Introduction to Philosophy and Pre-Socratic Science Practice Flashcards

Comprehensive practice vocabulary flashcards covering basic philosophical concepts, Pre-Socratic thought, and the theories of Plato and Aristotle based on the exam preparation notes.

Epistemology

The theory of knowledge, addressing claims such as the Socratic view that knowledge is recollection, or the Parmenidean view that one can only know what 'is'.

Ontology

The theory of being, including Platonic dualism (separate worlds of spirit and matter) and Aristotelian monism (unity of matter and form).

A priori

A type of claim or knowledge that is independent of experience, such as logical conditionals (e.g., 'If Aristotle was Plato's student, then Aristotle held a dualistic view').

A posteriori

A type of claim or knowledge derived from experience or empirical observation, such as determining if the number of questions in a test is even or odd.

Zeno's Paradoxes

Paradoxes like 'Achilles and the Tortoise' and 'The Arrow' intended to prove Parmenides' claim that motion does not exist in reality by assuming space and time are discrete.

Heraclitus

A pre-Socratic thinker whose ontological approach identifies the Logos in the relationship between things rather than in a simple underlying substrate.

Greek Science (Origin)

Attributed to the Greeks due to their systematic and methodical organization of knowledge and the logical attempt to reduce multiplicity to unity.

Meno's Problem

An epistemological problem pointing to the impossibility of acquiring experimental knowledge of reality without a pre-existing a priori conceptual criterion.

Episteme (Plato)

True doxa (opinion) that is accompanied by an a priori conceptual justification.

World of Ideas (Plato)

The theory that material things are reflections of a higher 'Ideal' reality, and they 'take part' in the world of Ideas through their regularity and necessity.

Aristotle's View of Material Reality

The belief that material reality is governed by conceptual laws (form) inherent in the matter itself, organized by types, species, and teleological purposes.

Timaeus (Plato)

A dialogue suggesting that the ideal aspects governing the material world can be revealed through the mathematization of phenomena.

Saving the Phenomena (Eudoxus)

The task of explaining the retrograde movements of planets through mathematical-geometric analysis, representing them as a sum of perfect circular paths.

Arché

The fundamental principle of material being; in modern biology, the 'Cell' functions as an analog to this concept.

Myth vs. Pre-Socratic Science

In myth, connectivity is aesthetic and concrete; in Greek science, the concrete individual is viewed as a specific instance of a logical, general law.

The Atom (Atomists vs. Parmenides)

An atom is considered 'Parmenidean' because it is a simple, indivisible 'being' (יש פשוט).

The Void (Eleatic view)

Viewed by Eleatics (like Zeno and Parmenides) as a logical contradiction (nothingness) that cannot be included in scientific thinking.

Being and Becoming (Atomists)

Being is a multiplicity of entities (atoms); becoming is the mechanical movement of these entities within the void.

Being and Becoming (Plato)

Being is a pure conceptual system of unity within conceptual multiplicity; becoming is merely a material 'shadow' of this system.

Being and Becoming (Heraclitus)

The view that 'The present is becoming' (ההווה הוא התהוות).

Being and Becoming (Aristotle)

Being is the eternal system of rules inherent in material reality; becoming is the process of individuals striving to reach their defined 'being' or 'rule'.