Term
|
Definition
| deals with questions about knowledge. What is knowledge? How does knowledge relate to belief? What kinds of justification can be given for the claim to know? |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Metaphysics deals with questions of ultimate reality: What is real? (Or, equivalently, what do we mean by reality?) Some people claim that only physical matter exists, others claim that there is only mind or spirit, and still others believe that both exist and that neither can be reduced to the other--what justification can be given for these claims? |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Ethics deals with questions of duty and goodness. What do we mean by “good”? How can we justify the assertion that a particular person ought to do a certain thing? |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| (Philosophy of art) deals with questions such as the following: What is art? What is good art? How can one justify the claim that a particular thing is or is not beautiful? |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| is a collection of statements of which it is intended that one, called the conclusion, is supported by others, called premises. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| is the degree of support the premises provide for the conclusion. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Assuming the premises of an argument are true, it would be impossible for the conclusion to be false. Validity is the absolute upper limit for the strength of arguments--no argument can be stronger than a valid one, and all valid arguments are equally strong. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| An argument that is valid and that has all true premises is called a sound argument. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| A statement is analytically true (or analytically false) if its truth (or falsity) can be determined by considering only definitions and the laws of logic. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Statements that are not analytic are said to be synthetic. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Introducing a technical term such as work by explaining how the term will be used is giving a stipulative definition. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Descriptions of how words are conventionally used, as are typically found in dictionaries, are descriptive definitions. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Primarily the work of Saint Thomas Aquinas, was a broad synthesis of Christianity and Aristotelian philosophy. Scholasticism provided answers to virtually every question that people could ask, and few thinkers found any reason to depart from its basic principles. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The aspects of religion that were believed to be provable by reason alone, and so were not a matter of faith or revelation. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Qualities that awaken in us ideas that resemble the the objects with those qualities (for example, shape and size). |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Qualities that awaken in us ideas which are not like anything in the object itself (for example, color and taste). |
|
|
Term
| deontological theory of obligation |
|
Definition
| Accounts for obligation in terms of a system of (one or more) rules. |
|
|
Term
| teleological theory of obligation |
|
Definition
| Accounts for obligation in terms of the consequences of acts. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Teleological theory – One ought always to do that which promotes the greatest good for the greatest number of people. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Believes that only minds and their contents are ultimately real. (Hagel and Plato) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Believes that there are two ultimate kinds of things – minds and bodies – and that neither of these can be reduced to the other. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Everything which I have thus far accepted as entirely true and assured has been
acquired from the senses or by means of the senses." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| ____ wrote nothing, but had several disciples, including Plato |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "Is there such a thing as the Just itself?" |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "Surely there is nothing else which assures me of its truth but the clear and distinct perception of what I affirm." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "I shall have the right to entertain high hopes if I am fortunate enough to find a single truth which is certain and indubitable." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| ____ believed that all things are made of numbers |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| ____ concluded that rest was the natural state of physical objects |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "It is necessary that there should be eternal unmovable substance." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "There must be a principle, whose very essence is actuality." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "To express oneself badly is not only faulty so far as the language goes, but it does some harm to the soul." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "I reside in my body as a pilot in his ship." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "There is a great difference between the mind and the body in that the body, from its nature, is always divisible and the mind is completely indivisible |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Scholasticism was primarily the work of this individual |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Aristotle's teacher for twenty years |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
"If I considered the soul I imagined that it was something very rarefied and subtle,
such as a wind, a flame, or a very much expanded air which was infused throughout my grosser components." |
|
|
Term
| Which one of the following is not among Plato's reasons for believing in the world of the Forms? |
|
Definition
| Physical existence is the only kind of existence, and since we know what absolute equality means,this must exist somewhere in the physical world |
|
|
Term
| Descartes argues that God must exist because |
|
Definition
| human mind contains an idea of a perfect being and only God could be responsible for it |
|
|
Term
| According to Descartes, we can distinguish dreams from waking experience because |
|
Definition
| memory joins together the moments of our waking life into one whole but does not join dreams |
|
|
Term
| Which of the following would Descartes have classified as a primary quality? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Which of the following arguments is valid? |
|
Definition
| If it is raining, then the street is wet. The street is not wet; therefore, it is not raining. |
|
|
Term
| Suppose one were to give the definition of art as "the production of something beautiful." Which of the following would not be reasonable criticisms of this definition? |
|
Definition
| The definition fails to include some works of art that serve useful purposes, for example,handcrafted baskets or leather goods. |
|
|
Term
| Suppose we give the stipulative definition for mumps as "infestation by microorganism M." Which ofthe following statements would not make sense given this definition? |
|
Definition
| Mumps are caused by infestation by microorganism M. |
|
|
Term
The contrast in traditional Christian thought between natural and revealed theology is best illustrated
by |
|
Definition
| a logical argument that God exists in contrast to the mystery of the trinity |
|
|
Term
| Socrates’ last words were, "Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius." This is significant because |
|
Definition
Asclepius was the god of healing. This shows that Socrates regarded death as a healing from the
ills of life |
|
|
Term
| Among other things, a book on epistemology would be most likely to contain |
|
Definition
| an investigation of how one can justify the claim to know something |
|
|
Term
| Plato believed that the earth |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
Aristotle's argument for the prime mover goes as follows: "There is, then, something which is always
moved with an unceasing motion, which is motion in a circle. . . . There is therefore also something
which moves it. And since that which moves and is m |
|
Definition
| Even granting that there is an unmoved mover, Aristotle is unjustified in calling it God. God is more than simply the first source of motion in the universe. |
|
|
Term
| According to Aristotle, what does the prime mover spend eternity thinking about? |
|
Definition
| itself as a thinking thing |
|
|
Term
| Which one of the following was not one of Descartes's contributions to science? |
|
Definition
| the concept of an infinite universe |
|
|
Term
| The words subjective and objective have almost exactly changed meanings in the last two hundred years. Which of the following quotations uses objective in the earlier sense? |
|
Definition
| Natural objects are as we perceive them; their real and objective natures are the same. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "The moments which Spirit seems to have left behind it still possesses in the depth of its present." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "The concept of God is one which belongs originally not to physics but to morals." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "Virtue is the worthiness to be happy." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "I am, I exist, is necessarily true every time that I pronounce it or conceive it in my min" |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| World-historical acts and agents stand outside morality." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "What duty is, is plain of itself to everyone." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "For us learning is no other than recollection." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "Society and the state are the very conditions in which freedom is realize." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Started from the rather common sense observation that things stay at rest until they are moved and, once moved, they tend to stop moving rather quickly. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "Many carry the thyrsus, but the Bacchants are few." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
"Nothing glorifies God more than what is the most estimable thing in the world,
namely, respect for His command." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "We recall an ancient theory." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
"Man is his own action; the sequence of his actions, that into which he has been
making himself." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "Whatever has been carried out according to philosophy has reality; whatever does not accord with it is but worthless existence." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| "This law gives to the sensible world, as sensuous nature, the form of an intelligible world, without interfering with the mechanism of the former." |
|
|
Term
| By the end of Hegel's life, his disciples were split into left-wing and right-wing Hegelians. These two factions advocated, respectively, |
|
Definition
| a radical assault on existing social, political, and religious institutions, and a liberal and progressive approach to change |
|
|
Term
| According to Kant, what was God's purpose in creating the world? |
|
Definition
| to promote his own glory in the sense that respect for his commandments, which is the most estimable thing in the world, glorifies God more than anything else |
|
|
Term
| Hegel identifies the essence of matter and of spirit, respectively, as |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| John Locke believed that words mean ideas that exist in the minds of the persons who use those words. Which one of the following could not be an objection to this belief? |
|
Definition
| Many meaningful words have particular associations and significance for one person that they do not have for someone else. |
|
|
Term
| In some accounts of determinism, human actions are said to be causally determined if and only if those actions are predictable in principle in exactly the same way as natural events are predictable. It may also be true that if a human act cannot be predic |
|
Definition
| The event must be predictable in principle, but only by taking account of factors that are not used in predicting natural events--perhaps such factors as rules or social norms. |
|
|
Term
| Here is a quotation from a psychology text: "We do not see objects, nor do we see the retinal image,nor do we see the excitation in the optic nerve. At most we can say that we see the final effect on the projection area of the cerebral cortex." Which is t |
|
Definition
| The author is misusing the word "see." What we see is objects; retinal images, excitations in the optic nerves and responses of the brain are useful in explaining how we see, but ordinarily we never see any of these. |
|
|
Term
| According to Kant, what is the highest good? |
|
Definition
| virtue together with happiness (which is in proportion to moral worth) |
|
|
Term
| According to Kant, our concept of God is primarily or originally |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Which of the following statements is true? |
|
Definition
| If a valid argument has a false conclusion, it must have at least one false premise. |
|
|
Term
| Hegel's technical term aufheben has several different meanings, and Hegel often takes advantage of this inherent ambiguity. Which of the following are not among the meanings normally associated with this German word? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Which of the following would one most likely find as part of a teleological system of ethics? |
|
Definition
| Always do that which promotes your own best interest |
|
|
Term
| "Things that exhibit purposeful order are products of intelligent contrivance. The universe exhibits intelligent contrivance. Therefore, the universe is the product of intelligent contrivance." Which of the following is not a possible criticism of this ar |
|
Definition
| Some things that are intelligently contrived are made precisely in order to avoid order of any kind; for example, some computers are programmed to give a random sample. |
|
|
Term
| In which of the following cases would utilitarianism specify an obligation that is inconsistent with what seems to be right? |
|
Definition
| Harry has only one dollar and he promises to give it to Fred, but then he sees that giving the money to George will do slightly more good than giving it to Fred. |
|
|
Term
| According to Kant, without the moral law, which one of the following would have forever remained unknown to us? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Hegel feels that both objective and subjective history are required before real histories can be produced in any culture. Primitive societies |
|
Definition
| lack both subjective and objective history |
|
|
Term
| What is the philosophical method of history? |
|
Definition
| thoughtful contemplation of history |
|
|
Term
| Who is Hegel criticizing in his discussion of the third method of history? |
|
Definition
| anyone who believes philosophy has nothing to do with history |
|
|
Term
| Explain in what sense Hegel’s method is a theodicy. |
|
Definition
| He wants to reconcile the idea that God directs history with the evil and suffering that has occurred throughout history |
|
|
Term
| What is the difference between real history and natural history (or the history of nature)? |
|
Definition
| History takes place in Spirit, and man alone is the realm of Spirit. Nature without man does not play a role in the realm of Spirit, and thus has no history. |
|
|
Term
| What does Hegel mean in saying that the essence of matter is gravity? |
|
Definition
Unlike Spirit, matter is not free. Matter consists of parts and passions and seeks its opposite. Matter
finds unity outside itself. |
|
|
Term
| What is the answer to the question of sacrifices that Hegel asks in the second paragraph on page 27? |
|
Definition
| They are sacrificed to the actualization of the absolute--God |
|
|
Term
| What does Hegel mean in saying that periods of happiness are blank pages in history? |
|
Definition
| Nothing is literally happening since the absolute is not being actualized by the working out of contradictions. |
|
|
Term
| According to Hegel, what is the moral duty of any particular individual? |
|
Definition
| fulfilling one’s duties according to one’s social position: to know and obey the laws of the state |
|
|
Term
| What exactly is the cunning of reason? |
|
Definition
| The particular is sacrificed in order to bring about the purposes of the universal. |
|
|
Term
Why does Hegel reject the idea that the subjective will of the individual attains its gratification through the
common will |
|
Definition
Such a concept is negative freedom; real positive freedom is satisfied only in morality, law, and the
state. |
|
|
Term
| What does Hegel mean by the term state? |
|
Definition
| the entire society; the people organized into a whole; the moral whole; the spirit of the people |
|
|
Term
| What does Hegel mean by “the state is the divine idea as it exists on earth”? |
|
Definition
The state is the realization of the absolute who is only conscious in the state; the laws of the state
reflect his will. |
|
|
Term
| What does it mean to say that man is free by nature? |
|
Definition
| Mankind naturally seeks to live in the state where freedom is realized. |
|
|
Term
| What does Hegel think of the state of nature? |
|
Definition
| It is not original or natural |
|
|
Term
| What is the main difference between spiritual and organic beings? |
|
Definition
| Spirit is mediated by consciousness and will |
|
|
Term
| According to Hegel, what is the connection between the narration of history and historical deeds? |
|
Definition
| The two appear at the same time and are united by a common inner principle. |
|
|
Term
| According to Hegel, what is philosophy |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| How does Hegel define habit? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Many political philosophers have talked about life before governments were organized; such a condition is referred to as a state of nature. At one point in the reading, Hegel discusses the state of nature. Which of the following best describes what Hege |
|
Definition
The state of nature is a state of injustice, violence, untamed natural impulses, and inhuman deeds
see page 54 in the text Reason in History. |
|
|
Term
| At several points in the reading, Hegel assumes that there is a distinction between acts and events. We mark the same distinction in our common use of these terms. In which of the following pairs is the first item an act and the second an event not an |
|
Definition
a person signing an agreement / a tree falling
Generally speaking, we use the word act to refer to something done by an agent, that is, by someone who has goals and purposes. Events have causes but no goals or purposes. When a tree falls it is an event but not an act--if a person were to cut own a tree --and so make it fall-- the person would normally have a goal or purpose in mind so that would be an act. In this sense, everything that happens is an event; only those events with purposes are acts. |
|
|
Term
| Hegel refers to his work as a theodicy. Which of the following best explains what he meant by this? |
|
Definition
He wants to reconcile the idea that God directs history with the evil and suffering that has occurred throughout history.
look again at page 18 in the text, Reason in History. |
|
|
Term
| Hegel distinguishes existence from reality. Which of the following are true given Hegel’s distinction? |
|
Definition
existence includes, but is not limited to, that which is real.
If you are unclear about this, look again at the discussion of existence and reality in the general background |
|
|
Term
| Which of the following is not among Kant’s formulations of the categorical imperative? |
|
Definition
| So act that the maxim of your will can always maximize transcendental freedom. |
|
|
Term
| Which of the following best characterizes Kant’s views about causation? |
|
Definition
| Objects as we experience them are all determined by causes, but things as they are in themselves are not in time and therefore not determined by causes. |
|
|
Term
| Outline Aristotle’s argument for the conclusion that time cannot come into being or cease to be. |
|
Definition
| Time is the same as movement or is an attribute of movement. It is impossible that movement should either have come into being or cease to be. Therefore, it is impossible that time should either have come into being or cease to be. |
|
|
Term
| What kind of motion does Aristotle think is the only possible continuous motion? |
|
Definition
none of the following:
triangular
hexagonal
dodecahedronal
elliptical |
|
|
Term
| What are the two properties of Aristotle’s ultimate principle |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What is the material cause of the statue? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What is the instrumental cause? |
|
Definition
| Michelangelo and his tools |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What is the formal cause? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What does the unmoved mover spend eternity doing? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| At the beginning of an excerpt from Aristotle’s discussion on the unmoved mover, Aristotle tells us that the unmoved mover is continually engaged in the very best activity. In this same paragraph Aristotle also introduces an important new term. What impor |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What are some of the properties of the unmoved mover? |
|
Definition
| eternal, unmovable, separate, indivisible |
|
|
Term
| So what does the unmoved mover spend eternity thinking about? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Which of the following best characterizes the circumstances associated with Socrates' trial and execution? |
|
Definition
| Many people disliked Socrates but not enough that they really wanted him executed; his execution was partly because Socrates himself refused to escape prison even when he was given the opportunity to do so |
|
|
Term
| Socrates' argument against suicide can be paraphrased like this: “The gods are our guardians and we are their possessions. If one of our possessions were to destroy itself we would be angry. Thus, if we destroy ourselves the gods will be angry. If they |
|
Definition
The argument assumes that there is only one reason not to commit suicide--actually there are many reasons. For example, it is morally wrong, we have responsibilities, it will make other people sad, and so forth.
Nowhere in the argument is there a suggestion that Socrates is giving the only reason not to commit suicide. On the other hand, the argument does make the unstated assumptions identified in the first three answers, and the argument would not be effective against a person who rejected those assumptions. |
|
|
Term
| Which of the following Pythagorean doctrines have we not encountered in the Phaedo |
|
Definition
| All things are made of numbers. |
|
|
Term
| In the Phaedo Socrates says that in order to escape the world, the soul must be pure when it leaves the body and drag nothing physical with it; in order to achieve this, the soul must have no willing association with the body in life, but avoid it as far |
|
Definition
| He would have disagreed because experiencing either pleasure or pain leads one to conclude that the source of the sensation is real and true; this further ensnares the soul in the physical world. |
|
|
Term
| Why did Socrates spend his time in prison composing poetry? |
|
Definition
| to find out the meaning of certain dreams and to satisfy his conscience in the case that this art of poetry was the actual art his dreams commanded him to practice |
|
|
Term
| State the argument against suicide. |
|
Definition
| Mankind is one of the gods’ possessions and just as a person would be angry if one of his or her possessions simply killed itself without the person’s permission, so the gods are angry when one of their possessions kills itself without permission |
|
|
Term
| What does Socrates think about his postmortal existence? |
|
Definition
| Socrates believes he will first go to wise and good gods, then to good men who have died and are better than men here. |
|
|
Term
| How is philosophy a preparation for death? |
|
Definition
| Philosophy frees the soul as much as possible from association with the body, and attachment to the body is the unvirtuous life. |
|
|
Term
| Why is the mind more able to gain truth than the body? |
|
Definition
| The body is subject to needs for sustenance, nurture, wants, desires, disease, fears, illusions and all such distractions. Insofar as the mind is freed from these corporeal bonds and distractions, it is able to contemplate the truth. |
|
|
Term
| What kind of person fears death? |
|
Definition
| those who are not lovers of wisdom but who are lovers of the body and its pursuits |
|
|
Term
| What is the conception of the soul assumed in the beginning of the argument? (This is a Pythagorean doctrine.) |
|
Definition
| That the souls which come here do so from the underworld and that souls which die return to the underworld; in other words, the living come from the dead and the dead come from the living |
|
|
Term
| According to Socrates, in what way can the physical world help us gain knowledge? |
|
Definition
| Knowledge is by recollection which is triggered by sensory perception of physical things in this world. |
|
|
Term
From the dialogue found in this lesson, identify the different kinds of things which, according to Plato,
have Forms. |
|
Definition
| The just, the good, the beautiful, health, strength, the equal, etc |
|
|
Term
| What is the opinion of the majority as to what happens at death? |
|
Definition
| When a person dies, the soul is dispersed and its existence ends |
|
|
Term
| What must the soul be like to escape the world? |
|
Definition
| It must be purified, dragging nothing bodily with it. The philosophical life is this purification |
|
|
Term
| What is the greatest evil and why is it so bad? |
|
Definition
| the soul feeling pleasure or pain and riveting itself to the body, because this is a result of the mistaken belief that the objects associated with pleasure are true |
|
|
Term
| According to Simmias, what was the doctrine of the soul that was held by the Pythagoreans? |
|
Definition
| The soul is a harmony or attunement of opposites. The soul is like a harp or lyre and its strings. The soul is the harmony produced by playing chords. |
|
|
Term
| What was Cebes’ criticism? |
|
Definition
| Socrates' analogy is inadequate. The existence of a weaver after the weaver's cloak has disintegrated is not a convincing analogy that the soul persists after the death of the body. The weaver may have worn-out numerous cloaks during his life and died before his last cloak wore out. |
|
|
Term
| What is misology and how does it arise? |
|
Definition
| Misology is a hatred of argument and it arises from placing one’s trust in an argument and subsequently discovering the argument is unreliable. After repeated experiences of this sort, gradually one learns to hate arguments of every sort. |
|
|
Term
| What is the basic assumption on which Socrates’ account of causation rests? |
|
Definition
| Socrates assumes that there are such things as Forms which serve as causes. |
|
|
Term
| What is the point of the objection raised by the unidentified interlocutor? |
|
Definition
| that the participants have contradicted themselves during the course of the discussion; previously,they argued that opposites come from opposites, but now they show that this is impossible |
|
|
Term
| According to Plato, what will become of those who have purified themselves by philosophy? |
|
Definition
| They will escape the body and its distractions, receiving a dwelling place more beautiful than that received by those who are simply pious. |
|
|
Term
| What is the point of the Socrates’ advice? |
|
Definition
that even if everyone agrees with Socrates’ argument, everyone must nevertheless live the philosophical life, because it is not enough to simply agree or disagree with the argument for
immortality |
|
|
Term
| What is the point of Socrates’ reply to Crito’s question about how Socrates wishes to be buried? |
|
Definition
| that his real identity is not the body but the soul |
|
|
Term
| According to Kant, who is capable of distinguishing right from wrong? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| According to Kant, what is the fundamental principle that one must follow in deciding one’s obligation? Choose the response which does not represent a formulation of the principle. |
|
Definition
| Strive to bring about the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. |
|
|
Term
| To what extent should I take account of my own happiness in deciding my obligations? |
|
Definition
| Never take it into account when duty is in question. |
|
|
Term
| How do we discover that we are free? |
|
Definition
| when we become aware of duty, obligation, or the moral law |
|
|
Term
| According to Kant, how is it possible to reconcile freedom and causal necessity? |
|
Definition
Natural necessity attaches merely to the determinations of a thing which stands under the conditions of time.
Thus, causal necessity controls manifestations of actions. But a subject’s consciousness is a thing-in-itself and is not subject to the laws of time and space. |
|
|
Term
| According to Kant, what is the relation between moral law and natural law? |
|
Definition
A human being exists in two aspects: in the supersensuous world and in thesensuous world. This latter world
is subject to the laws of time and space. The fundamental law which presides over the supersensuous nature is the moral law. The natural law is associated with the sensuous world. |
|
|
Term
| What does Kant have in mind in the distinction between acting according to duty and acting from duty? |
|
Definition
| Action according to duty is the same as legality; acting from duty is genuine morality |
|
|
Term
| What does Kant mean by a holy will? |
|
Definition
The holy will is a personal will that is in accordance with the moral law. The moral law is for the will of a
perfect being, a law of holiness |
|
|
Term
| What does Kant mean by virtue? |
|
Definition
Virtue, i.e., the disposition in conflict and not holiness, is the supposed possession of perfect purity of
intentions of the will. It is the law-abiding disposition resulting from respect for law. |
|
|
Term
| Why does fear of punishment or hope of reward destroy the moral worth of actions? |
|
Definition
An action is morally worthy only if it is done out of respect for duty and contrary to natural inclinations.
Fear and hope are not duty-bound considerations. |
|
|
Term
| What does Kant mean in saying that the inscrutable wisdom through which we exist is not less worthy of veneration in respect to what it denies us than in what it has granted? |
|
Definition
The mystery of existence hints at everything which is both possible and impossible, providing human
existence with hope and beauty accompanying our moral duties and obligations. The nature of human existence can therefore be appreciated on these grounds |
|
|
Term
| According to Kant, what is the highest good? |
|
Definition
| the unity of virtue and happiness |
|
|
Term
| How do happiness and duty relate? |
|
Definition
| There is no relation whatever between the two save for an indirect achievement of happiness from performing one’s duty. |
|
|
Term
| How does immortality relate to the highest good? |
|
Definition
The highest good is achievable only if one assumes immortality of the soul, since it takes an infinite time to
achieve the highest good. |
|
|
Term
| According to Kant, how does God relate to the highest good? |
|
Definition
It is morally necessary to assume the existence of God because of our duty to presuppose the possibility of
the highest good. God must be the author of this highest good and it is contingent upon him as creator. |
|
|
Term
| What does Kant mean in saying that the concept of God is primarily a moral concept? |
|
Definition
| Kant means that we can know the concept of God through moral law because human beings cannot possibly understand God’s infinite nature save as understanding God through the concept of the highest good. Practical reason, moral reason, establishes the concept of God, not philosophy or physics. |
|
|
Term
| According to Kant, what was God’s purpose in creating the world? |
|
Definition
God created the world out of benevolence and out of the Holy Will. The highest good is God’s reason for
creating the world. |
|
|
Term
| Descartes and many of his contemporaries were primarily concerned with attacking specific beliefs in a system of thought known as scholasticism. Which of the following best characterizes scholasticism? |
|
Definition
| It was the system of thought that had been developed mainly by Saint Thomas Aquinas as a synthesis of Christianity and Aristotelian philosophy. |
|
|
Term
| Select the best response to the following argument: “At time A I thought I saw a dog, but at time B I looked again and saw that it was a bush. At time A, therefore, I was deceived by my senses. If I was deceived by my senses at time A, it could happen tha |
|
Definition
| The argument is not conclusive. In the argument I only find out that I was wrong at time A by assuming that I was not wrong at time B. Thus, one can have grounds for accepting the premise only by assuming that the conclusion is false. |
|
|
Term
| Which of the following best characterizes God's role in Descartes's Meditations? |
|
Definition
| Benevolent and omnipotent being who insures the truth of whatever we believe after careful investigation. |
|
|
Term
| Which of the following identifies the most important difference between the argument "I think, therefore, I am" and the argument "I run, therefore, I am"? |
|
Definition
| The first has a premise that cannot consistently be doubted while the second has a premise that can, in principle, always be doubted |
|
|
Term
| How am I able to make mistakes? |
|
Definition
| Because the power God gave to human beings to discriminate between true and false is not infinite. |
|
|
Term
| On this page there are two clear allusions to Platonic theories. What are they? |
|
Definition
| Recollection and the theory of Forms |
|
|
Term
| Is it conceivable that one could feel pain in some body other than one's own? |
|
Definition
| Certainly not; minds can only keel through the body of which they are part. |
|
|
Term
| According to Descartes, how is the soul connected with the body? |
|
Definition
| Through the pineal gland in the brian |
|
|
Term
| What metaphors does Descartes use here to explain the operation of the body? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Descartes says that many experiments prove that the mind receives impressions only from the brain. What kinds of experiments could Descartes have in mind? |
|
Definition
| Blocking the stimulus to the brain to see if the mind perceives |
|
|
Term
| How, finally, does Descartes think that we can escape errors in sensory judgements? |
|
Definition
| By combining the facilities of sense, memory, and understanding together to examine the same object |
|
|
Term
| How does Descartes think that we distinguish between dreaming and waking experiences? |
|
Definition
| Memory does not bind and join our dreams with the rest of experience as does the waking state. |
|
|
Term
| What is the one proposition that Descartes finds indubitable and what are the circumstances under which it is undubitable? |
|
Definition
| "I think, therefore I am." This proposition is true whenever I think of it or conceive that I am. |
|
|
Term
| What is the essential feature of body? |
|
Definition
| Spatial extention or occupying space. |
|
|
Term
| In what ways does Descartes now recognize that the soul is different from the body? |
|
Definition
| The soul is rational while the body is irrational. |
|
|
Term
| What is the one attribute that Descartes finds to be inseparable from his nature? What are some of the specific activities that are included under this attribute? |
|
Definition
| Thinking/doubting, conceiving, willing, affirming, rejecting, perceiving, etc. |
|
|
Term
| On what grounds does Descartes conclude that I do not know the wax by the imagination? |
|
Definition
| The wax can take upon itself an infinite number of shapes, but the imagination is not an infinite facility. Thus, the imagination does not know the wax. |
|
|
Term
| What are the kinds of thoughts that Descarte recognizes? Which of these can be false? |
|
Definition
| Ideas, volitions, emotions, and judgements. Judgements may be false. |
|
|
Term
| What are the three ways in which ideas enter the mind? |
|
Definition
| Innate, external source, made by oneself |
|
|
Term
| What were the two questions that, according to Descartes, should be resolved by philosophy rather than by theology? |
|
Definition
| The immortality of the soul and God's existence |
|
|
Term
| How, according to Descartes, do his arguments on first philosophy compare with geometrical demonstrations? |
|
Definition
| They are more certain and self-evident than those of geometry. |
|
|
Term
| Descartes wants to reject everything not entirely certain and indubitable. But he cannot examine each single belief, so he simplifies his task in two ways. What are these two ways? |
|
Definition
| To methodically doubt everything which is doubtable and accept only those ideas which seem clear and distinct |
|
|
Term
| Does it follow from the fact that I am sometimes wrong in making judgments about what I see, that I always could be wrong in such judgments? Could I be wrong in all judgments? |
|
Definition
| Yes. Wrong in one instance means wrong in every instance. |
|
|
Term
| Are there conclusive indications by which I can tell whether I am awake or asleep? If not, why are we so seldom wrong in deciding? |
|
Definition
| There are no conclusive indications but we are seldom because there are reliable indications such as the fact that dreams lack essential features of the physical which we perceive when we are awke (such as spatial/temporal characteristics) |
|
|
Term
| Outline Aristotle’s argument for the conclusion that time cannot come into being or cease to be. |
|
Definition
| Time is the same as movement or is an attribute of movement. It is impossible that movement should either have come into being or cease to be. Therefore, it is impossible that time should either have come into being or cease to be. |
|
|
Term
| What kind of motion does Aristotle think is the only possible continuous motion? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What is the material cause of the statue? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What is the instrumental cause? |
|
Definition
| Michelangelo and his tools |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What is the formal cause? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What does the unmoved mover spend eternity doing? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| At the beginning of an excerpt from Aristotle’s discussion on the unmoved mover, Aristotle tells us that the unmoved mover is continually engaged in the very best activity. In this same paragraph Aristotle also introduces an important new term. What impor |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| What are some of the properties of the unmoved mover? |
|
Definition
| Eternal, unmovable, separate, indivisible |
|
|
Term
| What is the basic assumption on which Socrates’ account of causation rests? |
|
Definition
| Socrates assumes that there are such things as Forms which serve as causes. |
|
|
Term
| What is the point of the objection raised by the unidentified interlocutor? |
|
Definition
| That the participants have contradicted themselves during the course of the discussion; previously, they argued that opposites come from opposites, but now they show that this is impossible |
|
|
Term
| According to Plato, what will become of those who have purified themselves by philosophy? |
|
Definition
| They will escape the body and its distractions, receiving a dwelling place more beautiful than that received by those who are simply pious. |
|
|
Term
| What is the point of the Socrates’ advice? |
|
Definition
That even if everyone agrees with Socrates’ argument, everyone must nevertheless live the
philosophical life, because it is not enough to simply agree or disagree with the argument for
immortality |
|
|
Term
| What is the point of Socrates’ reply to Crito’s question about how Socrates wishes to be buried? |
|
Definition
| That his real identity is not the body but the soul |
|
|
Term
| According to Socrates, in what way can the physical world help us gain knowledge? |
|
Definition
| Knowledge is by recollection which is triggered by sensory perception of physical things in this world. |
|
|
Term
| From the dialogue found in this lesson, identify the different kinds of things which, according to Plato, have Forms. |
|
Definition
| The just, the good, the beautiful, health, strength, the equal, etc. |
|
|
Term
| What is the opinion of the majority as to what happens at death? |
|
Definition
| When a person dies, the soul is dispersed and its existence ends. |
|
|
Term
| What must the soul be like to escape the world? |
|
Definition
| It must be purified, dragging nothing bodily with it. The philosophical life is this purification. |
|
|
Term
| What is the greatest evil and why is it so bad? |
|
Definition
| The soul feeling pleasure or pain and riveting itself to the body, because this is a result of the mistaken belief that the objects associated with pleasure are true |
|
|
Term
| According to Simmias, what was the doctrine of the soul that was held by the Pythagoreans? |
|
Definition
| The soul is a harmony or attunement of opposites. The soul is like a harp or lyre and its strings. The soul is the harmony produced by playing chords. |
|
|
Term
| What was Cebes’ criticism? |
|
Definition
| Socrates' analogy is inadequate. The existence of a weaver after the weaver's cloak has disintegrated is not a convincing analogy that the soul persists after the death of the body. The weaver may have worn-out numerous cloaks during his life and died before his last cloak wore out. |
|
|
Term
| What is misology and how does it arise? |
|
Definition
| Misology is a hatred of argument and it arises from placing one’s trust in an argument and subsequently discovering the argument is unreliable. After repeated experiences of this sort, gradually one learns to hate arguments of every sort. |
|
|
Term
| According to Socrates, in what way can the physical world help us gain knowledge? |
|
Definition
| Knowledge is by recollection which is triggered by sensory perception of physical things in this world. |
|
|
Term
| From the dialogue found in this lesson, identify the different kinds of things which, according to Plato, have Forms. |
|
Definition
| The just, the good, the beautiful, health, strength, the equal, etc. |
|
|
Term
| What is the opinion of the majority as to what happens at death? |
|
Definition
| When a person dies, the soul is dispersed and its existence ends. |
|
|
Term
| What must the soul be like to escape the world? |
|
Definition
| It must be purified, dragging nothing bodily with it. The philosophical life is this purification. |
|
|
Term
| State the argument against suicide. |
|
Definition
| Mankind is one of the gods’ possessions and just as a person would be angry if one of his or her possessions simply killed itself without the person’s permission, so the gods are angry when one of their possessions kills itself without permission. |
|
|
Term
| What does Socrates think about his postmortal existence? |
|
Definition
| Socrates believes he will first go to wise and good gods, then to good men who have died and are better than men here. |
|
|
Term
| How is philosophy a preparation for death? |
|
Definition
| Philosophy frees the soul as much as possible from association with the body, and attachment to the body is the unvirtuous life. |
|
|
Term
| Why is the mind more able to gain truth than the body? |
|
Definition
| The body is subject to needs for sustenance, nurture, wants, desires, disease, fears, illusions and all such distractions. Insofar as the mind is freed from these corporeal bonds and distractions, it is able to contemplate the truth. |
|
|
Term
| What kind of person fears death? |
|
Definition
| Those who are not lovers of wisdom but who are lovers of the body and its pursuits |
|
|
Term
| What is the conception of the soul assumed in the beginning of the argument? (This is a Pythagorean doctrine.) |
|
Definition
| That the souls which come here do so from the underworld and that souls which die return to the underworld; in other words, the living come from the dead and the dead come from the living |
|
|
