Philosophy Fi

Medieval

The middle ages which lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. Began with the fall of the roman empire and merged into the renaissance and age of discovery.

Stoicism

The endurance of pain or hardship without the display of feelings and complaint. Teaches the development of self-control and fortitude as means of overcoming destructive emotions.

Epicureanism

Philosophy and agreement that pleasure was the highest good I life. Valued pleasure mentally more than physically and ultimate pleasure was freedom from anxiety and mental pain.

Neo-Platonism

Form of thought holding that existence is defined by thought and intellect, not matter. Their ultimate source of reality is not god, but an unknowable force. State soul is on earth always and souls that lived in harmony will return at a higher radiation.

Edict of Milan

Outcome of a political agreement between Constantine and Licinius. Granted all people the freedom to worship whatever deity/god they wanted to. Gave Christians legal status and were reimbursed all their confiscated properties after they were originally persecuted.

Trivium

Group of studies consisting of grammar, rhetoric, and logic and forming the lower division of the seven liberal arts in medieval universities.

Quadrivium

A group of studies consisting of arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy and forming the upper division of the seven liberal arts in medieval universities.

Skepticism

A questioning/doubtful attitude towards generally considered knowledge which are asserted to be mere belief or set of principles. Common in epistemology.

Res Cogitans

Also referred to as the soul. A thinking thing such as the mind or soul.

Res Extensa

An extended thing or substance. Material substance. Defined by principles of logic and considered in terms of definiteness.

Primary Quality

Properties of quality such as size, motion, shape, number, etc., that belong to physical matter independently as an observer. Characteristics convey facts and exist in the thing itself, can be determined with certainty, and do not rely on subjective judgements.

Secondary Quality

Properties that produce sensations in observers such as color, taste, and smell. Described as the effect things have on certain people. Uses the power of reflection to deceive our minds.

Tabula Rasa

Theory that individuals are born without built-in mental content, and therefore all knowledge comes from experience or perception. When you are born your brain is a clean slate with no preconceived ideas or predetermined goals.

Epistemology

Theory of knowledge, especially about its methods, validity, and scope. Epistemology is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion.

Occam's Razor

The principle that in explaining a thing no more assumptions should be made than are necessary. When deciding between two hypotheses, the person should pick the solution with the fewest assumptions.

Empiricism

Theory all knowledge is derived from sense-experience. Emphasizes the role of evidence in the formation of ideas, rather than knowledge you are born with or traditions.

A prior

Relating to knowledge that comes from theoretical deduction rather than observation or experience. (Mathematics)

A posterior

Relating to knowledge that is derived from observations or experiences. Not previously existing in the mind.

Analytic

True by virtue of the meaning of the words or concepts used to express it. All dogs bark. Logically true.

Synthetic

Not logically certain but bearing on reality. Affirms/denies existence of something. It is snowing in Alaska.

"Synthetic a priori" (Kant)

Gives universal truth and existentially informative. Brings in new information while being universal and truthful.

Esse Est percipi

To be is to be perceived. All qualities attributed to objects are sense qualities. Ex: hardness is sensing of a resistance to a striking action and heaviness is a sensation of muscular effort.

Phenomena

An observable fact or event. Mostly refers to an extraordinary event. "that which is experienced in the basis of reality.

Noumena

Cannot be directly observed. Exists independently of human sense and perception. Unknowing.

Hume's Fork

Two ideas split into facts based on ideas and facts based on experience. Rational knowledge (based on thoughts and ideas) and empirical knowledge (based on experience in the material world). Only empirical can tell us useful things about the world.

Transcendental Unity of Apperception

Uniting and building of coherent consciousness of different inner experiences. Ex: Passing of time.

Explain in some detail what the "medieval synthesis" was in terms of philosophy. It would be important to talk about what kinds of philosophy came together to create the "synthesis," what the medieval curriculum looked like, and what kinds of philosophical breakthroughs took place during this time.

Medieval is the middle of times between ancient and modern. Plato's Academy was created, which is now a prototype for universities. The medieval synthesis was a product of stoicism, Cynicism, and Neo-Platonism. Stoicism explained to not tie your happiness to temporary emotions and feelings in life. Cynicism was the philosophy that believed everything is an illusion and living through society is not truly living for yourself. Cynics was homeless and opposed their rulers. Neo-Platonism influenced Judaism and alchemists while providing the belief that there was no god, and we are our soul. The medieval curriculum consisted of 7 "liberal arts". These liberal arts fell into the categories of trivium and quadrivium. Trivium consisted of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, while quadrivium was focused on music, astronomy, arithmetic, and geometry. The medieval synthesis was also the center of the rise of Christianity. This rise of Christianity explained the truths of their religion through the eyes of Plato. Their shared beliefs and intellectual thought led to the explosion of intellectual life and eventually the first universities.

How does the rise of science change the history of philosophy?

The rise of science and scientific method was born in the heart of medieval universities out of natural philosophy. Science helped introduce inductive reasoning, which based beliefs on material and observation instead of certainty. Science also helped philosophy stray away from storytelling and mythology while focusing less on the senses and more on factual evidence of what is in the world. Introduced metaphysics, which is the highest truth and combines the mind and matter.

Describe Descartes' skeptical project from start to finish. Be sure to include a discussion of his waves of doubt, his solution to the skeptical problem, and how he influences subsequent philosophical inquiry.

Descartes' skeptical project was a method of complete doubt and aimed to establish absolute certainty. The three waves of doubt are illusion, dreaming, and deception. Illusion is the senses of an individual and knowledge gained from these senses is solely based upon perception, making it unreliable. Dreaming is the thought that one cannot truly determine whether they are currently awake or asleep. One can never step back and observe yourself and reality interact as you are always involved in every act of knowing. The final wave of doubt, deception, is the idea that all experiences are produced by evil. Descartes believes it is possible for an evil demon to be controlling you, making them to controller of your decisions. His solution to the skeptical problem is "I think therefore I am". He claims that even if there is a demon controlling him, there must be something for the demon to control so there is no doubt of his true existence. Descartes can provide philosophy with the question of rather or not one is truly perceived. His beliefs help philosophers determine whether their senses are to be believed and proof of their own existence.

Describe Locke's causal theory of perception. Be sure to include his understanding of the mind as tabula rasa, his use of Occam's razor, and his discussion of primary qualities and secondary qualities.

Locke's casual theory of perception states the ideas, concepts, thoughts, and overall creations of the mind are strictly due to our experiences of the world. For John Locke, Tabula Rasa was the belief that the mind is born as a 'blank slate' and the rules of processing information is found through sensory experiences. Occam's razor states that with each similar hypotheses the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected. Locke uses this to claim that if he could account for all human knowledge without making references to natural ideas, then his theory would be better than Descartes'. Locke also describes primary qualities as those independent of perception such as shape and number, but secondary qualities are ones that are created through perception and the senses, such as color or smell.

If a tree falls in the woods, and there is no one there to hear it (and I mean no one—including animals!), does it make a sound? Explain and defend your answer.

Sounds is something that is perceived by another being and only exists if it is heard. In this instance of the tree, I do not believe the tree makes a sound. Since there is nobody to experience or perceive the sound being made by the tree falling, then a sound must not have been made. If the sound of the tree can not be heard, then it has no bearing effect on any being's perception or experience with the noise of the tree. It must not have made a sound as the sound does not influence any being, therefore causing it to have no legacy in the world.

Describe in as much detail as possible Descartes' two metaphysical substances (i.e., the two metaphysical substances he divides the world into after 'discovering' his certain starting point). Say a little about the problem his metaphysical dualism produces?

Descartes' two metaphysical substances are mental and physical. The mental substance was described to not take up any space and only know to you directly. The mind is defined as unexpended, while the body is described as extended in space. Our body and soul are connected, yet with the dissolving of the body, the mind would stay alive. Descartes' says himself that the mind and body do coexist for a temporary being of time but do separate at one point. The physical being the body. On problem this dualism faces are the interaction between the two. How does the mind affect the body and cause it to perform certain actions? Another problem the dualism faces is consciousness. One cannot describe another's' mind and you yourself have trouble describing it. Many scientists claim that it can not be studied and only like to talk about truth and what is "extended" in space.

What does it mean to say "Esse Est Precipice?" How does Berkeley deal with the existence of things we human beings are not currently experiencing

Esse Est Percipi means to be is to be perceived. All qualities that are attributed to objects are sense qualities. For example, saying a ball is red is based off your sense of what red is and applying the color to the ball, which then makes the ball a red ball. Berkeley believes that those things that we are not currently experiencing do not exist. He states that we do not know what color an apple would be if it were not red, it cannot be perceived as colorless. Primary and secondary qualities only exist with the mind, as they go hand in hand creating the existence of something.

Explain Hume's reasoning that leads him to reject three major common-sense features of most metaphysical accounts of reality (as well as what those three features are). How do his arguments relate to Berkeley and Locke?

The attack on human substance. He believes is natural to believe things exist as "substances". Locke asserts that there are primary and secondary qualities along with mental and physical substance, while Berkeley believes there is only mental substance. Hume claims that we cannot perceive substance and lies beyond our possible perspective. Second attack is on the principle of "self". Locke and Berkeley believe there is an ego, a thinking self. Hume says you do not perceive oneself. Cannot claim oneself exists. Third attack on "causality". Believes it is natural to believe every cause and effect. Hume says we do not perceive a necessary connection. Inductively generalizing that one action causes a result. False Cause Fallacy. Cannot claim that every event has a cause.

How does Immanuel Kant attempt to overcome Hume's Fork? (explain what Hume's Fork is, and then explain the basics of Kant's so-called "Copernican Revolution" in epistemology).

Hume's fork was created by David Hume that argues there are only two kinds of knowledge, relations of ideas and matters of fact. Relations of ideas are intuitively certain and discoverable through mere though. Cannot be denied without a contradiction. Matters of fact are found through experiences and help explain the way the world is. There is no logical contradiction in it being false. Kant's Copernican Revolution is the representation that makes the object possible rather than the object that makes the representation possible. This makes the human mind an originator of experience and thought, rather than just a recipient of perception. Kant is claiming that knowledge is a priori, which means there is no blank slate in the mind and knowledge is present before there is experience of the world.