Test 1 Flashcards
Who said “Many are related by the one”
Thales
Thales believed everything went back to one substance. What is that substance?
Water
Who is the first western philosopher?
Thales
Who said, “all things are number?”
Pythagoras
What do “All things are number mean?”
Math is the language of nature
For this philosopher, math was a quasi-religious experience?
Pythagoras
Who introduced the concept of form in philosophy?
Pythagoras
Summarize Pythagoras’s relationship between music and math.
Music and math are related in many ways. For example, the notes on the scale, the notes in a cord, the number of beats per measure, the length of time each beat is held. These all share a mathematical relationship.
“You cannot step into the same river twice.”
Heraclitus
When Heraclitus referenced the “thought that steers all things” what is the Greek term is he referring to?
Logos
Which philosopher that we have studied is a Pantheist?
Heralclitus
Who said that all conflict is neccessary?
Heraclitus
What is the key assumption Parmenides had?
Being is Absolute, Change does not happen
Who created the “principle of intellgibility”?
Parmenides
Who argued that change is irrational?
Parmenides
Who is famous for their many paradoxes?
Zeno
The storyy of Achilles and the tortise was written by who?
Zeno
What argument pattern does Zeno follow?
reductio ad absurdum
What is the point behind the millet seed parable?
Trust reason, not your senses
Who were the Sophists?
A group of philosophers who followed relativism.
According to the Sophists, the most important form of education is?
Rhetoric
Define Physis
Things that are true by nature
Define Nomos
Things that are true by social custom i.e moral rules
Who said that “Man is the measure of all things?
Protagoras
Which philospher that we studied was a individual relativist
Protagoras
Who said Justice is “the advantage of the stronger”
Thrasymachus
What does “might makes right” mean?
The powerful in society make the rules and determine what is just and unjust
Who said, “Morality is an invention of the weak”
Callicles
What does “morality is an invention of the weak” mean?
It is a lie they crafted into a shield to protect themselves from the powerful, a way to shackle the strong.
Plato was the founder a school called…
The Academy
True or False Plato was a moral relativist
False
True or False Plato was an objectivist
True
Describe the divided Line
The four levels of knowledge
Why is opinon not knowledge?
It is not knowledge because we cannot explain why. Science is the first level of true knowledge.
According to Plato, what are the true objects of knowledge, that are the eternal changeless non-material essences or patterns of which the things we see are but poor copies?
The forms
What is Plato’s highest form?
The form of good
What are the 3 parts of the soul
Reason
Spirit
Desire
Describe the chariot story by Plato and its meaning?
The driver of the chariot is reason. The horses are spirit and desire. When our chariot is in harmony, then life is going in the right direction. When one horse goes awry the chariot wrecks as does life.
What are the 4 cardinal virtues?
Wisdom, courage, temperance, justice
Who said that “virtue is the fulfillment of function?”
Plato
True or False, According to Plato, Humans are irrational and have reason, therefore they have wisdom.
False.
Heraclitus thought that fire is the element which best exemplifies reality, saying that the world is “an ever-living fire.” What is it about fire that made Heraclitus think that?
Reality and change are inseparable.
- The central fact about reality, according to Heraclitus, is change. The primary element should account for this fact in some way.
* Earth, air, and water are static, inert. But fire is itself a process of change. So fire is the element which best exemplifies reality.
Parmenides argued that change is an illusion. Summarize his argument.
For change to occur, something new must come to be. This new thing cannot come from nothing. Nor can it come from Being, for then it already was. So nothing new can come to be and therefore change is impossible. The changes we think we see are illusions.
Socrates said that “knowledge is virtue” and “ignorance is vice.” What did he mean by that?
All of our actions are named in something good. We seek what is truly good. The real key is that we need to know whats really good. If we don’t know whats really good, we will chase after what appears to be good but is harmful in the long run. If we know what is truly good, we will seek that. In that case knowledge leads to virtue.
Summarize Plato’s allegory of the cave. What point does Plato make with this story?
A group of prisoners are held deep in a cave, who have never seen anything but shadows cast on a wall. They think they are real. If a prisoner leaves the cave and sees the sun, they would realize that the shadows in the cave are hints of a deeper reality.
His point is that there are two worlds. The visible world (the shadows) represents our senses and intelligible world (the sun) represents our mind. Through the intelligible world we obtain real knowledge.
Summarize Plato’s metaphor of the “charioteer.” What part did it play in his ethical theory?
Plato compares the human soul to a chariot with two horses. One horse is desire [or appetite], the other horse is spirit. The charioteer driving the chariot is reason.
Suppose the charioteer loses control of the horses. The chariot will veer off course (and may even crash). Unless the charioteer remains in control, the chariot will not reach its destination.
Plato thought that virtue is the fulfillment of function. What did he mean by that, and what role does that concept play in his ethical theory?
The good of something is tied to its function. To live a good life, we must have a good soul. Our soul will be good only when the three parts of the soul fulfill their proper functions. When reason fulfills its function, the soul has wisdom. When spirit fulfills its function, the soul has courage. When appetite fulfills its function, the soul has moderation [or temperance]. When our soul has all three of those virtues, the soul is in harmony and we achieve a fourth virtue, which is justice. [Those virtues later came to be known as the four “cardinal virtues.”]
