1. Ancient philosophical influences

Question 1

Plato

AN Whitehead quote about Plato

Answer 1

“All of philosophy is a footnote to Plato”

Question 2

Plato

Understanding of reality

Answer 2

• PW always changing, Forms = unchanging ∴ has certainty PW lacks.
  → “You can never step into the same river twice.” - Heraclitus 5000BC
• Dualist - belief of two worlds.
• PW known through sense experience (empirical observation), can be misleading.
• PW given reality by Forms; physical phenomenoms ‘participate in’ their ideal forms.

Question 3

Plato

The Forms

Answer 3

= concepts, ideals and universals that help us understand PW.
= superior as unchanging.
* known through a priori knowledge.
* Must have encountered them before birth, anamnesis, → must have immortal souls that are capable of living w/out physical bodies.
* highest = good, illuminates them all.

Question 4

Hierarchy of forms

Answer 4

1. Good.
2. Beauty, justice, truth.
3. Mathematical, geometric.
4. Objects we experience

Question 5

Criticism of form of good

Answer 5

• Aristole - virtue required to do good, not just an understanding of goodness + cannot be one unified form of the good which captures all the diverse forms of goodness in this world.
• Plato = optimistic or inventing the form of the good because he wanted philosophers to rule society.
• Nietzche - Form of good = ‘dangerous error’ + claimed attempt to justify their emotional prejudices e.g. desire for power.

Question 6

Plato

Alagory of the cave

Answer 6

• Compares PW w/ dark shadowy cave + WoF ‘sun-filled’ real world.
• Shows importance of philosophy + illustrates how knowledge gained through senses is inferior to knowledge of Forms.
• Prisoners know nothing outside of cave = sense experience only shadows of truth → accept them at face value. Don’t Q anything, imprisioned by ignorance.
  → prisioner leaves cave + enlightened knowing truth.
  PW demonstrates how senses are misleading.
  Real truth found through philosophy leads us to the Forms.

Question 7

Plato

Strengths

Answer 7

• Helps us understand why there is imperfections, doesn’t rely on God.
• Explains why we recorgnise things differently e.g. beauty → without being taught, must of had a collective experience.
• Asks fundermental Q’s about life, meaning and reality. Encourages to question in order to learn.
• Lack of evidence = forms → immaterial.
• Influenced ideals like Narnia.

Question 8

Plato

Weaknesses

Answer 8

• Karl Popper = Plato tries to find certainty in a world where it can’t be found.
• Can’t be proved, no impirical evidence.
• Believes senses are insuperior, yet humans have relied on them for 1000s of years.
• Dawkins = “To talk about a transendent world is nonesense.”
• Forms = no pratical use e.g Dr. dont use perfect form of health, but think about individual needs.
• Unlikely everything has an ideal form. Cancer? = contradiction as forms meant to be perfect.
• Mel Thompson = “Fails to illustrate the attractiveness of PW… scene of cave hardly represents the delights of senses.”

Question 9

Aristole

Understanding of reality

Answer 9

• If anything other than PW exists, we have no way of knowing.
• Studied under Plato.
• Learnt by observing the PW = empiricist.
• Can be explains in 4 ways, account for and explain phenomena of PW around us.

Question 10

Aristole - four causes

1st cause

Answer 10

Material cause → explains what something is made up of, helps understand aspects of it.

Question 11

Aristole - four causes

2nd cause

Answer 11

Formal cause → explains shape and from something takes, or identifying features.

Question 12

Aristole - four causes

3rd cause

Answer 12

Efficent cause → explains activity that makes something happen, brings about change + actualises potential.

Question 13

Aristole - four causes

4th cause

Answer 13

Final cause → somethings purpose or reason for existing at all.
Telos = an end, fulfilment,

Question 14

Aristole

Prime mover

Answer 14

• Noticed movement runs out (ball rolling), but planets etc. still had movement. ∴ must be a PM to account for everything always changing.
• PM creates motion as objects are attracted to its perfection.
• Final cause of universe.
• is a pure mind eternally contemplating itself – unchanging and attracting everything in the universe towards it, thereby causing the motion and change we experience.

Question 15

Aristole

Prime mover criticisms

Answer 15

• Issac Newton = proved wrong that motion runs out, actually motion just transfers into another type of energy.
• So stars/planets dont need special explaination like PM.
  DEFENSE = empirical evidence use correct, Newton used this himself.

Question 16

Aristole

Strengths

Answer 16

• Many of PM characteristics shared w/ God.
• View that everything has a purpose supported by other philosophers, e.g. Aquinas 5th Way.
• $ causes can be applied to anything in existance.
• Emphasised value of studying PW + approach is empirial.

Question 17

Aristole

Weaknesses

Answer 17

• Assumtions surrounding existances of 4 causes.
• Matter + universe view = outdated, PM can’t interact to create something out of nothing, believed universe had no beginning - science says otherwise.
• Relationship between PM + universe unclear = no form, doesn’t act.
• Guilty of fallacy of composition.
• Based on belief everything has a purpose. Nietzche, Sartre + Camus argue life has no purpose.

Question 18

Aristole

Hume’s criticism

Answer 18

Notion of necessary existance is incoherant, all statements can be derieved without contradiction.

Question 19

Aristole

Kant’s criticism

Answer 19

Argued whole notion of cause + effect.
One of ways our minds interpret and we can’t help but impose causality, but believes our minds aren’t designed to think about cause beyond the world.