II Flashcards
Views on the Soul in Ancient Greece
Contained within the unified body of scientific and philosophical knowledge.
Various definitions: subtle matter (Democritus) or idea/form (Plato).
Essence and principle of life
Periods of Ancient Greece
Primitive (8th – 6th centuries BCE).
Classical (6th – 3rd centuries BCE).
Hellenistic (3rd – 1st centuries BCE).
The School of Miletus
Marks the transition from cosmogonic conceptions to naturalistic-logical representations.
Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes - the concept of the unity of nature.
Aristotle and the Soul
Reproduces Thales’ definition: the soul is material but incorporeal and endowed with movement.
Thales compared the soul to magnetic force.
Pythagoras and Natural Law
Pythagoras substitutes the principle of water with number.
The human soul - a part of the universal soul.
Heraclitus of Ephesus
The struggle of opposites - birth, preservation, life, development.
The soul - a warm, light, and dry breath, the principle of life.
The Eleatic School and Parmenides
Doctrine opposing Heraclitus’ dialectic.
Rational knowledge perceives a distinct existence from change.
Empedocles
Formulates the hypothesis of the “infinite combinations of primary elements.”
Motive forces: love (unifying) and discord (separating).
Democritus of Abdera (460 – 370 BCE)
Materialist determinism in the soul-body and cognition relationship.
Erudite figure in various fields: geometry, cosmology, psychology, medicine, botany, zoology, music.
Key works: “The Great Order of the World” and “On the Nature of the World.”
Fundamental Ideas of Democritus
Matter is one, constituted of atoms in perpetual motion towards infinite variety.
Rejection of Anaxagoras’ dualism and Eleatics’ absolute and inert unity.
Atoms and void as the two certain, imperishable realities.
Democritus’ Notable Contribution
Shift from qualitative factors (hot, cold) to controllable physics - extension and impenetrability.
Introduction of causality alongside necessity, lawfulness, and order.
Soul According to Democritus
Material nature, composed of very subtle and mobile spherical atoms (resembling fire).
Monistic view of the identity between body and soul.
Mortal soul, disappearing with the body
Democritus on Sensation and Thought
Shared idea with Heraclitus and Empedocles - emanations of atoms from things to organisms and vice versa.
Variation simplified as the movement, association, and dissociation of atoms
Philosophical Significance of Democritus
Primacy of thought in truth and authenticity.
Contribution to an anthropological orientation in Greek philosophy, anticipating an alternative to Plato’s idealism.
5th Century BCE - A Pivotal Era
Athens unified after victory over Persians, flourishing in democracy.
Golden Age of Pericles and the brightest epoch for philosophical-psychological meditation.
Emphasis on individuality, virtue, knowledge, and the humanistic dimension.
Protagoras and the Sophists
Protagoras, a “merchant of wisdom,” challenges Eleatics.
Identifies the soul with sensations, qualifying them as accurate.
Solipsistic stance: “only what is felt exists.”
Protagoras’ Epistemology
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Idealist relativism regarding perceptual data.
Productivity in applying solipsism to geometric axioms and definitions.
Criticism and Empirical Morality of the Sophists
Aristotelic criticism of the relativistic maxim.
Diogenes Laertius critiques Protagoras’ argumentation as morally and intellectually destructive.
Sophists theorize an empirical morality but introduce socially determined value criteria.
Gorgias - Philosopher, Orator, and Language Theorist
Emphasized the problem of symbol value in knowledge and communication.
Questioned the truth value of language due to the sensory limitations of hearing symbols.
Sophists and Epistemology
Nominalism forced by sophists contributed significantly to the formation of verbal intelligence and grammar identity.
Recognition of the distinction between thought and reality.
Socrates (469 – 399 BCE)
Shifted psychological thinking from explaining in terms of elements like air, fire, and atomic motion to internal qualities like intellect, concept, aspiration, and happiness.
Centralized ethical rationalism with the imperative “Know Thyself.”
Socratic Legacy
Simplicity in life, civic behavior, and mentoring.
Impact transcends time, portrayed by Plato, fostering wisdom and civic virtue.
Aristotel’s View on Socrates
Considered Socrates as laying the foundations of science through inductive reasoning and general definition.
Recognized the importance of Socratic dialogues in philosophy.
Socratic Period - A Pivotal Era
The Golden Age of Athens with a unified state, flourishing democracy, and profound philosophical-psychological reflection.
Shifting emphasis from nature to human concerns
Socratic Contribution to Knowledge and Education
Introduced the idea that knowledge can be provoked and produced.
Emphasized education as a formative process, contributing to individual and societal progress.
Socratic Vision of Humanity
Challenged divine permanence, placing human virtues and knowledge at the center.
Defined human essence positively: “No one errs willingly, but by ignorance.”
Aristotle’s Critique of Plato
Acknowledges a relationship between body and soul similar to that between an instrument and its functioning.
Rejects the cosmic priority of the soul over the body, denying exclusivity to the human soul for transmitting experiential and potential heritage from parents to children.
Plato’s Philosophy as Cognitive Psychology
Plato’s philosophy considered predominantly as cognitive psychology.
Focus on how individuals acquire concepts, opinions, and beliefs.
Plato’s Views on Knowledge
Three main objectives in cognitive psychology: direct intuition of ideas, discursive reasoning, sensory intuition, and imagination.
Concepts and mathematical ideas hold a special place in Plato’s philosophy.
Contemporary Psychology - Figural Concepts
Contemporary phrase “figural concepts” introduced by E. Fischbein.
Thinking as a discourse, a sequence of concepts used for questioning, answering, affirming, and denying
Language as a Product of Intelligence
Language as a product of intelligence, serving the needs of internal and external discourse.
Onomatopoeia as an argument for the genesis of language, evolving from primitive names to intelligible exercise
Idealism - Ideas and Knowledge
Central thesis of objective idealism: ideas known virtually to our spirit from previous existences.
Knowledge is a revelation of spiritual restoration, facilitated by contact with the sensible world and reception of discourses.
Plato’s Metaphor of Memory in Philebus
Soul as a book where memory, like a scribe, records dictated content from the senses, illustrated with images.
Reminiscence explained through contiguity and similarity.
Imagination and its Treatment
Imagination seen as a transformation of ideas into sensible representations.
Described as a degradation of knowledge into dream states, hallucinations, delirium, enthusiasm, intoxication, love, and poetic inspiration.
Creative Impulse and Poetic Grace
Creative impulse linked not to imagination but to aptitudes and talent, viewed as divine and even demonic endowment.
Poetic grace described as a different kind of delirium, where the poet experiences the love of truth and beauty simultaneously.
Philosopher and Poet Synthesis
Philosopher and poet achieving a synthesis of Truth and Beauty.
Their souls guided by the principle of generous, moral, and non-violent inclinations.
Treatment of Organic Appetites
Organic appetites contrasted with the principle, representing the irascible part of the soul.
Inclined towards belligerence, glory, bodily desires, and wealth.
Pleasure, Pain, and Indifference
Pleasure, pain, and indifference are soul states related to the organization of the soul as a system.
Acknowledges the relative nature and emotional conditioning in the realm of affectivity.
Plato’s Moral Ideals and Critique
Warns against excess pleasure leading to corruption and alienation.
Virtue lies in each person’s power, seeking Truth and Goodness leads to virtue, freedom, and happiness.
Plato’s Influence on Morality and Christianity
The idea of confessed error to diminish sin, submission to laws, and resignation to judicial sanctions.
Idealistic principles embraced and revered by Christianity, contributing to the development of modern sciences.
