This week, you will write an essay of 3-4 pages, using APA style, and you are encouraged to use…

This week, you will write an essay of 3-4 pages, using APA style, and you are encouraged to use these Threaded Discussions to work through ideas for this essay. Read several Greek sources and peruse your textbook for a literary work (or, you may select a game, story, or film) that has a relationship to Greek storytelling, and has certain epic features. Then in a well-crafted paper, describe your chosen work, demonstrating your full knowledge of Greek foundations, based on the readings given and any personal knowledge that you bring to this topic.The Threaded Discussion is your space to brainstorm, share ideas with your peers and professor, help each other with peer input and critique, and sharpen your focus on what you will incorporate into your final essay.Philosophy, Culture, and Modernity (graded)Greek society begins to emerge in tandem with an emerging literature. Plato and Aristotle had very modern views of human beings and what makes us tick. In politics, Plato well understood that democracy tended to err in the direction of mob rule and that an oligarchy erred in the direction of corruption of the few at the expense of the many. Greek government, and modern American government as well, attempt to balance rule between these two errors. Aristotle distinguished man from other animals by virtue of our living by “art and reasonings†(Metaphysica, Book A (I)). In other words, all animals seek to feed, to be comfortable in the elements, to breed, and to take care of their young. If we do no more than this, than there is nothing that separates us from the beasts of the field. Aristotle argued that art and reasoning separated us from animals. Art and reason show us that we can bear suffering, not because we do not feel pain, but because we have the ability to be magnificent in suffering. Both Plato and Aristotle subscribed to the ideal, but Plato saw the ideal as unattainable. He saw language as merely “the shadow of a shadow.†Aristotle, in contrast, saw art and language as means to connect to the ideal. To begin our discussion, we will work toward understanding the subtle difference between Aristotle’s and Plato’s views. Look at Plato’s “Simile of the Cave” and Aristotle’s “On the Nature and Elements of Tragedy” and discuss how their philosophies differ. As the week progresses, we will also take this conversation into modern inquiries regarding what you personally think and what we collectively think.