PLATO AND ARISTOTLE Flashcards
1
Q
What is Plato’s understanding of reality?
A
- Plato is a rationalist
- Believed true knowledge could be gained through reason
2
Q
Why did Plato develop rationalism?
A
- Sense experience fails to provide us with any guarantee that what we experience is actually true
- Sense info and the world are constantly changing and so are unreliable
3
Q
Strengths of Plato’s Rationalism (2)
A
- Doesnt rely on flawed senses in an ever changing world
- Universal and eternal: helpful for everyone when senses fail
4
Q
Weaknesses of Plato’s Rationalism (2)
A
- Relies completely on a person’s reason when people can stray from reality
- Rationalistic ideas are of no use in the real world without empiricism
5
Q
Dawkins’ critcism of Plato’s rationalism
A
- Nonsense to talk of a transcendent other world when we can gain knowledge by testing and studying the physical world we inhabit
6
Q
In what book is Plato’s Allegory of the Cave found?
A
Republic (c.380BC)
7
Q
Allegory of The Cave
A
- Group of Prisoners locked in a cave- can only see shadows being cast on the wall in front of them from a fire behind them
- These shadows are, for them, their true and only reality
- One prisoner is set free and forced outside- the journey described as steep and rough into the sunlight which is firstly painful but he gradually adjusts
- He realises his previous understanding of reality is false
- Feels sorry so goes back to the other prisoners to let them know the truth
- They don’t want to find the truth and threaten him
8
Q
What does each part of Plato’s analogy represent?
A
- Cave: our false reality (prison of the mind)
- Prisoners: humanity
- Shadows: what we percieve to be reality (sense experience)
- Escaped prisoner: philosophers (Socrates)
- Outside of the Cave: The true reality
- Sunlight: Form of Good
- Pain felt by sunlight: confusion when first dealing with philosophy
9
Q
What does Plato want us to understand about the Allegory of the Cave
A
- Question our assumptions
- There are initial difficulties of grappling with philosophy but one must persevere
- Education means ‘leading out’, not stuffing minds with info but drawing out truths already known + encouraging them to become new kinds of people
10
Q
Strengths of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave (3)
A
- Encourages people to question their preconceptions and assumptions
- Offers insight and precedence for Plato’s Realm of Forms
- Demonstrates possibility of life after death
11
Q
Weaknesses of Plato’s Allegory of Caves (3)
A
- Fails to show attractiveness + awe of physical world
- Fails to make distinction between physical world and realm of Forms
- People may know goodness or truth but may choose not to live by it
12
Q
How did Plato arrive at the Theory of Forms?
A
- Doesnt make sense that we can all recognise metaphysical concepts (justice) especially in a world that’s always changing
- All material things we experience and subconsciously refer to in the world around us are imitations of their perfect forms
13
Q
What is a ‘form’
A
- The essential nature of a physical thing or idea
- Forms can either imitate (they transcend and are independent of the physical and material) or participate (present in the objects/ideas they personify
14
Q
Theory of Forms
A
- Everything in the Realm of Forms is unchangeable, perfect and eternal
- Humans have immortal souls and must have been lived in the realm of Forms before being born into the material world as physical human beings (we know by intuiton what forms are
15
Q
What is the highest Form?
A
FORM OF GOOD
16
Q
Why is the Form of Good at the top of the hierarchy?
A
- Illuminates all other forms and gives them their value
- Is the purest, most abstract of forms
- Concepts beneath it (Beauty, Truth, Justice) are all aspects of goodness and so participate in it
17
Q
Bad actions in relation to the Form of Good
A
- When people know good and bad they will only choose good
- People only choose bad because they’re ignorant of the Form of Good
18
Q
What did Plato call God?
A
Demiurge
19
Q
How did the Demiurge create the world?
A
- ## By fashioning it out of material already there- it was a shapeless mess before Demiurge got to work
20
Q
In Timaeus, how does Plato describe the Demiurge?
A
- It’s good and wants the best for humanity
- He is limited by his materials- the final result is as best as he could manage which is why world isnt perf
- Demiurge isnt in any sense the ‘source of all goodness’ but it is as good as it can be and can be measured against the external standards of the Forms
21
Q
Strengths of Realm of Forms (2)
A
- Explains mathematical concepts and ideas
- Explains why difficut things are considered beautiful and just and how people are able to percieve them as such
22
Q
Weaknesses of Realm of Forms (3)
A
- Are there perfect forms of evil?
- Seems ridiculous: is there a perfect form of any material thing like a computer mouse or toilet roll?
- Problems of incorporation: Form of a Triangle also incorporates Form of a Line- how do we distinguish?
23
Q
Aristotle’s criticism of Realm of Forms
A
- Forms cannot be essence of a substance separated from the form as essences are intrinsic features of things
24
Q
Strengths of Form of Good (2)
A
- Seems to be true that we generally agree on what goodness is
- Goodness illuminating in lower forms like truth and justice seems intuitively logical
25
Weaknesses of the Form of Good (2)
- Nonsense to talk as if we all share the same concept of goodness- not easy to conclude goodness
- Cannot be goodness on its own, it needs to relate to something. Good is different in different situations and contexts
26
AJ Ayer's criticism of Form of Good
When we talk of goodness, we are simply expressing emotion rather than any statement of fact; logic positivism
27
Strength of the Demiurge
- Explains why our world is flawed
28
Weakness of the Demiurge
- If it's a divine being, how can it not create a perf world? (lack of omnipotence)- how can it not be god?
29
What is Aristotle's understanding of reality?
- Aristotle was an empiricist
- Rejected claim that we have innate ideas and principles of reasoning
- He believed primary way to gain knowledge was through sense experience
30
Strengths of Aristotle's empiricism (2)
- Grounded in sense experience: applies to everything in physical world
- Hume: sense data is accurate because empiricism links facts- it's better for justifying knowledge claims
31
Weaknesses of Aristotles' empiricism (2)
- Makes sense to talk of intuitive/spiritual knowledge rather than just science
- Senses can be misguided or decieved
32
Aetion
'cause': either form of something or it's cause
33
What did Aristotle think about the idea of 'goodness'
Something is good if it fufils its telos which causes eudaemonia
34
FOUR CAUSES: NUMBER ONE
- Material Cause
- The physical matter that an object is composed of
35
FOUR CAUSES: NUMBER TWO
- Formal Cause
- The form that an object takes
- The formal cause gives something its shape and allows it to be identified as whatever it is
36
FOUR CAUSES: NUMBER THREE
- Efficient Cause
- The activity which causes something to happen
- This can also be seen as when something has achieved its potential
37
FOUR CAUSES: NUMBER FOUR
- Final Cause
- The most important cause and the source of the goodness in the world
- It is the purpose or telo of the object
38
Table example to help prove the 4 Causes
- Material: for a table, this is the wood it's made of
- Formal: for a table, this is the shape which distinguishes it from a chair or a bench
- Efficient: for a table, this is the activity of the carpenter carving and assembling it. Wood has the potential to be furniture; this potential must be actualised by the carpenter for it to be a table
- Final: This is the table being written on
39
Strengths of Four Causes (2)
- Their empirical basis is logical and doesn't rely on faith - unlike the Realm of Forms
- Fits with the idea of multiple explanations for a thing's existence
40
Weaknesses of Four Causes (2)
- Some things have no causes like chance occurrences and coincidences, whilst others have only some causes like emotions
- Russell questions 4th cause: there's no evidence or design or order in Aristotle's description of the universe, it just exists by chance
41
What does Aristotle call God?
Prime Mover- a cause that actualises the potential in everything else
42
How did Aristotle come up with his idea of God?
- Realised the world was in a constant state of change
- Figured there must be something that started all this motion and change
43
What must the Prime Mover be?
- Something with no potential
- It must be a being that is everything it could be with no potential to change or to be acted upon
44
How does Aristotle's God cause change?
- Through attraction
- The Prime Mover itself remains unaffected- it does nothing but is the object of everything
- Everything in the world is drawn towards God's perfection and wants to imitate it- this causes movement in everything else
45
5 conclusions Aristotle came to about this idea of God
- Doesn't depend on anything else for it's existence- it has no potential and cannot be changed, making it necessary
- Must be eternal as going in or out of existence is a change
- Cannot be bad- badness is absence of goodness and it cannot 'lack' anything as it has already actualised its potential
- Is immaterial and atemporal- can't do or affect anything in the physical world. It only thinks of itself and it's own perfect nature
- It is the final cause of everything, both in its origins and its purpose. It draws things to itself via attraction without being affected itself
46
Strengths of Prime Mover (2)
- Logical and simple
- Impartial and unchanging- not hypocriticial when it comes to its power
47
Theist's criticism of Aristotle's Prime Mover
- It's uninterested in and unaffected by the world
- Therefore irrelevant as an idea of God because it doesnt love us
48
Sartre's criticism of the Prime Mover
- The universe has no telos, it exists without reason or goal
49
4 Similarities between Form of Good and Prime Mover
- Both have a permanent, unchanging reality contrasted with the physical world
- Both give an explanation of how things are caused in the first place
- Both have an independent, necessary existence
- Neither take interest in moral affairs of humanity
49
Give 2 differences between the Form of Good and the Prime Mover
- The Form of Good isn't a being with intentions, but an exemplification of a quality without activity. The Prime Mover is an actual being that thinks of itself and it's own perfect nature
- The Form of Good can possibly be reached after death. The Prime Mover is completely atemporal and separate from humanity
50
Compare rationalism and empiricism
- Rationalism dictates physical world is constantly changing and can't give us certainty and that truths arrived at through reason are more trustworthy. The senses can mislead us but we can be more sure of our own logical conclusion
- Empiricism dictates that experience is the primary source of all knowledge and the mind can reach knowledge but only by reflecting on sense experience. Experience is superior as reason is highly limited with sensory information
51
How can be rationalism and empiricism be used?
- Use rationalism from maths and philosophy and empiricism for science and the arts
- However, the question still arises about which comes first? Do we see beautiful things, or do we see things and then follow this with the concept of beauty?
