Pocket Philosophers !!

Rationalism

A philosophical belief that reason is the primary source of knowledge.

Irrationalism

A philosophical stance that emphasizes the role of emotions and instincts over reason.

Tabula rasa

The theory that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that all knowledge comes from experience or perception.

Veined marble

Leibniz → People's knowledge is not a plain sheet, it is instead a block of marble with veins. That is to say, that the nature of man is blank but has certain prescribed inclinations.

"The senses, though they are necessary for all our actual knowledge, are not sufficient to give us all of it" (Leibniz 1765)

People have both prescribed knowledge and empirical knowledge

Tripartite Soul

Plato's concept that the soul consists of three parts: rational, spirited, and appetitive.

Theory of Forms

Plato's theory that non-material abstract forms, and not the material world, possess the highest and most fundamental kind of reality.

Unity of Body and Soul

The idea that everything is composed of matter and form, where the body is matter and the soul is form.

Human Function and Eudaimonia

Aristotle's belief that the capacity for reason is the distinguishing feature of being human.

Political Animal

Aristotle's assertion that humans are naturally inclined to form political communities.

Descartes's Dualism

The philosophical position that the mind and body are distinct and that the essence of a person lies in the mind.

Spinoza's Monism

The belief that God, nature, mind, and body are all part of a single substance.

Leibniz's Pluralism

The view that the universe consists of an infinite number of simple substances known as monads.

Eudaimonia

A term used by Aristotle to describe the highest human good, often translated as 'flourishing' or 'happiness.'

Nicomachean Ethics

Aristotle's work that discusses the nature of ethical virtue and the path to achieving eudaimonia.

Discourse on the Method

A philosophical treatise by Descartes that outlines his method for acquiring knowledge.

Meditations on First Philosophy

Descartes' work that explores the nature of existence and the essence of the mind.

Ethics

Spinoza's work that discusses the nature of reality and the relationship between mind and body.

The Human Function

Aristotle's concept that the function of man is an activity of the soul in accordance with reason.

The body exists for the sake of the soul

Aristotle's assertion that the purpose of the body is to serve the soul.

Speech as a uniquely human capacity

The ability to communicate rationally, which distinguishes humans from other animals.

The essence of a person

According to Descartes, the true essence of a person lies in their ability to think.

The mind and body are one

Spinoza's view that the mind and body are two attributes of the same substance.

The infinite intellect of God

Spinoza's belief that the human mind is part of God's infinite intellect.

Monad

The Monad is nothing but a simple substance, which enters into composites; simple, that is to say, without parts.

Soul

We may call 'soul' anything that has perception and appetite. It is more specific to restrict this name to the living substance which also has memory, and thus a kind of reasoning.

Autonomy

People have the ability to impose laws upon themselves.

Self Governance

The will is in all actions a law to itself.

Categorical Imperative

The categorical imperative is the supreme principle of morality.

Universal Law

Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.

Formula of Humanity

Act in such a way that you treat humanity...never merely as a means to an end, but always at the same time as an end.

Rational Being

The 'I' is the very condition for rational consciousness.

Sense of Self

Our sense of self ('I think') is the unifying principle that makes our experiences coherent.

Desire for Power

All men are moved by a perpetual and restless desire of power.

Reason as Slave

Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions.

Original Existence

A passion is an original existence.

Will as Driver

The will is what drives us, and our intellect is what we use to accomplish our goals.

Intellect as Instrument

The intellect is a mere instrument in the service of the will.

Subjectivity

Subjectivity is truth.

Passion and Truth

Passion is the highest degree of subjectivity, and it is in passion that the individual finds himself, not in the cold, objective world of thought.

Apollonian Impulse

The Apollonian impulse aims at individuation, at the creation of forms, at clarity and definition.

Dionysian Desire

The Dionysian seeks to shatter all bounds of individuation, to dissolve the individual into a primal unity.

Fusion of Drives

It is in the fusion of these opposing drives that a tragic sense of life and a profound creativity can be found.

Id

The id is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality... we call it a chaos.

Ego Development

This irrational and amoral core is the ultimate source of all psychic energy, and the rational mind, or ego, develops from it as an organ that aims to influence the id's impulses in a way that respects reality.

Innate Knowledge

Things cannot be innately known, otherwise they would be known by Children & the Mentally Disabled.

Primary qualities

Qualities that cannot be removed without changing what it is.

Secondary qualities

The feelings those things create.

Berkeley's Subjective Idealism

Material substances don't exist; the only things that are real are our minds and ideas.

Empirical knowledge

Knowledge gained through experience.

Prescribed knowledge

Knowledge that is inherent or predetermined.

Cartesian Dualism

Descartes' theory separating the mind from the body, asserting that the essence of a person lies in their thinking mind.

Monism

Spinoza's view that God, nature, mind, and body are part of a singular substance.

Pluralism

Leibniz's idea that reality consists of multiple substances or entities.

MONADS

Leibniz's concept that persons are made up of a singular dominant monad (the soul) and a collection of subordinate monads (the body).

Autonomy of Will

Kant's definition of a person as being able to act according to self-imposed moral laws.

I as a Rational Being

Kant's concept of self-awareness and rationality defining personhood.

Consciousness and sentience

The ability to have feelings, sensations, and experiences (e.g., pain, pleasure, sight, sound).

Self-Awareness

The ability to recognize oneself as an individual with a past, present, and future, giving a sense of identity.

Rationality and Moral Agency

The capacity to reason, make logical decisions, and understand the difference between right and wrong; a person can be held responsible for their actions.

Social and Relational Qualities

The idea that personhood emerges from relationships and interactions with others.

Behaviorism

A theory that emphasizes observable behaviors over internal mental states.

Identity Theory

The view that mental states are identical to physical brain states.

Eliminative Materialism

The view that common sense desires are false and can be replaced by neuroscience.

Functionalism

The theory that mental states are defined by their functional roles rather than by their internal constitution.

Connectionism

A model of cognitive processes that uses interconnected networks of simple units.

Unconscious

A mental state that occurs without consciousness or awareness.

Immediate

Something that is known or experienced directly.

Privacy

The idea that everyone has their own private thoughts/mental states.

Incorrigibility

The claim of a mental state that cannot be proven false.

Intentionality

When your mental states/thoughts are about something.

Privileged access

Having special direct knowledge of your own thoughts and feelings.

Epiphenomenalism

The view that mental events are caused by physical events occurring in the brain.

Preestablished harmony

The idea that mind and body do not interact but are always perfectly in sync.

Private language argument

A language that only one person can understand because it refers to their own inner feelings.

Philosophical Zombie

A being that is physically and behaviorally just like us but lacks consciousness.

Bad faith

Sartre's idea of denying one's own responsibility for actions by attributing them to circumstances or past.

Continuity

The lasting condition of an object through time and space, necessary for its identity.

Criterion

The needed standard or rule that something is judged against.

Empirical ego

Kant's concept of the unchanging structure of the mind that makes experience and knowledge possible.

Existentialism

A philosophy that emphasizes individual existence, freedom, and choice, stating that existence precedes essence.

Facticity

Sartre's term for an individual's past, given circumstances, bodily limitations, and predetermined roles.

Resemblance

Hume's concept of a core component of identity attributed to the self over time.

Self-consciousness

Locke's necessary condition of personal identity, the ability to be aware of oneself as an individual.

Self-identity

The sense of being the same person over time despite physical and psychological changes.

Transcendence

Sartre's concept of the ability to define oneself and project oneself into the future.

Transcendental ego

Kant says this is the unique, private, particular self known through introspection and experience.

Descartes' view on identity

He argues that any characteristic associated with the body only cannot be essential to identity. Self-identity is completely dependent on the mind and consciousness.

Locke's view on identity

Locke agrees with Descartes that self-consciousness is key to self-identity, but he thinks that identity does not depend on having the same soul.

Locke's distinction

Locke distinguishes between the soul (a substance) and consciousness, stating that personal self-identity is based on self-consciousness, specifically, memories.

Memory Theory

Locke's theory has an advantage over Descartes because it allows us to understand self-identity in terms of consciousness without the existence of an immaterial soul.

Circularity of Memory Theory

This makes the Memory Theory circular, as to say some memories are genuine, one must assert that the person having the memory is the one who had the experience.

Hume's view on self

Hume believes that any idea must be derived from an impression, and when we are self-conscious, we are only aware of fleeting thoughts, feelings, and perceptions.

Impressions and identity

Hume argues that continuity and resemblance do not guarantee identity, as everything we perceive is a sequence of impressions.

Kant's view on self

Kant agrees with Hume that the enduring self is not an object of experience, stating that the enduring self is not empirical but transcendental.

Kant on perception

To experience an object, we must combine our various impressions of it into the perception.

Kant's agreement with Descartes and Locke

Kant says Descartes and Locke were right in saying self-identity and self-consciousness are the same, but Descartes was wrong in saying self is a 'thing' we find in experience.

Kant's internal sense

Kant believes that the internal sense or the 'ego' is split into two: the 'transcendental ego' and the 'empirical ego.'

Transcendental ego vs. empirical ego

For Kant, the 'transcendental ego' is the concept of self essential to self-consciousness, while the 'empirical ego' represents the differences between people, such as bodies, looks, sizes, personalities, and experiences.

Meredith Michaels

Argues that personal identity is a combination of both physical and psychological factors so while we need our physical body our mental concepts like thoughts, memories, and feelings.

Derek Parfit

Says personal identity is not what matters most, but the connections and continuities of a person's past, present, and future.