Ancient Philosophy Midterm

Epistemology

The philosophical study of knowledge

Metaphysics

a branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, existence, and being

Fragment

an incomplete piece of writing, often a quote that has survived from an ancient philosopher and is used by a more modern writer

Testimonia

Piece of writing from someone who claims that what they write is what an ancient thinker thought

Monism

Wanting to take the complexity of the cosmos and simplify it down into its pluality (cosmos are one unified whole rather than separate pieces)

Materialism

matter makes up all things, mental states/conciousness are results of physical interactions

Cosmogony

concerns the origin of the earth

Cosmology

study of universe’s structure, history, and laws as it currently exists

Theogony

concerns the birth or origins of the gods (in Ancient Greece it came from Homer and Hesiod)

What was Thales’ arche?

Water

What was Anixamanders’ arche?

Apeiron (the infinite or boundless)

What was Anixmenes’ arche?

Aer (air)

What was the arche of the Pythagoreans?

Numerical order or mathematical relationships

What was Xenophanes arche?

everything comes from the earth and eventually rerturns to it (combo of earth and water)

What was Heraclitus’ arche?

fire (constant dynamic change)

Tetractys

Sacred symbol of Pythagoreanism; known as the Harmonia and is a system of the three concords: the fourth, the fifth, and the octave

(relates to Pythagoreans worshipping a numerical ordering of the cosmos)

Transmigration of the Soul

the soul survives death of one’s body and enters the body of an animal

Immortality of the Soul (Pythagoreans)

the non-physical part of the human body (the soul) outlives the physical part of the human body

Mathematikoi

followers of Pythagoras who were concerned with mathematics, philosophy, music, and astronomy as core knowledge

Akousmatikoi

followers of Pythagoras who respected his teachings on religion and the proper way to live

Doctrine of Dualism

the mind and body split (most famous is Rene Descartes)

Table of Opposites

two columns of paired opposites made famous by Pythagoras (one side is ordered and positive, the other is disordered and negative)

Orphism

related to dualism; an early Greek religious movement

Symposium

drinking party with men (no women) and snacks in ancient times

Eunomia

a well-ordered political system (Xenophanes)

Elegy

a sad poem or song that expresses grief or sorrow, might also express something melancholy (like an ode)

Anthropomorphism

applying human characteristics to non-human entities like animals or objects

Muthos/Mythos

layer of culture that is stories and traditions that bind a culture together (The American Dream)

Logos

word, account of, reason, proportion, ordering

speech or logic

Doxa

opinions (this is something else other than truth and what is known)

Oracle/ Oracular

rhetorical style of heraclitus

Unity of Opposites

“The road up and the road down are the same thing”

Deductive Argument

An arguement where it is impossible for a conclusion to be false if all the premises are true

Valid Argument

Logic leads the truth of the premises to guarantee the truth of the conclusion

Sound Argument

a deductive arguement that is both valid and has completely true premises

Liar’s Paradox

“This sentence is false . . .”

Moral Paradox

You must choose between saving your mother or a bunch of random children from a burning building. Which are you choosing?

Reductio Ad Absurdam

takes an argument’s logic to its conclusion and shows that it is impossible (shows a contradiction)