Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle Flashcards

1
Q

What was the primary focus of Socrates’ philosophy?

A

Ethics

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2
Q

What were Socrates’ dates?

A

c.470-399 BCE

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3
Q

Where was Socrates from?

A

Athens

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4
Q

On what charges was Socrates condemned to death?

A

Impiety and corrupting the youth

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5
Q

Other than Plato, which of Socrates’ pupils wrote dialogues which contribute to our picture of him?

A

Xenophon

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6
Q

What were the title and author of the famous satirical play about Socrates?

A

‘The Clouds’ by Aristophanes

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7
Q

Which handsome statesman claimed to be in love with Socrates?

A

Alcibiades

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8
Q

Who was the wife of Socrates?

A

Xantippe

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9
Q

Who was told by the oracle at Delphi that Socrates was the wisest man living?

A

Chaerephon

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10
Q

Why did Socrates think the oracle at Delphi called him the wisest man living?

A

Because he knew that he knew nothing

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11
Q

Which famous playwright was a friend of Socrates?

A

Euripides

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12
Q

What is the ‘Socratic method’ or ‘elenchus’?

A

Ask an interlocutor for the definition for a concept then demonstrate that this definition is inconsistent with the interlocutor’s other beliefs

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13
Q

What is ‘arete’?

A

Virtue or excellence

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14
Q

What was virtue a kind of, according to Socrates?

A

Knowledge

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15
Q

Socrates believed in the ‘unity of the virtues’. What is this?

A

If a person has one of the virtues, he has all of them

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16
Q

All the early dialogues end in aporia. What is this?

A

Inconclusiveness, no definition being found

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17
Q

What four virtues did Socrates consider to be most important?

A

1) Courage
2) Justice
3) Temperance
4) Wisdom

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18
Q

What were Plato’s dates?

A

c.425-347 BCE

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19
Q

Where was Plato from?

A

Athens

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20
Q

What is thought to have been Plato’s real name?

A

Aristocles

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21
Q

In what year was Athens defeated by Sparta?

A

404 BCE

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22
Q

According to Plato, what is the inevitable result of political turmoil?

A

A tyrant stepping in to restore order

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23
Q

Which Greek city did Plato advise and influence with his political ideas?

A

Syracuse (Sicily)

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24
Q

Which important dialogue marks Plato’s move away from concluding in aporia?

A

The Meno

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25
Q

What were the two realms, according to Plato?

A

The Realm of Being and the Realm of Becoming

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26
Q

What are three characteristics of Plato’s Forms?

A

1) Eternal
2) Perfect
3) Unchanging

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27
Q

What does anamnesis mean?

A

Unforgetting

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28
Q

What is Plato’s ‘theory of recollection’?

A

Knowledge is obtained by remembering things from ones soul’s disembodied state in the Realm of Being

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29
Q

What does the sun represent in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave?

A

The form of the Good

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30
Q

What distinguishes knowledge from true belief according to Plato?

A

Satisfactory justification

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31
Q

What virtue, in individuals and states, is the subject of Plato’s Republic?

A

Justice

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32
Q

What are the three groups in Plato’s ideal society?

A

1) Guardians
2) Warriors
3) The rest

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33
Q

In the Republic, what is justice according to Thrasymachus?

A

Whatever the strong wish to do

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34
Q

According to Plato, what are the three parts of the soul?

A

1) Reason
2) Spirit
3) Appetite

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35
Q

What is the degenerative sequence of forms of government according to Plato?

A

1) Aristocracy (meritocratic)
2) Epistocracy
3) Timocracy
4) Oligarchy (plutocratic)
5) Democracy
6) Anarchy
7) Tyranny

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36
Q

What is ‘epistocracy’?

A

Rule by those who know (experts)

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37
Q

What is ‘timocracy’? (In Plato’s sense)

A

Rule by those who seek honor, status, and military glory

38
Q

What is ‘oligarchy’? (In Plato’s sense)

A

Rule by the rich (plutocracy)

39
Q

What is justice in states and souls according to Plato?

A

Balance (harmony) between the three parts

40
Q

What are realism and nominalism?

A

Realists think universals exist and nominalists don’t

41
Q

In what dialogue does Plato challenge his own idea of the Forms?

A

The Parmenides

42
Q

According to Plato, do things like mud, hair, and dirt have Forms?

A

No

43
Q

According to Plato, do things like equality and plurality have forms?

A

Yes

44
Q

What is the ‘Third Man’ problem?

A

1) A man is a man because he resembles the Form of Man
2) But there must be a second Form of Man to explain this first resemblance
3) And a third Form to explain this second resemblance, etc.

45
Q

In what dialogue does Plato challenge his theory of knowledge as justified true belief?

A

The Theaetetus

46
Q

When was the Academy closed by the Roman emperor Justinian?

A

529 CE

47
Q

What were Aristotle’s dates?

A

c.384-322 BCE

48
Q

Where was Aristotle born?

A

Stagira (Macedonia)

49
Q

At what age did Aristotle begin studying under Plato?

A

Eighteen

50
Q

To which famous leader was Aristotle a tutor?

A

Alexander the Great

51
Q

Where was Aristotle’s school located?

A

The Lyceum (Athens)

52
Q

What was Aristotle’s school called?

A

The Peripatetic school

53
Q

Why did Alexander call for Aristotle’s arrest?

A

He though Aristotle was part of a conspiracy to assassinate him

54
Q

What charge was brought against Aristotle?

A

Impiety

55
Q

What was the overarching division in Aristotle’s system of knowledge?

A

Theoretical philosophy and practical philosophy

56
Q

What are the three components of theoretical philosophy? (Aristotle)

A

1) Metaphysics (First philosophy)
2) Mathematics
3) Physics (nature)

57
Q

What is the focus of practical philosophy? (Aristotle)

A

Politics (which includes ethics)

58
Q

What did Aristotle call the science of logic?

A

Analytics

59
Q

What is the ‘Organon’? What does the word mean?

A

Aristotle’s writings on logic. It means ‘instrument’.

60
Q

What did Aristotle consider to be the fundamental unit of logical interest?

A

The proposition

61
Q

What are the two chief components of a proposition? (Aristotle)

A

The subject and the predicate

62
Q

What is the subject of a proposition?

A

That about which something true or false is asserted

63
Q

What is the predicate of a proposition?

A

What is asserted about the subject

64
Q

What are the four main categories? (Aristotle)

A

1) Substance
2) Quality
3) Quantity
4) Relation

65
Q

What type of proposition is ‘all As are B’?

A

Universal affirmative

66
Q

What type of proposition is ‘no As are B’?

A

Universal negative

67
Q

What type of proposition is ‘some As are B’?

A

Particular affirmative

68
Q

What type of proposition is ‘some As are not B’?

A

Particular negative

69
Q

What are Aristotles ‘five words’? (Ways in which a predicate can relate to a subject)

A

1) Genus
2) Species (Definition)
3) Difference
4) Property
5) Accident

70
Q

What are Aristotle’s ‘four causes’?

A

1) Material
2) Efficient
3) Formal
4) Final

71
Q

What is the self-caused ‘first mover’ (God) according to Aristotle?

A

Pure thought thinking about itself

72
Q

What kind of souls do all animate things have according to Aristotle?

A

Nutritive souls

73
Q

What additional aspect do the souls of all animals have according to Aristotle?

A

A sensitive aspect

74
Q

What additional aspect do the the souls of human beings have according to Aristotle?

A

A rational aspect

75
Q

What is the efficient, formal, and final cause for a living thing?

A

The soul

76
Q

What is the highest art according to Aristotle?

A

Politics

77
Q

What were Aristotles two ethical treatises?

A

1) The Eudemian Ethics
2) Nicomachean Ethics

78
Q

What makes eudaemonia the highest end for Aristotle?

A

It is desired for its own sake and not as a means to a further end

79
Q

According to Aristotle, what was the worst fault of Plato’s theory of Forms?

A

Its inability to explain change in the realm of Becoming

80
Q

Which philosopher thought there was nothing in the mind that was not first in the senses?

A

Aristotle

81
Q

What is sensation for Aristotle?

A

The body carrying the world’s forms to the soul

82
Q

What are the fundamental things upon which ‘accidents’ like color supervene? (Aristotle)

A

Substances

83
Q

What is eudaemonia for humans? (Aristotle)

A

Rational activity of the soul in accordance with virtue

84
Q

What are the two kinds of virtue? (Aristotle)

A

1) Those of mind
2) Those of character

85
Q

How does Aristotle define virtue?

A

The middle path between opposing vices

86
Q

How does Aristotle define human beings?

A

Political animals

87
Q

For Aristotle, what was the ideal size for a state?

A

Small, where the voice of the town crier can be heard from one end to the other.

88
Q

What shape is the universe according to Aristotle?

A

A sphere

89
Q

What is another word for aether?

A

Quintessence (fifth essence)

90
Q

What is the natural motion of the aether? (Aristotle)

A

Circular

91
Q

What label did Thomas Aquinas bestow upon Aristotle?

A

The Philosopher