ASSESSMENT 2

Question 1

Plato

Answer 1

a philosopher known for his two theories: “Allegory of the Cave” and the “Divided Line”, who defined knowledge as “justified true belief”

Question 2

Allegory of the Cave

Answer 2

The story begins with prisoners chained in a cave, perceiving reality through shadows cast by a fire behind them. One prisoner escapes, adjusts to the sunlight, and sees the true world. When he returns to enlighten the others, they reject him and threaten to kill him, unable to understand his reality.

Question 3

Divided Line

Answer 3

a metaphor used to explain how we come to know different levels of knowledge and reality: the sensible world and the intelligible world

Question 4

“Forms”

Answer 4

the unchanging, universal, non-physical essence of what something is beyond our sensory world

Question 5

How are the “Allegory of the Cave” and the “Divided Line” similar?

Answer 5

both the “Allegory of the Cave” and the “Divided Line” have to do with knowledge, specifically what and how we come to know something

Question 6

Aristotle

Answer 6

a pupil of Plato who proposed that all of our ideas are derived from experience

Question 7

formal cause

Answer 7

the form of something (what is it?)

Question 8

material cause

Answer 8

the substance out of which something is made (what is it made of?)

Question 9

efficient cause

Answer 9

the process that brings something into being (who/what made/did it?)

Question 10

final cause

Answer 10

the purpose/end goal for which it exists (what is it for?)

Question 11

potency

Answer 11

the potential for something to be

Question 12

act

Answer 12

the actuality of something or a state of being

Question 13

rationalism

Answer 13

a “modern” philosophical approach that emphasizes reasoning, logic, etc.

Question 14

empiricism

Answer 14

a “modern” philosophical approach that emphasizes experience, sensations, etc.

Question 15

Descartes

Answer 15

a French philosopher who used rationalism to reach certitude

Question 16

methodic doubt

Answer 16

the process of doubting the truth of one’s beliefs to reach certainty

Question 17

“cogito, ego sum”

Answer 17

“I think therefore I am”, meaning the only thing Descartes can be sure exists is himself because in order to think, you must first exist

Question 18

intuition

Answer 18

refers to the practice of thinking about and interpreting ideas

Question 19

deduction

Answer 19

the way in which we move from one clear/distinct ideas to another clear/distinct ideas

Question 20

“God”

Answer 20

an all-powerful/superior being

Question 21

clear

Answer 21

there is no room for doubt

Question 22

distinct

Answer 22

separate from any other idea

Question 23

For a belief to have certitude, it must be what 2 things?

Answer 23

1. clear
2. distinct

Question 24

Using circular reasoning, how did Descartes think we could have certitude about ourselves and the world?

Answer 24

1. “cogito, ergo sum”, I know I exist as a thinking thing because I am aware that I am thinking
2. I am capable of thinking of things, or ideas, and ideas must have causes (in order to cause something, the cause must exist, and causes need as much reality as their effects)
3. Therefore, the idea of “God” must exist/come from outside
4. “God” (a perfect being) would not permit deceptive perceptions of the physical world
5. As a result of his faith in “God”, Descartes can be secure in accepting his own perceptions of the world

Question 25

Hume

Answer 25

a Scottish philosopher who used empiricism to argue that all knowledge comes from experience

Question 26

perception

Answer 26

knowledge made up of impressions and ideas

Question 27

impressions

Answer 27

strong/vivid original thoughts

Question 28

ideas

Answer 28

less vivid copies of impressions

Question 29

"experience" (Hume)

Answer 29

all knowledge gained through our senses, internal feelings, or perceptions

Question 30

Matters of Fact

Answer 30

statements about the world learned through experience

Question 31

What are 3 ways we arrive at "Matters of Fact" statements?

Answer 31

1. resemblance (similar ideas) 2. contiguity (not exactly the same ideas, but related) 3. cause and effect (there is a necessary connection between the ideas, effect cannot exist without the cause)

Question 32

Relations of Ideas

Answer 32

statements known to be true through reason, and do not depend on experience

Question 33

skepticism (Hume)

Answer 33

a philosophical approach that questions the certainty of knowledge because all knowledge comes from experience (uncertain sensory perceptions)

Question 34

"causality" (Hume)

Answer 34

necessary connections between events are based on customs, meaning they can change, or be started/stopped

Question 35

"copernican revolution"

Answer 35

a paradigm shift initiated by Copernicus, proposing that the Earth orbits the Sun, similarly Kant used the term to describe his idea that experience shapes the mind

Question 36

analytic judgment

Answer 36

the predicate is already included in the subject

Question 37

synthetic judgment

Answer 37

the predicate adds something new, not included in the subject

Question 38

a priori

Answer 38

something true before any experience

Question 39

a posteriori

Answer 39

something made true after experience

Question 40

"causality" (Kant)

Answer 40

a condition for understanding any experience/perceiving events

Question 41

experience (Kant)

Answer 41

active process in which the mind pairs sensations and understanding (space, time, causality) to form knowledge

Question 42

phenomena

Answer 42

things we experience through our senses, or how something is presented to us

Question 43

noumena

Answer 43

things themselves that exist beyond our senses