ancient philosophical influences Flashcards
(43 cards)
why is the form of the good necessary for knowledge
- true knowledge only occurs when you know the form of the good beecause you can only know the forms are truly perfect if you know what these are (which the form of the good gives you)
- enables you to see how theyre united together
why does aristotle think the unmoved mover is necessary?
- without it there would be no movement and so without understanding the role it plays in the universe, you cant truly and fully understand all the things in this universe- this is why it is necessary for knowledge
what is the form of the good?
- superior form
- “the highest Form of knowledge is the Form of the Good, from which things that are just and so on derive their usefulness and value”
what is Plato’s theory of the forms?
Plato’s belief that there was a demiurge which created this physical world out of imperfect matter, shaping it into imperfect copies of the forms. The forms are perfect, absolute and universal ideas that have not been created and exist spiritually as ideas. All particular things in this world are modelled on a form, e.g. idea of a horse: in this world we see examples of horses that are all diff but despite this we can identify them as a horse due to their common essence (we know this in the mind). This essence is the Form which exists singularly as an unchanging perfect idea (which unlike all physical horses, does not decay or die…).
The forms exist in the realm of the forms and knowledge is only found here, which is only known rationally when we recall our innate memories of the forms within our mind/soul which used to exist in the realm of the forms until it was trapped in the physical world within our bodies.
what is plato’s dualism?
two realities:
1. intelligible world: world of the forms
2. physical finite world: world of appearance
what is plato’s analogy of the form of the good
the simile of the sun:
- FoG is like the sun bc it is above all creation (above all the forms) and provides light so everything is visible and we can experience them (illuminates all of the other forms in the mind so humans can recall and know them)
what is aristotle’s ontology
- monism and so only one reality, and knowledge is found in this world/reality
what does plato think opinion is
has no being and has no attributes - not real or true
what does plato think about our souls?
- They used to exist in the realm of the forms before getting trapped in this world.
- it is the soul that remembers the forms they experience when they were there
what does aristotle think about this universe?
- all things in this universe are constantly moving to their telos in an orderly manner
- must be a reason why the universe is constantly changing –> must be a final causewhich sustains this movement –> believe in a unmoved mover which he calls God (not religious)–> Aristotle believes full knowledge only occurs when the final cause of the universe is known
- things in the physical universe are attracted by the unmoved mover –> they want to become perfect and this causes them to move towards their telos – therefore the unmoved mover causes other things to move, not deliberately, but just because it is excellent: “it has the capacity of moving something else [but] is itself unmoved”
what does aristotle think about epistemology?
- knowledge is gained if we reason carefully about our repeated experience of this world (a posteriori)- so knowledge is gained via experience as well as through reasoning
- we create a priori knowledge through experiences because we look at our experiences and compare them to remove sensory errors and find out what is knowledge(what is objective and universal)
what did Plato think knowledge is?
Knowledge is timeless, objective, has full being and is perfectly good
what did Plato think belief is?
Has some being and can be improved upon
what did Plato believe the role of philosophy was?
To show what is knowledge- the fundamental truths of reality, which is immutable, universal and objective
what are the 4 causes?
- aristotle argues that through his method of critically analysing our experience, we can find that all things can be explained through the 4 causes
- no matter how much a thing changes it can always be expkained by the 4 causes
- 1st cause: material: what type of matter/substance something is made out of - without this nothing would be
- 2nd cause: formal: the shape of a thing- this gives the matter characteristics so it can gain its telos
- 3rd cause: efficient: motion of action that caused something to be/come into existence- can be a person or natural thing- this is how we use the word cause today
- 4th cause: final: ultimate purpose/function of something (telos)- determines a things characteristics and causes something to move from its curreent state to its potential one (which is good) - all things have this
what are our memories of the forms?
- This is a mental concept which is universal and perfect, and exist as ideas (eidos) and are singular (eg we have one concept of a pen).
- These memories are always what they are perfectly and without qualification (they are immutable), therefore they are the same regardless of who contemplates them.
- they enable us to understand what we experience in this world as we know what something is (ie a pen) because it participates in the form\
- they are known a priori and plato thinks they are innate
simile of the cave
people in chains/tied to walll: ignorant people who accept what other people say and so only have opinions based on illusion (not even belief). they can only see shadows cast by objects held above a fire
shadows on the cave wall: represent opinions and ideas that leaders feed to the masses (second hand info). people holding statues represent the leaders of people who dont know the truth, but do this to maintain their position of power
objects/statues help up over fire: represent particular objects in the world which are copies of the forms and we thinka re true but are actually belief/opinion rather than knowledge
prisoner who is forced to leave: represents philosopher trying to recollect the forms
physical objects outside the cave: the different forms
the sun: the form of the good
how does the form of the good relate to the other forms
- form of the good sustains and exists in all the other forms as they perfectly are what they are which means they are good
- form of the good links all the forms together so they don’t exist as isolated essences or ideas:
“The good…[is] the source not only of the intelligibility of the objects of knowledge, but also of their being and reality”
How does Plato think we can fully remember the forms
- You need to go to the academy where you can develop the truly rationalist approach that he advocates.
- enables a person to go beyond the world of the senses and recall the innate forms
heirarchy of the forms
- form of the good is superior
- the more abstract (i.e. beauty) the more important
- less important forms are the more physical ones
evaluation of plato:
+ we do have universal objective ideas known via reason
- problems w/ his understanding of these objective universal ideas
+ knowledge can be known a priori and innate
- knowledge can come from the senses
+ removes relativism
- he cannot prove his standard of morality is objective
+ support from other rationalists
+ support from religion for his dualism
- forms are not innate but acquired by experience
- he derives his epistemology from his ontology
- problem’s with plato’s understanding of these objective universal ideas
evaluation of Aristotle:
+ his causes are still used today
- problems with his 4 causes
+ many agree with his empiricism
- some reject his empiricism
+ many agree with his monism
- not everyone will agree with his monism
+ universe is rational and has a telos as well as things within this
- universe is not rational and doesnt have a telos and nor do things within it
+ people agree that things on this earth (including humans) have a purpose
- no such thing as individual purposes or things
+ of plato:
we do have universal objective ideas known via reason
- most agree we have universal ideas/concepts in our minds that are objective and used to understand/explain our experience
- Kant: argued that the categories which we organise experience into are mental and objective to humans being part of the phenomena
-ve of plato: problems with plato’s understanding of these objective universal ideas
- lack of clarity: doesn’t specify what does and doesn’t have a form–> e.g. does dirt or jealousy have a Form? what about elements, like atoms? - this is supported by Russell who thinks this is a “bottomless pit of nonesense”
- Wittgenstein argues Forms do not have one fixed meaning. For example, ‘game’ has many meanings such as something that involves teams, bats and balls… A singular definition would leave some of these meanings out so it is not possible to create a Form for game. therefore words do not have one singualr meaning
- problem with the relationship between the form and physical objects which ‘participate in’ this –> Plato suggests the form is like a blueprint which physical things somehow resemble them- but Aristotle criticises this with his argument of a third man. If a particular physical thing and a form are similar because they resemble each other, then there must be a third form showing how the new form and original form and physical thing resemble each other- and then another form representing this and so on, for an infinite regress of resemblances whick make it meaningless.
