Philosophy 100 Exam - Based of Videos/Notes

Philosophy 100 - Fall 2023: Exam #1 - November 7, 2023

Authors

Descartes, Hume, Berkeley, Chakravarty, Locke, Holbach, Schlick, King, Rawls, Mill

Descartes

Meditation #1

• truth and knowledge

• in order to reach any sort of knowledge one would need to disregard any falsehoods (doubt).

• doubt knowledge that comes from our sense - our senses deceive us.

  • dreams - mental projection? - everything you are doing is a dream?

• composite things (doubt) vs simple things (not doubt)

  • simple things is the only knowledge you can trust

• what if we are all being deceived by a demon?

  • doubts the existence of an all loving

Meditation #2

• doubts his own existence

  • we are being deceived

• exist without body and senses?

  • exist as long as he is something

• thinking thing

  • as long as he can think he knows he exists

  • I think therefore I am

    • he cannot doubt his ability to think

  • thinking thing: doubts, perceives, affirm, denies, wills, does not will, imagines and feels

    • dualism

• doubts physical over the mind

  • know more about the things he doubts

  • wax example

    • rationalism

Dualism

the distinction between mind and body

Rationalism - Descartes

knowledge come from reason

Berkeley

• immaterialism

• all that exist is our ideas an perceiving minds

• matter = sensory experiences

  • different ways to experiences objects

  • to be is to be perceived

• God perceives everything

  • everything still exists

• Idealism

  • mental ideas that we perceive

• rejects direct realism

• Locke’s primary vs. secondary

  • depend on perceiver

Immaterialism - Berkley

there is no such thing as matter

Idealism - Berkeley

reality is shaped by or composed of our ideas

Direct Realism

we directly perceive the external world as it is

Hume

• all ideas are copies of impressions

• Ideas and Impressions

• missing shade of blue

  • can we perceive what that is

    • yes

Skepticism - Hume

feeling of doubt towards knowledge - we can not truly know anything

Empiricism - Hume

• knowledge comes from our senses

• Empiricism is in tension with Realism

Scientific Realism

• our scientific theories describe mind-independent reality

• Chakravartty sees a problem with this

Epistemology

the study of knowledge

Locke

• what makes you the same person

• memories that connect together the different parts of our lives

• person is a forensic term

• to be responsible you have to be aware of what you have done

Qualitative Indentity

relevantly similar

Numeric Identity

one and the same thing

Materialism - Holbach

nothing but physical matter exists

Determinism

everything is determined by the laws of nature

Schlick

• law of nature and law of society/country

• free from compulsion + has certain motives for their actions

• responsibility of men

  • requires that are actions are caused

• indeterminism won't help

• free will or determined?

Compatibilism/Soft Determinism

the universe operates with law-like order, and that the past determines the future - something different about human actions - some actions are really free

King on Unjust Laws

justifies breaking the law: openly, lovingly and willingness to except penalty

Rawls

• veil of ignorance

  • the difference principle

    • laws should be fair and just for everyone

• inequalities are just as long as they are to everyone’s advantage

Social and economic inequalities are to satisfy two conditions - Rawls

• they are to be attached to positions and offices open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity;

• they are to be the greatest benefit to the least advantaged members of society

Mill

• worried about democracy

  • majority rules

  • population is not intelligent

• extending and limiting suffrage

• numeric minorities

• all action is for the sake of some end

• rights = produce happiness

• wrong = produce the reverse of happiness

• parliamentary system

  • 50 + 1

Utilitarianism - Mill

you can judge whether an action is morally right or wrong by how much plain or pleasure it produces