Ancient Philosophy

Question 1

Aristotle

Prime Mover

Answer 1

Prime mover: sought to explain the existence of the world through this prime mover.

The perfect unchanging cause of all existence- non-physical, no interference- prime mover is the final cause

Question 2

Aristotle

Prime mover objections

Answer 2

Scientific- didn’t have any equipment to prove his hypothesis
Philosophical: purpose of an object is subjective
Fallacy of composition- assumption that what is true for half can also be applied to whole is wrong.
Prime mover- can an object have a single cause e.g humans
Big bang theory

Question 3

Aristotle

4 causes

Answer 3

Material cause- what something is made from

Formal cause the shape of the thing (appearance)

Efficient cause- what turns the material into shape

Final cause- the telos of the thing

Question 4

Aristotle

Answer 4

Knowledge comes from observation (a posterori)- learned and not innate

Telos: the purpose of an object or thing
to do good is fulfill one’s telos- however purpose and good may not always be the same e.g gun - telos= to fire - not good

Question 5

Plato’s hierarchy

Answer 5

Good is the highest form for Plato, all objects should aspire to be good.
application- the forms represent what each individual thing is supposed to be like in order to embody that specific thing.

Question 6

Aristotle’s objections to Plato’s forms

Answer 6

There is no fixed form of good (universal)
Perception doesn’t’ equal eternal (seeing doesn’t make it law)
Forms have no practical value
Knowledge comes from experiences, not reasoning
Plato assumes a continual system
Having a noun for beauty and justice can’t justify existence

Question 7

Plato

Answer 7

Reason/ rationality is a priori (reason)
Believed in a separate world, spiritual and ever changing (realm of the forms)
Analogy of the cave- perception is not to be trusted, sense experience is unreliable, cannot provide an objective truth- the physical world is important by cannot provide truth.
Perfection only exists in the realm of the forms , forms enable us to recognize universal truths.

Question 8

Plato- education and soul

Answer 8

Anamnesis- education/learning is a form of remembering

Pre- existing soul - perfect and immortal
dismissive of emotion
objective form of perfection
idealistic
The natural real world corrupts the perfect soul

Question 9

Pythagoras

Answer 9

The world is made up of numbers.
A structured way of life is supported by the doctrine of metempsychosis
(transmigration of the soul after death into a new body, human or animal)

Question 10

Heraclitus

Answer 10

Interested in the ways things endlessly change.
The world exists as a coherent system in which a change in one direction is ultimately balanced by a corresponding change in another (karma)