All the Way up to Test 1

Question 1

Where and When did Socrates live?

Answer 1

Lived in Classical Athens

During the 4th or 6th century BC

Question 2

Polis and Oikos

Answer 2

Polis: public spaces where political decision were made
Oikos: the home; where women, children and slaves were

Question 3

How do we know what we know about Socrates?

Answer 3

Mostly from Plato
From 2 plays:
1) Aristophanes: The Clouds
2) Xenophon

Question 4

Why was Socrates on Trial?

Answer 4

He was accused of being a busybody.

Question 5

What were the “Old Charges”?

Answer 5

1) Inquiring as to what was above the sky and below the earth / Where did the earth come from?
2) For turning the weaker argument into the stronger one.
3) For hanging out in the agoras and challenging others knowledge

Question 6

What were the “New Charges”?

Answer 6

The Real Charge: Corrupting the Youth

1) For disobeying the gods and introducing new spiritual beings
2) Saying that the poets lied about the gods and questioned traditional Greek beliefs

Question 7

Who were the “Sophists”?

Answer 7

The Sophists were professional educators. They were very popular among the Greeks because everyone wanted to have distinguished positions and in order to do so one had to learn how to speak and develop critical thinking skills.

Question 8

Explain the “Gadfly Analogy.”

Answer 8

Socrates: The Gadfly
Athens: The Horse
Socrates uses this analogy to explain how he aroused the Athenian citizens, introducing new ideas and challenging them, like a fly arouses a horse from slumber

Question 9

How did Socrates play the role of a social critic?

Answer 9

1) By asking questions about society.

2) Demanding reasons and examining the adequacy of those reasons.

Question 10

What are the two major parts of an argument?

Answer 10

1) Premises

2) Conclusion

Question 11

What makes an argument valid?

Answer 11

If the premises follows the conclusion.

Soundness: If the premises are true and the argument is valid.

Question 12

What is a fallacy?

Answer 12

A LOGICALLY incorrect argument.

Question 13

What is ad hominum?

Answer 13

Attacking someone’s character instead of their ideas.

Question 14

What is false dichotomy?

Answer 14

Black or White thinking. Either this or that and not noticing other possibilities.

Question 15

What are deductive arguments?

Answer 15

The conclusion necessarily follows, making explicit what is already known, can achieve certainty.
Ex. Mathematics or computer programs

Question 16

What are Inductive Arguments?

Answer 16

A PATTERN OF EVENTS to make predictions

Forms generalizations.

Question 17

What are the four methods of inquiry?

Answer 17

1) Tenacity
2) Authority
3) Intuition
4) Science

Question 18

Tenacity

Answer 18

Always believed to be true, so it must be true.

Question 19

Authority

Answer 19

Believed to be true because a distinguished person said so or believes it himself.

Question 20

Intuition

Answer 20

“Self-evident” or obvious truths. Does not need to be tested.

Question 21

Science

Answer 21

The “Self-Correcting” Method.
Tested repeatedly by all men through experimentation.
Scrutinized by others (mutual criticism).
Is self-correcting.

Question 22

What is falsification?

Answer 22

Trying to prove something false in order to conclude that is is true.

Question 23

What is epistemology?

Answer 23

Theory of knowledge.

Question 24

Knowledge: 2 kinds of justifications:

Answer 24

a priori: independent of and before experience

a posteriori: based on and after experience

Question 25

What is truth?

Answer 25

Correspondence to reality.

Question 26

What is a belief?

Answer 26

A claim taken to be true.

Question 27

Explain about Descartes’ belief in certainty.

Answer 27

He wants to find absolute, unquestionable certainty. He believes that if we had absolute certainty, then there would be no conflict.

Question 28

What does Descartes believe about his cognitive capabilites?

Answer 28

Cognitive capabilities: how the mind arrives at beliefs.
He believes his senses to be a priori, meaning they cannot be trusted or relied upon. And he proved this by his Dream Argument.

Question 29

What does Descartes say about skepticism?

Answer 29

He says that in order to arrive at certainty, one must give skepticism a voice and a chance.

Question 30

What is foundationalism?

Answer 30

Knowledge has a foundation, similar to the foundation of a building.

Question 31

What are the three parts of Theological Metaphysics?

Answer 31

1) The Existence of God
2) The Immortality of the Soul
3) The Freedom of the Will

Question 32

What is Hume’s fundamental beliefs?

Answer 32

He attack Metaphysics. He believes that everything must be based on experience.

Question 33

What is Hume’s Copy Thesis?

Answer 33

Our ideas are copied from impressions, and that belief in God comes from impressions.

Question 34

Which two kinds does Hume believe objects of human reason or inquiry may be divided into?

Answer 34

1) Relations of Ideas: True by meaning alone, demonstratably certain
2) Matters of Fact: claims about the world, justified only by what we experience with the senses

Question 35

Kant’s 3 Claims Compared to Hume’s:

Answer 35

1) Kant: Analytic (True by meaning alone) a priori
Hume: Relation of Ideas
2) Kant: Synthetic (NOT true by meaning alone) a priori

3) Kant: Synthetic a posteriori
Hume: Matter of Fact