Plato and Aristotle Flashcards

Question

What does Plato use to highlight boundaries between the physical world and the intelligible world?

Answer 1

His Divided line

Answer 2

``` Mathematical ideas (mathematikia) Pure Forms (archai) ```

Answer 3

Physical things | Images and shadows (eikones)

Answer 4

Intelligence(Noesis) Pure thought(dianoia) Dialect Mathematical reasoning

Answer 5

Opinion | Illusion

Answer 6

The Form of the Good

Answer 7

The intelligible world/ the forms

Answer 8

The mind/ reason

Answer 9

Intelligence

Answer 10

The being (reality) of the forms

Answer 11

* We can’t come to know anything without the form of the Good. * The Form of the Good ‘gives objects of knowledge’ (The forms) their truth and the knower’s mind the power of knowing. * Just as the sun is the cause of growth, the form of the good is the source of being of knowable objects. * Just as the sun isn’t light or sight the good isn’t intelligence or truth or the reality of the forms but ‘beyond it and superior to it in dignity and power.’

Answer 12

Forms are naturally good so without form of the Good they cannot exist Form of the Good makes forms forms (gives them being and existence) Existence itself is good

Answer 13

Most perfect and real Form of the forms and sustains being of other forms Forms are perfect so form of the forms is most perfect

Answer 14

Form of the good doesn't just make other forms knowable but is knowledgeable itself

Answer 15

Tripartite theory

Answer 16

Rational (brain/ ruling class) Spirited (heart/ soldiers) Appetitive (stomach/ working class)

Answer 17

Bodily urges

Answer 18

Recognising truth using reason

Answer 19

The body and soul are separate, the body is physical and the soul is immaterial. soul understands the forms

Answer 20

Alcohol | Sex

Answer 21

The charioteer is the rational self trying to control two horses: desire and spirit Reason rules, spirit ensures that reason has motivational backing and the appetite is reined in by the rational self When the Charioteer can control the two horses it'll be harmonious

Answer 22

The soul pre-exists the body and so remembers the world of the Forms and longs to return to the unchanging world

Answer 23

Plato believed in the way an eye needs light to see, the soul needs the Form of the Good to gain real understanding

Answer 24

RECOLLECTION Most important human knowledge is remembering/ "leading out" what we already know Knowledge of the forms must be innate and Plato believed gained by our souls before birth and so the soul must pre-exist the body

Answer 25

one, simple, independent of particulars, not empirical objects, NOT susceptible to change, explanation to other things.

Answer 26

many, complex, dependent on the forms, empirical objects, susceptible

Answer 27

1. The Good is the form of the forms 2. Perfection is the characteristic that relates all the forms to goodness; forms are purely and perfectly their own essence.

Answer 28

Empirical Evidence • Plato says the forms exist independently of the mind in real existence. However, they are invisible to the senses. • From an empirical standpoint this makes very little sense, certainly if we hold that all knowledge comes from the senses. • This is where Aristotle and Plato disagree. Plato as an idealist roots all knowledge in the universals but for an empiricist it’s hard to believe they exist. 5. Aristotle’s Third Man Argument • The Argument says that if we want to know what the form of a man is, to know what makes a man a man, we must compare one man to another. • However when we have the two men, we need another man to compare them to because they will likely look different so we need another man to compare them to, to show that both men are indeed men. • This goes on to become an infinite regress and the theory is therefore absurd and incoherent.

Answer 29

o Ockham’s razor The simpler explanation usually the better Plato’s complicated theory less likely than the idea that the brain influences the body Although a weak argument, Plato’s theory does rely on concepts (forms and immaterial soul) that cannot be proven o Richard Dawkins Humans are the products of their genes and statements about personality can be done through genetic make up Soul is a mythological concept explaining mysteries of personality and consciousness Science can’t yet fully explain consciousness but it is only a matter of time before it can

Answer 30

Empiricist

Answer 31

Material Efficient Formal Final

Answer 32

What it is created out of e.g. bronze

Answer 33

By which it is created e.g. sculptor

Answer 34

The expression of what it is/design e.g. idea of a finished statue

Answer 35

For which the thing exists/its purpose or function e.g. the idea that prompted a sculptor to make the statue

Answer 36

The formal(the form of the thing) and final(the purpose) causes because they explain what a thing is

Answer 37

Teleological argument

Answer 38

The actualisation or outcome of potential. Eg a final bronze statue. When matter has been given a form.

Answer 39

A block of Bronze is potentially a statue. The potential to become something else and have inherent qualities. The potential to end up as something. Matter has the potential of receiving form.

Answer 40

Potentiality turning into actuality

Answer 41

Movement from a state of potentiality to a state of actuality is a good thing For Aristotle, good is defined in terms of the final cause or the purpose of a thing

Answer 42

An acorn (potentially an oak tree) exists before the oak tree it grows into but it itself is the product of an existing oak tree

Answer 43

Something already actual

Answer 44

1) All motion is the result of movement from potentiality to actuality 2) Since the universe is involved in motion and since nothing moves that is not impelled to move by a form (actuality), the universe must have a supreme Form (Actuality) 3) Since the form (actuality) can never be in its potential state (and matter by definition is in its potential state) the highest Form is immaterial and without motion: the Unmoved Mover/ Prime Mover

Answer 45

Thought- eternally contemplating its own being. it is perfect and therefore can think of nothing but itself.

Answer 46

As it desires to imitate God/Prime Mover's actuality | Aristotle called this "desire" or "love"

Answer 47

Only man can appreciate the truth and so only man can share in God's nature by virtue of his intelligence (nous) Since man's intellect is divine, by cultivating it brings himself into communion with the Prime Mover

Answer 48

Fr Gerry Hughes A cat and a bowl of milk... The milk does nothing but its presence is sufficient to cause the cat to move towards it The Prime Mover is like a stationary magnet drawing all things towards their potentiality

Answer 49

Aristotle argues our reason (logos) distinguishes us from plants and animals: our function is to reason Our souls make us human and our function is determined by the make up of our soul Soul is the "blueprint" for humans Function is determined by the kind of soul we have: humans have a rational soul and our function is to exercise the rational parts of our soul

Answer 50

1) Rational soul (practical and theoretical reasoning; love of contemplation - humans.) 2) Sensitive soul (motion and use of senses; basic motives and desires; love of honour - humans and animals) 3) Vegetative soul (nutrition and growth; love of pleasures; fulfilment of appetite - animals, plants, humans)

Answer 51

The soul is not a material object but it is not separable from the body

Answer 52

The rational and irrational soul

Answer 53

Vegetive (basic instincts = need) Desiderative (wants) Cultivation of moral virtues through habit

Answer 54

Scientific (houses non debatable facts) Calculative (deliberates to make decisions) Cultivation of intellectual virtues through 'instruction'

Answer 55

Qualities of character Connected to the irrational part of soul Cultivated through habit

Answer 56

Qualities of mind Connected to the rational part of soul Cultivated through instruction

Answer 57

They fall between two vices: vice of excess and vice of deficiency

Answer 58

The Good = flourishing = eudaemonia = our telos

Answer 59

All humans have the potential to develop moral and intellectual virtues We must regulate emotions and act in a dignified way to avoid two vices of excess and deficiency. Feelings should not overpower reason. By learning the habit of controlling out feelings at the right time, we learn virtue.

Answer 60

Hitting bullseye = aim or virtue but different humans hit the bullseye in different ways and manners Hitting the board itself is better than the arrow missing completely even if it doesn't hit bullseye

Answer 61

Those lower (slaves, women etc.) should be ruled by those higher

Answer 62

matter + form = substance A argued that something was what it was being used for and it had the ability to change into anything. Form has priority over matter. If matter changes, the substance does. But if the form changes and matter stays the same - substance stays the same.

Answer 63

the final end or purpose(telos) flourishing. Something doing what it is meant to be doing.

Answer 64

 1st potentiality is someone/thing with the potential to know something e.g. a child who does not speak French  2nd potentiality (also 1st actuality) is someone/thing’s ability to have knowledge but is not applying it e.g. a silent student who can speak French  2nd actuality when the being has knowledge and is applying it e.g. adult speaking French

Answer 65

He referred to their substantial form as their psyche – a term often understood to suggest mind or soul.

Answer 66

Monist | Soul is bound to the body and it ceases to exist after death.

Answer 67

Soul is the power of life and it cannot exist without a body because it is the actuality of the body. He is not a materialist (argue the body and soul are one substance) he argues that they are just linked as the soul is the function of the body.

Answer 68

Soul is the form of the body just as sight is the form of the eye. Body = matter soul = form

Answer 69

- doesn't have issues of dualism to deal with - works with science MRS GREN - based on empiricism

Answer 70

- if innate ideas are true plato's argument makes more sense - if we are rationalists plato's argument makes more sense. Aristotle says all knowledge is a posteriori, but how can we say that when we haven't experienced the whole universe?

Answer 71

oAristotle talks of humanity’s function. Sartre gives the analogy of the paper knife; made with a purpose hence its essence comes before its existence. However without a God, the human being’s existence comes before its essence therefore its purpose can be created itself.

Answer 72

Hume, as an empiricist, argued that causation wasn’t necessarily built into the nature of the universe. If we are truly empirical, we will realise that we never experience causation… take two billiard balls. All we see at time 1 (t1) one ball move. Then at t2 we see one ball touching another ball. Then at t3 we see one ball move. What we don’t see is one ball causing the other to move. We assume this. Assumption isn’t knowledge. If Hume is right, Aristotle doesn’t take his empiricism far enough.

Answer 73

Aquinas and church have big issue as they believe God created the universe out of nothing but in Prime mover, this would be impossible.

Plato and Aristotle Flashcards

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