Epistemology/Aesthetics Flashcards
epistemology word history
- episteme (epistemo): knowledge
- logos (logy): rational study
knowledge provides…
… basis for belief
- connects epistemology to metaphysics and ethics
Siddhartha (Buddha) (6th BCE)
suggests you question everything
Kongfuzi (Confucius) (6th BCE)
knowledge is realizing that you do not know something when you don’t know it, and you do when you do
skepticism
- Western philosophy
- questioning the reliability of knowledge
When Descartes questions his own existence he comes to the conclusion
think therefore i am (cogito ergo sum)
Greek thought influenced by…
religious/academic traditions of near and far east
East Indian Philosophy: Six darshanas
one belief shared by many darshanas is samsara
philosophical schools
group of people that think one thing
Samsara
- which describes journey towards liberation
- leads to asceticism + self discipline
- by 4th BCE influence had spread to Syria, Egypt, Macedonia—where Greeks were likely introduced to it
Pythagoras’s influences
- travelled to Egypt
- captured by the Persians
- studied under ascetic Hindu Brahmins
- likely exposed to and became familiar with tenets of Buddhism and Hinduism—led to his belief in reincarnation, one of the main implications of which is innate knowledge
rationalism
- plato
- everything we know is outside of our perception
- rationalists maintain the idea that we enter the world with innate knowledge
empiricism
- plato
- everything we come to know is through our own experiences
Plato (427 – 347 BCE)
- also travelled to Egypt
- division between knowledge and belief
- according to the Allegory of the Cave, Plato believed that perception through the senses was a very low level of awareness
anemnesis
belief that we come into the world with capacity of everything and just needs to be filled and recognized again
we acquire additional or higher knowledge through
reason
aristotle’s tabula rasa
blank slate idea
Aristotle’s essence/form
rejected separation between essence/form and object itself
Aristotle’s observation
tirelessly observed and changed characteristics of objects
Aristotle’s experience accumulation
direct observation leads to accumulation of experience
Aristotle’s generalizations
mind works on observations to arrive at generalizations
Aristotle’s 1st principles
Observations form the basis of understanding in each natural science
Aristotle’s empiricism
empiricism = sense perception + experimentation + experience
Aristotle’s posteriori knowledge
knowledge obtained a posteriori (knowledge after)
Plato’s Justified Belief
- used to be that if something was true and you believed it you know it
- Plato introduced the idea of evidence/justification
A Modern Modification
- the Gettier case
- the fourth requirement
the 4th requirement
justification cannot be based upon a false statement
Rationalism in the Renaissance
- relies fully on reasoning
- Descartes considered the senses to be deceptive
- by following a process of deductive reasoning he moved from absolute doubt to fundamental propositions
Empiricism in the Enlightenment
British empiricists believe that the mind is a blank slate (tabula rasa)
John Locke (1632 – 1704)
- no such thing as innate knowledge
- all knowledge can be traced back to our own experiences
- when asked to account for variability and the Platonic idea that the senses deceive, Locke provides two kinds of quality: primary/secondary qualities
primary qualities
objective, and unchangeable (shape, solidity, extension, motion, number)
secondary qualities
a matter of subjectivity (quantitative factors, “the room is hot,” colour, sound, touch, taste, smell)
“Whatever is in any way beautiful hath its source of beauty in itself, and is complete in itself; praise forms no part of it. So it is none the worse nor the better for being praised.” - Marcus Aurelius
Beauty has its source within itself and is self-contained, unaffected by praise
“Pulcra sunt quae visa placent”
- St. Thomas Aquinas
- “Beauty is that which is pleasing to the eye.”
Classical conception of beauty
- Beauty consists of an arrangement of integral parts into a coherent whole, characterized by proportion, harmony, symmetry, and similar notions.
- Embodied in classical and neo-classical architecture, sculpture, literature, and music.
Aristotle on Metaphysics in Aesthetics
- a living creature
- Order, symmetry, and definiteness are chief forms of beauty.
- Mathematical sciences demonstrate these forms of beauty.
Plato’s perspective on beauty
related to intelligence, goodness (Greek word: kalos), and can lead to knowledge.
18th-century thinkers on beauty
- pleasure and delight it brings to the senses.
- elicits agreeable sensations when seen, heard, or understood.
Plato’s view on beauty and knowledge
Beauty is connected to intelligence and can lead to knowledge.
aesthetic judgement
- whether or not you think it is aesthetically pleasing,
Classical opinion:
- absolute beauty occurs in nature and cannot be recreated, natures beauty stands outside of human’s opinions
- subjective (up to everyone’s opinion) beauty occurs in art
aesthetic experience
- when you judge something, you experience it
- Schopenhauer: it is a “freeing” feeling that accompanies the experience
Baumgarten’s view
separating the art from the artist, they are separate
Hegel
- we still need art, and will always need art, as long as there are science questions that has not been answered
- art is a language that speaks to us in away no other language can
Nietzche’s Apollonian vs. Dionysian
- Ways of categorizing art
- apollonian: stylized/restrained
- dionysian: chaotic/dynamic
Plato & the Theory of Eternal Form
- artist can only make copies of the original
- The original is unable to be made
- although it could be an original work of art, it is not original within its self
Mimesis
Imitation: an attempt at representing human experience
Aristotle’s Catharsis
a “cleansing” feeling that comes from art – elicits feelings of pity/fear
The Sublime
the feeling of awe, fear, pleasure, pain – in varying degrees
asceticism
lack of possessions
Plato claims knowledge is…
Justified True Belief
3 components to knowledge
- Truth: statement has to be true
- Belief: you have to believe it
- Justification: “
Beauty is…
Diversity harmonized
The Symposium
expresses an experience of beauty as perfect unity.
Plato was a ________ in classical culture
Dissident
Kalos
Greek word for ‘beauty’ and ‘goodness’
Beauty can lead to…
Knowledge
