Philosophy

Chap 1

Four Divisions

-Metaphysics: study of reality in a broad way

-Epistemology: philosophical study of knowledge

-Axiology: the study of value and ethics (morals and values)

-Logic: the study of correct reasoning


Aesthetics: the study of the feelings, judgments, and views involved in our appreciation and experience of the arts or other objects deemed beautiful.

-mental/third eye


Socrates; The examined life

”an unexamined life, is a life not worth living”

-its a tragedy because it results to grievous harm to the soul


Pre-Socratics

The first philosophers, most of whom flourished before Socrates (fifth century BCE).

-rhetoric

focus on chap 1 (1.1+1.2) + 2 (2.2) + 3 (3.2+3.3)

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8/20/2026

Title- What is my Philosophy?

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girl I’m absolutely sick to my stomach down right terrified. don’t question me about my philosophy. girl just pity kill me right now.

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9/1/26 (idek what I’m writing down right now)

Writing + Reasoning and Review Notes - 10 questions for 2nd grade

-most times it’s 3 questions


1.1(Da basics)
how is reading philosophy is different from reading law?

-sub-division of the 4 divisions

-that focuses on psychology and others

-take the 4 divisions and relate them to each chapter

1.2 (Socrates and the examined life)

-the soul is harmed by a lack of knowledge

-the Socratic method is a question and answering dialogue.

-relate it to the pre-Socratic teaching

3.2(Socratic method)

-there’s a difference between statements and questions. strengthened critical thinking

-Socrates started questioning the state of current life and culture

-his questioning revealed that some “wise” people were not as knowledgeable as thought

3.3(knowledge and ignorance)

-Socrates methods and mission spring from having a good life and the soul

-your soul is damaged or heal with your own actions

-virtue (relates to ethics) is knowledge

-pre-Socratics did not have a mission with their philosophy

-to Socrates a clear sign a person has an unhealthy soul is an exclusive pursuit social status, wealth, power, and pleasure instead of the soul’s wellbeing

-souls wellbeing: being comfortable within oneself

-only the soul is good is searching wisdom and true happiness in life.

Chapter 8.2

Augustine

-a Christian philosopher from the medieval period

-“He was the pivot point between Greco-pagan and Christian thinking, a transition that would change both the Church and future philosophy.”

-His confession

    -when he was 16, he struggled with his bubbling curiosity with his sexuality/sensuality. he gave into this temptation instead of with holding, bc he’s Christian and stuff.

-he first adhered to Manicheanism, which says that there’s two gods: good and evil. his adherence lessened once he visited Rome and was introduced to a new belief.

-Christianity: Neoplatonism: The philosophical view consisting of a blend of Plato’s metaphysics (primarily concerning the theory of the Forms) and other nonmaterialist or religious ideas.

    -If I am mistaken, I exist.’ A nonexistent being cannot be mistaken; therefore I must exist, if I am mistaken.

-Complete skepticism, says Augustine, is not justified. That we are sometimes mistaken about the objects of our sense experience is no reason to be an extreme skeptic.

-necessary truth (a truth that could not have been false) is extremely precious—more valuable even than rationality

-if truth is the highest good, then truth must be God, because God is the highest good, the most excellent of all things. If an entity is higher and more excellent than truth, then that entity must be God

-the hierarchy of being

-the great chain of being: god is the highest good, therefore everything is less good.

-ranges from material objects (the least good entities), to the simplest living organisms, to animals possessing a degree of consciousness, to thinking and feeling human souls (with good souls higher than bad ones), to angels, and to (at a great distance from everything else) God


third grade (everything up to Augustine chap 8)

-5 terms that are important

    -Neoplatonism: blend of Plato’s metaphysics and other nonmaterialistic or religious ideals

    -truth: there is truth, complete skepticism is not justified “an eternal, unchanging, and objective reality that is fundamentally identical with God”

    -necessary truth: a truth that could not have been false, argues for the existence of god

    -hierarchy of being: all-encompassing hierarchy of existing things and their value

        -material objects → simple living organisms → animals with consciousness → thinking/feeling human souls → angels → god

    good and evil: goodness = being, since god is good everything he creates is good. if something had zero goodness = zero being (nonexistent). so, evil means a deficiency or privation of good.

        -moral evil (aka free will): evil that comes from human choices and actions

-Thursday go through Augustine, and then review for rest of chapters

-third grade the week following focus on chap 1 (1.1+1.2) + 2 (2.2) + 3 (3.2+3.3) 8 (8.2)

dude this prof so racist man

questions

how does Augustine (Neoplatonism) relate to Plato’s philosophy

-Plato’s highest in hierarchy was dialogue or his search for knowledge

-”would rather believe then understand”

-unexamined life (Socrates) → who is my leader (Augustine)

9.1-9.3-9.4

skepticism: the philosophical attitude of doubting knowledge and fostering a critical approach.

epistemology: the philosophical study of knowledge

scientific revolution: initially, people believed the view of cosmic reality (late 16th through the 18th centuries, world is built off of hollow spheres, like an onion). but the scientific revolution upended the medieval worldview and ushered in a host of new ideas both in society and philosophy.

  • Augustine: step by step approach

  • Descartes wanted to be like Augustine

  • I think, therefore I am

propositional knowledge: “knowledge of a proposition”

  • A proposition is a statement that is either true or false, an assertion that something is or is not a fact. This kind of knowledge has been the main focus of philosophers.

  • three conditions: (1) you must believe it, (2) it must be true, and (3) you must have good reasons for—be justified in—believing it true


a priori: knowledge gained independently of or prior to sense experience

a posteriori: knowledge that depends entirely on sense experience.

rationalists: those who believe that some or all of our knowledge about the world is gained independently of sense experience (Descartes is this)

empiricists: those who believe that our knowledge of the world comes solely from sense experience.


Descartes dream argument: “there are no certain indications by which we may clearly distinguish wakefulness from asleep.”


Descartes concludes that if he can persuade himself of something, if he can have thoughts, he must exist. Even an evil genius cannot rob him of this knowledge. In the very act of doubting, or of experiencing something contrived by the evil genius, Descartes finds unshakeable proof that he himself exists: “I think, therefore I am.”


Descartes is a believer of God also