ANCIENT GREEK INFLUENCES Flashcards
(15 cards)
Critically evaluate Plato’s rationalism
Rationalism good because we need a priori knowledge ot access the forms
Aristotle – we get our ideas from abstraction – so the forms do not exist and rationalism is unnecessary
Whatever reply to this we’ve done in class!
Rationalism good because it gives us knowledge of the forms.
Aristotle and efficient causation – Plato’s rationalism has absurd consequences as it leaves us unable to explain the sensible world in front of us.
Plato can still explain the existence of the sensible world in front of us through the demiurge – so Plato’s rationalism is still true.
Critically evaluate the allegory of the cave.
Cave allegory good because it suggests that there exists a world beyond ours – true because of recollection and the existence of the forms
Aristotle – we get our ideas from abstraction – so the forms do not exist – so cave allegory is inaccurate in suggesting that something exists beyond our world.
Whatever reply to this we’ve done in class!
Cave allegory is good because it suggests that our world is not fully real – which is true because the forms are more real.
Aristotle and efficient causation – Plato’s view that the world is just a set of copies has absurd consequences as it leaves us unable to explain the world in front of us.
Demiurge
Critically evaluate the form of the good
The form of the good exists because we have the idea of perfection
recollection
We don’t need the form of the good to get the idea of ‘good’ – we can abstract this from our experience of good things.
Abstraction might get us the idea of ‘good’, but it does not get us the idea of perfection.
The form of the good is more real than the other forms and the rest of reality
Hierarchy of forms
Cave analogy
The form of the good fails to explain how good particulars come to be – we are given no efficient cause of these good particulars. Hence, Plato’s theory is incomplete.
The form of the good isn’t supposed to explain the efficient cause of particulars
General Aristotle essay plan
Content to include:
Four causes
Dawkins – no telos
Philippa Foot.
Content to include:
Prime mover
Hume and underdetermination – how do I know it’s the prime mover?
The ultimate cause of all change must be:
Unmoved
Move everything by attraction
The final cause
Hence it must be the prime mover
Iif it doesn’t move by attraction, it can’t be the first cause of all change
Critically evaluate the four causes
Content to include:
Four causes
Hume on causation – causation is unreal
Leibniz – no causation means no explanation.
Yes, the four causes are good because they help us understand the ultimate cause of change as the efficient and also the final cause of all reality
Dawkins – the idea of telos is obsolete, so the unmoved mover cannot be the final cause.
Philippa Foot.
Critically evaluate the prime mover
Existence of prime mover.
Hume and underdetermination
Why could it not be a team of unmoved movers?
Ockham’s razor.
Prime mover is the final cause, or telos, of all reality
Hume on causation – causation is unreal
Leibniz – no causation means no explanation.
Critically evaluate Plato’s rationalism
Rationalism good because we need a priori knowledge ot access the forms
Aristotle – we get our ideas from abstraction – so the forms do not exist and rationalism is unnecessary
Whatever reply to this we’ve done in class!
Rationalism good because it gives us knowledge of the forms.
Aristotle and efficient causation – Plato’s rationalism has absurd consequences as it leaves us unable to explain the sensible world in front of us.
Plato can still explain the existence of the sensible world in front of us through the demiurge – so Plato’s rationalism is still true.
Critically evaluate the allegory of the cave.
Cave allegory good because it suggests that there exists a world beyond ours – true because of recollection and the existence of the forms
Aristotle – we get our ideas from abstraction – so the forms do not exist – so cave allegory is inaccurate in suggesting that something exists beyond our world.
Whatever reply to this we’ve done in class!
Cave allegory is good because it suggests that our world is not fully real – which is true because the forms are more real.
Aristotle and efficient causation – Plato’s view that the world is just a set of copies has absurd consequences as it leaves us unable to explain the world in front of us.
Demiurge
Critically evaluate the form of the good
The form of the good exists because we have the idea of perfection
recollection
We don’t need the form of the good to get the idea of ‘good’ – we can abstract this from our experience of good things.
Abstraction might get us the idea of ‘good’, but it does not get us the idea of perfection.
The form of the good is more real than the other forms and the rest of reality
Hierarchy of forms
Cave analogy
The form of the good fails to explain how good particulars come to be – we are given no efficient cause of these good particulars. Hence, Plato’s theory is incomplete.
The form of the good isn’t supposed to explain the efficient cause of particulars
Critically evaluate the four causes
Content to include:
Four causes
Hume on causation – causation is unreal
Leibniz – no causation means no explanation.
Yes, the four causes are good because they help us understand the ultimate cause of change as the efficient and also the final cause of all reality
Dawkins – the idea of telos is obsolete, so the unmoved mover cannot be the final cause.
Philippa Foot.
Critically evaluate the prime mover
Existence of prime mover.
Hume and underdetermination
Why could it not be a team of unmoved movers?
Ockham’s razor.
Prime mover is the final cause, or telos, of all reality
Hume on causation – causation is unreal
Leibniz – no causation means no explanation.
Critically compare Plato’s rationalism and Aristotle’s empiricism
Plato’s rationalism is better than Aristotle’s empiricism because rationalism gives us knowledge of ideas like perfect equality, which empiricism doesn’t.
Aristotle – we get our ideas from abstraction – so the forms do not exist and rationalism is unnecessary.
Whatever reply to this we’ve done in class!
Rationalism good because it gives us knowledge of the forms.
Aristotle and efficient causation – Plato’s rationalism has absurd consequences as it leaves us unable to explain the sensible world in front of us.
Plato can still explain the existence of the sensible world in front of us through the demiurge – so Plato’s rationalism is still true.
Critically evaluate form of the good and the unmoved mover
Unmoved mover is better because it is needed as an explanation for kinesis, which is empirically observable – unlike the form of the good, that is based on apriori knowledge.
Underdetermination of theory by evidence – why does the first cause have to be the unmoved mover, why not the form of the good
First cause has to be the prime mover because the first cause has to move by attraction and be the final cause, and this is just the description of the unmoved mover.
Unmoved mover is better because it’s the efficient cause. Whereas the form of the good is not the efficient cause of particulars.
The form of the good is not supposed to be the efficient cause. The demiurge is. So saying that it’s not the efficient cause is not an issue and does not make the unmoved mover better.
The demiurge is basically very similar to the prime mover – a being that takes matter and causes it to change. Therefore, the prime mover is better.
OR
The demiurge is ad hoc, so it does not fix the problem with the form of the good (that it is not an efficient cause). Better to just use the prime mover in the first place.
Aristotle own example
a coin or wheel we see a very good near perfect circle
Aristotle four causes arg
The human soul is the thing that makes us human. (formal cause)
If so, then it is a set of capacities that help us achieve our telos
So: The human soul is a set of capacities that help us achieve our telos.
