COR 015: Philosophy Lecture Notes

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering the fundamental concepts, history, branches, and approaches of philosophy, including the specific views of Pre-Socratic thinkers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

Philosophy

A study of knowledge, truth, existence, and reality through reasoning and critical thinking, derived from the words "philos" (love) and "sophia" (wisdom).

Pre-Socratic Philosophers

Greek thinkers who developed independent and original schools of thought, often seeking naturalistic explanations for physical phenomena and natural science.

Thales of Miletus ($c. 624-546$ BCE)

Considered the Father of western philosophy and one of the seven sages of ancient Greece, he believed water is the basic substance of everything.

Pythagoras ($570-495$ BCE)

A philosopher who treated philosophy as a way of life, emphasized contemplation, and believed that everything can be understood through numbers and mathematics.

Heraclitus ($c. 535-475$ BCE)

A philosopher who claimed that everything is changing and that the only permanent thing in the world is change, using fire as its symbol.

Knowledge is a virtue

A Socratic concept meaning that to know something is to do something, and to understand what is good is to do what is good.

Ignorance is a vice

A Socratic concept implying that not doing good is a result of not knowing what is good.

Theoretical Philosophy

A branch of philosophy focused on understanding knowledge, reality, and existence.

Ontology

The branch of theoretical philosophy that is the study of being.

Epistemology

The branch of theoretical philosophy that is the study of knowledge.

Metaphysics

The branch of theoretical philosophy that is the study of reality and existence.

Theodicy

The branch of theoretical philosophy that is the study of God on logical abstraction.

Practical Philosophy

A branch of philosophy focused on how to live a good and meaningful life.

Logic

The study of correct thinking and valid reasoning.

Ethics

The study of morality, right living, and wrong.

Axiology

The study of values.

Speculative Approach

A philosophical approach that uses abstract ideas to explain reality and focuses on possibilities, perceptions, beliefs, and opinions.

Analytic Approach

A philosophical approach that uses logic, language, and evidence to study ideas, focusing on facts and things that can be examined scientifically.

Plato

A Greek philosopher and student of Socrates who believed "Man is a soul" and defined the soul as the self-initiating motion or source of life.

Rational Element

In Plato's theory of the soul, it is the mind or highest element, responsible for reasons, language, and making decisions.

Spirited Element

In Plato's theory of the soul, it is the heart, responsible for controlling emotions such as love, anger, and courage.

Bodily Element

In Plato's theory of the soul, it is the stomach, responsible for physical needs, hunger, and appetite.

Aristotle

A Greek philosopher and student of Plato who believed man is a unity of body and soul, where the soul is the giver of life.

Vegetative (Nutritive) Soul

According to Aristotle, the soul of plants and trees, possessing the powers of nutrition, growth, and reproduction.

Locomotive (Sensitive) Soul

According to Aristotle, the soul of animals, possessing the powers of reproduction, nutrition, growth, movement, and sensation.

Rational Soul

According to Aristotle, the soul of humans, possessing the powers of reproduction, nutrition, growth, movement, sensation, and reason.