History of Philosophy Practice Flashcards

A vocabulary-style flashcard set covering the history of Asian, Greek, Hellenistic, Medieval, Modern, and Contemporary philosophy based on lecture materials.

Wujing (Five Classics)

A collection of sacred Chinese texts codified by Confucius ($551-478\,BCE$) including the Book of Changes, Book of History, Book of Poetry, Record of Rites, and Spring and Autumn Annals.

Sishu (Four Books)

A collection of Chinese sacred texts believed to be written by the disciples of Confucius, including Lun-yu, Chun-yung, Ta-heo, and Meng-tse.

Tao

The speculative philosophical thought introduced by Lao-tzu ($604\,BCE$) centered on the principle of the Tao.

Vedas

The sacred texts of the Hindus developed between $1500-1000\,BCE$ containing teachings on various aspects of life and philosophy.

Mayâ

An essential philosophical teaching found in The Upanishads referring to the existence of illusion or appearances.

Brahman

A central Hindu doctrine representing the identity of all being and the ultimate reality or Atman.

Moksha

A term associated with Asian philosophical traditions referring to ultimate liberation.

Dharma

The standard or moral duty within Hindu philosophical traditions.

Urstoff

The primitive element or basic stuff of all things which Ionian cosmologists like Thales tried to identify.

Anthropological

A focus of philosophical reflection directed toward understanding the human person, dominant during the time of Socrates.

Doxa

A term for beliefs or opinions formed based on one's experience of things, which Aristotle noted must be justified with reasoning to become knowledge.

Stoicism

A Hellenistic school founded by Zeno of Citium that emphasizes the value of reason ($logos$) and the attainment of intellectual and moral perfection to avoid misfortune.

Ataraxia

The highest form of happiness in Epicureanism, defined as intellectual pleasure rather than material pleasure.

Skepticism

The belief espoused by the New Academy under Carneades that one can have well-founded opinions but not the certainty of knowledge.

Neoplatonism

A tradition driven by Plotinus and Proclus that aimed to revive and preserve the philosophical insights of Plato as a bridge to Greco-Roman Catholic thought.

Fides quaerens intellectum

A Latin phrase meaning "faith seeking understanding," used by Augustine to explain and defend religious faith.

Quinque viae

The five ways or arguments for the existence of God developed by Thomas Aquinas.

Epistemology

The study of knowledge which Rene Descartes, the Father of Modern Philosophy, pronounced as the "first philosophy."

Cogito ergo sum

Rene Descartes's Latin dictum meaning "I think therefore I am/exist," establishing that thinking defines human being.

Rationalism

An early modern philosophical tradition represented by thinkers like Descartes, Leibniz, and Spinoza who emphasized reason as the source of knowledge.

Empiricism

An early modern philosophical tradition represented by John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume who emphasized experience as the source of knowledge.

Phenomenology

A philosophical movement initiated by Edmund Husserl that attempts to describe human experiences by going back to the things themselves.

Epoché

Also known as bracketing, this is the Husserlian method of suspending biases and prejudices when looking at a phenomenon as it is experienced.

Existentialism

A movement emphasizing passion, commitment, and self-creation, grounded in the idea that existence precedes essence.

Existence precedes essence

A principle of existentialism associated with Jean-Paul Sartre implying that human beings are free and define themselves through their own existence.