Chapter 2 - The Ancient World

Question 1

Aristotle

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Plato

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Socrates

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Active reason

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Allegory of the cave

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Analogy of the divided line

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Common sense

Answer 7

According to Aristotle, the faculty located in the heart that synthesizes the information provided by the five senses

Question 8

Efficient cause

Answer 8

According to Aristotle, the force that transforms a thing

Question 9

Entelechy

Answer 9

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

Question 9

Essence

Answer 9

That indispensable characteristic of a thing that gives it its unique identity

Question 10

Final cause

Answer 10

According to Aristotle, the purpose for which a thing exists

Question 11

Formal cause

Answer 11

According to Aristotle, the form of a thing

Question 12

Forms

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Golden mean

Answer 13

The rule Aristotle suggested people follow to avoid excesses and to live a life of moderation

Question 14

Introspection

Answer 14

The careful examination of one’s subjective experiences

Question 15

Law of contiguity

Answer 15

A thought of something will tend to cause thoughts of things that are usually experienced along with it

Question 16

Law of contrast

Answer 16

A thought of something will tend to cause thoughts of opposite things

Question 17

Law of frequency

Answer 17

In general, the more often events are experienced together, the stronger they become associated in memory

Question 18

Law of similarity

Answer 18

A thought of something will tend to cause thoughts of similar things

Question 19

Laws of association

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Material cause

Answer 20

According to Aristotle, what a thing is made of

Question 21

Passive reason

Answer 21

According to Aristotle, the practical utilization of the information provided by the common sense

Question 22

Physis

Answer 22

A primary substance or element from which everything is thought to be derived

Question 23

Rational soul

Answer 23

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)

Question 24

Reminiscence theory of knowledge

Answer 24

Plato’s belief that knowledge is attained by remembering the experiences the soul had when it dwelled among the forms before entering the body

Question 25

Scala naturae

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Sensitive soul

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Teleology

Answer 27

The belief that nature is purposive.Aristotle’s philosophy was teleological

Question 28

Theory of forms

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Unmoved mover

Answer 29

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

Question 30

Vegetative soul

Answer 30

The soul possessed by plants. It allows only growth, the intake of nutrition, and reproduction