Philosophy Final
How did Pythagoras influence Plato?
-"the soul is yoked to the body and buried in it as in a tomb" -influenced him to say that the soul needs to return to where it belongs: not in the body, but in another realm
What is Locke's epistemology?
-Fallibilism: we can have knowledge but not of everything -Empiricism: simple ideas & complex ideas
What is the Turing test upgrade discusses in WIRED mag?
-Gary Marcus said that a truly intelligent computer could "watch any arbitrary TV program or YouTube video and answer questions about its content -But no existing program—not Watson, not Goostman, not Siri—can currently come close to doing what any bright, real teenager can do: watch an episode of "The Simpsons," and tell us when to laugh.
What earlier philosophers did Plato draw from to construct his philosophy?
-Heraclitus -Parmenides -Pythagoras
How does the machine learning approach of systems like Google X's Neural Network parallel the empiricist epistemology of philosophers like John Locke?
-Locke said there are no innate ideas, only simple and complex ones learned through experience -Google's Neural Network taught itself how to recognize cats through EXPERIENCE
What is Rationalism according to Descartes?
-REASON -knowledge requires CERTAINTY -the soul does all the thinking
How does Empiricism differ from Rationalism?
-Rationalism is the belief in innate ideas, reason, and deduction -Empiricism is the belief in sense perception, induction, and that there are no innate ideas
How did Heraclitus influence Plato?
-all things flow -you can't step in the same river twice -influenced him that the physical world is always changing
What similarities are there between Descartes and Plato?
-both believe in innate ideas -both dualists who believed in the mind and body being separate
How did Parmenides influence Plato?
-change is an illusion -"being is" -the nature of reality is permanence
In De Anima, Aristotle describes the nature of the soul. What is the soul of a living thing?
-he believed that every substance had a purpose or function (telos), and that purpose is the soul (anima)
What is Platos epistemological theory of RECOLLECTION?
-his epistemology is that all the ideas of the FORMS already exist in deep in our souls and we just have to recall them somehow -no ideas are new, they're just recalled because we already have them in our heads
What is Aristotle's metaphysics?
-reality is composed of substances that can be known via experience -MATTER and FORM cannot be separated -he rejected Plato's Theory of Forms
Why is the unexamined life not worth living according to Socrates?
-the masses may be able to kill us if we don't do as they wish, but "the unexamined life is not worth living" -"not living, but living well, is to be regarded as the most important" -if he gives up "examining life" through philosophy then he will be abandoning what gives him purpose and what the Oracle told him he needs to dedicate his life to
Euthyphro's first definition & Socrates' objection
1. Piety is what I'm doing right now 1. This is only an example and not a definition
What two problems does Socrates' death pose for Crito
1. Socrates will be dead 2. This makes Crito look bad because why hadn't he done everything he could to free his friends who was unjustly condemned? It may seem as if Crito valued money more than his friend
What are Descartes skeptical arguments?
1. The unreliability of the sense -if we can't trust our senses then we can't justify scientific beliefs -the senses are not always reliable therefore the senses can't be the foundation of knowledge 2. The dreaming argument -the problem is that it's hard to tell if I'm dreaming or not, therefore I can't be certain that reality isn't a dream 3. The evil genius argument -I cannot be certain that I'm not being deceived by an evil genius, therefore I can't be certain that reality isn't a deception of an evil genius
What are the UNOFFICIAL charges against Socrates in the Apology?
1. accused of being a Sophist -making the weaker argument appear stronger -he does it for money 2. claiming knowledge of the heavens and the underworld
What are the OFFICIAL charges against Socrates in the Apology?
1. corrupting the youth (voluntarily & involuntarily) 2. impiety --> a) not believing in the Gods of Athens, b) introduced his own, new Gods
When found guilty, what does Socrates suggest instead of the death penalty?
1. give me a reward of free meals for the rest of his life and a pension 2. exile 3. pay a fine of 1 mina 4. Plato and co. suggest they will pay a fine of 30 mina for him
what is the Socratic method?
1. start with a statement 2. see if an exception can be found 3. if an exception can't be found then you're done. however if can exception can be found then you must start over or revise 4. an exception was found 5. start over or revise
Why does Socrates refuse to escape prison in the Crito?
1. we should not be concerned with the opinions of the masses 2. because he had the option of exile instead of death and he refused it because he said he could never stop doing philosophy and if he were were to leave then it would be the same thing as being exiled and he would just end up doing the same thing in another city -SAME AS WHY HE REFUSES EXILE
Euthyphro's second definition & Socrates' objection
2. Piety is what the Gods love 2. This leads to an absurdity because the Gods love and hate all different things and would mean the same thing could be pious and impious at the same time
Euthyphro's third definition & Socrates' objection
3. Piety is what ALL the Gods love 3. This isn't a definition but rather just a quality of pious things
Euthyphro's fourth definition & Socrates' objection
4. Piety is the part of justice that tends to the Gods 4. This is really just #2 in disguise
How is Aristotle's theory of FORMS different from Plato's?
Aristotle believed that forms had to discover their purpose through experience and form cannot exist without matter but Plato believed that forms already had their purpose in their souls innately and had to recollect it and that forma and matter existed separately
Why does Descartes doubt the existence of the external world?
Because he believes that if he doubts his senses then he can't trust science and he doesn't think that he actually exists
Why does Aristotle call the man the "Rational Animal"?
Because the difference between humans and animals/plants according to Aristotle was that man had the ability to use REASON
What is Descartes epistemology?
Discourse on Method -foundationalism -knowledge requires a FIRM foundation that CANNOT be doubted -rationalism -knowledge requires certainty
From where did Socrates receive his mission of being a gadfly?
He received it from the Oracle of Delphi
What is Descartes argument for the existence of God?
If he has the ability to think and thus has innate ideas, those innate ideas had to have been put into his mind by God who is perfect and exists without a physical home
What is the Implicit Agreement?
In Athens, if you choose to stay living there as an adult, there is an implicit agreement to obey the laws of Athens, but there's no physical contract
Can one know anything beyond experience according to Aristotle?
NO - according to Aristotle
What is Locke's empiricism?
NO innate ideas (tabula rasa) there are only: 1. simple ideas 2. complex ideas -combining -comparing/contrasting -abstracting
Are plants and non-human animals living and do they have souls according to Aristotle?
Plants and non-human animals do have souls but they're not as advanced as human souls are -plants have a vegetative soul, animals have a sensitive soul and humans have a rational soul
How does Descartes overcome solipsism?
Solipsism is the problem of not knowing or being able to prove other people/souls exist besides oneself -Descartes overcomes this problem because of his assurance and belief that God exists; if God exists then he is not the only thing with a soul
What are the FORMS?
The FORMS according to Plato are unchanging and uncreated ideas about something that only exist in the non-physical realm, but explain material things in the physical realm - like blueness or roundness
What is the dialogue the Euthyphro an example of?
The Socratic Method
What is Plato's view of reality (metaphysics)?
The Theory of Forms -there is a physical world where particular things lives and a non-physical world where universal ideas (aka the "forms") exist
What is the tabula rasa?
The mind is a blank slate -everything is learned through experience
What is Locke's view on the self?
The self is defined by MEMORY and PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTINUITY -the soul does not equal the mind but the mind DOES equal the self
What is the Turing test?
basically Descartes two tests: an agent must convince a human that it too is a human
How does Aristotle understand God?
he believed that everything comes from something EXCEPT God and that God is the starting point for all forms
What is Descartes view of the soul?
he is a dualist and believes that the soul is separate from the body and didn't need to stay in ONE body forever, just needed to live in A body
What role does memory play in Locke's philosophy?
he said that the self is defined by memory and that everything someone knows had to be remembered through experiences
What is the relationship between the body and the soul for Plato?
he was a dualist so he believed that the body and the soul were separate
what is Epiphenomenalism?
mental events are NOT physical events but they are CAUSED by physical events
what are Qualia?
special, indescribable, inner experiences that every living being has had
What is the Lovelace test?
the Lovelace test is a test named after Ada Lovelace who is said to be the first computer scientist, and believed that an agent can't be conscious until it produces something creative that it wasn't programmed to do
Why is a life of philosophy akin to a life of preparing for death?
the soul only exits the "cave" (aka body) when we die and enters the non-physical realm where it belongs -death is not the end for the soul
epistemology
the study of knowledge
metaphysics
the study of reality itself
How does the Turing test relate to Descartes two very certain tests?
they both test for 1) language use and 2) a general problem solver ability
