PHI 2380 Midterm

Everything can be reduced to one thing (first to do so)
explain everything as one principle

What philisophical claim did Thales make and what was original about it?

First principle can't have any defining factors or it would rule out opposites

What reasons might anaximander have for characterizing the first principle of all things as indefinate?

Concieved of it being eternal, deathless, indestructable, divine
nature is a battle of opposite forces (dry v wet)

In what ways does Anaximenes identification of the first principle with aer represent an advance over the views of Thales and Anaximander?

How does Xenophanes charcterization differ from the tradtional greek one?

Noone can know the truth only gods
he can't know the truth of gods more than anyone
just because you know doesn't mean you are right
opinion vs truth

According to Xenophanes what can humans know?

Belief in immorality of the soul
notion of reincarnation
time is circular everything comes in intervals
dog could be grandma

How does the approach of the Pythagoreans differ from that of the Milesians?

Reans- A follower of Pythagoras; someone who believes in or advocates Pythagoreanism, followers, docterines, don't eat meat could be fam

What distinctions can be made between Pythagoras and Pythagoreans?

Numbers are what makes things what they are
If you want to know everything else you must know numbers
Organization of how things are made up can always be expressed numerically

How exactly do the Pythagoreans see the relation between reality and numbers?

Strithe, opposition, war
Very opposition of road up and down makes it a unity, makes it same road
Unity of opposites
When were not thinking(sleepwalking) opposites as opposites, when we listen to logos we recognize their very opposition is what makes them one

What are some of the general points recurring in Heraclitus many sayings?

Logos is opposition that unifies

It is a language or the way that we speak, but we can only understand it if we are rational beings.

have to listen to it, common to all of us if we listen

What do you think the word logos means for Heraclitus?

Opposition itself is what makes things what they are and gives them their unity

Opposition is what brings things together (war) (bow)

in changing that things are rest

You can and cannot step into the same river twice
Fact that river is constantly flowing constantly changing is what makes it a river

What do you think is the meaning of the following quote: " What is opposed brings together; the finest harmony is composed of things at variance and everything comes to be with strife?

Reality is one thing. Reality cannot be divided into separate things,
Parmenides believed that whatever we can think of must have existence. Because we can think of reality, but cannot think of unreality, reality exists and unreality does not exist. While a mermaid might not exist, our thought of a mermaid means that the "thought of a mermaid" exists.

According to Parminenides, what are the principle characteristics of what is and why must what is have these characteristics?

It is impossible to think of what is not because we can never know these things to be true as we have never experienced them through our senses we can never claim that anything does not exist, because anything that does not exist cannot be spoken about.

opposites

what is cannot be what is not

Parmenides believed that what is could never not have been. This is because something that exists could not have come from something that does not exist.

why is it impossible to think of what is not (Parminides)

This leads him to the theory there is no coming to be or perishing and everything has always existed on its own.
No smallest because everything is a portion of everything
everything contains a bit of everything else

How does Anaxagoras attempt to reconcile change in the world with the Parmenidean view that what is neither comes to be nor ceases to be?

Cosmos are a mixture of a number of elements, these elements have always existed but only created the kosmos when they were mixed together and balanced. The mind is the universal cosmic principle of change for Anaxagoras. He believed the mind was the entity responsible for the kosmos coming to be by mixing together the entities.

What is the orgin of the cosmos for Anaxagoras?

causes the rotation
rotation causes separation
mind is outside of mixture
mind is needed to get rotation started

what role does the mind play for anaxagoras?

No coming to be, only mixture and separation of what is mixed
only mixture (coming to be) and separation (ceasing to be)

How does Empedocles attempt to reconcile change in the world with the Parmenidean view that what is neither comes to be nor ceases to be?

Two causes one to explain coming together one to explain them coming apart
Love
Strithe
Continually Changing back and forth

Why is Empedocles account of the coming to be of mortal things a double story?

Atoms are indivisible, building blocks too small to be seen which move in the void and combine to form compounds, some of which are large enough to be perceived. Atoms are full, solid, and "what is". Atoms are also eternal, there are an infinite number of atoms, with an infinite number of shapes moving in an infinite void.

What are atoms?

opposite of what is, no percievable qualities
All atoms are made of the same stuff, they are not hard or soft, or hot or cold, wet or dry, they have no perceptible qualities. Atoms are impassive and are incapable of being acted upon, or affected. Atoms are invisible because they can't be affected, they are so small and they have no parts.

What are the characteristics of atoms?

Void causes movement
No first being always hitting off each other
Motion is external
Atoms only move because they hit other atoms

Why do the atomists believe against Parmenides that what is not must in some sense be real?