Philosophy Test - Metaphysics (Smaller) Flashcards
Hesiod:
Greek poet around 800 BCE - around the same time as Homer (Illiad and the Odyssey)
Considered one of the greatest myth-creators in the Ancient World
He is considered to be the conservative, orthodox version of Greek religion - the gods are all around, and they are not good.
Man’s lot in life is to work and suffer, and never understand why. All natural events are because of the gods, and the gods don’t like you. The gods have all the WORST human character traits….PLUS superhuman powers.
What is Metaphysics? What type of topics are discussed in Metaphysics?
Metaphysics is the study of the basic structure of reality.
Topics include:
Being and Nothingness
Time
Freedom and Determinism
Mind and Body
Personhood
Nature and Supreme Beings
Thales:
Born in Miletus around 625. Not very satisfied with the traditional explanation of existence.
Wondered if the universe and everything in it was created of a substance - that you came from, and eventually went back to upon death. Think ‘ashes to ashes’ sort of thing.
He believes that it may be water - as all things need water to live, and even in the driest seeds there is a drop of water that allows the seed to survive. Without water everything dies - perhaps water is the essential ‘thing’ in the universe
Anaximander
Born in 611 BCE
Humans could not have always looked like this - we are defenseless in a natural state and our young require YEARS to live on their own. The ‘first human’ would have been eaten immediately. Early creatures probably all emerged from the water.
The infinite (apeiron) is like god. It is the force of the universe that didn’t have a beginning - its always been there. The divine is deathless.
The earth is suspended aloft on air, and rotates around.
Anaximenes
Born in 585 BCE
Air is the fundamental substance of existence. When it changes, it becomes different things - it can be fire, or water, or steam.
Stars are actually small pieces of fire, very far away. When they change form, they become dilated and rise up into the sky.
Heavy rains and dry spells cause earthquakes, and can damage communities.
Xenophanes
Born 570
The stories of the gods are useless, made-up concepts. People make up the gods that represent them. African gods look African. Greek gods look Greek.
If they were really gods, they would not look or act like us at all. As they cannot die, they could not be made of human bodies. As they are not affected by time, they cannot be made of stuff from Earth.
No one knows the truth. And even if we stumble upon the truth, other people will argue against it.
Why Study these People?
The importance is not in WHAT they thought, but what changes were happening to human thought around this time.
They believed that there was a unity to all things, and that supernatural explanations should be abandoned if we wish to find truth.
They saw existence as orderly, and that order could be understood through a process of rational inquiry.
They set the conditions for philosophy and science to flourish.
Around this time…
(Pre-Soc)
Greece was rocky, divided and surrounded by water. There are thousands of islands. There are mountains and naturals barriers everywhere. Food was difficult to grow in major quantities. Resources are not plentiful.
Ancient Greece is divided politically. The people rarely unite together. Because resources are scarce everyone is seen as competition. Fighting is common. Warfare or the threat of warfare is endemic. Natural disasters can wipe out your home, or your whole village - tidal waves, storms, volcanoes - all occur there.
Everyone is trying to explain this natural evil through God but they took on more of a scientific approach
Plato - World of Forms vs Material World - why did he come up with this idea?
This is why he came up with it
One day, Plato had two problems floating around his mind………
1) How can humans live a fulfilling, happy life in a contingent, changing world where everything they attach themselves to can be taken away?
2) How can the world appear to be both permanent and changing?
The world we perceive through the senses seems to be always changing. The world that we perceive through the mind, using our concepts, seems to be permanent and unchanging. Which is most real and why does it appear both ways?
As a solution to his problems, Plato splits existence into two realms: the material realm and the transcendent realm of forms.
What is a form? Why did he believe in an actual “WORLD” of forms? (circles)
A form is like a perfect, idealistic quality.
Ie. Roundness
They are pure and do not actually exist in any space or time, there may be objects that embody many forms, but a form does not exist on its own
Plato believed in an actual world of forms because of our minds
Humans have access to the world of forms through the mind, through reason. This gives them access to an unchanging world, invulnerable to the pains and changes of the material world.
We should hold on to the material world less, and focus more on the forms.
The second realm is the immaterial world of forms (ideals)
Every human has access to the world of forms through introspection.
How can this idea be applied in various contexts?
(forms)
yourself
basktball
Think of yourself. You know your name, and who you are, and you believe yourself to be the same person as you were years ago.
This, however, is untrue. According to a Stanford Study, you have roughly 37 trillion cells in your body, and they will be replaced within 10 years on average.
Although your cells are constantly dying and being replaced, and you are NOT the same physical person, the IDEA of you survives.
A material object, a basketball, exists at a particular place at a particular time. A form, roundness, does not exist at any place or time.
The forms are also pure. This means that they are pure properties separated from all other properties. A material object, such as a basketball, has many properties: roundness, orange, elasticity, etc. These are all put together to make up this individual basketball.
Aristotle - How he differs from Plato
Why didn’t he like Plato’s ideas?
Because they are fantasy - there is not an actual separate world
Socrates had two major problems with this
The Problem of Christmas
Chorismos is Greek for separation.
In Plato’s metaphysics, there is too much of a separation between the Forms and sensible objects for the Forms to be the sources of material objects.
Plato’s attempts at explaining the relationship between the Forms and sensible objects are merely “empty words and poetical metaphors.”
The Problem of Change
Plato maintained that there is change in the World of Becoming (material world)
Plato, however, did NOT explain how this change occurs.
Why should there be change in the World of Becoming anyway, since it’s supposed to be a copy of the changeless World of Being?
How is Aristotle much more scientific than Plato?
He kept everything within one solo world that used material and forms but combined them with substances
He was able to explain substantial change (ie. a tree becoming a table or a chair’s wood becoming a table but everything still being the same material)
Plato maintained that the Forms are transcendent realities.
Aristotle maintained that form is within particular substances.
Stuffed animal analogy -
Matter is like the stuffing.
Form is like the outer skin.
He believed that Matter and form are distinct but indivisible.
Neither pure form nor pure matter exists. They exist only united to one another in particular substances.
E. g. ‘tableness’ does NOT exist apart from particular tables in some fantastic World of Being. Tableness exists only in particular tables.
While they are indivisible, matter and form are distinct because, if they were not, substantial change would be impossible.
Every object is made of something and it’s shape and properties are it’s form
Natural vs Revealed Theology - know the difference
Natural Theology
Arguments for the existence of God from reason and evidence
Using some sort of logic - all of the following are natural
Revealed Theology
Not philosophy
Not really arguable
“Jesus showed up in my mirror and told me to sell licorice”
Like “it came to me in a dream”
Three Arguments for God
Ontological - god would be the greatest to exist, something to exist is better than something that doesn’t, if god didn’t exist you could think of something greater, he exists
Counter - vague and undefined, semantics argument
Teleological - everything needs a designer for its design and order, that designer is god
Counter: some people believe that order does not need a creator
Cosmological: everything has a cause, the first cause was god
Counter: then who caused god?
Ontological
God would be the greatest being imaginable.
God is Possible
Since he is the greatest being, him being real is superior to him not being real
Therefore, he must be real
Something that exists in reality is superior to something that exists in fantasy.
If God didn’t exist, you could imagine something superior (A GOD THAT DOES EXIST)
Therefore to fulfill the 1st statement, God must exist.
Counter: Not really much of a counter, could be argued that this is just a semantics argument and the concepts of “greatest imaginable” and “god” and “exist” and “not exist” are too vague.
Teleological
Imagine a little machine thing on the floor of a forest.
You would assume purpose and a creator.
Things that exhibit a design, have a designer.
The designer of the universe and the world would be called “God”
William Paley - watchmaker analogy.
Counter: Can “order” arise without a creator? Those who disagree say yes.
Cosmological
All events have causes - those causes have causes - those causes have causes …
Either we accept an infinite casual chain or one event/thing that started all the causes. (that start would be called “God” as the “Unmoved Mover”, the one who made it all start.)
Counter: What caused God then? God does not explain the universe because nothing explains god.
Pascal’s Wager - Why should people believe in God, according to Pascal?
You have 2 choices
Believe
You’re right: Heaven :)
You’re wrong: Just dead
Don’t Believe
You’re right: Just dead
You’re wrong: Eternal damnation :(
Catholic church threatens to excommunicate him for this “Solution”.
Pascal’s wager isn’t based on faith or belief, but rather just fear of eternal damnation.
Counter: There are various religions to choose to believe, which one do you choose?
The OOG God and why its a problem for religion
In Monotheistic religions… God is OOG
Omnipotent (all-powerful, capable of anything they wish)
Omniscient (all-knowing)
Omnibenevolent (entirely, 100% good)
BUT… EVIL EXISTS
Not just moral evil, but natural evil. Certainly people kill each other or rob each other. People sometimes choose bad actions. But a volcano can wipe out whole cities, and a tsunami can wipe out thousands in mere moments.
So if God is all knowing, all powerful and all good, where did EVIL come from?
Natural vs moral evil - What is the difference?
Natural Evil - tsunamis, earthquakes, death, disease. A child is born with a genetic abnormality, lives for hours in constant pain and then dies, leaving a grieving family in turmoil with mental health issues or substance abuse or a destroyed life. No one CHOSE this, they just happen.
Moral Evil - Murder, assault, war, rape, kidnapping. A racist leader begins an international conflict, directly killing millions and indirectly destroying the lives of millions more. A serial killer kills someone. Someone steals. It was based on a choice; a moral failing.
Theodicy - explanations of evil - Soul-Making and Free Will Defense
Free Will Defence
This argument suggests that moral evil, such as human actions like murder or theft, arises from the existence of free will. God, in His omnibenevolence, granted humans the gift of free will to choose between good and evil, These, evil actions are the result of humans misusing their free will rather than a direct act of God.
Soul-Making Theodicy
This argument suggests that the presence of suffering and evil in the world serves a greater purpose in the development and refinement of human souls. Through facing and overcoming challenges, individuals grow in moral and spiritual maturity, ultimately leading to a deeper relationship with god.
Upanishads - what is ultimate reality?
– the universe is one thing
– the Universe is only one reality, which we can call God or Brahman if we want
- written 800-500BCE
- the oldest Hindu scriptures that exist
We will eventually wake from this world, and we will be in a higher reality
We will look back at this life, as if it was a dream – just like a dream, this world only seems real because we are still in it
Taoism - the way - Lao Tzu - live within the Tao
Taoism – the Tao or the Way – a universal force that governs all things - that isn’t close to a complete definition
500 BCE (ish) by Lao Tzu
You must attempt to live in tune with the Tao – to constantly change, not feel attachment to things, and not be overcome by desires
Human beings can never grasp ultimate reality.
Buddhism - existence is suffering - better understanding of what is important (4 noble truths) leads to less suffering
encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices based on the teachings of Siddhartha Guatama - aka Buddha
all life is suffering, which can be limited by controlling our cravings and desires
around 500 BCE
We suffer because we are attached to our things, our past, ourselves as individuals
You are just an illusion = anatta.
You are constantly changing, and impermanent.
“You are what the universe is doing right now, just like a wave is what the ocean is doing right now”
He’s suggesting that your existence is not separate from the unfolding of the cosmos. Just like a wave is not separate from the ocean but rather an expression of its movement and energy, you are an expression of the universe’s ongoing activity.
EASTERN VERSUS WESTERN
Eastern
Man is part of Cosmic unity.
Life is a journey towards eternal reality.
Existence is cyclical.
Inner-world dependent.
Self-liberation from the false “Me”
Western
Man is an element of the divine.
Life is for service, to knowledge, to God, to other people.
Existence is linear – moving in a straight line towards an end.
Outer-world dependent.
Self-dedication to the goal – heaven, knowledge.
Existence Precedes Essence
Existentialism is a set of philosophical ideals that emphasize the existence of the human being, the lack of meaning and purpose in life, and the solitude of human existence… “Existence precedes essence” implies that the human being has no essence (no essential self).
Anxiety
Anxiety stems from our understanding and recognition of the total freedom of choice that confronts us every moment, and the individual’s confrontation with nothingness.
Despair
Dread is a feeling of general apprehension. Kierkegaard interpreted it as God’s way of calling each individual to make a commitment to a personally valid way of life.
Alienation
From all other humans
From human institutions
From the past
From the future
We only exist right now, right here.
Absurdity
The belief is that nothing can explain or rationalize human existence.
There is no answer to “Why am I existing?”
Humans exist in a meaningless, irrational universe and any search for order will bring them into direct conflict with this universe. (closely related to Nihilism - which says nothing matters at all)
Some Famous Existentialists
Some Famous Existentialists
Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
Albert Camus (1913-1960)
AND Simone DeBeavoir
