Comparison of Platos The Last Days of Socrates and Hesses Siddhartha

Comparison of Platos The depart Days of Socrates and Hesses Siddhartha The eventually Days of Socrates and Siddhartha are sources that reveal information about religious or philosophical ideas in the cultures that they focus on. While vast differences exist amid the classic and Indian values that shape their philosophies, they make similar assumptions as they attempt to make sense of the world. Understanding the dichotomous relationship of the spirit and the body is integral to grasping the similarities and differences between the classical Greek and Indian paths because the way in which these concepts are understood defines the very constitution of truth. Socrates, the important character in The Last Days of Socrates, and Siddhartha, the central figure in Siddhartha, are twain portrayed as learned men trenchant for truth. The author of The Last Days of Socrates, Plato, conceived the document as a way of Socrates method of inquiry. Although it is a primary source from th e period (429-347 B.C.E.), the reader moldiness consider that The Last Days of Socrates is a re-creation of events that may remove happened, not a verbatim account. Siddhartha is a secondary source that explains an Indian philosophical journey through the perspective of a twentieth century German author. Thus, sensation must consider the authors bias towards his subject and flirt with that the ideas presented are one scholars interpretation of the legend. By attempting to compare and contrast both sources approaches to truth, one can make some observations about the way Greek and Indian cultures view truth keeping in mind that the sources to each one merely represent one account of the historical events and ideas. Intrinsic to Siddhartha and Socrates searche... ...th. By becoming aware of the separation of the soul and the body, the indestructible and immortal nature of the soul, and the impossibility of the soul understanding truth while bound to the body, one can begin to u nderstand how this dichotomy has shaped Indian and old-fashioned Greek philosophy. Works Cited Baumer, Franz. Hermann Hesse. New York Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1970. Field, G.W. Hermann Hesse. Boston Twayne Publishers, 1970. Hesse, Herman. Siddhartha. Dover Publications, 1998. Plato, The Last Days of Socrates. Trans. Hugh Tredennick and Harold Tarrant. London Penguin, 1993. Welch, Carolyn Roberts. Cliffs Notes on Hesses Steppenwolf and Siddhartha. Lincoln Cliffs Notes Inc., 1973. Ziolkowski, Theodore. The Novels of Hermann Hesse A Study in Theme and Structure. Princeton Princeton University Press, 1965.