Metaphysics Flashcards
(24 cards)
What is Ontology?
The study of what is real and the effort to establish a hierarchy of levels of reality.
Includes common sense ontology, scientific ontology, and spiritual ontology.
What are the two branches of Metaphysics?
- Cosmology
- Ontology
What is the definition of Metaphysics?
The attempt to say what reality is; an interpretation of the world.
What are the two tests for determining what is most real?
- What is most real is what all else is dependent upon
- What is most real cannot be created or destroyed
Who were the first Metaphysicians?
The Pre-Socratics
What did Thales believe about reality?
Reality is ultimately water.
What is Heraclitus’ view of reality?
Reality is change, but with an underlying Logos, or logic.
What did Plato synthesize in his philosophy?
Pre-Socratic materialism and immaterialism with his Ideals/Forms.
What are Plato’s two worlds?
- Unseen eternal world
- Seen material world
What is Aristotle’s view of reality?
Substance + Essence coexist in the material world of reality.
What is the Pre-Socratic approach to describing reality?
Pick out one element or set of elements to describe reality (Air, Water, Earth, Fire).
What is Idealism?
The philosophy that what is real is Mind—all else are in the mind.
Who proposed that minds are but one kind of substance?
René Descartes
What is Spinoza’s view of mind and body?
Minds are part of a larger substance; he treated mind and body as separate attributes of one universal substance.
What is George Berkeley’s principle of subjective idealism?
To be is to be perceived—Esse est percipi.
What is Kant’s view on knowledge and experience?
Everything we know must be based upon experience, and our minds impose categories on the world.
What are the two worlds in Kant’s philosophy?
- World of nature and knowledge
- World of actions, morals, and faith
What did Schopenhauer believe about the Will?
The Will is irrational and a violent force creating desires and passions.
What is Hegel’s vision of the cosmos?
A single cosmos with constant internal conflict and an all-embracing Spirit developing itself through history.
What is Teleology?
The view that the world has a goal, a purpose, and is continually developing toward it.
What are the two assumptions underlying Western Philosophy, Science, and Theology?
- What is ultimately real is that which endures throughout change
- Reality is somehow a unity
What was the Ancient Greeks’ view of the universe?
They held a teleological view of the universe/nature, attributing life-like activity to all things.
Fill in the blank: The philosophy that what is real is Mind is known as _______.
[Idealism]
True or False: Aristotle rejected the duality of reality vs. appearance.
False
