history of philosophy Flashcards
According to Descartes, what is:
(a) formal reality?
(b) objective reality?
(a) formal reality is the reality x possesses in virtue of existing.
(b) objective reality is the reality in an idea.
What is plato’s theory of the forms?
for every concepts (such as justice, large) there is a form of that concept. The forms are absolute, immortal, unchanging, and not admitting of their opposites.
All things that are one of the concepts are that way because they participate in the forms. So the form of beauty, for instance, is the means by which all beautiful things are beautiful.
When did Plato start writing the Socratic Dialogues?
Early 4th Century BC
What is Plato’s doctrine of recollection?
Explain by way of maths.
All learning is recollection.
For instance, you know mathematical truths simply by being asked questions (or you can draw them out by asking questions). For Plato, this is because you already know the truths deep down, they just had to be brought to the surface.
According to Plato key concepts (investigated by mathematicians and philosophers) are intelligible but not sensible. Why is that?
Our souls must have acquired knowledge before they entered out bodies (due to Plato’s theory of recollection). Thus, the nature of those concepts must be directly accessible to the soul, unmediated by the bodily senses.
Why does Plato think that there will always be arguments about what is good, beautiful or just?
Plato would not accept the fact/value distinction in this realm. He thinks that there are more quarrels over these concepts then, say, mathematical ones, is because they are extremely difficult to define and understand.
What would Plato think about a fact value distinction?
Plato would reject the distinction. Values are just incredibly difficult facts.
Why does the fact that the objects of knowledge and definition are unchanging mean they must be non-physical?
Because all physical entities are subject to change.
What is the two world thesis, sometimes credited to Plato?
There are two worlds:
(1) The intelligible world, populated by forms.
Inquiry about the forms is an intellectual exercise that requires the minimisation or complete elimination of the use of senses.
(2) The sensible world, populated by sensible particulars.
What is the two world thesis, sometimes credited to Plato?
There are two worlds:
(1) The intelligible world, populated by forms.
Inquiry about the forms is an intellectual exercise that requires the minimisation or complete elimination of the use of senses.
(2) The sensible world, populated by sensible particulars.
Why , according to Plato, is the intelligible world a suitable object for knowledge but not the sensible world?
Because for Plato knowledge is not subject to revision and is permanently true. The intelligible world of the forms is like that. In contrast, the sensible world is constantly changing, filled with half-truths, context dependant , contingent truths.
Are there a posteriori forms?
It seems that Plato wants the nature of forms to be a priori.
Why are there forms that sound empirical like table or man?
It is possible that the forms are the functions, so that the form of man might be the house of a rational soul and it happens to be made with flesh and blood in the sensible world.
According to Aristotle, what is the function of humans?
rational activity
According to Aristotle what is the human good and why?
(1) activity of the soul involving rational virtue
(2) Because the good of a thing depends on what makes it do its function well.
