Ancient Philosophical Influences Flashcards
(30 cards)
Who was Plato?
A Greek philosopher (428–348 BCE), student of Socrates, founder of the Academy, and writer of dialogues exploring reality, knowledge, and ethics.
What is the Theory of Forms?
Plato’s idea that non-physical Forms (or Ideas) are perfect and eternal, while material objects are imperfect copies.
What is the Form of the Good?
The highest of Plato’s Forms; it illuminates all others and gives them reality and intelligibility.
Plato’s view of the physical world:
The physical world is constantly changing and unreliable – a shadow of the true, perfect Forms.
What is the Allegory of the Cave?
Plato’s analogy for human perception – people live in ignorance, mistaking shadows for reality until they escape to the light of true knowledge.
What does the cave represent?
The visible world and the illusions of sense experience.
What does the sun represent in the allegory?
The Form of the Good – the ultimate source of truth and reality.
Who was Aristotle?
Plato’s student; a Greek philosopher (384–322 BCE) who emphasised empirical observation and logic.
What is Aristotle’s view of reality?
Reality is found in the material world; knowledge comes from sense experience and reason.
What are Aristotle’s Four Causes?
🔹Material – what it’s made of
🔹Formal – its shape/form
🔹Efficient – what brought it about
🔹Final – its purpose (telos)
What is the Final Cause?
The purpose or end of something – what it exists for. Key to understanding nature and ethics.
What is the Prime Mover?
Aristotle’s concept of an eternal, immaterial, unchanging being that causes motion by attraction.
Is the Prime Mover involved in the world?
No – it causes change but is not affected or involved in the world.
What is Plato’s epistemology?
Rationalist – true knowledge (episteme) comes through reason, not the senses.
What is Aristotle’s epistemology?
Empiricist – knowledge comes through observation and experience.
Plato on the soul:
The soul is immortal and knows the Forms from before birth. Learning is recollection.
Aristotle on the soul:
The soul is the ‘form’ of the body – inseparable from it and dies with it.
Key difference: Plato vs Aristotle on reality
Plato: reality = world of Forms
Aristotle: reality = physical world
Plato’s views on the senses
Distrusts them – they mislead us and distract from the truth.
Aristotle’s importance to science:
Developed systematic methods and classification – basis for modern scientific thinking.
Criticism: Plato’s Forms are too vague
What is the Form of ‘mud’ or ‘hair’? Aristotle argued the theory lacks practical value.
Criticism: Plato’s distrust of senses is extreme
Modern science shows senses + reason = knowledge.
Strength of Plato’s thought
Challenges us to consider eternal truths and moral absolutes.
Strength of Aristotle’s thought
Empirical, testable, and foundational for scientific method.
