order to obtain arete. Athletics did not need to occupy one's life, but could be used to exercise the body into the right condition for arete, just as the mind and soul would be exercised by other means.

Arete is a significant part of the paideia of ancient Greeks: the training of the boy to manhood. This training in arete included physical training, for which the Greeks developed the [[Gymnasium (ancient Greece); mental training, which included oratory, rhetoric, and basic sciences; and spiritual training, which included music and what is called virtue.