It may be difficult to overestimate the impact of historical Athens on Western civilisation,

according to BC Campus. The achievements of the Greeks in the arts, literature, and government
have shaped Western consciousness. Innumerable novels and Hollywood movies feature
perennial themes such as the search for character identification and everyone's place in the
world. The influence of Athenian moral views on modern philosophy has been significant, and
Athenian norms continue to be important. Ethics, as a form of applied philosophy, became a
major concern for many of the leaders of ancient Athens, particularly professors such as
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. They emphasized that ethics was no longer just about what a
person did, but also about who he or she became. Ethics became a characteristic of existence,
and as a guiding principle for dealings with others, it surely applied to the sticky areas of money
and business.

Athens in antiquity

The city-state (polis) of Athens lured people from far and wide in the 5th century BCE, just like
a modern metropolis does today. That lifestyle meant conducting change and trade for some,
thanks to the openness of the brand new democracy established in 508 BCE under Neath the
lawgiver Cleisthenes. Others were drawn to Athens because of its rich architecture, poetry,
theatre, spiritual activities, politics, and philosophy faculties. The mathematicians Archimedes
and Pythagoras; dramatists Sophocles and Euripides; historians Herodotus and Thucydides;
Hippocrates, the father of medicine; and, of course, the famed but enigmatic truth seeker
Socrates were among the famous but cryptic truth seekers. Those thinkers, scholars, and artists
challenged young people to pursue truth regardless of the cost to themselves or their non-public
ambitions. They were more than rock stars in their day. These leaders were more interested in the
emergence of an ideal society than in gaining renown or perhaps personal advancement. This
was the Golden Age of historic Greece8, whose achievements were so significant and long-
lasting that they shaped the foundations of Western culture for almost a millennium. Throughout
the Golden Age, philosophy developed, with various faculties of thought attempting to make
sense of the herbal and human worlds. Philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle tackled
important questions of human life with such perception that their ideas have remained applicable
and established even on the dawn of synthetizable worlds. “The most certain favored
characterisation of the European philosophical lifestyle is that it comprises a chain of footnotes
to Plato,” wrote British mathematician and logician Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947). Why
are the ideas of those ancient Greek philosophers still relevant today? One reason for this is their
advancement of the historical concept of distinguishing feature. Plato's well-known pupil
Aristotle (384–322 BCE) is the individual most closely associated with distinctive feature within
the West, and the development of what is now known as distinctive feature ethics—that is, a
moral device based entirely on the exercise of specific virtues (loyalty, honor, courage)
emphasizing the formation of individual—

The Nicomachean Ethics, written by means of the historic Greek logician Aristotle (a), is a
lengthy collection of Aristotle's lecture notes to his students on how to live virtuous lives and
obtain happiness; it is the oldest surviving treatment of ethics in the West. The series was named
after Aristotle's son, most likely. The 1566 edition (b) was published in both Greek and Latin.
(credit a: “Aristotle Altemps Inv8575” was modified by “Jastrow”/Wikimedia Commons, Public
Domain; credit b: “Aristotelis De Moribus advert Nicomachum” was modified by
“Aavindraa”/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

Virtue Ethics according to Aristotle

According to Aristotle, everything has a purpose, or a goal, and has been created to achieve that
goal. For example, a bird's right stop is to fly, while a fish's right stop is to swim. Birds and fish
were created with a specific way (feathers, fins) for obtaining their respective objectives.
Teleology, which comes from the Greek telos, which meaning "intention" or "goal," is the study
of goals and the methods used to achieve them. What is a human being's telos? He was no longer
implying happiness in the sense of having a chuckle or being satisfied when he said this. Rather,
he connected happiness with human flourishing, which he believed was a prerequisite for
happiness. The difference, according to Aristotle, is that intellectual virtues are gained primarily
through learning, whereas ethical virtues are gained through exercise and habit modification. In
contrast to the intellectual virtues, which focused on external actions, ethical virtues were
concerned with man or woman. Bravery, self-control, liberality, majesty, honor, patience, and
amiability were among the virtues discussed. In historical Greece, some of these virtues had
different meanings than they do today. For example, the term "liberal" used to refer to a
personality trait rather than a political or economic position. Someone is considered liberal if he
or she has become open and sharing of himself or herself and his or her abilities without fear of
rejection or expectation of reciprocity. The magnanimous person, who was unconcerned about
renown or fortune, became the epitome of those traits.

This person had self-awareness; he or she was no longer rash, irritable, or submissive to others;
and he or she operated with self-respect, control, and prudence. The magnanimous individual
achieved satisfaction by leading a life characterized by purpose and will. He or she maintained
control over personal matters and no longer delegated authority—or ethical agency—to others,
whether in judgment or decision-making. “Since a result, magnanimity appears to be a kind of
crown of virtues, as it complements and is not determined in any way apart from them.
According to Aristotle, "being truly magnanimous is difficult since it is far from conceivable
without all-spherical greatness." The relationship among the intellectual and ethical virtues isn't
as clear-cut as it appears, though, because Aristotle felt that motion came before person. To put it
another way, the most effective way to market yourself is to engage in consistent, intentional
behavior along the path of distinctiveness. Aristotle used the example of bravery. After
becoming no longer brave, a character went about performing brave acts. Rather, bravery was
the consequence of incremental exchange, modest moves performed over time that shaped the
individual. It was dependent on the popularity of justice in order for bravery to be directed in the
right path. Growing the reliance on It has become a major priority to live moral lives. This is
something that anybody should do; nonetheless, it has evolved into a profession that must be
discovered and practiced with determination. We can see that this specific feature addiction is
primarily pertinent to business today, where the temptation to follow a long-standing
organizational history, even if that tradition may enable or even inspire unethical behaviors, is
enormous. When you add the alluring magnetism of money, anyone's bravery is likely to be put
to the test.
The most amazing element of distinctive feature ethics is that it saw the fundamental moral unit
—the key agent of morality—as a person who openly lived out his or her worldview. As a result,
a unique feature emerged inside the financial and political sectors, allowing others to participate
in and benefit from it. It became critical in Athenian society for business to be conducted
properly and ethically. Despite his suspicions about economic activity, Aristotle recognized its
importance in maintaining and fostering Athenian democracy. He also applauded the
introduction of money to the goal of justice, so that a shoemaker and a housebuilder, for
example, might trade their commodities on the same terms. According to Aristotle, virtue in the
marketplace was developed by moral conduct: “People do in reality seek their particular right,
and believe that it is proper to behave in this manner.” This view has given rise to the belief that
such persons are prudent. However, it's likely that one can't maintain one's personal well-being
without the aid of domestic and political science.” This understanding of the public nature of
distinctive features has become critical for the city-prosperity, nation's and it also has
ramifications for modern-day business, which must consider the individual, organization,
industry, and society in its development and planning.

Democracy in Athens

Humans' perceptions of democracy are subject to time and place, just as their perceptions of
ethics are. You're undoubtedly astounded to learn how the Athenian model of democracy
differed so significantly from our own. For example, despite the fact that the name “democracy”
is derived from the Greek words for humans (dêmos) and energy (krátos), best person men who
had assets should vote, and balloting became direct; Athens became no longer a republic with
elected representatives, similar to the United States. Residents aliens, also known as metics—
those who live beyond their country of origin—were no longer eligible for citizenship and were
unable to vote. They had limited privileges and their reputation was demoted to second-class, yet
this did not prevent many of them from achieving money and fame. Within the city-country, they
were typically some of the best artisans, craftspeople, and traders. Metics were allowed to
conduct business within the market (agora) if they paid special taxes each year. Aristotle, who
was born outside of Athens in northern Greece, is one of the most well-known.

Women, even if they were citizens, were no longer allowed to vote and had limited rights when
it came to possessions and inheritance. The maintenance and control of the home became their
most important aspect in Athenian culture. “The proper Penelope must be an Athenian woman—
a companion to her husband, a protector of the home, and someone who follows the qualities
represented via her husband. Physical beauty is no longer a goal, nor is it even a highly
appreciated trait. The final distinguishing quality was total dedication to the wellbeing of spouse,
children, and family. ” Plato's theory that the physical world had become a less-than-perfect
reflection, or shadow, of the best was supported by the common sense in classical Greece that
business and money were contaminated in some way. Everything inside the physical world
became, in some way, less than an appropriate, and this included the products of human thought
and work. For example, a cow lives within the physical world as a less-than-ideal and ephemeral
embodiment of the appropriate essence of a cow, which we refer to as "cowness." (This flaw was
responsible for the different variants found within the earthly organism.) Business, as a human
invention founded solely on self-interest, also lacked any significant perfection or stop. After all,
what good is it to be lucrative if you don't have any spare cash? Any surrender prior to that
became no longer discernible. To put it another way, cash existed solely to repeat itself and was
powered by avarice (a desire for money) or greed (the affection of cloth goods). “In terms of the
businessman's lifestyles, it does not provide him with a great deal of flexibility. Furthermore,
riches is clearly no longer the coolest thing we're looking for, as it only serves as a method, i.e.,
for obtaining something else,” Aristotle noted.
However, initiative had a thrilling effect that helped enliven Athenian life and praised those who
engaged in it as noble (in any other case danger their popularity). This resulted in affiliation.
Business became founded entirely on the unrestricted and honest exchange of goods, which
brought not only products into contact with one another, but also buyers, sellers, and government
officials. The way to ensure ethically sound association was through the exercise of caution,
particularly in its demand that people behave deliberately rather than rashly. This deliberate
component of caution provided a way for buyers, sellers, and everyone else involved in a
transaction to act decently, which became of paramount importance. Honor became not only a
core distinguishing characteristic, but also the cultural setting in which the historic civilization
existed. One of the worst things anyone can commit, whether they are a man, a woman, a free
person, or a slave, is to act dishonorably. Of course, while performing with purpose does not
guarantee that one is acting honorably, for the Athenians, acting in a calculated manner was no
longer seen as a sign of dishonor. Dishonorable deeds shielded those who disrupted the
fundamental order (dik) of lives, in which everyone played a part, including the gods.

Surprisingly, Aristotle's business philosophy does not condemn the creation of money or the
accumulation of riches. Aristotle's anxiety, which stemmed from the threats it posed to his
character and the city-nation, degenerated into avarice. Greed, according to Aristotle, was an
excess that tilted the balances of justice and caused scandal. Money may be the bait, but greed
drives the individual to reach out and grab as much as possible, luring them into the trap of
controversy. Greed was considered an illogical, and so ignoble, behaviour by the Greeks. Only a
person's sense of dignity and cognitive caution should keep them from acting so recklessly. In
historical Greece, honor became more than a personal trait; it became a characteristic of the
organization to which a person belonged, and the individual acquired vanity from membership in
that institution. Honorable residence in the neighborhood was a civic distinguishing quality.
Business crises nowadays typically arise from conflicts of interest rather than conflicts of honor,
in which employees feel split between their allegiances to a coworker, a supervisor, or the firm.
Although few people would use the term honor to describe a cutting-edge workplace culture or
company objective, practically everyone understands the value of acknowledgment and its
positive or negative effects on a business. Reputation isn't something that happens by chance. It's
the result of a subculture shaped by man or woman and institutional effort. This is a concerted,
deliberate, and ongoing effort. Behaving dishonorably, according to Aristotle and other thinkers
who expanded on his paintings, such as Thomas Aquinas, a thirteenth-century truth seeker and
theologian, casts discredit on those involved. Ends and paths needed to be linked, particularly in
business, which provided people with livelihoods and ensured the city-financial country's health.
Acting honorably entailed being gracious in all dealings and rising above a preoccupation with
baser instincts. At some point during Greece's Golden Age (5th century BCE), the role of ethics
in Athens became significant. Aristotle was interested in the role of distinguishing characteristics
in the development of a person's personality and societal stability. He believed that a person's
actions determined whether or not she or he became virtuous, and that happiness, or eudaimonia,
was a factor of virtuous living. Aristotle identified two types of virtues: intellectual and moral.
Intellectual virtues were acquired via study and acted as guides to conduct as a means of
assisting the individual in discovering truth. Moral virtues were acquired via addiction and
developed into a person by assisting them to pursue what's beneficial and avoid what's harmful in
their daily lives. Because of its practical application, Aristotle considered phrónsis, or prudence,
to be the most important distinguishing trait. Thomas Aquinas, a thirteenth-century truth seeker
and theologian, agreed with Aristotle that dishonorable behavior brings discredit to those
involved. Ends and methods had to be linked, particularly in business, which provided people's
livelihoods and ensured the city-financial state's stability.

It would be difficult to exaggerate the historical Athens' impact on Western civilisation. The
achievements of the Greeks in the arts, literature, and government have shaped Western
consciousness. Innumerable novels and Hollywood movies feature perennial themes such as the
search for character identification and everyone's place in the world. The influence of Athenian
moral views on modern philosophy has been significant, and Athenian conceptions continue to
be prominent. Ethics, as a form of applied philosophy, became a top priority for the many leaders
of ancient Athens, particularly teachers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. They emphasized that
ethics had evolved into more than just what a person did; it had evolved into who a person was.
Ethics became a way of life, and as the guiding principle for dealings with people, it applied
equally well to the sticky areas of money and trade.
Throughout the Golden Age, philosophy developed, with various faculties of thought attempting
to make sense of the herbal and human worlds. The human world was imagined to be rooted in
the natural world but to expand in a variety of ways, the most obvious of which being people's
use of reason and reasoning. Philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle approached
fundamental concerns of human life with such clarity that their ideas have remained relevant and
traditional even as synthetic intelligence emerges. “The most secure wellknown characterisation
of European philosophical tradition is that it comprises a series of footnotes to Plato,” wrote
British mathematician and truth seeker Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947). 1 However,
enterprise had a thrilling affect on Athenian lives, recommending those who involved in it to be
virtuous (in any other case danger their recognition). This influence morphed into affinity.
Business became founded entirely on the unrestricted and honest exchange of goods, which
brought together not just the best items, but also customers, sellers, and government officials.
The way to ensure ethically correct association became through the use of caution, particularly in
its demand that individuals act deliberately rather than rashly. This deliberate act of prudence
provided a way for buyers, sellers, and everyone else involved in a transaction to act honestly,
which became of the utmost importance. Honor became not just a core distinguishing
characteristic, but also the cultural surrounds in which the historical world existed. One of the
most serious infractions anybody can commit, whether they are a man, a woman, a free person,
or a slave, is to act dishonorably. Of course, while performing purposely no longer ensures that
one is appearing honorably, for Athenians, performing in a planned manner no longer constitutes
a display of shame. Dishonorable deeds protected those who disrupted the fundamental order
(dik) of existence, in which everyone, including the gods, had a role.

Surprisingly, the Aristotelian approach to business did not condemn money creation or the
accumulation of wealth. What concerned Aristotle, in particular because of the dangers it posed
to the individual and the city-state, became avarice. Greed, according to Aristotle, was an excess
that tilted the balances of justice and caused scandal. Money may be the bait, but greed drives the
individual to reach out and grab as much as possible, luring them into the trap of controversy.
Greed was considered an illogical, and so ignoble, behaviour by the Greeks. Only a person's
sense of dignity and cognitive wisdom may prevent them from behaving so badly.

Honor in historic Greece changed into now no longer simply an person function however
additionally a characteristic of the organization to which an person belonged, and the man or
woman derived vanity from club in that organization. Civic distinctive The dignified dwelling in
the community was a characteristic. Business crises nowadays typically arise from conflicts of
interest rather than conflicts of honor, in which employees feel split between their allegiances to
a coworker, a supervisor, or the firm. thirteen Although few people could use the term honor to
describe the contemporary administrative center lifestyle or corporate objective, practically
everyone is aware of the significance of recognition and its positive or negative impact on a firm.
Reputation isn't something that happens by chance. It is the result of a tradition that has been
shaped by character and institutional effort. This is a concerted, deliberate, and ongoing effort.

“First and foremost, there is that most precious of traits, equality before the law,” wrote
Herodotus, a Greek historian. True, Cleisthenes' demokratia bridged the gap between the
Athenian aristocracy, which had long monopolized political decision-making, and the army and
navy, which were made up of middle- and working-class individuals (and whose incipient
discontent was the reason Cleisthenes introduced his reforms in the first place). Cleisthenes, the
Athenian king, introduced a system of political reforms known as demokratia, or "government
through the people" (from demos, "people," and kratos, "power"). It became the world's most
widely recognized democracy.

This system was made up of three distinct institutions: the ekklesia, a sovereign governing body
that wrote laws and dictated foreign policy; the boule, a council of representatives from the ten
Athenian tribes; and the dikasteria, the well-known courts where citizens argued cases in front of
a jury of lottery-chosen jurors. Although this Athenian democracy lasted only a few centuries, its
development by Cleisthenes, “The Father of Democracy,” became one of historic Greece's most
enduring legacies to the modern world. The Greek mechanism of direct democracy has the
potential to pave the way for consultant democracies all over the world. “There is, first, that
greatest first rank of virtues, equality earlier than the law,” stated Herodotus, a Greek historian.
The political distinctions between the Athenian aristocracy, who had long monopolized the
political decision-making process, and the center- and working-magnificence those who made up
the military and navy were eliminated by Cleisthenes' demokratia (and whose incipient
discontent turned into the motive Cleisthenes delivered his reforms withinside the first place).

However, Herodotus' "equality" was limited to a small segment of the Athenian community in
Ancient Greece. In Athens, for example, there were around 100,000 inhabitants (Athenian
citizenship was restricted to women and males whose mother and father were also Athenian
residents), 10,000 metoikoi, or "resident foreigners," and 150,000 slaves in the middle of the
fourth century. Out of all those people, the majority of male inhabitants over the age of 18 took
part in the demonstrations, implying that only about 40,000 people should participate in the
democratic process. The Athenian democracy quickly evolved into a three-pillared democracy.
The first became the ekklesia, or Assembly, Athens' autonomous governing body. Any member
of the demos—any of the forty,000 adult male citizens—became welcome to attend the
ekklesia's conferences, which were convened forty times a year at the Pnyx, a hillside auditorium
west of the Acropolis. (Only about 5,000 men attended each Assembly consultation; the rest
were serving in the military or running to help their families.)

The ekklesia made decisions about warfare and foreign policy at the conferences, wrote and
rewrote legal rules, and accepted or condemned the behavior of public authorities. (Ostracism, in
which a citizen may be exiled from the Athenian city-state for ten years, became one of the
ekklesia's powers.) Selections were determined by a simple majority vote at the institution.

The Boule is a game that takes place in a

The boule, or Council of Five Hundred, became the second crucial organization. The boule
became a group of 500 men, 50 from each of the 10 Athenian tribes, who sat at the Council for a
year. The boule, unlike the ekklesia, gathered every day and performed the majority of the
hands-on work of governing. It managed government employees and was in charge of assets
such as military ships (triremes) and navy horses. It was in charge of dealing with ambassadors
and delegates from various city-states. Its most significant characteristic became determining
which subjects might arrive before the ekklesia. In this sense, the boule's five hundred
participants decided how the whole democracy should work.

The boule positions were chosen by lot rather than election. This became because, in principle, a
random lottery was more democratic than an election: after all, natural chance couldn't be
influenced by factors like money or popularity. The lottery system also prevented the status quo
of a perpetual aristocracy of civil officials who would be inclined to use the authorities to better
or better themselves. Historians contend, however, that choosing the boule is no longer solely a
matter of chance. They note that wealthy and powerful people—and their relatives—served on
the Council far more frequently than would be expected in a truly random lottery. Dikasteria is a
term used to describe a situation in which something is

The famed courts, or dikasteria, sprang from the 0.33 important organization. Every day, more
than 500 jurors are chosen by lot from a pool of male inhabitants over the age of 30. Because the
jury had practically unlimited power, Aristotle claimed that the dikasteria “contributed most to
the electricity of democracy” of all the democratic institutions.

Because there were no police in Athens, it was the demonstrators who presented court cases,
argued for the prosecution and defense, and delivered judgments and penalties using majority
rule. (Because there were no rules on what kind of cases could be prosecuted or what could and
couldn't be said at trial, Athenian citizens frequently utilized the dikasteria to punish or shame
their enemies.)

Jurors have been paid a stipend for their services, ensuring that the process is accessible to
everyone, not just the wealthy (but, because the salary turned into much less than what the
common employee earned in a day, the standard juror became an aged retiree). Because
Athenians no longer paid taxes, the money for those bills came from customs duties,
contributions from allies, and metoikoi taxes. The leitourgia, or liturgy, became an exception to
this rule, as it became a form of tax that wealthy people volunteered to pay to sponsor important
civic undertakings like the renovation of a military ship (this liturgy became known as the
trierarchia) or the creation of a play or choral overall performance for the city's annual festival.
Athens' Democracy Comes to an End
Around 460 B.C., Athenian democracy began to adapt into something we'd call an aristocracy,
following the rule of thumb of the general Pericles (generals were some of the most effective
public authorities who were chosen, now no longer appointed). Despite the fact that democratic
principles and techniques no longer exist in historic Greece, they have continued to influence
politicians and administrations since then. Residents vote for representatives who draft and enact
legal norms on their behalf in modern consultant democracies, as opposed to direct democracies.
Contemporary consultant democracies include Canada, the United States, and South Africa.