Ancient philosophical influences Flashcards
Who is Socrates and what did he encourage?
The founder of philosophy. He encourages critical questioning of commonly held assumptions.
What was a key feature of Socrates teaching?
Used questions to try and find the answer to a problem.
What was an example of Socrates teaching?
He would use the word ‘justice’ and try find out what we mean by it.
Who was Socrates student?
Plato
Why was Socrates executed?
Corrupting in the young and going against the Greek Gods.
What theory is Plato best known for?
The theory of the forms
What is the theory of the forms?
There are two separate worlds. The world we currently see is lying to us, the world of the forms is the truth.
What analogy does Plato use to represent the theory of the forms?
The cave analogy
What does the Cave analogy represent?
The ignorance of humans (specifically those who killed Socrates), as they don’t listen to Philosophy.
What is Plato’s demiurge?
The God that Plato believed created the world.
What are the qualities of Plato’s demiurge?
He’s good and desires the best for humanity. He tries to make the world as good as he can but he’s limited by his materials.
What does Plato use to obtain knowledge?
Reason
What is the Form of the good?
The highest form of good that we will meet upon death.
What is Plato’s book?
The republic
Which atheist criticizes Plato and what does he say?
Richard Dawkins claims it is nonsense to talk of a transcendent and other world above our own.
Why does Aristotle criticize Plato’s theory of the forms?
We can happily accept there’s ideal concepts for things like pi, justice etc. Yet surely we cannot accept that there’s an ideal form for things like jealousy and spite.
What are things that are commonly disliked about Plato’s theory of the forms?
- It has no scientific evidence.
- The dualism has been taken to extremes.
- It’s elitist, due to the use of reason.
- Plato has an overly optimistic view of human nature.
Who was Plato’s student?
Aristotle
What was Aristotle’s key philosophy?
The physical world around us is the key to knowledge.
What did Aristotle think of the world of the forms?
He rejected the idea and believed that nothing could be gained from dualism. Ideas can have no existence on their own.
What was the main term Aristotle used in his work and what did it mean?
‘aetion’, which means ‘cause’
What were Aristotle’s four causes?
- The material cause
- The formal cause
- The efficient cause
- The final cause (telos)
What is the material cause?
What something is made of.
What is the formal cause?
It’s characteristics (like shape).
What is the efficient cause?
The activity that makes something happen, like sex.
What is the final cause?
The telos, the purpose or end of something.
What was Aristotle’s prime mover?
Because he believed everything had a cause, he thought the world had a cause and therefore believed in a God.
What were the characteristics of Aristotle’s prime mover?
It does nothing but is the object of everything. Everything is drawn to God’s perfection.
- Eternal
- Immaterial
- Perfectly good
What does Aristotle believe is the main way to gain knowledge?
Empiricism
