A Posteriori Knowledge and Philosophical Concepts

A Posteriori Knowledge

  • Defined as knowledge gained after experience.
  • Contrasted with a priori knowledge, which is based on pure thought.
  • Example: Learning from an experience or instinct.

Metaphysics, Ontology, and Logic

  • Metaphysics: Refers to the world of forms (Plato).
  • Ontology: The study of the existence of different things.
    • Analyzes and categorizes the reality of different entities.
    • Example: Distinguishing between the plane of existence of humans versus gods.
  • Logic: A system of rules for deriving true inferences from premises and conclusions.
    • Premise: A statement.
    • Conclusion: What follows from the premise.

Epistemology and Aesthetics

  • Epistemology: The study of where we get our knowledge.
    • Different forms of knowledge are gained from math, art, and literature.
  • Aesthetics: Concerns beauty and theories about beauty in society.
    • Explores whether beauty is objective or subjective.

Ethics and Politics

  • Ethics: Morality; individual opinions on what is right and wrong.
  • Politics: Ethics applied at a societal level.

Trolley Problem

  • A famous ethical thought experiment.
  • Scenario: Choosing between sacrificing one person you know to save multiple strangers or vice versa.
  • Utilitarian viewpoint: Sacrifice one to save more people, securing happiness for the greatest number.

Mythos and Logos

  • Mythos: Explanations based on myths and appeals to gods.
    • Example: An event happening because “Zeus banged one chick one time.”
  • Logos: Rational explanations based on reason and science.
    • Example: An event happening because of a preceding natural cause. Like science
  • Both mythos and logos have contributed to our present understanding.

Athens and Jerusalem

  • Athens: Gave us liberated rationality, marking the beginning of rational and scientific thought in human history.
  • Jerusalem: (Not detailed in the transcript but implied to represent a contrasting philosophical and religious tradition).

Thales of Miletus

  • Considered the first philosopher and scientist.
  • Lived in Miletus (Ionia, Greece, modern-day Turkey) around 500 BC.
  • Studied natural philosophy (science, biology, physics).
  • Theory of Water: Believed water was the primary element and the base of everything.
    • Earthquakes were thought to be caused by the Earth floating on water.
  • Significance: Attempted to explain the world through rational inquiry rather than attributing events to gods.

Anaximander

  • Student of Thales.
  • Rejected water as the primary element.
  • Proposed an indescribable element similar to ether or aerosol as the base of everything.
  • Concept of Binary Opposites: Believed the universe is composed of binary elements like hot and cold, but no single element dominates due to a sense of justice.

Anaximenes

  • Student of Anaximander.
  • Proposed air as the primary element (reminiscent of the Avatar concept).

Milesian/Ionian School

  • Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes.
  • Sought to understand the fundamental components of matter.

Pre-Socratics

Empedocles

  • Believed he was a god and should be worshipped.

Atomists: Leucippus and Democritus

  • Believed that stuff is made of atoms.
  • Democritus: Historical records confirm his existence; he lived in Athens and met Socrates.
  • Concept: Seemingly we never touch, referring to the atomic level.

Heraclitus

  • Believed the universe is in a constant state of flux.
  • “You cannot step in the same river twice” because the water and the person have changed.

Concept of Void

  • Exploration of whether the void (absence of something) exists.
  • Argument: If the void is something, it is not void.
  • Experiment: Using a vase to demonstrate that the space inside contains air, not nothing.

Atomists and the Void

  • Debate: If the world is made of atoms, what is between them?
  • Answer: The void.
  • Counter-argument: If the void exists, it is something, leading to infinite regress.

Pythagoras

  • Vegetarian who abstained from beans, claiming they smelled like semen.
  • Formalized and proved the Pythagorean theorem: a^2 + b^2 = c^2

Orphic and Bacchic Cults

  • Pre-date Athens’ golden age.

Orphic Cult

  • Associated with Orpheus, often depicted as a physician.
  • Killed by maidens (worshippers of Bacchus).

Bacchic Cult (Dionysiac)

  • Associated with Bacchus (Roman) / Dionysus (Greek).
  • Dionysus was born twice: first naturally, then from Zeus’s leg after Zeus saved the fetus and sewed it on his leg.
  • Worshippers engaged in ecstatic rituals, including tearing animals apart.
  • Empedocles was likely a Bacchic follower.

Pythagorean Beliefs

  • Believed in reincarnation of the soul.
  • Story: Pythagoras stopped someone from beating a dog because he believed it could be the soul of a friend.
  • Reasons for bean abstinence:
    • Beans looked like human fetuses.
    • Contained human souls.
    • Resembled genitalia.
    • Smelled like semen.

Pythagorean theorem proof

  • If two legs of a right triangle are 1, then the hypotenuse is \sqrt{2}.
  • Pythagoras was persecuted and eventually killed for his beliefs.

Anaxagoras

  • Hired by Pericles.
  • Idea of Physics: Everything contains all elements, but in varying concentrations.
    • Example: A loaf of bread contains fire, earth, wind, and water, but more earth than fire.
    • Even snow contains black matter.
  • Analogy: Like RGB color selectors red, green, blue, every color is derived from RGB.