Studied by 9 people
philosophy
the love of wisdom
The main categories of philosophy
epistemology, metaphysics, ethics
epistemology
the study of knowledge and what we know
metaphysics
the study of reality and what is considered real
ethics
the study of morality and what is right/wrong
Socrates
teacher of Plato, the father of Western Philosophy, "Dialogue With Crito"
Plato
teacher of Aristotle, godfather of Philosophy, "Myth of the Cave", "World of Forms"
Aristotle
the unmoved mover, huge influence on later Philosophy and Theology
The main lesson in "Dialogue With Crito"
justice above all else
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs reveals that...
becoming self-actualized is a process
Buddhism's view of the enduring self
no self as the enduring self
The 4 Noble Truths of Buddhism
All life is suffering
Suffering is caused by cravings
Getting rid of cravings leads to enlightenment
The path to enlightenment is the Eightfold Path
The 4 things we are taught about Philosophy from Plato's Myth of The Cave
Activity
Hardwork
The Goal is Freedom
Examines our presuppositions
acedia
sloth
avarice
greed
vainglory
pride
The Seven Deadly Sins
Lust
Avarice
Vainglory
Acedia
Gluttony
Wrath
Envy
Enlightenment is tied to...
metaphysics and epistemology connect us to how we understand and engage with the world
Sigmund Freud believed that humans are...
aggressive, selfish, not gentle
Psychological egoism
the idea that humans act in their own self interest
Aristotle's view of happiness
our intellect is the highest good and leads us to true happiness
Human nature is...
closely related to the duality of personhood and life after death
Four assumptions if you presume life after death
We each have a "self"
The "self" is distinct from the body
The "self" endures and remains the same through time
The "self" is individual and distinct from others
Why is human nature important to understand?
Understanding humanity is one of the focal points of philosophy and religion
3 Major Views of Human Nature
Traditional Rationalistic View
Judeo-Christian View
Darwinian View/ Challenge
Traditional Rationalistic View
dualism; Plato: reason, appetite, aggression; intellect is the highest good
dualism
the idea that humans have an immaterial/immortal soul and a material body
inner-self
Greek psyche
Reason, appetite, and aggression relate to...
knowledge
wealth
power
Aristotle emphasized...
human purpose; to be happy, you must fulfill your purpose
Aristotle differed from Plato in that...
Aristotle believed that reason is what separates humans from other creatures. - Plato believed that knowledge of the next world separates humans from other creatures.
Both Plato and Aristotle...
focus on reason as the most important (reason is the highest good)
Passions
self mastery over ______ is of great importance in order to fulfill human purpose
Judeo-Christian View
love, Augustine, original sin, humans are unique and rational beings
love
the main aspect of the Judeo-Christian View
original sin
a sin said to be inherited by all descendants of Adam
Because of original sin...
humans cannot choose good over evil without the help of God
Augustine
had a huge influence on Western Philosophy and Theology, related to the Judeo-Christian View
Darwinian View
focuses on natural selection, formed by Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin
the father of evolutionary theory and natural selection
human uniqueness is...
challenged by the Darwinian View
punctuated equilibrium
a theory of evolution holding that evolutionary change in the fossil record came in fits and starts rather than in a steady process of slow change (Gould)
theism
belief in a personal God
deism
belief in an absent God
pantheism
everything is God
panentheism
God is in everything but is greater than everything
monotheism
belief in a single God
polytheism
belief in multiple gods
henotheism
belief in multiple gods with one chief God
Existentialism
focuses on the existence of the individual, we become who we are and who we want to be, we are in control of our own lives
Jean Paul Sarte
atheist existentialist, "we are free and can choose to be so", coined "bad faith"
bad faith
pretending we are spectators in events and not able to change them or make choices
reason
male according to Plato
emotion
female according to Plato
Aristotle
said that reason is only fully developed in males, so women and children should obey men
modernism
objective, relies heavily on the empirical-rational method for truth claims, based in enlightenment
postmodernism
subjective, narrative-based, relies on the experience of an individual or community, allows for the supernatural
consciousness
the hard problem
Mind-Body Problem
we have a material brain and seemingly have a conscious, but how can we have both a material and an immaterial self?
Descartes
suggested the pineal gland as the source of Dualism
Leibinz
suggested that the brain and mind run parallel like clocks, independent but seemingly related
Materialism
matter matters, everything in the mind-brain problem is explained by the material world, reductionism
reductionism
reducing the explanation to the most natural explanation
identity theory
brain and mind are directly connected, emergence
emergence
the mind emerges from a material body
behaviorism
we are what we do, our behavior explains what is going on mentally
functionalism
our brain functions as a series of inputs and outputs, sensory inputs=behavioral outputs
Turing Test
determines whether or not a computer is capable of thinking like a human being
Alan Turing
English computer scientist
Semantic Viewpoints
eliminative materialism
new dualism
eliminative materialism
we only think that we feel things, basically materialism but tries to explain away why we think we have consciousness
new dualism
property dualism, conscious experience involves properties of an individual that are not entailed by the physical properties of that individual
The Enduring Self
Soul
Memory
No self
a way to discuss who we are over time, our core essence
Soul
enduring self, an immaterial part of you that lives on
Memory
enduring self, the self is the same because we have memories of the person we were and continue to be
No Self
enduring self, we do not have a self that endures
David Hume
believed that only what we perceive exists
The atomistic self
Descartes: the self is known apart from others Kant: the self has the ability to choose moral principles
The belief that everything is made up of atoms
the relational self
we are known in relation to others, we know ourselves by how others define us
Power and Hegel's View
we force respect from others, create a master-slave relationship, and ultimately realize that the slaves have power over the masters
Culture and self-identity
our culture helps to define our identity
Robert Nozick's idea of reality
for something to be real, it needs value, meaning, importance, and weight
Pragmatism
William James, go with what works and what is practical
logical positivism
focuses on language and meaning, language describes reality, language describes reality
antirealism
no "real" objective world, the world is created by our perceptions of what is real
phenomenology
the study of lived experiences, reality must be revealed to our conscience, being is the underlying reality that appears
existentialism
"find self-definition in the passionate commitment to action", existence precedes essence - Sarte
eastern materialism
Charvaka Philosophers, sense perception tells us about the world, not inductive or deductive
western materialism
Democritus: universe is made up of atoms, including reason and the soul
Scientific method, Thomas Hobbes: there is only measurable matter in the universe
idealism
universe is made up of mind and idea, not matter, matter doesn't matter
western idealism
Plato's World of Forms
Augustine: the spiritual world enduress
George Berkeley: subjective idealism, objective idealism
subjective idealism
the world is dependent on the mind of the individual
objective idealism
reality is dependent on a supreme being
eastern idealism
Vasubandu
since everything is perceived by our senses, we can't show that external objects cause these sensations
Pragmatism
the idea that what is meaningful to us is real, practical; major thinkers are Charles Peirce, William James, and John Dewey
Pragmatic method
a way to discover what our ideas mean by studying their consequences in actual experience
William James
defines pragmatism as the attitude of looking away from first things... and looking towards last things
William James
"we determine whether an object is real by its relation to our emotional and active life" - ?
logical positivism
a response to the argument between idealism and materialism, says that idealism and materialism don't look closely enough at the language they use, a blend between idealism and materialism
Alfred Ayer
argued that there are only two types of meaningful statements, tautologies and statements of fact; said that if a statement it neither, then it is meaningless
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