Life and Death Flashcards
How was Plato influenced by the philosophers that came before him?
- Pythagoras gave Plato his belief in immorality, religion, mysticism and maths
- Parmenides gave him the notion that reality is eternal, unchanging and timeless
- Heraclitus gave him the conviction that there is nothing permanent in the physical world and that true knowledge cannot come from the senses
- Socrates gave Plato his preoccupation with ethical problems and a desire to explain ‘purpose’ in the world.
What did Plato attempt to find a resolution between in his philosophy?
Between the Heraclitan view of the universe, that the world of appearances is constantly changing, with the Parmenidean notion that reality is one and unchanging.
What was Plato’s theory of knowledge?
He believed that knowledge is recollecting what is in your head already, not perceiving new things. The problem for Plato was that if the world is constantly changing, how can the world or the senses be relied on? He concluded that they cannot and that true knowledge had to come from elsewhere. He concluded that it was pre-existant. True knowledge consists of concepts (ideas already in our heads), not information (ideas that come to us through our senses)
What example did Plato use to explain his theory of knowledge?
He presents Socrates as setting a mathematical problem for a slave-boy to solve. The slave-boy has never been taught any maths, but he manages nevertheless to solve the problem. This is because he knows the answer already, even though he does not know what he knows. Socrates’ claim is that we do not ‘learn’ we ‘remember’. The knowledge exists in our minds all along; we possess it from before we are born.
What quote does Plato use in his example to explain the theory of forms?
Socrates says; “Either he has at some time acquired the knowledge which he now has, or he had always possessed it. If he always possessed it, he must always have known; if on the other hand he acquired it as some previous time, it cannot have been in this life, unless somebody taught him geometry.”
What did Plato believe was the advantages of his theory of knowledge?
It means that education and experience do not matter; true knowledge is innate in us, and we do not have to rely on our senses for knowledge of the world.
What did Plato believe about the world?
- That the world is divided into reality and appearance (the One and the Many)
- Our information about the world is divided into knowledge and opinion. Knowledge is what we seek, but opinion is usually all the we have. Plato advances the view that opinion usually passes for knowledge.
What did Plato argue about opinion and knowledge?
Opinion results from objects as presented to the senses. Objects in the natural world therefore have a contradictory nature: opinions clash about them and it is impossible to have true, universal knowledge. He claims that the person who concerns himself with beautiful things has ‘opinions’ about them, but the person who concerns themselves with Beauty itself can possess ‘true knowledge’.
What quote did Plato use about true knowledge?
“And those whose hearts are fixed on the true being of each things are to be called philosophers and not lovers of opinion? Yes, certainly.”
What two worlds did Plato believe in?
- A visible world- the world of the senses, a world of opinions
- An intelligible world- a world beyond the senses, a world of true knowledge, a world of the Forms
What quote does Plato use about the Form of the Good?
“The highest form of knowledge is knowledge of the form of the good, from which things that are just and so on derive their usefulness and value. THe good, then, is the end of all endeavor, the object on which every heart is set…”
What did Plato believe about gaining true knowledge?
True knowledge, for Plato, meant abandoning the world of the senses and seeking by reason to discover the Forms of universals in one own’s mind. Grasping these forms lead to grasping true knowledge and, finally, to grasping the good. Only the Forms could be ‘known’, but the changing, physical world of nature could never be truly ‘known’ and was not a fit subject for philosophical contemplation.
What is meta-physics?
It involves searching beyond the world of the senses for an explanation of why the world is as it is, looking for the ‘one’ behind the ‘many’. The term comes from Aristotle’s work.
Why did Aristotle criticise Plato’s Theory of Forms?
Aristotle argued that, pushed to its logical conclusion, Plato’s Theory of Forms appears ridiculous. If a particular dog is merely a picture of an ‘ideal’ god, is there then a third dog- an ideal of the ‘ideal’- behind the ideal? If so is there one behind that, and behind that? What is the sense in talking about an ideal dog at all? More over, what about one-legged pirates, or blind white rabbits? Are there ‘ideal’ Forms of theses?
What did Aristotle believe about knowledge?
- Knowledge is perception
- The natural world is the real world
- Perception and sense-experience are the foundations of scientific knowledge
What quote does Aristotle use to highlight that knowledge is perception?
“And for that reason, if we did not perceive anything, we would not learn or understand anything, and whenever we think of anything, we must at the same time think of an idea”
What did Aristotle argue about material substances?
He deals with the question of change and continuity in physics. He came to realize that material substances are, in fact, composite. All substances, Aristotle decided, have two parts: material and structure- or ‘matter’ and ‘form’, both of which belong to this world, not the world beyond.
What did Aristotle’s theory about ‘matter’ and form’ allow him to argue about the soul?
Form is the organizing principle which turns matter into recognizable objects. According to this belief, he was able to say the ‘soul’ is the form of the body. Objects change and their change has a purpose or goal. Objects have actuality or potentially (acorns turn to oaks, children to adults etc.) he called this change ‘teleological’ as it had an end. All objects are composed of matter, and matter is always subject to change, objects can never becoe perfect.
What did Aristotle say about God?
He argued that only God, who exists as “form without matter” is perfect.
How did Aristotle think humans could draw close to perfection?
Human beings can draw close to perfection by comtemplating pure form by means of pure thought.
How are Greek philosophy and Christian religion linked?
They have both been two major influences on the ground ideas of Western cultures. Both believed in the immorality of the soul. Greek philosophy stressed reason, while Christian religion stressed faith. The first few centuries of the Christian era saw a sustained attempt by early Christian thinkers, the Church Fathers, to harmonize Greek philosophy with the Christian faith.
What did Plato think a person is?
In Platonic thought a person is part of the physical world in that they have a body through which they receive sense-impression. But at the same time they have an immaterial mind which is capable of knowing eternal truths beyond the world. They also have a directing force, the soul. The mind wants to travel into the heavenly realm of the ideas and to understand them and the body wants to be involved in worldy matters to do with the senses. The soul is caught between these two opposing forces.
What is Plato’s view of the soul?
For Plato, the soul and body are two different things. The soul is immortal; it inhabits the body temporarily. The soul is trying to steer but is trapped in the prison of the body. therefore, according to Plato, people have no real freedom if their lives are concentrated on physical requirements. However, your soul can free itself from this bondage, and direct your life, both your physical circumstances and your intellectual pursuits. But it is only after bodily existance that the soul rises upward to the eternal world of ideas.
What is Aristotle’s view of the soul?
He follows the belief common to the Greeks that the soul is the principle of life; inquiry into the soul is inquiry into the different forms of life. The basic from of life is found in plants, so the basic form of soul consists in the ability to feed, grow, decay and reproduce, which all life manifests. The word ‘soul’ then simply describes how something is alive in the world. A ‘soul’ is not necessarily separate from the body or eternal. on the contrary, a ‘soul’ is what gives a body life.