Ancient Philosophical Influences Flashcards
What did Heraclitus famously say?
An ancient Greek Philosopher who thought that the world we experience is in a state of constant change which he called ‘flux’. He famously said that a person never steps in the same river twice, since both the river and the person change.
What is Plato’s argument to Heraclitus?
Thinks that the consequence of Heraclitus’ challenge is that true eternal unchanging knowledge cannot be gained empirically, i.e. from a posteriori observation. Plato concludes that we must give up on the attempt to gain knowledge through experience and look to a priori reason alone.
What is Aristotle’s argument to Heraclitus?
Thinks that we can understand the causal mechanism responsible for change and thereby gain true knowledge from experience.
What is the summary to Plato’s rationalism?
Plato thought that we must not be experiencing the world correctly. Our minds are trapped in a state of ignorance, which is why we experience imperfect, transient and everchanging things in the world of appearance. The true reality must be perfect, eternal and unchanging.
What did Plato refer to the particular as?
Particulars are the objects of everyday experience. They are imperfect representations of the form they partake in from which they gain characteristics.
Why does plato believe we perceive everything through a ‘broken lens’.
It is like looking at an object in a broken mirror and perceiving a visually distorted version of it. In the case of Plato’s form however, we are perceiving the forms through the broken lens of our ignorant minds.
Why is Plato’s theory a priori?
We get knowledge of the world of forms through a priori reason, not a posteriori empirical sense experience, which reveals merely a vague shadow of the real world (of forms).
What does Plato present the theory through?
The allegory of the cave.
What does the allegory of the cave represent?
Prisoners (us) in a cave (our reality) who cannot move due to being chained (our minds in a state of ignorance).
What do the objects we experience represent?
Shadows on the wall, this is all the prisoners have ever known and so they develop a language.
Who does the Philosopher represent?
An escaping prisoner.
What does the form of the good represent?
The prisoner escapes and is temporarily blinded by the sun (form of the Good),
What does the world of forms represent?
The real world (world of forms). He returns to the cave to explain the truth to the other prisoners, but they cannot understand him.
Why is experience insufficient according to Plato?
Experience involves mere shadows of the real and that is why it cannot give us knowledge. Only a priori reasoning involving understanding of the forms can give us knowledge.
Why is empirical knowledge insufficient to Plato?
Evidence cannot be trusted as it is merely shadows of the real world of forms that only a priori reason can discover.
Why does Ockham’s Razor relate to the theory of the forms?
That we should not believe explanations that are unnecessarily complicated, such as a world of forms, when we have a simpler theory that works.
How did Nietzsche criticize Plato?
Nietzsche called Plato’s form of the good a ‘dangerous error’ and said that philosophers often invent ideas that suit their emotional prejudices, such as desire for power. They then pretend to have figured out their views through logic and reason.
What is Aristotle’s view on good?
it is difficult to define goodness since different instances of goodness are so radically different.
What is Plato’s argument from recollection?
Plato points out that we somehow do have knowledge of perfect, eternal and unchanging concepts. These include concepts like perfect beauty and justice. We also have perfect mathematical concepts and geometric concepts such as the idea of a perfect circle or two sticks being perfectly ‘equal’ in length. We have never experienced perfect beauty, justice or a perfect circle. So, we must have gained this knowledge a priori.
