Untitled Deck Flashcards
(50 cards)
Who was Heraclitus?
An ancient Greek philosopher who believed the world is in a state of constant change, called ‘flux’.
What did Heraclitus famously say about stepping in a river?
A person never steps in the same river twice, as both the river and the person change.
What challenge did Heraclitus present regarding knowledge?
If everything is constantly changing, we cannot have true knowledge since what we know has already changed.
How did Plato respond to Heraclitus’ challenge?
Plato concluded that true, eternal, unchanging knowledge cannot be gained empirically and must be sought through a priori reason.
What was Aristotle’s response to Heraclitus’ challenge?
Aristotle believed we can understand the causal mechanisms of change and gain true knowledge from experience.
What is Plato’s theory of forms?
The theory that the true reality consists of perfect, eternal, and unchanging forms, while the world we experience consists of imperfect particulars.
What are particulars in Plato’s theory?
Particulars are the objects of everyday experience that are imperfect representations of the forms.
What does Plato’s allegory of the cave illustrate?
It illustrates that our experience involves mere shadows of the real, and true knowledge comes from understanding the forms.
What do the shadows in the cave represent?
The objects we experience in the world of appearances.
What is the form of the Good in Plato’s philosophy?
The highest form that both illuminates the world of forms and is responsible for all existence.
What is Aristotle’s criticism of Plato’s theory of forms?
Aristotle argued that Plato’s forms lack empirical validity and are an unnecessary hypothesis.
What are the four causes in Aristotle’s philosophy?
- Material cause
- Formal cause
- Efficient cause
- Final cause (telos)
What does ‘telos’ refer to in Aristotle’s theory?
The final end or purpose towards which something is directed.
How does Aristotle define actuality and potentiality?
Actuality is the current state of something, while potentiality is what something could become under certain conditions.
What is the main critique of Plato’s form of the Good by Aristotle?
Aristotle disagrees that ignorance of the good is the cause of immorality, arguing that cultivating virtue is necessary to do good.
What is the third man argument against Plato’s theory of forms?
It suggests that if forms exist for groups of things, then those forms would require another form, leading to an infinite regress.
What is Plato’s argument from recollection?
The idea that we have innate knowledge of perfect concepts, suggesting the existence of the world of forms and the soul.
What does anamnesis refer to in Plato’s philosophy?
The process of re-remembering the forms through a posteriori sense experience.
What is Aristotle’s view on the separation of form from things?
He rejects the separation, believing a thing’s form is its essence and cannot exist independently from the material object.
What does Francis Bacon criticize about Aristotle’s final causation?
He claims that final causation has no place in empirical science and is a metaphysical issue.
What is Aristotle’s empirical teleology?
The idea that we can understand change through analyzing causal processes without relying on teleological explanations.
True or False: Plato believed that knowledge could be gained through empirical observation.
False.
Fill in the blank: The form of the Good is illustrated by _______ in Plato’s allegory of the cave.
the sun
What is a major difference between Plato and Aristotle’s views on knowledge?
Plato emphasizes a priori reasoning, while Aristotle emphasizes empirical observation.
