Chapter 2 - The Ancient World Flashcards
Aristotle
Believed sensory experience to be the basis of all knowledge, although the five senses and the common sense provided only the information from which knowledge could be derived. Aristotle also believed that everything in nature had within it an entelechy (purpose) that determined its potential.
Active reason, which was considered the immortal part of the human soul, provided humans with their greatest potential, and therefore fully actualized humans engage in active reason. Because everything was thought to have a cause,Aristotle postulated an unmoved mover that caused everything in the world but was not itself caused
The idea of the unmoved mover
Plato
First a disciple of Socrates, came under the influence of the Pythagoreans, and postulated the existence of an abstract world of forms or ideas that, when manifested in matter, make up the objects in the empirical world
The only true knowledge is that of the forms, a knowledge that can be gained only by reflecting on the innate contents of the soul. Sensory experience interferes with the attainment of knowledge and should be avoided
Socrates
Disagreed with the Sophists’ contention that there is no discernible truth beyond individual opinion. Socrates believed that by examining a number of individual manifestations of a concept, the general concept itself could be defined clearly and precisely. These general definitions are stable and knowable and, when known, generate moral behavior
Active reason
According to Aristotle, the faculty of the soul that searches for the essences or abstract concepts that manifest themselves in the empirical world. Aristotle thought that the active reason part of the soul was immortal
Allegory of the cave
Plato’s description of individuals who live their lives in accordance with the shadows of reality provided by sensory experience instead of in accordance with the true reality beyond sensory experience
Analogy of the divided line
Plato’s illustration of his contention that there is a hierarchy of understanding. The lowest type of understanding is based on images of empirical objects. Next highest is an understanding of empirical objects themselves, which results only in opinion. Next is an understanding of abstract mathematical principles.Then comes an understanding of the forms.The highest understanding (true knowledge) is an understanding of the form of the good that includes a knowledge of all forms and their organization
Common sense
According to Aristotle, the faculty located in the heart that synthesizes the information provided by the five senses
Efficient cause
According to Aristotle, the force that transforms a thing
Entelechy
According to Aristotle, the purpose for which a thing exists, which remains a potential until actualized. Active reason, for example, is the human entelechy, but it exists only as a potential in many humans
Essence
That indispensable characteristic of a thing that gives it its unique identity
Final cause
According to Aristotle, the purpose for which a thing exists
Formal cause
According to Aristotle, the form of a thing
Forms
According to Plato, the pure, abstract realities that are unchanging and timeless and, therefore, knowable. Such forms create imperfect manifestations of themselves when they interact with matter. It is these imperfect manifestations of the forms that are the objects of our sense impressions
Golden mean
The rule Aristotle suggested people follow to avoid excesses and to live a life of moderation
Introspection
The careful examination of one’s subjective experiences
Law of contiguity
A thought of something will tend to cause thoughts of things that are usually experienced along with it
Law of contrast
A thought of something will tend to cause thoughts of opposite things
Law of frequency
In general, the more often events are experienced together, the stronger they become associated in memory
Law of similarity
A thought of something will tend to cause thoughts of similar things
Laws of association
Those laws thought responsible for holding mental events together in memory. For Aristotle, the laws of association consisted of the laws of contiguity, contrast, similarity, and frequency
Material cause
According to Aristotle, what a thing is made of
Passive reason
According to Aristotle, the practical utilization of the information provided by the common sense
Physis
A primary substance or element from which everything is thought to be derived
Rational soul
According to Aristotle, the soul is possessed only by humans. It incorporates the functions of the vegetative and sensitive souls and allows thinking about events in the empirical world (passive reason) and the abstraction of the concepts that characterize events in the empirical world (active reason)
Reminiscence theory of knowledge
Plato’s belief that knowledge is attained by remembering the experiences the soul had when it dwelled among the forms before entering the body
Scala naturae
Aristotle’s description of nature as being arranged in a hierarchy from formless matter to the unmoved mover. In this grand design, the only thing higher than humans was the unmoved mover
Sensitive soul
According to Aristotle, the soul possessed by animals. It includes the functions provided by the vegetative soul and provides the ability to interact with the environment and to retain the information gained from that interaction
Teleology
The belief that nature is purposive.Aristotle’s philosophy was teleological
Theory of forms
Plato’s contention that ultimate reality consists of abstract ideas or forms that correspond to all objects in the empirical world. Knowledge of these abstractions is innate and can be attained only through introspection
Unmoved mover
According to Aristotle, this is what gives nature its purpose, or final cause, but was itself uncaused. In Aristotle’s philosophy, the unmoved mover was a logical necessity
Vegetative soul
The soul possessed by plants. It allows only growth, the intake of nutrition, and reproduction
