Ancient Philosophical Influences- Knowledge Flashcards
What does the cave represent ?
The physical world or world of the sense experience
What do the prisoners represent ?
Ordinary people in our world
What do the chains represent ?
The senses that restrict the way we experience things
What do the shadows represent ?
Our everyday sense experiences
What does the escapee represent ?
The philosopher who is able to access knowledge
What does the difficult ascent represent ?
An illustration that the road to philosophical knowledge is hard
What does the outside world represent ?
The real world , the world of the forms
What does the sun represent ?
The highest of all forms , the form of good
What does the return to the cave represent ?
The philosopher once enlightened fells in his duty to free and educate the others
What does the difficulty in adjusting to the darkness represent ?
Once a philosopher knows the truth , it is difficult to experience things as the ordinary person does
What does the persecution given by the other prisoners represent ?
Like Socrates , who was executed byy the leaders in Athens , the philosopher will be ridiculed and threatened
What are some issues with Plato’s analogy of the cave ?
Plato does not offer proof of the existence of another real,
Who said that a river is not the same river twice ?
Heraclitus of Ephesus
Why is a river not the same river twice ?
Nature is constantly changing and moving forwards.Such as wat doesn’t stay permanently in a river , it keeps changing
How are we like a river ?
We are constantly changing and moving forward
Who are the presocratics /
Greek thinkers who developed independent and original schools of thought.
They pre-date Socrates
What did Thales leave out of his theories which would have been controversial at the time ?
He left out god
What is te Socratic method ?
Where you constantly ask questions to break down the ideas
Why did Aristotle teach outside ?
He like to walk and talk and he liked plants
What are the forms ?
Ideal , eternal , single versions of things found on earth
What are particulars ?
Objects in the empirical world which are merely imperfect copies of the form
What is the realm of the forms ?
A place where there i an ideal form for everything that exists
What is the example of an idea of a cake ?
There must be an ideal cake and your baked version of the cake is an imperfect copy
What are some features of the world of the forms (not our world )?
Each form is one
Intelligible (only known through our intellect)
Eternal
Unchanging
Non physical
Perfect
what are the feautures of the world of appearances (our world )?
Particulars are many
Sensible (only known through our senses )
Always coming in and out of existences
Always changing into something else
Material objects
Imperfect
Give some examples of some times of forms ?
Beauty , justics and wisdom
What is the ultimate form ?
The form of the good
How do the forms affect us in the visible world ?
We are always dissatisfied with the transciende of the world
How do humans have knowledge of the forms ?
We have seen it before in our past lives
Using our 5 senses
How do we gain truth according to plato ?
Using reason
What is rationalism ?
Opinion is based on reason and knowledge
What is the form of the good ?
A perfect , eternal and changeless form existing outside space and time
What is the one over many argument ?
We can recognise objects as the same sort if thing even when we don’t know why
Without the form we cannot explain our samenesss
We can recognise the “one “ over “many”
What is the family resemblance idea ?
There in no one common property that all your family members posses . Rather there are a series of overlapping properties
What is the third man argument ?
A regress argument that shows that if there is one form of something , then there is infinite forms of it. It is an infinite chains of forms , and infinite chains aren’t possible.for example is ther a form of the form of th form of the form of the form
What is the ideal standards argument ?
unless there is something which is an unchanging perfect standard, it is not possible to compare and rank particular things
What is the first criticism of plato ?
Too many forms - would objects which have not been invented yet have a form ?
What is the second criticism of plato ?
Bad forms - do ugliness and bad need o have a form in the same way that beauty and the good do ?
What is the 3rd criticism of plato ?
The problem of incorporation - one forms would logically incorporate others
What is the fourth criticism of plato ?
The three fingers argument
What is the 3 fingers argument ?
Is there a separate form of medium and something could be in the form of largeness compared too one thing but in the form of smallness compared to something else
Which form provides order ?
Form of the good
Which realm is the real realm ?
Realm of the forms
What is Aristotle concerned with ?
Only reality is this life. The world we live in is th e only place where we can have true knowledge
What did Aristotle believe a form was ?
Not an ideal , but found within the item itself
What is the material cause ?
What the object is made of
What is the fficient cause ?
The agent that brings something about
What is the formal cause ?
The characteristics of the object
What is the final cause ?
The reason for its existence . What is its purpose
What is teleology concerned with
The final purpose of something
According to Aristotle , what has form without matter ?
God
What is the definition of empiricism /
Knowledge is based on experience
What are some characteristics of the prime mover ?
Perfect , transcendent , eternal and pure
Why is the prime mover unlike the God of monotheistic religions ?
He does not have knowledge of the physical world
Where is the prime mar ?
Outside time and space
Explain the one over many argument briefly ?
An object can have more than one form.For example , may have the beauty form but they ae not the same object
What is the first objection about aristotles theories /
Efficient cause doesn’t tell us what actually happened .it just names the process
What is a posteriori ?
A statement which is knowable only after experience
What is a priori ?
A statement which is knowable without any reference to any experience
What is an analogy
A comparison between one thing and another
What is dualism ?
The belief in two distinct principles/having two parts
What is an empiricist ?
A person who believes that all knowledge is gained from the experiences we have through our senses
What is monism ?
Belief in one supreme being
What is modus ?
Greek wrk meaning constant change , observed in the world
What is a rationalist ?
A person who bases their opinion reason and knowledge
What is teleos ?
The ultimat aim of an object
What is a second objection to Aristotle ?
Not everything has a purpose .We give things purpose when we use them.
What is an objection to the prime mover ?
It only works if there is one reason for change,but the could be multiple reasons for change
Why do the four causes matter ?
The key to knowledge is the empirical method
This world is the real world
The world and all that is in it has a purpose
