Final Flashcards
Four causes from Aristotle:
Material, Formal, Efficient, Final
Material- (wood, iron, copper, etc)
Formal- the preceding force that pushes the material into being (construction worker making a table out of wood)
Efficient- Function of that thing
FINAL- the ultimate purpose or goal
(getting out of bed, go to class, get degree, good job, comfort, happiness)
-Chain of causality- doing things for a final cause.
Definition of metaphysics from Aristotle:
being insofar as it is being
Aquinas two teams: team scripture and team purely rational philosophy (Q.1 A.1-2) What does each team support and why?
“team rational philosophy”
there is no need to seek “higher knowledge” past theology, God’s existence is self-evident
‘It seems that, besides philosophical science, we have no need of any further knowledge. For man should not seek to know what is above reason: “Seek not the things that are too high for thee” (Sirach 3:22). But whatever is not above reason is fully treated of in philosophical science. Therefore any other knowledge besides philosophical science is superfluous.’
Using reason allows us to see truths like the existence of God, moral law, and certain attributes of God.
“team scripture”
scripture inspires knowledge, God inspires science, God must and can be proved
St. Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16 that Scripture, inspired by God, is valuable for teaching and guiding people in righteousness.
The Necessity of Revelation:
For Ultimate Truths: Some truths about God (e.g., the nature of salvation and divine mysteries) are beyond the capacity of human reason and must be revealed by God.
For Greater Certainty and Accessibility: Divine revelation ensures that these truths are accessible to all people, not just scholars, and they are conveyed with clarity and certainty.
Scripture comes from divine inspiration.
Sacred science is necessary beyond philosophy for two main reasons:
Human Reason’s Limitation:
Human beings are destined for God, a goal surpassing reason’s capacity to fully comprehend.
.
Descartes’ claim that Animals are clocks:
Animals are purely mechanical creatures, they are not rational creatures and do not learn from experience (as humans do)
Descartes argued that animals are essentially complex machines, devoid of reason, consciousness, or souls, functioning entirely through physical processes.
“They have no reason at all; it is nature that acts in them according to the disposition of their organs, just as a clock, which is only composed of wheels and springs, can count the hours and measure time more accurately than we can.”
What is Descartes’ point in Discourse 6?
Descartes claims that his new science aims at being masters and possessors of nature and extending life as much as possible and that health is the thing all life aims at.
“For these notions made me see that it is possible to arrive at
knowledge that would be very useful in life and that, in place of that
speculative philosophy taught in the schools, it is possible to find a practical philosophy, by means of which, knowing the force and the actions of fire,
water, air, the stars, the heavens, and all the other bodies that surround
us…and thus render ourselves, as it were, masters and
possessors of nature. This is desirable not only for the invention of an
infinity of devices that would enable one to enjoy trouble-free the fruits
of the earth and all the goods found there, but also principally for the
maintenance of health, which unquestionably is the first good and the
foundation of all the other goods of this life”
Whose belief was “I think therefore I am”?
Descartes: Descartes thinks the human being is the disembodied conscious mind.
Eros as desire for wisdom….
WITHOUT wisdom
Aquinas: bliss as final cause of man, Q.1 A
Ultimate Goal of Human Acts:
All human actions guided by sacred doctrine aim to achieve this perfect union with God. These actions are not ends in themselves but means to the ultimate goal of eternal happiness= bliss
Thus, bliss as the final cause underscores the idea that all aspects of sacred doctrine, whether speculative (understanding divine truths) or practical (guiding human behavior), aim at leading humanity to its ultimate purpose: the eternal and complete happiness found in God.
Something Descartes and Aquinas have in common:
natural light or reason, what we biologically are able to understand on our own without super-natural help.
Steps of the 3rd way from Aquinas article 3, question 2?
there are things possible to be and not to be-> it is impossible for these things to always exist-> something which does not exist cannot begin existing-> something must cause the first thing, AKA God
Summary of the Logic
1. Beings from chance cannot always exist and require something else to bring them into existence.
- If all beings were from chance, nothing would exist now (which is false).
- Therefore, a necessary being must exist.
- This necessary being must have its necessity in itself and be the ultimate source of existence for all other beings.
- This being is God.
What does Descartes aim to do in “Meditations”, as stated in his first paragraph?
he meant to clear his mind of any preconceived opinions
Evil Demon argument from end of Meditation 1 and beginning of Meditation 2: how does the evil demon argument prove that there is one thing about which the self cannot be deceived?
The evil demon in Meditations is a spirit that is constantly deceiving humans, making everything they believe to be false.
Descartes imagines a “malicious, powerful, cunning demon” devoted entirely to manipulating all perceptions, thoughts, and beliefs, making them false.
The only thing a human knows for sure is that he exists because he can think (I think therefore I am).
Why can’t the self’s existence be doubted?
Doubt itself is a form of thinking.
Even if the demon deceives him about everything else, the act of being deceived presupposes a subject (the self) that is being deceived.
Thus, the very act of doubting confirms the existence of a thinker.
Descartes page 5: “Well, then, what am I? A thing that thinks. What is that? A thing that doubts, understands, affirms, denies, wants,
refuses, and also imagines and senses.”
Aquinas, “I answer that” to Summa Q.1 A.1, where he discusses the two kinds of revelation (some purely revealed, some that human knowledge could get to own its own): what is this distinction, and why
1) revealed through divine intervention 2) revealed through human knowledge, observations, and experiences that you develop
Aquinas makes this distinction to emphasize the limits of human reason and the need for divine intervention to understand deeper, more profound truths about God that are beyond human reach.
Mary Midgley page 4-6 of pdf “Rings and Books”: why did Descartes make the singular self the foundation of his philosophy? and why did Midgley argue he was wrong to do so?
It appeals to his adolescent self, one exempt from criticism and only subject to one’s own feelings and philosophy.
It does not open himself up to experience, it is only his perspective in that moment
the main difference between Aquinas’ and Descartes’ philosophy?
Aquinas thought that the soul and body were the same thing, while Descartes thought that the mind and body were completely separate
