Exam 2 Metaphysics Flashcards
What are the 2 Major Divisions of Metaphysics? (!)
- What is the nature of reality?
- What are the basic ways of being? What are the fundamental components of reality? What is it to exist (as opposed to not exist) the study of ontology is related to… (Cosmology and Cosmogony)
Materialists (!)
The world, at its base, is only made of physical stuff
Immaterailists (!)
The world is ultimately organized, so the world is ultimately laws (Platos Forms).
Type 1: nothing in the universe is made of matter/molecules. Perceiving doesn’t happen in the eye; it happens in the mind.
Type 2: Only some of the world is not made of physical matter/molecules. (Average educated human mind, type 2)
Monist (!)
That which makes up the universe is reducible to a single item
Pluralist (Dualist) (!)
That which makes up the universe is reducible to many (two) items
Cosmology (!)
The study of the universe and asks questions about how the substance came into being and where substances are located.
Cosmogony (!)
The study of the origins of the universe, greek kosmogonia, from kosmos & gonos offspring.
Does the universe have a beginning?
Virtue (!)
The means by which the good is reached.
What are the 4 Socratic Virtues? How did Plato believe these functioned? What was the goal of philosophy for the individual? (!)
Wisdom, Courage and Temperance, in proper proportion with wisdom in charge, pointed towards the Good, produces justice.
The goal of philosophy for the individual is to figure out what the Good is.
Artistotle divided the virtues into what two categories?
Moral Virtues and Intellectual Virtues
Moral Virtues
Courage, temperance, liberality, magnificence, pride, ambition, good temper, friendliness, truthfulness, ready wit, justice
Intellectual Virtues
Science, art, practical wisdom, intuitive reason, philosophical wisdom, understanding, judgment
Courage
Doing the right thing in spite of your fear
Temperance
Responding properly to the world
Wisdom
Knowledge rightly applied
Justice
Setting the world right
There is _____underlying all individuals selves and things that are beyond our ‘normal’ capacity to grasp – understand. This is evidenced in the ancient Hindu Vedic literature (especially the Upanishads).
Potential
According to Simplicuis, in the textbook, Thales was the first Greek thinker to break with _____ and offer a ______.
Mythology, Scientific explanation
What was Plato’s major (new) contribution to philosophy? (!)
Was foundational in establishing the integrated philosophical enterprise.
Who were the major influences on Plato, and in what way did they influence him? (!)
- Pythagoras - Influenced Plato with the idea that mathematics and numerical harmony underlie the structure of the cosmos.
* Universal Language - Heraclitus - Impacted Plato’s views on change, leading Plato to distinguish between the mutable physical world and the unchanging world of the Forms.
* Matter/Forms <— Logos/Chaos - Socrates - Shaped Plato’s philosophical method and focus on ethics, virtue, and the pursuit of knowledge through dialectical inquiry.
* It must include ethics in philosophy - Parmenides - Influenced Plato’s concept of unchanging, perfect Forms, which he saw as the true reality behind the ever-changing physical world.
* Eternal/Unchanging - Know
Describe Plato’s 5 step process/methodology for education.
- Begins with education through play (social)
- Arithmetic, plane geometry, solid geometry, astronomy, and harmonics (10 years of study, Republic 7)
- Dialectic, after they demonstrate a certain level of maturity
- Practice argument and Dialectic to lead a life of service
- Inquire about the Nature of the Universals - The Good
Describe Plato’s 5 step process of coming to knowledge discussed in class.
- Name
- Description
- Image
- Knowledge of the Object (Concepts)
- The object itself (True reality)
Circle Example
1. The term “circle.”
2. Definitional terms
3. Drawings of a circle, wheel, etc.
4. Correct opinions of a circle (It is a perfect round)
5. Circle
What, according to Plato, are the two metaphysical components? (!)
Simple Answer: Form & Matter
PLATO PROPOSES A TWO-WORLD MODEL
* ONE WORLD: THE WORLD OF FORMS
IS PARMENIDEAN – CHANGELESS ONES, BEING
IS KNOWN THROUGH REASON
* ANOTHER WORLD: THE WORLD OF PHENOMENA
IS HERACLITEAN AND PLURALISTIC – CHANGING MULTIPLICITY, BECOMING
APPEARS THROUGH SENSATION
What are, in correct order, the 4 divisions of the Divided Line (note, each division has two terms, one for activity and the other the object of that activity?
- Understanding - Forms
- Thought - Abstractions
- Belief - Object
- Imagination - Images
————– Knowledge
l
l———- (3/4) Intelligence
l
——l——————- Opinion
l
l———– (3/4) Visible
l
————— Ignorance
What does Plato’s Divided Line & Myth of the Cave (Republic) tell us about the world and our knowledge of it?
It tells us that the world we perceive with our senses is a limited, distorted reflection of a higher reality of true knowledge and Forms.
The Divided Line shows levels of understanding, and the Myth of the Cave symbolizes human ignorance and enlightenment.
People are ‘trapped’ in the cave of illusions, mistaking shadows for reality, until they undergo a transformative journey toward philosophical insight and true understanding of the world.
Aristotle was the first to ______________________ in philosophy. (!)
Distinguish branches of inquiry