Philosophy Flashcards
“the love of wisdom”
philosophia
The great patriarch and matriarch of philosophy
the
search for knowledge and wisdom.
For the ancient Greeks, philosophy and other “schools” of learning were
intertwined. Many Greek philosophers were also scientists and mathematicians, for example.
was a Greek philosopher who sought to get to the foundations of his students’ and colleagues’ views by asking continual questions…The Socratic Method is…used at UChicago…to develop critical thinking skills in students and enable them to approach the law as intellectuals.
Socretes
the study of the nature of reality
• What is reality? What is permanence and change?
Metaphysics
Metaphysics - School originated with _____ and his work “after physics,” but has its roots in prior thinkers
Aristotle
Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, lived in Ionia (Asia Minor) c.535-c.475 BCE…hmm…Ionian Revolts started around 499 BCE. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
Heraclitus
What is reality? What is permanence and change? • Heraclitus –
“Life is flux.” [The only constant is
change.]
• “Heraclitus believes in flux, but not as destructive of constancy; rather it is, paradoxically, a necessary condition of constancy…” (Stanford)
– Flux
• “…pointing to ways things are both the same and
not the same over time…” (Stanford)
• “Collections: wholes and not wholes; brought together, pulled apart; sung in unison, sung in conflict; from all things one and from one all things.” (Heraclitus)
Flux
• The Unity of Opposites
• Hmm…makes you think of other schools, doesn’t it?
heraclatus
the study of knowledge
• What is knowledge? What can we know? How do we gain knowledge?
Epistemology
the study of morality, moral principles
• What is morally good? How do you define right and wrong action? What is virtue?
ethics
the study of social institutions, e.g. sociology, politics, economics, ethics
• What is an ideal society? What is justice? What is the justification for government?
political philosophy
study of human existence
• a philosophical theory or approach which emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will. Therefore each individual is the creator of his/her life’s meaning/purpose.
existenisalism
study of the science of reasoning, and the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration
• If we allow this, pretty soon…
• Ice cream sales and murder rates
• You are an ugly ignoramus…
• “We have heard that a half million children have died [as a result of US sanctions]. I mean, that is more children than died in Hiroshima…Is the price worth it?
logic
the study of the nature of beauty
aesthitics
…
It’s a measure of physical perfection reportedly adapted from the “golden ratio” artists and architects used during the European Renaissance to map out their masterpieces…
based on the “science” of the Golden Ratio of Beauty Phi
study of the nature of God
• Think of the differences between the gods of the Greeks, the early Christian God, and Christian’s current belief of God
• Is God an architect or a puppeteer?
religious philosophy
the study of being
• What things exist? (stars yes, unicorns no,
numbers . . . yes?)
• What categories do they belong to? (are numbers physical properties or just ideas?)
• Is there such a thing as objective reality? • What does the verb “to be” mean?
Ontology
the study of appearance vs. reality
and how we experience things
• based on the premise that reality consists of objects and events (“phenomena”) as they are perceived or understood in the human consciousness, and not of anything independent of human consciousness.
• “If a tree falls in the woods…”
phenomenology
Greek philosopher c. 470-399 BCE
• Athens
• Only records are those left by his students
• Socratic Method
• Put to death by government of Athens for “corrupting the minds of youth of Athens and not believing in the gods of the state.”
When the debate is over, slander becomes the tool of the loser.
• One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing.
• The unexamined idea is not worth having, any more than the unexamined life is not worth living
socretes
“the expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence”
allegory
Although no one has ever seen a perfect triangle, for Plato this is not a problem. If we can conceive the Idea or Form of a perfect triangle in our mind, then
the idea of the triangle must exist
philosophical belief supporting living in harmony with nature, according to natural principles, Tao Te Ching
• “…emphasizes doing what is natural and “going with the flow” in accordance with the Tao (or Dao), a cosmic force which flows through all things and binds and releases them.”philosophical belief supporting living in harmony with nature, according to natural principles, Tao Te Ching
• “…emphasizes doing what is natural and “going with the flow” in accordance with the Tao (or Dao), a cosmic force which flows through all things and binds and releases them.”
taoism
based on teachings of Siddhartha Gautama “Buddha” – karma, samsara – cycle of death and rebirth
buddhism
based on teachings of Confucius – Humanity, Ritual, Loyalty, Filial Piety (“virtue of a child”), Knowledge and learning…
Confucianism
question, questions, more questions
socretes
Theory of Forms, politics, virtue = knowledge
plato
logic, science, and facts given by experience. Virtue = actions
arisotle
What can I control?, tranquility through acceptance
stocism
eek modest, sustainable pleasure, freedom from fear and pain comes from seeking activities that lift yourself
Epicureanism
uspension of judgement leads to freedom from disturbance=happiness, |x|, life=perpetual inquiry
skepticism
