PHL110 - exam1 Flashcards
specialized vocabulary
lexicon
all things have a soul
animism
what are the building blocks of philosophy?
reasoning, logic, and argument
what is the point of an argument?
to reach the truth
includes human element; preferences
subjectivity
a statement that no one can argue with; without any human interference
objectivity
the study of reality; oldest branch of ; craziest ideas
metaphysics
the study of knowledge
epistemology
the study of behavior
ethics
original type of philosophy; the study of being; eventually became metaphysics
ontology
that a substance is made from more than one thing
pluralism
when a substance is made from one thing
monism
1st philosopher to question the natural world; believed in monism; believed that everything was made from water
Thales
foreshadowed DNA/molecules; drew map of known world
Anaximander
saw the world as a grand harmony with mathematical perspective; saw/found numbers; Pythagorean theorem; discovered musical scales and harmony; music of the spheres; music is math
Pythagoras
he believed that everything is we see is on fire; believed that everything is constantly moving (flux); the sun is new each day; you cant step into the same river twice
Heraclitus
- weeping philosopher
opposite of Heraclitus; reality is in a steady state
Parmenides
called atoms tiny bits of uncuttable matter
The Atomists
- Democritus was known as the laughing philosopher
group of people that taught people how to argue persuasively; interested in teaching rhetorical techniques ad tricks needed to win an argument at all costs
Sophists
the art of using language effectively
rhetoric
ex: cops giving more tickets to men than women
double standard
“justice is nothing but the advantage of the stronger”; “_____ is nothing more than the truth”
persuasion
Thrasymachus
was well loved; questioned the status quo; knowledge is virtue; know yourself
Socrates
philosopher king; founded the Academy; rationalist ; tromp l’oeil ; thought that all things were in Ideal Form
Plato
the 1st college in history
Platos Academy
Plato’s short educational story; the journey through stages of knowledge ; demonstrates his Theory of Forms
- The trapped prisoners represent the regular people who can only see the shadows of the true forms
- The escaped prisoner represents the Philosopher who is trying to reach the world of Forms
- The outside world represents the world of Forms, where the true form of beauty lies
- The sun represents the form of the Good, as it is the source of all other forms.
Allegory of the cave
truth can only be achieved through reason
rationalism
french; to fool the eye
trompe l’oeil
studied with Plato, but disagreed with him; father of modern science; empiricist; essence; believed that matter and form make up things
Aristotle
Aristotle started this school because his ideas were different from Platos
Lyceum
Aristotle’s 4 causes:
- Material Cause – this is the substance that something is made from. For example, a TV is made from glass and metal and plastic.
- Formal Cause – this refers to what gives the matter its form. For example, a TV is not just a piece of glass but glass and metal arranged in a certain way and programmed to work as it does.
- Efficient Cause – this refers to the reason behind somethings existence. For example, a TV exists because someone has the idea to build one and put all the parts together to make it work.
- Final Cause – this cause is the reason why something is the way it is. This asks the question, what is the function of this object? Why does a TV have glass on the screen? So that we can watch it. The reason why a thing exists in the first place, what is its function.
truth is achieved through the senses or experiences
empiricism
change happens in order for things to fulfill their potential
essence (telos)
thought that all matter in the universe was composed of indivisible atoms
Democritus
Method involving a technique for establishing an informed conclusion; from greek word argue or converse
dialect
uses questions and analysis to draw people into an exchange of ideas regarding a central concept, in an attempt to get at the essential nature of that concept; practiced by Socrates and sought to strip away pretensions, inconsistencies, and false ideas to get a universal truth
the socratic method
Aristotle and Plato agreed that:
That genuine knowledge must be universal and both wanted to determine the nature of reality
-Form - the ideal essence of everything that exists
- Plato was concerned with the ideal Forms of concepts such as Beauty, Truth, Justice and the Good
- He observed that the term beauty may be applied to different objects and people.
- However, there are many types of beauty
- Plato suggests that underlying all of these is the real Form of beauty
- And some part of the idea of beauty is imitated by all the different beautiful things.
- Plato says that there must be somewhere where these Forms exist
- As a form is unchanging as it is not a physical object and it can never die, so it cannot be in the material world
- Plato suggests that in our world there are only shadows and images of the Forms
- When we are born, we have some recollection of what the Forms are – he suggests evidence for this is that we all have a basic understanding of what beauty is without being taught it
- However, through our lives we lose the idea of the True forms
- The Philosopher is someone who tries to escape the material world and see the Forms that lie behind it
- In his book, The Republic, Plato suggests that it is the Philosophers who should rule in society.
Theory of Forms
