Intro to Philosophy-Quiz 2

"Pre-Socratics"

Greek thinkers that came before or led up to Socrates

The beginning of Greek philosophy

-The transition from mythology to reason

-Cross-cultural exchange

-A detail-oriented society with an exact language

-New stress on giving reasons or evidences for your opinions

Cosmology

The study of the nature and structure of the universe

-Water

-Fire

-Air

-Earth

-Atoms

Views of what the basic element of the universe was

Pythagoras

-Key thinker who coined the term "philosophy"

-First to call himself a philosopher

-Got involved in arithmetic and mathematics

-constant

-change

"Being is _______________; becoming is ___________________"

Sophists

Professional debaters

Relativists

virtue or values differ based upon culture or individual

Sophistic Relativism

Believed that wisdom or truth is not out there objectively; philosophy was a practical study on how to persuade people and is more important than truth

1. They were at odds with one another

2. Made little practical difference which view was true

3. He was interested in questions of what is good, true, beautiful, and just

Socrates' three problems with the Pre-Socratics

The "Socratic Method"

-Method in which he questioned someone who claimed to know something

-He unraveled the opponents argument until they claimed ignorance

-They made an agreement to pursue truth together

-Also known as the dialectic method

Socrates beliefs

-Real harm could only be done to your soul

-No one knowingly does wrong

-Everything is open to question

Socrates nicknames

-Gadfly (pesky person)

-Midwife (bringing forth good ideas)

-Not believing in the gods

-Corrupting the young

What Socrates was accused, tried, and executed for

The Academy

School started by Plato to teach students philosophy; "Let no one enter who is ignorant of mathematics."

Dialogues

Literary pieces in which the characters carry on conversations (Socrates was the main character)

The Republic

Specific work of Plato that was not a dialogue and argued there are 3 different types of people (workers, soldiers, and philosophers/rulers)

Workers

-Characterized by passion

-Virtue-Moderation

Soldiers

-Characterized by will

-Virtue-Courage

Philosophers/Rulers

-Characterized by intellect

-Virtue-Wisdom

Plato's beliefs

-Viewed that all forms are eternal, unchanging realities

-Existence apart from reality

-Before humans are born, souls are contemplating the perfections of these forms, then birth happens, and souls go into bodies and recollect these perfect forms

-"Myth of the Cave"

-Had a low view of art-thought it was doubly deceptive

Aristotle

-Spent 20 years in Plato's Academy

-Did not have concept of 2 worlds

-More interested in studying this world-put stress on senses

-Material Cause (What is it made of?)

-Efficient Cause (How is it made or done?)

-Formal Cause (What is the shape by which is is identified?)

-Final Cause (What is its ultimate purpose? What is the reason for it all?)

The 4 Causes

Teleology

The study of purpose or design

Aristotle's beliefs

-Things had potentiality that were moving toward actuality

-Nothing in this world is pure potentiality

-God the One is in fact a pure actuality

-The virtue or excellence of a thing is discovered as it progresses towards its goal or its actuality

The Golden Mean

Moderation between two extremes

Aristotle's political philosophy

-Man is by nature a political animal: we have potentiality and we need to reach actuality

-A just state would act righteously and allow the people to live a happy and flourishing life

-Helped tutor Alexander the Great and instruct him to be a just ruler

Hellenistic

Comes from the Greek idea to "make Greek"

Cynicism

-Related to the Greek word for dog

-Distinction was related between true values and false values

-Most people were too concerned with values that didn't really matter

Diogenes

-Main leader of cynicism

-Lived like a dog to show he wasn't concerned with things that didn't matter

-Coined term of "cosmopolitan" meaning citizen of the world

Skepticism

-Actively refused to believe anything

-Form of relativism-no objective truth

Pyrrho

-Main leader of skepticism

-Give equally powerful arguments on both sids of the question

-Try to refute any case put forward by a student

Epicureanism (Epicurus)

-Goal was happiness or pleasure seeking (absence of pain)

-Hedonism-seeking after pleasure

-He was an atomist

Stoicism

-This world is all the reality there is and God is the all-pervading rationality of the world

-Everything happens for a reason so we should not desire change

-Emotions are irrational judgments

Zeno

-Main leader of Stoicism

-He taught from a Stoa (roof that has columns that hold it up)

Metaphysics

The Study of the nature or reality

Materialism

A view that says all of reality is physical

Idealism

All of reality is ultimately mental (in our minds)

"Contingent"

Refers to being dependent on another reality

1. Eternal

2. Unchanging-immutable

3. Other things depend on it

Characteristics of "Ultimate Reality"

Biblical Reality

-God is ultimate reality

-God is both eternal and also immutable in His essecse/character

-All other reality is contingent upon God

-God created the universe and designed it with purpose

-The doctrine of creation counters "idealism." Other doctrine counter "materialism"

-Not all reality is "seen" or visible". In a biblical "hierarchy" of being, many important entities are not visible

-We must train ourselves to thing biblically about what is truly important reality