Looking at Philosophy Ch 2
Protagoras
"man is the measure of all things" Relativism Accept traditional customs- go along to get along Emphasized subjectivism and relativism most famous sophist in Athens 490-429 - earliest and most famous Sophist - quotation: - means that: I am the measure of all things; these are matters of individual judgment - no universal standards -indicted for blasphemy, was burned publicly
Skepticism
A denial of the possibility of knowledge. Could be skeptical of all knowledge or a specific field
Athenian period
Age of Herodotus to Death of Alexander the Great The Sophists
Teleology
An explanation in terms of goals, purposes, or intentions
Accidents
Characteristic of a substance that is not essential to the substance
Critias
Clever rulers control their subjects by encouraging fear of nonexistent gods
Good things of sophism
Contribution to democracy Makes humanity the object of interest- Whats the nature of humans
teleological
Definition : Philosophical approach that looks at the purposes and end results of phenomena rather than causes or means (Aristotle)
Sophism
Doctrines of a group of teachers who espoused relativism against epistemological and ethical absolutism and who emphasized rhetoric over reason its subjectivism, skepticism, and nihilism Democracy human as the focus opposed Plato and Aristotle Charged their students
Plato and Aristotle
Early Greek philosophers Which two philosophers formed the basis of philosophy in Alexandria? wrote about the Sophists in a negative way
Necessary conditions
Features of a concept that must be present if the concept is to be deemed correctly define
Sufficient conditions
Features which, when present, guarantee that the concept in question had been correctly defined
The Sophists
Goal: to replace philosophy with rhetoric, to replace objectivity with skepticism, objective truth with reality, knowledge with skepticism
nihilism
Gorgias belief in nothing the belief that there are no values or morals in the universe
Socratic problem
He never wrote anything down his philosophy was nearly inseparable from his personality
Thrasymachus
Might makes right. Power should be everyone's goal- not law or morality Justice: Advantage of the stronger. Those in power make the rules, create the justice. sophist
Ethics
Moral philosophy; the branch of philosophy that answers questions such as, Is there such a thing as the good? What is "the good life"? Are moral judgements based only on preference?
Gorgias
Nihilism Denied that there is any truth at all. Believed that nothing exists, that if anything exists it is incomprehensible and that even if it is comprehensible, it cannot be communicated.
Allegory of the Cave
Plato prisoners in a cave, forced to watch the back wall and only sees shadows.. when a prisoner is forced out, his eyes hurt, he's scared, but he adapts and learns of the outside world.. when he's forced back he's deemed crazy Describes how untutored people are chained away from learning
Aristotle
Plato was his teacher (384-322 BCE) Believed, unlike his teacher Plato, that philosophers could rely on their senses to provide accurate information about the world. Designed the first classification system which divided living things into two categories: plants and animals
Forms
Plato-everything that exists in the physical of conceptual world is in some way dependent on Forms, which exist independently of the world but are the models of all reality Aristotle- forms are the essence of things, but they exist in things and are not independent of them
Callicles
Power is good- not justice. Power is good for survival. Survival allows pleasure. Food, drink, and sex are the meaning of life. Morality if the weapon of the weak masses to shackle powerful individuals sophist
Relativism
Protagoras There are no absolute standard, values or truths; all values or truths are relative to time, place, and culture The human is the standard but humans constantly change
plato
Socrates' most well known pupil. Founded an academy in Athens. Didn't like the sophist Allegory of the Cave hierarchical human appetite, reason and The good = God; the greatest form of reality Doctrine of recollection
Metaphysics
The branch of philosophy that attempts to construct a general, speculative worldview; a complete, systematic account of all reality and experience
Essence
The feature of an object or concept that establishes the nature and definition of the object or concept
Simile of the line
The most important work,the Republic. It is reality are likened to a line. The right side of the line is his ontology - his theory of being). The left side is his epistemology -his theory of knowledge).
Aesthetics
The philosophy of art. The branch of philosophy that investigates questions such as, What makes something a work of art? Are there absolute values in art?
Catharsis
The purgation of dangerous emotions. Aristotle saw this was accomplished through art
Socrates
The unexamined life is not worth living Promoted introspection by saying, "Know thyself." philosopher who believed in an absolute right or wrong; asked students pointed questions to make them use their reason, later became Socratic method his student, Plato. An opponent of the Sophists knowing that you don't know is the basis of wisdom He was sentenced to death for corrupting the minds of Athenian youth and he drank the hemlock Greek philosopher; Socratic method--questioning; sentenced to death for corrupting Athens youth. Believed writing distorted ideas. His ideas were recorded by his followers (Plato).
Nihilism
The view that nothing exists or nothing deserves to exist or the wish for destruction
Subjectivism
The view that there are no objective truths or value; all truths and values are relative to the subjectivity of the individual-
Ontology
Theory of being; the branch of philosophy that answers questions such as, What is real? What is the difference between appearance and reality?
Epistemology
Theory of knowledge, answering questions such as, What is knowledge? What can we know? What is the difference between opinion and knowledge?
The doctrine of recollection
This is how we know the form Our souls exist before we are born into our bodies. And our souls take in the Forms. But this knowledge gets erased at birth, knowing or understanding a form, then is not learning, something new but recalling or recollecting what the soul already understood. Plato
Substance
Whatever can exist independently of other things. Most basic, independent reality
cynicism
an attitude or belief that all people are motivated by selfishness general distrust for others/classical philosophy to live in virtue and agreement with nature
conjecture
an opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete information, video games lowest state of awareness cave bound prisoner and shadows
epistemological
philosophical study of how we acquire knowledge.