Ancient Greeks Philosophy

Question 1

What is epistemology?

Answer 1

The theory of knowledge. A branch of philospy that examines how we acquire knowledge and encourages us to question our knowledge of the everyday world.

Question 2

What does a priori mean?

Answer 2

Pre-knowledge before experience.

Question 3

What does a posteriori mean?

Answer 3

After experience

Question 4

What is René Descartes most famous for saying?

Answer 4

Cogito ergo sum (I think therefore I am).

Question 5

Was Descartes a rationalist or empiricist?

Answer 5

Rationalist. Eternal truth can only be attained by reason and experience of the world.

Question 6

What example does Descartes use to illustrate his view?

Answer 6

You can’t learn in a dream because dreams are things that you already know. An evil genius could be controlling our experiences.

Question 7

Was Plato a rationalist or empiricist?

Answer 7

Rationalist

Question 8

Was Aristotle a rationalist or empiricist?

Answer 8

Empiricist

Question 9

Was John Locke a rationalist or empiricist?

Answer 9

Empiricist

Question 10

Why is Plato a rationalist?

Answer 10

Believes that our knowledge comes from the world of the forms (our souls existed before birth). We know that a horse is a horse even if it’s missing a leg because we’ve seen its perfect form in the world of the forms.

Question 11

Why is Aristotle an empiricist?

Answer 11

Believes that all knowledge begins with the senses. Material cause, formal cause, efficient cause and final cause.

Question 12

Why is John Locke an empiricist?

Answer 12

Believed that our minds are blank at birth. Uses the hot pan example- we feel pain if we touch it so we realise that pans get hot.

Question 13

What is Plato’s book called?

Answer 13

The Republic

Question 14

What is the example for Aristotle’s four causes?

Answer 14

Something is a statue because it’s made of marble (material cause)●because Michelangelo sculpted it (efficient cause)●♡because it is in the shape of David (formal cause)♡¤because Michelangelo wanted to depict the figure of David in marble; perhaps because he needed money (final cause)¤

Question 15

What is another word for good purpose?

Answer 15

Eudaimomia

Question 16

What is Aristotle’s idea of God called?

Answer 16

The Prime Mover. It’s a pure substance that has no form. It’s a deist god and it represents the end to which all matter is moving and aspiring.

Question 17

What does deist mean?

Answer 17

God created the world then stepped back. Impersonal.

Question 18

What does theist mean?

Answer 18

Personal god who interacts with the world.

Question 19

What does Aristotle believe is the Great Attractor?

Answer 19

God. Example: the milk attracts the cat even though the milk does nothing.

Question 20

What a the fallacy of composition?

Answer 20

An error in reasoning. The assumption that what is partly true is wholy true.

Question 21

What does creatio ex nihilo mean?

Answer 21

Creating something out of nothing.

Question 22

Forms

Answer 22

A name Plato gave to ideal concepts

Question 23

Reason

Answer 23

Using logical steps and thought processes in order to reach conclusions

Question 24

Rationalist

Answer 24

Someone who thinks that the primary source of knowledge is reason

Question 25

Empiricist

Answer 25

Someone who thinks that the primary source of knowledge is experience gained through the five senses

Question 26

Prime Mover

Answer 26

Aristotle’s concept of the ultimate cause of movement and change in the universe

Question 27

Socratic method

Answer 27

The method of philosophical reasoning which involves critical questioning

Question 28

Analogy

Answer 28

A comparison between one thing and another in an attempt to clarify meaning

Question 29

Transcendent

Answer 29

Being beyond this world and outside the realms of ordinary experience

Question 30

Dualism

Answer 30

The belief that reality can be divided into two distinct parts, such as good and evil, or physical and non-physical

Question 31

Aetion

Answer 31

An explanatory factor, a reason or cause for something

Question 32

Telos

Answer 32

The end, or purpose, of something