Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Browse over 1 million classes created by top students, professors, publishers, and experts.


See full index

Modern Philosophy > Key Terms > Flashcards

Key Terms Flashcards

1
Q

Transparency of the mental

A

All of my thoughts are evident to me (I am aware of all of my thoughts), and my thoughts are incorrigible (I can’t be mistaken about whether I have a particular thought). Says this in the second meditation when he says that while he may be wrong that there are certain things happening, there do seem to be those things happening.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Essential Feature

A

needs to have in order to be the same thing

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

accidental feature

A

non-essential feature. A thing would be the same thing with or without it.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

what is the essence of a body? mode of a body?

A

extension; perceived features (square, moving at a certain speed).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

Plenism

A

no empty space. view that Descartes has.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

essence of a mind? mode of a mind?

A

thinking; seeming to perceive, thinking about a certain thing

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

Rank the degrees of formal/actual reality:

A

(1st) God has an infinite degree of substance reality
(2nd) Things have a finite degree of substance reality.
(3rd) Things have a finite degree of mode reality.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

objective/representative reality

A

depictions of actual reality. The level of representative/objective reality corresponds to the thing they represent and its level of actual reality.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

cartesian circle

A

capacity for reason proves gods existence which assures us of our capacity to reason.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

Real distinction between mind and body, opposed to modal or rational distinction.

A

mind and body can exist separately from each other. This is as opposed to modal (thing and a feature or feature and a feature) or a rational (the same thing thought about in two ways).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

ens per se

A

a single entity like the mind/body unity that occurs while humans are alive

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

substantial union problem

A

how does it work that the mind and body are an “ens per se” but that they are also completely different

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

Occasionalism - as Mallebranche would define it

A

God is the only being with any causal power. occurrence of an event is an occasion for God to act.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

Scholasticism

A

Philosophy of the schools. Modern philosophy comes after it. Based on Aristotle and Christian Theology.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

Mechanism

A

theory that animal bodies are machines (that is, are constituted by material mechanisms, governed by the laws of matter alone).

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

Rationalism

A

Belief that human reason is where we get knowledge about the world.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

Empiricism

A

Belief that observation is where we get knowledge about the world.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

First Philosophy

A

The essential Qs about the ultimate nature of reality. AKA Metaphysics.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

Metaphysics

A

Study of the ultimate nature of reality. Of being, things nature’s.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Method of Doubt

A

Descartes uses doubt as a tool to find truth. He doesn’t actually doubt things, he is just doing so in order to be more sure about the things he wants to be sure about.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

Foundationalism

A

The view that some beliefs are “properly basic.” You can base the less basic beliefs on more basic ones.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

Extension

A

Taking up space

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

negative v. positive phase of the meditations

A

In the negative phase he is raising a series of increasingly broad skeptical challenges to things he has hitherto believed. In the positive phase, he is trying to respond to those skeptical arguments, and so to provide a new, more secure, foundation for those of his old beliefs that can be salvaged. The negative phase consists of the First Meditation alone, and the positive phase consists of the rest of the book.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

Cogito Ergo Sum

A

Argument: I think + (whatever thinks exists) = I exist.

If you doubt that you are thinking then you are verifying the claim that you are thinking.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

Substance

A

The basic constituents of reality. The thing, not the features.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

Mode

A

Feature of a substance.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
27
Q

key features of the wax example

A

Wonders what his idea of the thing v. the thing itself is. Wonders what the senses can reveal v. what thinking about the thing can reveal. Thinks that the wax has certain features but discovers that it only really has extension by using his mind.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
28
Q

Clear and Distinct Perception

A

You know that what you clearly and distinctly perceive is true. When we use god-given faculties make no mistakes. (third meditation)

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
29
Q

Confused and Obscure ideas

A

Should not pass judgment on things that are confused and obscure. Result of will going past the judgement.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
30
Q

Intellect v. Will

A

Intellect: looks at ideas. Has a limited scope. People are limited beings.
Will: Decides what to do. Has an unlimited scope because we were made completely free.

31
Q

Geometrical Conception of matter

A

a general conception of matter as having only “geometrical” properties, viz., size, shape, position, and motion.

32
Q

Ontology

A

the branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being.

33
Q

Third Mediation’s Causal Argument for the existence of God

A

(33) (1) There must be at least as much formal reality in the total cause of X as there is in X itself. (P)
(2) X = “Idea of Y” (P)
(3) There must be at least as much formal reality in the total cause of an idea of Y as there is in Y itself. (P)
So if there you have an idea of infinite substance, then it must have been caused by an infinite substance.

34
Q

Fifth Meditation’s Ontological Argument for the existence of God

A

(52-55) Things that one clearly and distinctly perceives are true. One clearly and distinctly perceives God and that part of God’s essence is to exist (God is the only thing that has to exist). So God Must exist.

35
Q

Existence is not a predicate

A

Kant’s challenge to the “Ontological Argument.” Kant thinks that “being” cannot be part of the concept of something, instead it indicates whether something exists or not.

36
Q

Real Distinction

A

Two things could exist separately.

37
Q

Modal Distinction

A

The distinction between two features or a feature and a thing.

38
Q

Conceptual Distinction

A

Distinction between two ways of thinking about something.

39
Q

Substance Dualism

A

There are two types of things: Minds and Bodies.
Primary Attributes: Minds are characterized as thinking things, while bodies have extension.
Modes: A body may have movement or shape. A mind may think about a certain think or seem to perceive something.

40
Q

Interactionist Substance Dualism

A

Descartes’ view that the mind and body interact in some way. There are many questions about how this happens.

41
Q

Pineal Gland

A

The site, according to Descartes’, of the mind-body interaction in the brain. The mind changes the rotation of certain fluids in the pineal gland which then goes on to mechanistically determine the workings of the body.

42
Q

Interaction Problem

A

Descartes needs to square his view that the mind works on the body with the idea that only physical things interact and can move each other.

43
Q

Location Problem

A

If there is really some sort of “ens per se” going on, where is the mind located? Is it spread throughout the body as suggested by Descartes in the Gravity example in the Sixth Replies?

44
Q

Substantial Union Problem

A

How is it that the mind and the body function as a single unit while the body is alive? What accounts for this intimate connection?

45
Q

Ens Per Se v. Ens Per Accidens

A

An Ens Per Accidens interacts in a causal way, much like a person driving their car. However, an Ens Per Se functions as a single unit.

46
Q

Divine Concurrence

A

The idea that God’s continual will is needed for things to keep existing.

47
Q

Continual Creation

A

An extension of the idea of divine concurrence in which that concurrence entails God continually creating the world.

48
Q

Idea (for Locke)

A

Idea = Immediate subject of thought or perception. Locke thinks that Ideas are to the mind as qualities are to bodies.

49
Q

Sensation and Reflection

A

The only two sources of ideas and components of experience for Locke. Sensation comes from the outside world. Reflection is like sensation of one’s mind’s operations.

50
Q

Simple Idea

A

“an idea that contains in it nothing more than one uniform appearance or conception in the mind and is not distinguishable into different ideas.” We can’t think of things outside of our five senses and our own brain’s workings.

51
Q

Complex Idea

A

Ideas formed by the brain adding together simple ideas or comparing them or abstracting from them.

52
Q

Innate Ideas

A

Descartes: “Deriving simply from my own nature,” “Idea of God is innate in me.”
Locke: There are not innate ideas, “where are they in children and the mentally ill?” – possible innatist challenge would be that ideas could be dispositional– reply: seems to be a contradiction that people could know things without knowing anything at all about them.

53
Q

Adventitious ideas

A

Ideas coming from outside of you.

54
Q

Invented Idea

A

an idea made up in the mind. could be false.

55
Q

Dispositional Property

A

The capacity that a thing has even without exercising it. Like the ability to lift 20 pounds.

56
Q

Dispositional Innatism

A

Maybe what it means to have an innate idea is to have the ability to have the idea. (possible response to Locke’s critique that children and the mentally ill don’t display innate ideas)

57
Q

Primary Qualities

A

Inseparable, Occurrent, Intrinsic. Features it has all by itself.

58
Q

Secondary Quality

A

Powers to produce colors/sounds/tastes via the primary qualities. Only exist in relation to something else.

59
Q

Inseperability Criterion

A

Primary quality needs to be inseparable from a body.

60
Q

Intrinsic v. Extrinsic quality

A

Extrinsic: Only in relation to something else.
Intrinsic: Feature it has all by itself.

61
Q

Subjectivism about color:

A

Color is a feature of our minds. The idea that a “red” sweater is colorless when put into a drawer.

62
Q

Dispositionalism about color

A

Color is the power or capacity to make certain people observe a certain thing under certain conditions.

63
Q

Porphyry

A

Hard rock of white and red crystals embedded in a fine red mass.

64
Q

Locke’s resemblance thesis

A

Ideas of primary qualities are resemblances, ideas of secondary qualities are not.

65
Q

Identity of atom

A

Spatio-temporal continuity: It is the same object as itself.

66
Q

Identity of masses:

A

If anything changes then it is a different mass. (even one atom)

67
Q

Identity of organisms

A

Parcels of matter can change, what is required is that the thing continues to exist in one ongoing life, pursuing the same things (nutrition, growth etc)

68
Q

Numerical v. Qualitative identity

A

Numerical: same exact thing, which there is only one of

Qualitative identity: based on the features of a thing.

69
Q

Person v. Man

A

Person: “Intelligent being, that has reason and reflection, can consider itself through conciousness at different times and places”
Man: “the body we associate with a person”

70
Q

The memory account of personal identity

A

You are the same person as far back as the conciousness can be extended. Same conciousness unites distant actions into the same person.

71
Q

Corpuscularianism

A

View that matter is made up of little particles who’s physical nature determines their properties. For example, Descartes says that matter’s only property is its extension. Locke says that the primary qualities are those that are actually in the thing.

72
Q

What is a thing that thinks?

A

A thing that doubts, understands, affirms, denies, is willing, is unwilling, and also imagines and has sensory perceptions. (Second meditation)

73
Q

Synchronic v. Diachronic

A

Synchronic is at one point.

Diachronic is over time.

Modern Philosophy (4 decks)

Brainscape helps you reach your goals faster, through stronger study habits.
© 2024 Bold Learning Solutions. Terms and Conditions