Metaphysics Dahm FUS Midterm 2019

modus tollens

If A then B. Not B. Therefore, not A.

modus ponens

If A, then B A. Therefore, B

Hypothetical Syllogism

If A, then B. If B, then C. So, if A, then C.

what are Aristotle's criticisms of Plato?

1. "participation" is not explained 2. the Forms fail as an explanation 3. arguments for the Forms fail

what are the categories? (10)

1. Substance 2. Quantity 3. Quality 4. Relative 5. Where 6. When 7. Position (sitting) 8. Having (to do with clothing - have shirt on) 9. Acting on (action) 10. Being affected (passion)

What is the Demiurge?

Crafts and imposes onto the forms; The Demiurge is not the creator, it imprints the design onto an object

What is Parmenides's view of being?

Everything is being; rejected diversity and change COMPLETELY; everything is in unity and stability.

What is Heraclitus's view of being?

Everything is fire; rejected stability and unity; being is always in a state of change and flux.

why think there is an unmoved mover?

In order for motion to be possible, there must be something to set things into motion (a first mover) which does not require another to set it into motion. (slap-back example)

Types of Potency

Learning, Habits, Innate

constructive dilemma

Make a conditional with each disjunct as an antecedent. Either A or B. If A, then C. If B, then D. So, either C or D.

what are the kinds of causality?

Material, formal, efficient, final

what are the five valid forms of propositional argument we discussed?

Modus Ponens, Modus Tollens, disjunctive, hypothetical syllogism/chain argument, constructive dilemma

why think there is a receptacle?

Receptacle is the material being used to craft onto the forms by the demiurge

Genus-Species

Relation from a much larger class to a smaller class

what is participation?

Sharing in the forms in the realistic world; it is not explained

what are the principles and structures of change?

Subject, Privation, and Form The subject lacks something but through change acquires it

allegory of the cave

The chained people see only in the visible, never making it to the intelligible.

what is Parmenides's argument for his view of being?

Two things must differ either by being or non-being. They can't differ by being, as that is what they have in common (they both "are"). They ALSO cannot differ by non-being, that is, by not differing. THEREFORE, there can be no diversity.

Why think there are Forms?

We only experience values and virtues imperfectly that are constantly changing; One over many principle

What is an argument?

a set of statements, in which some are intended to support another

what are the two kinds of change?

accidental and substantial

substance-accident and form-matter composition

all motion is explained through the first cause--form and matter interact with each other and cause change; The human form can be received in many units of matter

Disjunctive Argument

an argument that presents limited options: two enumerated alternatives, often marked by an "either/or" statement; A or B

why think there is a demiurge?

because we need something to explain how there are things patterned after the forms at all.

builder building

builder who potentially builds

substantial change

change in form to become a new substance (an apple becoming me when I eat it)

accidental change

change of the accident of the thing (the position of the person, the color of the apple, etc.)

what are the two invalid forms of propositional argument we discussed?

denying the antecedent, affirming the consequent

What are the central aspects of experience we want to preserve and account for?

diversity and unity, change and stability

validity

if the premises are true, then the conclusion MUST be valid

why think that act is prior to potency?

one might think this in definition/account: by seeing someone run, we know they are able to run; or in substance/being: a thing comes to be for some end; potency is there for the sake of act

what is causality?

some potency being actualized

what are the forms?

that which always is; the being itself (Justice Itself, etc.); is unchanging and grasped by understanding.

what is the receptacle?

that which receives the qualities of the form(s); want it to be maleable and without much of its own structure (more receptive)

how do the forms relate to the changing world?

the changing world is always either drawing nearer to the forms or farther away from them

potency

the power to change (active); the ability to be changed (passive); "the could be"

(Plato) What are the two realms of being

the realm of forms and the realm of the many

What is metaphysics?

the study of the nature of reality or what is fundamentally real; "the love of wisdom of being"

what is the unmoved mover?

the unmoved mover is a being which sends other things into movement, without having to be sent into movement itself. It must be therefore unchanging and eternal. The unmoved mover causes by final causality, drawing things into motion towards itself.

Plato's divided line

there exists the visible and the intelligible. The visible are the images, the things in becoming that reveal to us the existence of the intelligible. Things which we do not really see, but which we cant get tho through imagination, belief, thought, or understanding/intelligence.

what are the many?

these are things that come to be like the forms; they come to be and pass away (just things, a just court, etc.)

Act-Potency

things move from potency to act. By seeing a thing act, we can know that the thing has potency.

soundness

validity AND all the premises are true: conclusion is true

(divided line: intelligible) through thought

we don't get to the things themselves, but we get glimpses of them and can conclude they exist (beautiful things => Beauty itself)

(divided line: intelligible) through understanding/intelligence

we go about seeing the intelligible through they themselves, not just the visible things of them

formal cause

what is it being made into (the shape of David)

final cause

what it is made for (beauty, money, enjoyment

material cause

what its made out of (bronze)

efficient cause

who made it (the artist)

act

work and complete; the fulfillment/activity; presence (David is in the marble); "When its really there"