Unit 1 - Chapter 2 - The Ancient World

Question 1

Describe Plato’s nature of sleep and dreams.

Answer 1

dreams reveal base appetites.

Question 2

Describe the influence of Plato on the development of science.

Answer 2

• advanced the ideas of the Pythagoreans
• influence ideas in cognitive psych
• promoted dualism

Question 3

Describe Aristotle’s (384–322 BC) philosophy in terms of the basic differences he had with Plato.

Answer 3

Plato
- forms
- knowledge exists independently of nature
- sensory info interfere with attaining knowledge

Aristotle
- essences
- knowledge & nature inseparable
- embraced rationalism and empiricism.

Question 4

According to ______, all living things posses a soul.

Answer 4

Arisotle

Question 5

Plato’s Theory of forms

Answer 5

• ultimate reality consists of abstract forms that correspond to all objects in the empirical world.

Question 6

Forms

Answer 6

• abstract realities
• create imperfect manifestations when they interact with matter
• objects of sense impressions

Question 7

Plato’s Analogy of the divided line

Answer 7

• belief that there is a hierarchy of understanding
• hierarchy; images of empirical objects –> empirical objects themselves –> abstract mathematical principles –> forms.

Question 8

Understanding of empirical objects themselves results in

Answer 8

opinions

Question 9

What is the highest understanding according to Plato?

Answer 9

understanding of the form of good (which is true knowledge)

Question 10

Imagining (Plato)

Answer 10

Lowest form of understanding because it is based on images

Ex: portrait of a person, reflection in the water.

Question 11

Plato’s Allegory of the cave

Answer 11

individuals who live in a shadowed reality provided by sensory experience instead of the true reality beyond sensory experience.

Question 12

Describe escaped prisoner in allegory of the cave

Answer 12

prisoner sees real objects (forms) responsible for the shadows (sensory information) = true knowledge.

Question 13

Plato - Reminiscence theory of knowledge

Answer 13

• knowledge is attained by remembering the experiences the soul had when it lived among the forms before entering the body.
• involves introspection

Question 14

Plato - Introspection

Answer 14

• searching of ones inner understanding.
• knowledge is innate and attained only through introspection.

Question 15

Plato was a _____, _______ & _____

Answer 15

natitivist, rationalist and idealist

Question 16

Plato’s nature of the soul

Answer 16

• believed soul had three parts; rational, courageous and appetitive

Question 17

Rational component of soul - Plato

Answer 17

Responsible for delaying immediate gratifications

Question 18

Couragous component of the soul - Plato

Answer 18

emotional/spirited

Question 19

Appetitive component of the soul - Plato

Answer 19

has appetites (ex; hunger, thirst) that must be met and play a motivational role in everyday life.

Question 20

According to Plato, what must a person do for true knowledge to be attained?

Answer 20

suppress needs of the body and concentrate on rational pursuits, such as introspection.

Question 21

Three types of people in Plato’s Republic

Answer 21

1) Dominant appetitive → workers and slaves.

2) Dominant courage/emotion → soldiers

3) Dominant reason/rationality → philosopher-kings.

Question 22

Plato believed that societies have little chance of survival unless they are led by _______

Answer 22

philosophers with wisdom

Question 23

Aristotle - Causation

Answer 23

To know anything, we must understand 4 aspects of it; material cause, formal cause, efficient cause, final cause.

Question 24

Material cause

Answer 24

the matter of which a thing is made.

For ex; wood.

Question 25

Formal cause

Answer 25

The particular form, or pattern of a thing. Ex: a table

Question 26

Efficient cause

Answer 26

The force that transforms the material thing into a certain form. Ex: the energy of a carpenter.

Question 27

Final cause

Answer 27

The purpose for which a thing exists. Ex: the purpose of a table is a place to eat

Question 28

Teleology

Answer 28

Aristotle's belief that nature is purposive. - involes entelechy

Question 29

Entelechy

Answer 29

keeps an object moving in its prescribed direction until its full potential is reached

Question 30

______ is human entelechy

Answer 30

active reason

Question 31

Scala naturae

Answer 31

nature as being arranged in a hierarchy from formless matter to the unmoved mover.

Question 32

unmoved mover

Answer 32

what gives nature its final cause, but was itself uncaused.

Question 33

The closer something is to the ______ , the more perfect it is.

Answer 33

unmoved mover

Question 34

Aristotle - Hierarchy of souls

Answer 34

A living things purpose is determined by what type of soul it possesses. - vegetative, sensitive, rational

Question 35

Three types of souls - Aristotle

Answer 35

1) Vegetative (or nutritive) soul 2) Sensitive soul 3) Rational soul

Question 36

Vegetative (or nutritive) soul

Answer 36

Possessed by plants. Allows only growth, the assimilation of food and reproduction.

Question 37

Sensitive soul

Answer 37

Possessed by animals. Includes - vegetative functions - respond to the environment - experience pleasure and pain - memory.

Question 38

Rational soul

Answer 38

Possessed only by humans. Provides all the functions of the other two souls + rational thought.

Question 39

Sensation

Answer 39

Senses provide info about the environment. - first step in acquiring knowledge (isolated experience).

Question 40

Common sense

Answer 40

Integrates and synthesizes sensory experience, making it more meaningful. Located in the heart.

Question 41

Passive reason

Answer 41

practical use of the information provided by common sense.

Question 42

Active reason

Answer 42

the abstraction of principles, or essences, from synthesized experiences. - considered the highest form of thinking & source of greatest pleasure.

Question 43

Memory - Aristotle

Answer 43

the results of sense perception. - ex; remembering & recall

Question 44

Remembering

Answer 44

passive recollection of past experiences

Question 45

Recall

Answer 45

mental search for a past experience.

Question 46

Laws of Association

Answer 46

- thought to be responsible for holding mental events together in memory. - contiguity, similarity, contrast, frequency

Question 47

law of contiguity

Answer 47

A thought of something tends to cause thoughts of things that are experienced along with it.

Question 48

Law of similarity

Answer 48

A thought of something tends to cause thoughts of similar things.

Question 49

Law of contrast

Answer 49

A thought of something tends to cause thoughts of opposite things.

Question 50

Law of frequency

Answer 50

the more events are experienced together, the stronger they become associated

Question 51

Imagination - Aristotle

Answer 51

the lingering effects of sensory experience.

Question 52

Dreaming - Aristotle

Answer 52

- images of past experience. - skeptical about providing info about the future. - may reflect subtle bodily changes.

Question 53

Reasons why images may seem odd during a dream

Answer 53

1) during sleep, images are not organized by reason 2) coordination with ongoing sensory experience doesnt occur during sleep

Question 54

Motivation - Aristotle

Answer 54

- human behaviour is motivated by appetites. - if activity eliminates discomfort, person will experience pleasure.

Question 55

Aristotle - Emotions

Answer 55

To think rationally = purpose = greatest happiness. All human behaviour is hedonistic

Question 56

Golden mean

Answer 56

Aristotle described the best life, as one lived in moderation. Requires rational control of ones appetites.

Question 57

Emotions may cause

Answer 57

selective perception.