Modern Philosophy Review: Kant to Freud

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the evolution of modern philosophy from Kant's idealism and the reaction of the Hegalian school to Schopenhauer's irrationalism, Marx's materialism, Nietzsche's nihilism, and Freud's psychoanalysis.

Copernican Revolution (Kant)

The philosophical shift where knowledge is no longer seen as the mind adapting to things, but things depending on the way the mind organizes them.

Phenomenon

Reality as it appears to the subject, filtered through the structures of sensitivity and the intellect; the only reality that can be known.

Noumenon

Reality in itself, independent of the subject; it serves as a limit to possible experience and cannot be theoretically known.

I think (Io penso)

A function of the mind that serves to unify all representations, allowing experiences to be recognized as belonging to a single subject.

Genius (Kant)

An artist who does not merely apply existing rules, but produces original works by providing the rule for art through creative imagination.

The Fichtean "I"

An active and productive principle that does not just order the world but 'poses' it as a result of its own activity.

Non-I (non-Io)

The world or object that the 'I' poses as a limit or obstacle, serving as a necessary condition for action and the exercise of freedom.

The Absolute (Schelling)

The original unity of subject and object, spirit and nature; it is a living process rather than an object.

Philosophy of Identity

Schelling's system where oppositions like spirit and nature are viewed as different manifestations of a single underlying reality.

Owl of Minerva

Hegel's metaphor for philosophy, which arrives only after a historical epoch is completed to comprehend its meaning in retrospect.

The True is the Whole (Il vero è l'intero)

Hegel's idea that truth is a process and can only be understood through the movement of the entire system rather than isolated parts.

Aufhebung

A key Hegelian dialectical term meaning to simultaneously negate, preserve, and elevate a concept into a higher form.

Master-Slave Dialectic

A fundamental moment in the Phenomenology of Spirit where mutual recognition between consciousnesses becomes essential.

Unhappy Consciousness

A stage in the Phenomenology of Spirit where the subject experiences a split between the finite and the infinite, typical of medieval religious experience.

Left Hegelianism

A group of thinkers who used Hegel's dialectics to criticize religion and political structures, advocating for social change.

Religious Alienation (Feuerbach)

The process by which humans project their own best qualities—such as love and wisdom—onto an infinite being called God, thereby impoverishing themselves.

Positive Atheism

Feuerbach's goal of moving beyond denying God to restoring projected human qualities back to the concrete human being.

Veil of Maya

Schopenhauer's term, borrowed from Indian tradition, for the world of phenomena that acts as an illusion hiding the true nature of things.

Will to Live (Volontà di vivere)

The irrational, blind, and infinite force that Schopenhauer identifies as the 'thing in itself' behind all appearances.

Nirvana (Schopenhauer)

A state of profound peace reached through asceticism and the progressive extinguishing of the Will to live.

Aut-Aut (Either-Or)

Kierkegaard's concept that life is made of definitive personal choices that exclude other possibilities, generating anguish.

Anguish (Angoscia)

The condition of facing infinite possibilities without rational guarantees, arising from the absolute responsibility of freedom.

Historical Materialism

Marx's theory that social, political, and cultural structures are determined by the material conditions of production and economic relations.

Structure vs. Superstructure

The economic base of society (Structure) and the resulting legal, political, and cultural forms (Superstructure) that reflect it.

Plusvalore (Surplus Value)

The difference between the value produced by a worker's labor and the actual wage paid, which is retained by the capitalist as profit.

Law of Three Stages (Comte)

The evolution of human thought through the Theological (supernatural), Meta-physical (abstract), and Positive (scientific) stages.

Apollonian vs. Dionysian

The contrast between orderly, rational form (Apollonian) and chaotic, vital instinct (Dionysian) in Nietzsche's early philosophy.

Death of God (Nietzsche)

The cultural event marking the collapse of all absolute truths and fixed moral certainties in the Western world.

Overman (Oltreuomo)

Nietzsche's spiritual figure who accepts the void of nihilism and creates their own values through the will to power.

Eternal Return

The idea that time is not linear but circular, and that all things will repeat infinitely, requiring 'amor fati' for acceptance.

Removal (Rimozione)

Freud's concept of a mental mechanism that pushes painful or unacceptable thoughts into the unconscious.

Es (Id)

The most instinctive part of the psyche that seeks immediate pleasure without rules or limits.

Super-Io (Super-Ego)

The part of the psyche representing internalized moral rules, prohibitions, and social standards.

Latent Content

The hidden, symbolic meaning of a dream that Freud contrasts with the 'manifest content' or the literal images remembered.

Discomfort of Civilization (Il disagio della civiltà)

Freud's idea that society requires the repression of sexual and aggressive instincts, leading to inevitable psychological tension.