Philosophical Perspectives Flashcards
■ “Father of Western Philosophy”
He was a classical Greek philosopher and is one of the founders of Western philosophy
He is an often in the role of questioner.
SOCRATES
- logical process of using questions and answers to explore a subject.
Socratic Method
Socrates believed that man has to look at himself to understand his long- standing mission, and it is to ___
“Know Thyself.”
■He also believed that an individual’s personhood is composed of the body and soul, in which the soul for him is immortal. With this, he insisted that death is not the end of existence.
Socrates
■For him, “an unexamined life is not worth living.”
Socrates
■He became a pupil and friend of Socrates
He is a dualist, same with Socrates, he also believed that man is composed of body and soul.
He believed that the soul exists before birth and after death. Resembling the idea of reincarnation, he ascertained that the soul lives within a body and upon death, the soul moves onto another body afterwards.
PLATO
- part of us that thinks deeply, makes wise choices, and achieves a true understanding of eternal truths.
Rational soul
- includes our basic biological needs such as hunger, thirst, and sexual desire.
Appetitive soul
- includes our basic emotions such as love, anger, ambition, aggressiveness and empathy.
Spirited soul
Another Greek philosopher who believed that the soul is merely a set of defining features and does not consider the body and soul as separate entities.
■He is interested in compounds that are alive (plants and animals)— these are the things that have souls, and their souls are what make them living things.
ARISTOTLE
Humans differ from other living things because of their capacity for ___
rational thinking.
- found in plants; includes the physical body that can grow
Vegetative soul
Found in animals; includes sensual desires, feelings, and emotions
Sentient soul
- present only in humans; includes the intellect that allows man to know and understand things
Rational soul
■An ancient Christian theologian who played a significant role in the development of early Western philosophy. emphasized the importance of free will, the ability to choose between good and evil.
AUGUSTINE
He believed that man is ______ in nature, which is our physical body and the soul.
emphasized the importance of free will, the ability to choose between good and evil.
bifurcate
■A French philosopher considered as the founder of modern philosophy.
He was also a mathematician and a scientist.
■He conceived of the human person as having a body and a mind
RENE DESCARTES
Rene Descartes famous philosophical statement is ______ (cogito ergo sum)
I think, therefore I am”
the ______, the thing that thinks, which is the mind,
COGITO
______ of the mind, which is the body
EXTENZA
A British philosopher and physician who laid the groundwork for an empiricist approach to philosophical questions
■He described personal identity as the cumulation of consciousness, informed through memories of experience.
JOHN LOCKE
(ability to remember past thoughts and actions as our own).
psychological continuity
■His revolutionary theory is that the mind is a ________, a blank slate on which experience writes- sensations and reflections being the two sources of all our ideas
tabula rasa
■A Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism.
■As an empiricist, he believes that one can know only through the senses and experiences.
■According to him, the self in an Illusion; there is no actual self.
DAVID HUME
David Hume suggests that self is nothing else but a ______ that can be categorized into two
bundle of perceptions
■ are basic objects of our experience or sensation. It forms the core of our thoughts.
Impressions
■ are copies of our impressions. Because of this, they are not as lively and clear as our impressions.
Ideas
■He was one of the most influential philosophers in the history of Western philosophy.
He believed that there is self and that self is a product of reasoning (consciousness is there).
■According to him, we both have an inner and an outer
self which unify to give us consciousness
IMMANUEL KANT
is comprised of our psychological state and our rational intellect
inner self
includes our sense and the physical world
Outer self
■An Austrian neurologist who is credited with developing the field of psychoanalysis (a method of treating mental disorders).
■Considered as one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, even though many of his ideas have been challenged in recent decades.
SIGMUND FREUD
Though the conscious self also has important role to play in our lives, it is the _______& that holds the greatest fascination for Freud, and which has the dominant influence in personalities.
unconscious self
this operates according to pleasure principle as it focuses on immediate gratification of its needs.
Id
this operates according to reality principle as it finds realistic ways of satisfying the instinct.
Ego
this is considered as the seat of the conscience, which develops between ages 3 and 6, as children incorporate their parents’ moral values.
Superego
Verbal or memory mistake that is believed to be linked to the unconscious mind. These slips supposedly reveal secret thoughts and feelings that people hold.
Slip of the tongue (parapraxis):
: Route to the unconscious. While information from the conscious mind my sometimes appear in dreams, Freud believed that it was often in disguised form.
Dreams
: According to Freud, it is the formation of behavioral or psychosomatic symptoms as a result of the return of the repressed.
Neurosis
A British philosopher who was known for his critique of Cartesian dualism.
Mind-body dualism machine” “ghost in the
■He believed that self comes from behavior- - it makes us who we are.
“Our knowledge of other people and our selves depends on noticing how they and we behave.”
GILBERT RYLE
■A Canadian philosopher known for his studies in neurophilosophy and the philosophy of mind.
■Disagrees with dualism (mind and body as separate entities), bur rather holds to materialism (nothing but matter exists).
PAUL CHURCHLAND
It claims that mental states, beliefs and desires do not exist at all.
Eliminative materialism
■He believes that by empirically investigating how the brain functions, we will be able to predict and explain how we function- we are our brain.
Paul Churchland
A French phenomenological philosopher.
■He believes that the definition of the self is all about one’s perceptions of his or her experiences and how we interpret those experiences.
■ According to him, the mind and the body are intertwined or connected and that they cannot be separated from one another- both are part of creating who you are.
MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY
