Paper 1- philosophy of religion- key thinkers Flashcards
Philosophical language and thought
- which philosophers are under Ancient philosophical influences?
Plato and Aristotle.
Who is Plato?
Plato- Rationalist- this is the idea that reason is the ultimate source of knowledge; knowledge can be obtained through reason, not necessarily through direct sensory experience)
Plato is also a dualist, what does this mean?
The body and soul are different things;- the soul ‘ remembers’ something of the world of forms.
What did Plato suggest about the world of forms?
He said that the world of forms existed separately to this one- an ‘intelligible realm’ separate to this ‘ sensible realm’
Plato- form of good?
source of all knowledge (represented by the sun in the cave analogy).
Plato- argued A priori perspective, what does this mean?
Arguments which draw conclusions through the use of reason.
Who was Aristotle?
- Empiricist- the idea that all knowledge comes from the sense.
- Materialist- The idea that everything is made from matter and when matter is rearranged, the thing it made ceases to exist.)
What does Aristotle believe about the Soul?
A things soul and its form- the same thing .
Everything has a soul- human souls are more complex, because of the way matter has been arranged into a human form.
Aristotle talked about the four causes, what were these causes?
- Material- what is the thing made from?- e.g bronze/ silver, oxygen/ hydrogen.
- Formal- what does it look like? eg. statue, pen, a human.- NOT THE SAME AS PLATOS FORMS.
- Efficient- How the material come to be in that form? eg. a sculptor, a factory worker.
- Final- What is the point in the thing being made into that form? eg. to write, to transport people, to inspire people.
Aristotle discussed the Prime mover, what does he mean by this concept?
Prime mover- the ultimate cause of all things.
Aristotle might call God
Distinct from the idea of God in the western religion.
- which philosophers are under the soul, mind and body?
Plato Aristotle Aquinas Descartes Ryle Dawkins
What does Plato believe about the soul, mind and body?
Plato is a dualist- body and soul are separate.
- He thought that things came into existence through their opposites- e.g if you’re educated, you were once not educated.
- To be living, you must once have been dead- and you can die and live again.
What did Plato also say about the theory of things coming into existence through their opposites?
- people can recollect, or at least understand, ideas which they have not been taught.
- use reason to work out mathematical problems as children- sense of things like justice and love.
What did Plato say about your sense of self?
It is constant even through everything else within and around you changes;- soul is completely unhanging as it was from the world of forms.
What did Aristotle believe about the soul, mind and body?
- Dualist to an extent- Body and soul had separate labels BUT NOT that they existed in separate realms.
- One would not continue to exist after the death of the body
What type of souls did he believe, humans, plants and animals to have?
- Plants- nutritive soul
- Animals- sensitive soul- they can sense things
- Humans- rational soul.
What did Aristotle say about matter and form?
- Matter has potentiality( it could become something)
- Form has actuality (it has become something)
- plants, animals and humans- compound of matter and form.
Compound matter and form is what Aristotle was most concerned with what?
Studying.
For Aristotle the soul is the form of what?
The body.
Aristotle can be thought as what?
monist or materialist- he thinks that when the material (matter) of something rearranges or breaks down the thing, including its soul, ceases to exist.- does not exist.
What did Aquinas say about the soul, mind and body?
- Body, material- soul, immaterial; the body is corruptible and the soul is incorruptible.
Aquinas said Human souls can do what?
Human souls- exist without the body.
Animal souls- can not.
Aquinas said the souls without the body is not what?
complete substance so it needs God to reunite it with its body after death.
who is Descartes? what did he believe about the soul, mind and body?
- substance dualist- mind and body are different, separate substances.
‘ the mind is wholly different from the body’
Descartes said our sense can be what?
- They can be misleading
- only thing we can be sure about is thinking
- if thinking- is a tautology- we must be existing hence ‘ cogito ergo sum’- ‘ I think therefore I am’.
What did Descartes say we cannot have certainty of?
- Not have certainty of the physical body ( for example- we could be stimulated brain in at, being kept alive and presented with the illusion of a body and sensory experiences)
- our bodies probably do exist.
- souls probably joined to the whole body.
What did Ryle believe about the soul, mind and body?
Were not separate entities as in body- mind dualism but that they are intrinsically linked.
What as Ryle part of?
Part of a movement in the early C20th who wanted to be very clear about philosophical language- important to him- to critically evaluate what Descartes claimed.
What did Ryle say bout Descartes theory of substance dualism?
- It was a category error- Descartes confused things- from two different categories- trying to compare the mind and body in any way.
Ryle said that mental things are not what?
- mental events- not separate part of a human being, as Descartes suggested.- I.e Descartes suggested mental events- different category to physical events.
Ryle says that this is a mistake- mental and physical things- the same thing.
What example does Ryle give to suggest mental and physical events are the same thing?
- If you decide to eat a sandwich, it is not ‘ your mind making your body eat a sandwich’ - is your body deciding to eat a sandwich, and your mind is just one part of that decision.- in the same category as your stomach, mouth ect.
Who is Dawkins and what is his belief about the Soul, mind and body?
He is a materialist- human being only made up of physical attributes.
- no such thing as mind, or soul which is separate to the body.
What did Dawkins say about the soul?
- A separate, immortal soul- does not exist.
- The word ‘soul’ - used in a less literal sense to describe personal, non- supernatural experiences. (e.g ‘ that walk in nature was really good for my soul’ )
-not necessary mean you though you had a separate soul, but that you had a invigorating experience that made you feel good.
Dawkins argued that all human behaviour was what?
was, at its root, motivated by the ‘ selfish gene’- ( not a gene which makes us selfish- but that the gene, in itself, is selfish, and wants to perpetuate itself).
What has it been argued that Dawkins did not do?
Did not look enough into technical definitions of the word ‘ soul’ before he criticised it,
