Ancient philosophical influences- Empiricism vs rationalism Flashcards
Definition of empiricism?
knowledge gained through senses, experiences and observation
Aristotle’s 4 causes
Material- matter or substance of something
Efficient- process of something coming into existence
Formal- how we know what something is, characteristics
Final-telos/purpose
Strength of material cause
All things must be made of physical matter to be observed. Useful basis of knowledge
Weakness of material cause
No material cause of concept(beauty) or colours
Plato- true knowledge comes from non- physical world of forms. We recognise form of beauty in things
Strength of efficient cause
Explains process of change from potentiality to actuality. e.g. metal has potential to become ring but needs silversmith
Weakness of efficient cause
Hume- may be able to observe two processes that we call cause and effect but doesn’t mean the effect was a result of the cause. They were simply both observed
Strength of formal cause
Helps us to understand what gives something its shape. e.g. a bird clucks and we can identify it as a chicken. The chicken has died so the form has changed because it np longer does these things
Aristotle- the form of an object is its soul
Weakness of formal cause
May be disagreements about formal cause. How do we know which characteristics are essential to an object? Car- is the formal cause the engine? wheels? mirrors? or combination?
Not everyone will agree with the idea of a soul as a formal cause
Strength of final cause
explains why everything has a purpose. Answers questions about why the world or objects are as they are
Weakness of final cause
Purpose isn’t intrinsic- human construct
some things have many purposes or purposes change
Some things don’t have a purpose
How is good measured through Aristotelian thinking?
through an objects ability to fulfil its purpose. goodness isn’t found in another world (plato’s form of the good) but is intrinsic to object itself
Example of how goodness may not be linked to purpose
I’d knife cuts my finger instead of bread, int cuts well but is it really a good knife?
How does Aristotle explain motus?
The prime mover is the final cause and it attracts everything to itself without doing anything
Definition of rationalism
human reason is the source of all knowledge and truth
Plato’s theory of the forms
world of forms contains perfect immutable forms and ideals. world of appearances is our world where things appear to be real but they aren’t permanent- reason for change and what is real
form of the good
participates in every form and once understood through reason, enables us to understand the other forms
at top of hierarchy
analogy of the cave
prisoners stuck, see shadows and think are real, prisoner escapes, eyes adjust, goes back but can’t see as well in dark, is ridiculed by others
strengths of the forms
-everything we observe is impermanent- makes sense there is a world where things are eternal
-can be deceived by our senses
-world of forms contains concepts that don’t change. we recognise them in things because they participate in that form to an extent- may disagree on what is beautiful as we base opinions on experience not reason
weaknesses of the forms
-change is an important process- need to progress and mature
-material world is all we have evidence for
-senses help us to survive
-reason is difficult to use. senses provide verifiable evidence
-there are disagreements over goodness when there is only one form of good?
arguments supporting the forms
-one over many (e.g. cats, beautiful things- able to recognise they are the same sort- they participate in the form of beauty)
-have innate ability to recognise forms
- we see how things participate in the ideal form
-creates an ideal standard
goodness and justice seem too important to be opinions based
arguments against the forms
-not specific whether it is e.g. a perfect tree of variety of trees
-sometimes you have no knowledge of a form and need education (learning harder than remembering)
-forms could be infinite ( is there a form for every evolutionary stage of algae?)
-new inventions- already in realm of forms?
-Wittgenstein- no one over many just an overlap of characteristics
- Aristotle- third man-need a third man to explain what makes the form of a chair chair-like- creates infinite regress and infinite forms of chairs
-can be carried to absurdity
-extinct- form of t-rex still exist?
-science is more important than studying forms
-theory of evolution and advances explain similarities
Arguments supporting Aristotle
-supported by science
-more common sense- Plato too abstract
-PM avoids problem of evil
-most objects conform to 4 causes
-4 causes gives us a way of determining if something is good or not
Arguments against Aristotle
- Prime mover
-universe
-PM is a leap, not empirical- Hume
- no explanation why PM attracts everything to it
-PM is contradictory- thinks about itself but thought is impossible without material brain
- PM described as being perfect but has no knowledge of world
-PM is pure thought but is in some way responsible for everything- where did matter come from?
- a god who isn’t involved is unsatisfactory for religious believers
- universe is product of random chance
Arguments against Aristotle
-purpose
-senses
-universe
-not everything has a purpose- Sartre- we find our own purpose
-blend of science and supernatural
-senses can deceive us
-everything has a purpose claim is subjective
-universe is causeless- Russel
