Examined Life – Flashcards
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Philosophy
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theoretical inquiry which poses and attempts to answer certain basic and universal questions of existance
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basic questions
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issues fundamental to all human thought and action
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universal questions
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pertain to human existence as they raise issues of ultimate concern for the conduct of our lives
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Question of Being
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metaphysics answers this question
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Ontology
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part of metaphysics that deals with characteristics of reality in general
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Monistic onotology
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maintains that reality is constituted by one single process or kind of thing (either matter or spirit)
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Dualistic Ontology
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reality is made up of both matter and spirit
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Pluralistic ontology
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reality is composed of many different kinds of things or processes
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Philosophical Theology
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branch of metaphysics that ponders the question of what is ultimately or absolutely real
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Former
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branch of metaphysics (under Philosophical Theology) treats the question of the existence of God as an open question to be answered by whatever evidence is available
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Latter
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branch of metaphysics (under Philosophical Theology) that assumes God can be known in certain traditional religions and is an authoritative revelation
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atheism
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God does not exist and this fact can be almost certainly known
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agnoticism
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there may or may not be a God, rational evidence isn't enough to answer the philosophical question
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polytheism
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belief in many gods
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pantheism
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God is either the sum total of all things or, alternatively, a benevolent power within the universe
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deism
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there exists a God who is the First Cause of the universe, but he isn't active in the world he created
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theism
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there is a God who is the creator, sustainer and the end of all things, he is concerned with cosmic and human history
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Philosophical anthropology
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fundamental branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and destiny of the human person (Question of Human Nature)
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Anthropological Monism
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maintains that the human person is fundamentally one kind of thing or process (wholly material or wholly spiritual)
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Anthropological Dualism
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human person embraces two distinct levels of reality, spiritual and material (mind and body)
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Question of Value
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one of the questions of human nature that answers what makes life worth living and striving for individually and socially
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Ethics
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answering the question of intrinsic value (under the Question of Value)
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Relativism
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there are no objective standards of moral value or obligation
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Absolutism
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there are objectively valid, and universally applicable standards of moral value and obligation
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Denotological ethics
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ethic theories determine the rightness or wrongness of human character by appealing to universal rules
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Teleological ethics
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defines the rightness or wrongness of human conduct by appealing to certain ends, goals or consequences
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Politics
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philosophy that is concerned with the question of what constitutes "the good" for larger human communities such as societies and states
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Utopian political theories
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seeks to determine the factors that make a perfectly just state and then judge past societies by them
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pragmatic political theories
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define a just state in terms of what succeeds in actual practice in establishing social harmony and promoting individual happiness
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natural law political theories
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attempt to evaluate actual political and social arrangements by appeal to universally valid principles of justice and goodness which are founded upon human nature
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natural right political theories
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evaluate actual political and social arrangements by showing how far they protect the basic rights of every individual
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Aesthetics
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(under the question of value) branch of value-theory dealing with beauty and art
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Question of Human Knowledge
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epistemology
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Epistemology
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branch of philosophy concerned with the question of human knowledge
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Subjectivism
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all claims to know are nothing more than expression of an individual's subjective needs, desires and perspectives (objective knowledge is impossible)
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Realism
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objective knowledge must be possible because everything else would be meaningless (the skeptical position is self-refuting)
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Empiricism
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true knowledge is a result of experience
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Rationalism
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knowledge requires universality, necessity and certainty
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Question of method
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Methedology
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Logic
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The system of principles of reasoning used to reach valid conclusions or make inferences
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Hermaneutics
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seeks to establish sound methods of textual interpretation
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Linguistic Analysis
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seeks to establish criteria of meaningful discourse
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Philosophical Systems
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shows how the resolution of one question has implications for the resolution of others
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Consistency
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in the philosophical system, this aspect encounters the fewest contradictions
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Coherence
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in the philosophical system the most plausible world-views are those in which basic beliefs "fit together" harmoniously
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Correspondence
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in the philosophical system the most plausible world-views are those whose theories do not violate, but rather illuminate, the total sum of human experience as it is concretely lived
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process of academic theorizing
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observation--> reflection--> insight --> interpretation--> verification (one must formulate and then verify)
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theory
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this is a reasoned explanation or interpretation of a broad range of phenomena which permits testing by methods established
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Euthyphro
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Plato's answer to Meltus' question "What is piety?"
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Meno
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Plato's answer to the question "Can virtue be taught?"
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Eristic Dilemma
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If we are ignorant, how can we begin the search? But if we have prior knowledge, why do we need to search? -Meno
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episteme
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wisdom and true knowledge
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doxa
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opinion
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arete
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virtue
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four cardinal virtues
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wisdom, courage, justice, temperance/moderation
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Phaedo
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Plato's response to being told to run away before being killed
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Cosmology
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branch of metaphysics that dealt with the question of origin, nature, and destiny of the physical universe
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469-399 BC
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Socrates
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Sophists
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wise men who offered their services as counselors and political strategies for a fee, key to human happiness was indulging themselves
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Epistemological skepticism
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theory that knowledge of objective truth is unattainable by human minds because we are too subjective to our own needs
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Ethical Relativism
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each group or person measures what is right and wrong
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political pragmatism
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politics is defined by "expediency", by works rather than by what is intrinsically just
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Divine Commission
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this is why Socrates believes it is his duty to teach and raise important questions
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wider class
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genus
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specific class
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species
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impasse
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aporia
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Socratic Method
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way of teaching developed by Socrates that used a question-and-answer format to force students to use their reason to see things for themselves
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Socratic Ethic
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based on the idea that people want good things, and therefore will act according to what they think is good. People do wrong things because they don't fully know what is good ("to know the good is to do the good.") ("know yourself")
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eudaimonism
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value-theory
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hedonism
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an ethical system that evaluates the pursuit of pleasure as the highest good
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Ring of gyges
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=ring of power= A ring that cam make the wearer invisible, therefore good ppl can commit bad actions without being caught
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pain, pleasure
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Sophists believe that ______ is evil and _____ is good
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ignorance, knowledge
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Plato believes that _____ is evil and _____ is good
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education
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"led out from the cave of intellectual darkness into the true light of knowledge" -Plato describing ______
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Three faculties of the soul
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(Plato) the intellect, the "spirited" element, apetite
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the intellect
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constitutes our capacity for aprehending Eternal Truth
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eternal truth
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world of forms
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"spirited" element
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tymos, the faculty of the human soul which effects action and disciplines desire
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appetite
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(plato) desire and feeling, purely physiological processes of the body unless under control by the higher facilities
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educated guardians
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highest class in Plato's "Republic", the people Plato sees as the perfectly wise ruler of the Ideal State that has attained perfect knowledge of the "form of the good"
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military guardians
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second class in Plato's "Republic", provides the Ideal State with its means of self-discipline corresponding to the "spirited element" in the individual soul
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artisans
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lowest class in Plato's "Republic", corresponding to the appetitive function in the individual soul
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Plato's Metaphysical Theory
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True knowledge does not come from a sense-experience but from reason alone
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Metaphysical Dualism
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Plato's solution to the appearance and reality
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Intelligible World
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beyond space, time and matter in which there is no change, no motion, no imperfection- accounts for how knowledge of eternal truth is possible
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Sensible world
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physical universe, shadow on Plato's "allegory of the cave", imperfect and pale reflection of the intelligible world
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Metaphysical Dualism
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intelligible world and the sensible world (plato's idea)
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394-322 BC
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Aristotle
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Plato
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Aristotle's teacher
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Three branches of intellectual inquiry
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Aristotle divides the domain of human knowledge into ____ _____ __ ______ _______
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Theoretical inquiry
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Theoria, universal truths simply for the sake of contemplating them, not for their practical applications
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Theoria
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Theoretical Inquiry
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Praxis
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Practical Inquiry
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Practical Inquiry
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Praxis, pursues knowledge for the sake of responsible action, politics and ethics
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Techne
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Productive Inquiry
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Productive Inquiry
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pursues knowledge for the sake of being able to make, build or manufacture something
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Empirical Starting-Point
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Aristotle, inquiry begins with observation in order to discover universal and eternal principles that explain the world of our experience
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Aristotle's Metaphysics
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"first philosophy" answers "What is being?" and "What are the first principles (universal laws) which govern all that is?"
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substance
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actual entities, things and objects- Aristotle's Metaphysics
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attributes
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properties, characteristics- Aristotle's Metaphysics
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essential
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those characteristic features of a thing which define what it is, such as a human being's "rationality"- Aristotle's Metaphysics
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accidental
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those particular features of a thing which are incidental to its nature, which as a human being's date of birth, nationality, race, height, weight, temperament, etc- Aristotle's Metaphysics
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Essence
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Aristotle's Metaphysics, characteristic which sets this species apart in the genus
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Four Causes
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material, formal, efficient, final
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causes
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aitia
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Material Cause
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what the substance is made of
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Formal Cause
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refers to it's definable nature, what is the fullness of its being
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Efficient Cause
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conditions which produced that substance or event (for a human it would be conception)
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Final Cause
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actualization of a substance or things form or nature, the end goal or purpose
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unmoved mover
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Aristotle's first reason for the reason God exists (_____ ______)
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Pure Actuality
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Aristotle's reasons for God- it must have no unrealized potential
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Pure form
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Aristotle's reasons for God-matter is the principle of potentiality, immaterial, outside of time and space
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Pure intelligence
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Aristotle's reasons for God- it has every positive attribute to the highest degree, absolute mind
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Final cause of Everything in the world
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Aristotle's reasons for God- it produces all change in the world, and everything strives to be like it
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Unmoved Mover is neither creator or redeemer of the world
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Aristotle's final reason for God- ultimate "attractive" force that moves all things, but not the "first" cause, cannot interact with the world
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Irrational Element
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Part of Aristotle's Psychology- aspect of human life-principle accounts for the several functions we have in common with lower biological species, composed of the vegetative and sensitive function of the human soul
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Vegetative function
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Part of Aristotle's Irrational Element- soul is responsible for the processes of growth, nutrition and reproduction
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Sensitive function
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Part of Aristotle's Irrational Element- soul is responsible for the processes of sensation, locomotion and desire
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Rational Element
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aspect of the human life-principle accounts for those functions which are unique to our species, composed of the theoretical and practical intellect
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Theoretical intellect
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Aristotle's Rational Element- responsible for grasping universal truths by reflecting on sense experience, and for the process of "abstraction" involved in concept-formation
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Practical intellect
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Aristotle's Rational Element- responsible for applying rational principles to conduct to discern ends or purposes worth pursuing and realizing those ends
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conversion of Constantine
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313 AD, this established Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire
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Council of Nicea
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ecumenical council brought together in 325 AD to deliberate upon the doctrine of the Trinity
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modalists
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claimed that the three Divine Persons were merely three roles played in the history of revelation by the One God- no trinity
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Nicene Creed
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Council of Nicea consolidated Christian doctrine in 325
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New View of God
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there is a personal God
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new source and criterion of truth
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Jesus=truth
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New Psychology of Knowledge
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faith does not equal reason, seemed like a reversion to sophism but it was true faith to Christians
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New View of the Universe
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Christians believed that the universe had a beginning and an end determined by God ex nihilo
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New View of Human History
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human history is a "static cycles", divinely-initiated events have irrevocable impact upon everything which follows
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New View of Human Nature
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we are created in the image of God and called to supernatural destiny, heir to the corrupting effects of original sin
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New Solution to the Human Predicament
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we are unable to achieve holiness or please God without Divine assistance
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New Life of the Afterlife
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resurrection of the entire person according to the Christians
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North Africa
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Augustine was from ___ ____
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Manicheanism
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founded by Mani, theological dualism, two equal and opposite Gods at war in the universe
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metaphysics
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the search for true knowledge of reality
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Augustine Proving God
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argument from experience, desire, the epistemological argument and the ontological argument
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desire
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something must exist beyond this world in which perfect happiness is found (Augustine's argument for God)
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Epitemological argument
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eternal truths must have their source in an Eternal Intelligence (Augustine's argument for God)
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Ontological argument
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If we think it, it must exist- if we can think of every perfect attribute there must be something that holds these perfect attributes (Augustine's argument for God)
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affirmative way
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God possesses all positive attributes to the highest degree (Augustine's nature of God)
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negative way
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God cannot possess any attribute that is incompatible with all positive attributes (Augustine's nature of God)
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exemplary cause of creation
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there cannot be absolute thoughts without an absolute thinker
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tri-personal
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God is not simply and Absolute Being nor yet simply and Personal Truth. God is __-_____.
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ex nihilo
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out of nothing
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principle of plentitude
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God created order (Augustine's idea about God concerning the Created World)
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Problem of Evil
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Augustine says this is the result of voluntary rebellion of God's intelligent creatures
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beatific vision
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the state in which our love for and knowledge of God is perfected in everlasting communion with Him
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intellectualism
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the theory that the intellect is the human person's central and controlling function
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3 effects of the fall
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physical, moral and noetic
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noetic effects
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it is the distortion of our intellects so that it becomes impossible for us, apart from God's Revelation, to know all of those truths which pertain to our salvation
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seven virtues
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humility, stewardship, admiration, reconciliation, contemplation, charity and moderation
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seven deadly sins
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prde, greed, envy, sloth, anger, lust, gluttony
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grace
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divine assistance
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prevenient grace
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that Divine assistance which "comes before" conversion
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Sanctifying grace
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purification of our wills and restoration of our minds
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Three stages of knowing process
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sensation, scientia and sapentia
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sensation
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true knowledge is the first stage in the knowing process
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Scientia
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question, second stage in the knowing process, when the mind judges the world in the light of eternal, universal and necessary truths
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Sapientia
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"wisdom", final stage of the process of knowing, involves the contemplation of eternal truth without reference to worldly things or sense-experience
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Illumination
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without a special Divine empowerment we cannot know truths
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natural truths
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these are acknowledged on the basis of the sufficiency of the evidence for them
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supernatural truth
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these are acknowledged on the basis of faith in Divine Authority
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belief, trust
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"What is "faith"?" according to Augustine (____ and ____)
