Philosophy Post test study questions
On his deathbed, what was Hume's response to Boswell's question?
" Yes, it is possible that the soul is immortal. It's also possible that if I toss this piece of coal into the flames of that fire, it will not burn. Possible, but there is no basis for believing it- not by reason, and not by sense perception, not by our experience.
What do Voltaire's words "ecrasez l'infame!" mean?
"Crush the infamous one"
Describe Plato's requirements for how the ruling class of his Republic should live.
"No one must have any private property whatsoever, except what is absolutely necessary"
Why is this a criticism of Descartes?
"cartesian" is an adjective derived from Descartes. he had to show that God exists and is not a deceiver
What one word became the slogan of the Young Hegelians? What does that word mean?
"criticism", the crucial means by which to change the world.
What was the subsequent "reign of terror" called?
"the Rule of the Thirty"
What is Alfred North Whitehead's famous quote about Plato?
"the history of Western philosophy is only a series of footnotes to Plato."
The Sophists' position of moral relativism
(1) Argued that all moral and political principles are relative to the group which believes them. (2) Claimed that the laws of cities are not natural and unchangeable but are merely the product of custom or convention. (3) one is not obliged to obey the law
Interpretations of the Allegory of the Cave
(1) It is an allegory of sleep and waking, of our time as asleep in the dark of the cave and needing to awake to a clear vision of the world. (2) It is an allegory of our time as needing to be born again, to emerge from the darkness of corruption into the light of truth and morality. (3) It is an educational allegory of our time as needing to ascend through stages of education from the darkness of intellectual and moral confusion in its everyday beliefs, to the light of true knowledge and values. (4) It is a religious allegory of Christian conversion from the cave of self-love and self-gratification to the love of God and devotion to His truth.
Explain Pierre Gassendi's two criticisms of Descartes's first principle.
(1) That things or substances exist. (2) That thinking or any other action or state can exist only as the action or state of a substance.
Explain the several interpretations of Socrates' death
(1) The martyrdom of Socrates as the secular counterpart of the martyrdom of Christ (the best among us, the wisest, the noblest, the purest, the most righteous, we put to death). (2) Representing the hostility of the masses toward philosophy and philosophers. (3) Expressing the power of the state over the individual and his freedom of inquiry. (4) As a mask for his defense of aristocracy against Athenian democracy.
Describe the four main points of Socrates' philosophy
(1) The only true wisdom consists in knowing that you know nothing. (2) the improvement or "tendance" of the soul, the care for wisdom and truth, is the highest good (3) "if you condemn me, you will sin against the gods who have given me to you" (4) the principle that virtue is knowledge
In Descartes historical era, what two elements in scientific method were identified? Which element did he favor?
(1) the empirical element, the use of sensory observation and experimentation; (2) the rational element, the use of mathematics and deductive reasoning, as by Copernicus and Galileo in explaining the motion of heavenly bodies. Descartes viewed the empirical or the rational element more important
drudgery
(n.) work that is hard and tiresome
dissemble
(v.) to disguise or conceal, deliberately give a false impression
Hegel's Theory of the Dialectic Describe the three stages of the process of hegelian dialectic. How does this dialectical process characterize all human thought?
- change happens because of ideas synthesis ^ thesis > *boom* < antithesis - the synthesis becomes the new thesis and the process is repeated (never ending)
pamphleteer
..., a writer of pamphlets (usually taking a partisan stand on public issues)....what bloggers were in the old days
What are Hume's three principle targets in his attack against religion?
1)The rationalistic proofs of the existence of God which the medieval theologians had developed, and which we found Descartes using after he had established the Cogito 2)Deism, the rational theology which was currently attracting most of the philosophers and theologians of Hume's day-in London, Edinburgh, Paris, and in the new colonies which were to become the US of America 3)The traditional religious belief in miracles.
2. Second Stage: Ultimate Communism What is the famous quote from Marx which is the principle of ultimate communism? How is ultimate communism related to the contents of the Paris Manuscripts? How does this picture seem "religious" or utopian in character?
1. "for each according to ability, to each according to his need." 2.Asiatic, classical, feudal,and capitalist- finally to return in the new synthesis to a new advanced industrial communism. 3. but Marx is also expressing something deeper than philosophy his vision is strongly reminiscent of religious themes, of the judeo-christian conception of a mans fall from paradise, and the long years of labor in exile, with the hope of paradise to be regained in the future world.
Communist Manifesto Problem (c) Science? Philosophy? Ideology? How is it that Marx's ideas do not escape his own critique of being also an ideology? What does it mean for your ideas to be an ideology? How might an idea escape being an ideology?
1. As for Marx's own position on this matter, he held that all thought is ideological, being conditioned by social class and historical period, and therefore offering only distorting, falsifying picture of human reality; but he also claimed his own views, although conditioned by social class and history, escape the ideological trap and are objectively true. But Marx does not explain how this is possible.
5. Dialectic of Capitalism: Its Achievements Lead to its Own Destruction How does capitalism undermine itself? How does the crisis of the overproduction of goods come about?
1. Capitalism, like the magician, is unable to control all the productive forces it has brought about, all the new and proliferating instruments, machinery, and technologies. The repeated result is a crisis of overproduction of goods 2. here in the crisis of overproduction capitalist relations of production come into conflict with the constantly expanding forces of production and flow of production.
5. Capitalist Competition and Crises of Overproduction How does competition lead to overproduction? What effect does it have on workers?
1. Capitalists are in relentless competition with one another in selling their goods, and their involves them in competing with one another by investing their capital in the ceaseless flow of new machinery in order to increase productions. 2. cutting wages or cutting production mean poverty and unemployment for the proletariat and as these intensify, they lead to proletarian revolution.
1. How did he regard the power of the state in relation to the individual? 2. How does this seem to contradict his idea about the nature of the true meaning of human history?
1. For Hegel, the state had absolute power and moral authority of individuals. 2. It claimed the true meaning of human history is that it is the progress of finite spirit in the consciousness of freedom.
4. The Passion of Greed How is it that both capitalists and proletarians are both in bondage to greed? What has been the motivating force throughout all of human history?
1. He is influenced by the dominant ideas of his capitalist environment to save his money and increase his capital. 2.greed has been the motivating force throughout all of human history, alienating man from his human essence and dehumanizing him. Man worships money as the all powerful master, as an "overturning power" says Marx, that can turn all values and relationships into their contraries.
The Meaning of World History 1.Name the four most important philosophies of history. 2.According to Hegel, what is the meaning of world history? 3.What does it mean to say that history is "teleological?
1. Hegel's philosophy of history ranks with the christian philosophy of history developed by Saint Augustine;2. the enlightenment philosophy of history; 3. most explicitly formulated by Condorcet; 4. the historical materialism of Karl Marx.; 2. the scene in which the truth of Absolute unfolds itself, reveals itself to the consciousness of humanity. 3.that it has a purpose
4. Superstructure What relationship does the economic foundation of society have to the rest of society? Define the word "superstructure." How is the notion of a cultural superstructure related to Marx's concept of ideology?
1. His claim is that the economic foundation of society conditions or determines the entire realm of culture. 2.the sum total of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society 3.This conception of the cultural superstructure- religion, philosophy, law, political thought, morality, art-as falsifying and distorting the truth about social reality in the interests of a particular social class is the basis of Marx's tremendously influential concept of ideology.
Describe four possible criticisms of Descartes's first proof of God.
1. I have an idea of God 2. this idea must have a cause 3. the cause must be equal in formal reality to the subjective reality of the idea 4. I myself could not possibly be the cause. 5. So God must be the cause of my idea.
Explain the three functions of the synthesis.
1. It cancels the conflict between thesis and antithesis. 2. it preserves or retains the element of truth within the thesis and antithesis 3. it transcends the opposition and raises up or sublimates the conflict into a higher truth.
Hegel's Philosophy of History: Evaluation 1.What criticisms does Lavine make of Hegel's philosophy of history? 2.What ideas are problematic for us in Hegel's views?
1. It is impossible to deny that Hegel's philosophy of history as the manifestation or unfolding of the Absolute justifies everything that has occurred in history as the work of the Absolute, Moreover, Hegel's dialectical method permits him to justify evils as necessary stages in the antithesis to a higher good in synthesis. 2.does not bring progress to individual human beings in the form of growth of science and technology, or in the form of the growth and spread of natural rights and democracy.
"The Jewish Question" What did Marx criticize about Judaism? How does he also apply this criticism to Christianity? What does Marx believe is the real god of Christians and Jews?
1. Judaism is at bottom a religion of practical need, selfishness, and egoism. 2. Christianity, he says has not taken over this money worship, this alienation of man from himself in the worship of money. 3.Money
1. Historical Materialism Versus Mechanistic Materialism 1.Explain how mechanistic materialism differs from historical materialism. 2.Who is a notable proponent of mechanistic materialism? (at least in regard to non-humans)
1. Marx believes that his own materialism is different from all pervious types of materialism in its awareness that the reality of material objects is not independent of human beings, but is actually a reality which has been transformed by human labor in the course of history. 2.matter in motion
6. Polarization of Classes What will competition do to the size of the capitalist class? What do these former capitalists become? How does capitalism affect the classes of society? --according to Marx?
1. Marx believes that the capitalist class will shrink in size as capitalist competition increases, and the more successful capitalist competition undersell others, and buy them out or drive them out business. 2. proletariat: shopkeepers, skilled craftsman, farmers. 3.these classes are disappearing ,; says Marx, because these small producers cannot compete with the capital, mass production, and underselling of the capitalist businesses that are entering every field of production.
Marx: The London Years What newspaper was Marx's principal source of income during the early London years? What other sources of income did they have? What ultimately delivered them from poverty and brought them a modest income? Describe Marx's daily routine?
1. New York Daily Tribune 2.small inheritances and form the support which Engels and other friends were able to provide. 3. Engels received an increased income from his family's Manchester mills, and gave them an annual income on which they could live in comfort. 4. His days were spent in the reading room of the British museum, the great public library of London, where he did his endless reading and his writing, at the same desk everyday, from 9 in the morning until 7 at night of further study and writing.
Hegel's Metaphysics: Absolute Idealism Lavine gives seven characteristics of Hegel's absolute idealism. Describe each of these seven characteristics.
1. Reality as totality of conceptual truth 2. reality as absolute mind 3. " the real is the rational and the rational is the real" 4. The rational is the existent object "more deeply understood" 5.reality is knowable by its intelligible, rational structures 6. absolute mind as unity-in-diversity 7. The task of metaphysics: to show the diversity of components of reality, their limits, and interconnections in a unified totality.
4. Bourgeois Change and the Dissolution of Ideas How has capitalism affected the idealism of modern societies? Why? How is a doctor regarded differently now than in the middle ages?
1. The bourgeoisie's ceaseless revolutionary changes in the machinery and technology of production are reflected in the spirit of restless change in the bourgeoisie's own superstructure- in the bourgeois age in history all traditions, ideals, veils, masks, illusions with regard to human life are constantly being swept away in the ceaseless change. 2. Capitalism says Marx, has stripped the halos from every profession which had been previously honored- physician, lawyer, priest, poet, scientist- and made their practitioners into wage laborers.
The Nation-State: The True Individual of History 1.What is the significance of understanding the states (rather than persons) as being the true individuals of history? 2.What is it that the state performs under the guidance of the cunning of reason?
1. The cunning of reason uses the great nation-states, which incorporate institutions and culture, as the true individuals of history and as the vehicles of freedom. It is to these great individuals, the nation-states, rather than to particular existing human individuals, that the consciousness of freedom is manifested. 2.The spirit of people in each successive leading nation-state embodies one stage in the Absolute's manifestation of freedom, one stage in man's developing truth of freedom. and so each nation-state has specific and limited role to play in the unfolding of the consciousness of freedom in the great theater of history.
The Cunning of Reason 1.What does Hegel mean by "the cunning of reason"? 2.What two things does the cunning of reason use to accomplish its goal? 3.What is the significance of Hegel's position that Absolute Spirit does not manifest itself in an individual but only in the spirit of an entire people?
1. The cunning of the reason is the power of the absolute to use the immense force of human passion as means to its end of human freedom. 2.a)the great nation-states which appear successively in history; b)the great historical individuals who bring about profound changes in history. 3. The absolute unfolds and manifests itself in the spirit of an entire people
The German Ideology and the Beginning of Scientific Marxism How does his article "The German Ideology" differ from his Paris Manuscripts? How has Marx's thinking changed in the time between these two periods?
1. The german ideology, so soon after the 1844 manuscripts, there appears the first formulation of the so-called mature marxism, in which the theory of self-alienated man, which had been the central theme of the 1844 Manuscripts, is now dismissed as a conception of the left-wing hegelian philosophers, and presumably as having no value. 2. self, humanistic concern with self-realization, and maturity
German Romanticism Describe the five basic characteristics of German romanticism as given by Lavine.
1. The inward path,2 the quest for totality of experience, 3.the primacy of will, 4. Nature as spirit, 5. Romantic Polarity
CHAPTER 21: ALIENATED MAN Two Marxisms? 1. What is the significance of the Paris Manuscripts when compared to Marx's later works? 2. What is the nature of the goal of world history as depicted in the Paris Manuscripts? But in Marx's later writings, how is the nature of the goal of world history depicted? How does the early Marxism differ from the late Marxism?
1. When the significance of the Paris Manuscripts began to be recognized after world war 2, a new view of Marx emerged from the study of these manuscripts, 2. a view of Marxism as a moral or religious or humanistic system of thought which has as its fundamental theme the moral regeneration of humanity through world revolution. 3.&4. Western Marx scholars who find in the writings of the young Marx the true foundation of Marxism are regarded by society scholars as falsifiers and enemies of Marxism, who are enthusiastically emphasizing Marx's immature, early thought because it is more humanistic than revolutionary and does not threaten the west.
4. Rejection of Political Democracy 1.What were Hegel's three powers or branches of the state? 2.How would the members of the legislative branch be chosen? 3.Why is Hegel opposed to universal public election? 4.What three estates or classes would be represented in the legislature? 5.What is Hegel's position regarding democracy
1. a legislative branch;and executive power; a monarch 2.elected as individuals by a universal public election 3.denies that the general public is in any position to know what its own interests are or for what or for whom to vote. 4. agriculture; business; civil service 5. he rejects the twin pillars of political liberalism: individualism and democracy.
Philosophy of History as Theodicy 1.What is a "theodicy"? 2.How does Hegel defend God against being responsible for evil?
1. a theory which undertakes to justify God, to vindicate god against the charge that he has permitted evil to overrun the world. 2.History may thus be said to be the progress of humanity in the consciousness of its own freedom.
History As Progress in the Consciousness of Freedom 1.Describe the three moments or stages in the triadic development of the consciousness of freedom. 2.How is Hegel's philosophy ethnocentric?
1. a)the cunning of reason brings about by using the nation-states as the great social structures of history b)the passions of their private individual members which sustain them; c) and the passions of the great world-historical individuals, which bring about historical change. 2.God embodies and develops himself first in nature, then in the rising stages of human consciousness and civilization. Human history and culture are God's working out of his self-realization in the world. Individual humans - especially the great heroes of world history - are the principal means of change, while peoples and states are the embodiment of each phase
Reason and Desire 1.What are the two elements that enter into history? 2.How do they contribute to the purpose of history being realized? 3.What motivates human beings? 4.Is passion or desire good?
1. a)the first reason, the rational concept of freedom which the absolute, the totality of rational truth is seeking to unfold, reveal, externalize, manifest, and express to finite spirit. b)the second is human passion 2. The absolute has therefore primarily only one human element to work with in bringing about in finite minds a consciousness of their freedom: This element is human desire and passion. The desires of human beings, their passions, their private personal aims, their drive to gain satisfaction of their selfish wants- there are the most effective springs of human action, says Hegel. 3. Passion, not rationality, is what motivates human beings. 4.desires are much "closer to the core of human nature" than are laws and morality which try to restrain them. Moreover, desires are expressions of the human will and they may work for good.
3. Ethics is Social Ethics 1.What is the significance of understanding all ethics as being social ethics? 2.If it's true that we cannot separate ourselves from the beliefs and values of our own society and our own time, what consequences does this have on our ethical thinking?
1. all ethics is social ethics, the ethics of a particular society, that the moral life is the life lived in accordance with the moral standards 2. Social immorality; private conscience; universal moral principles; god
3. Engels How did Friedrich Engels initially influence upon Marx? What does he help Marx to realize the significance of?
1. an essay, " Outlines of the criticism of political economy" 2. significance of economics
What were the three ways that the Philosophies attempted to show these beliefs to be false?
1. appeal to the empiricists' question how do you know 2. appeal to the new truths of physical nature established by science 3. appeal to the new truths of human nature established by reason, the truths of natural rights, equality under the law, and universal rationality.
The Paris Years: 1843-45 Why did Marx move to Paris? Why was Paris a good environment for him? What feature must have excited him most? What is a "utopia"? What was Marx's attitude toward utopianism?
1. because German censorship and reactionary politics would silence him- he could say or do nothing of political consequence in Germany 2. he was drawn to Paris by the offer of a job, assisting Arnold Ruge, a young Hegelian editor and writer, with the editing of a new journal, which was to be called the German-French Annals. 3. Paris provide and rich and exciting intellectual atmosphere, especially for the refugees and exiles from repressive states and churches- from Germany Russia Italy Poland and Hungary. 4.a pie in the sky;an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect 5. French Radicals; they were concocting theories of improving society which could never be put in to practice, theories which presented glorious ends without any means to reach them, theories which were then, and would always remain a pie in the sky;
2. Theory of Alienation 1.What is alienation? 2.What is the fundamental characteristic of the person who is alienated? 3.What does alienation do? 4.How is alienation associated with unhappiness? 5.What is Hegel's attitude toward the value of individualism?
1. being estranged, shut out of the common life, the sense of being an outsider 2.failure to identify with the larger will of the society;the ideals and institutions by which you society defines itself appear to you meaningless or false, and they form no part of you; is the condition in which you no longer identify yourself with the public morality and institutions of your society. 3. breaks up the organic unity of society into nonparticipating atoms. 4. alienation from a society is a necessary condition of unhappiness 5. is a solvent , a destroyer of national and community.
She also lists two common features of their understanding of dialectic- explain those two?
1. both regard dialectic as the highest level of knowledge in that it seeks to grasp reality in the form of underlying rational conceptual truths 2. uses the method of dialectic to construct a great totalizing philosophy in which rational concepts organize and synthesize all aspects of reality into a single, interconnected, meaningful whole.
2. The Nation-State As Source of Ethics 1.What is Hegel's prescription for how to live a moral life? 2.How is the nation-state the source of ethics?
1. by acting in accordance with the moral principles expressed by your own society in its own institutions. 2. The moral values that are embodied in your Nation-state provide the only morality you have, your only moral ideas, your only moral obligations.
Hegel's Political Philosophy Formal Freedom Versus Substantial Freedom 1.How does the state make freedom possible? 2.Explain the difference between formal freedom (freedom from) and substantial freedom (freedom to). 3.What sort of person has substantial freedom? 4.What is the meaning of happiness for Hegel? 5.What is the fundamental condition for happiness? 6.Can someone who refuses to embrace the values of his or her culture be happy?
1. by providing the ethical substance of a society 2.a)formal freedom: negative that express the rebellion of the bourgeois individuals against the coercive authority of absolute monarchy. b)substantial freedom: positive freedom by which to act and live as a free spiritual being. 3.they can recognize that the political and ethical ideals which they value as their own coincide with the ideals embodied in the laws and institutions of the organic totality of which they are a part of. 4. substantial freedom 5. being able to identify with the ideals of your society; unification 6. no you are in a state of alienation
burlesque
1. comic play; 2. lampoon
Lavine list three differences between Hegel's theory of dialectic and plato's- explain each of these three?
1. contradiction can never be overcome 2. dialectic yields the dynamically changing truths of the concepts 3. conceptual truth is immanent in existent things, in the changing processes of the world, and it time bound.
Explain how each virtue is a mean between excess and deficit.
1. courage- mean between the vice of cowardice (excess fear) & the vice of rashness (deficient fear. 2. self respect- mean between the vice of vanity (excess) & the vice of humility (deficiency).
3. The Bourgeois Destruction of the Feudal Substructure and Superstructure How did the rise of capitalism affect feudalism? What one relationship has capitalism left intact?
1. destroyed the economic substructure of feudalism, destroyed as well the feudal superstructure of ideas and values. 2. naked self-interest, callous "cash payment"
3. Alienation What is alienation? Describe the four main forms that human alienation takes.
1. exists outside of him, independently, as something alien to him...the life which he has conferred on the object confronts him as something hostile and alien. 2. worker is alienated form his product; the capitalist system alienates man from his productive activity;society alienates the worker from the essential qualities of the human species;estrangement of man from man.
b) Materialism What two ideas did Marx learn from Feuerbach? What did Feuerbach mean by the necessity of "turning Hegel upside down"?
1. feuerbachs materialism, his metaphysical theory that reality is primarily material, and not spiritual as Hegel had claimed. 2. Marx took away from Feuerbach, the young Hegelian, the message that the philosophy of Hegel is still true, that when Hegel is turned upside down, when it is seen that Hegel, correctly translated, is actually revealing man's life in the material world rather than god's manifestation, Hegel is still the master.
Hegel's Philosophic Sources What were the four philosophical viewpoints that most infuluenced Hegel? Name and describe each.
1. first years of the nineteenth century and in his place, the university life of Prussian Germany 2. french rationalism and British empiricism and synthesizing them, was the formidable philosophy of the German Philosopher Kant, which had been the capstone of the enlightenment philosophy. 4. newer philosophy which had appeared in German and this was the viewpoint call romanticism.
Name the three good forms of the state and the three bad forms.
1. good forms of the state-monarchy, aristocracy, polity; 2. bad forms of the state-tyranny, oligarchy, democracy.
What are Hegel's three objections to Kant's restrictions on the pure concepts, the ordering of the human mind?
1. he refused any limitation on the number of concepts 2. he refused to limit them to use in sensory experience 3. refused to limit the knowledge gained by the categories to the status of mere appearance.
Evaluation How would you evaluate Marx's thought? What do you see that he contributed? What would you reject? What criticisms would you make of his idea
1. his specific predictions with regard to capitalism and communism we now recognize as seriously mistaken. 2. his concepts of the economic foundations of society,social classes, ideology, capitalism and its culture, and the influence of social, economic, and historical conditions on human life and thought 3.
5. Ideology How does Marx define "ideology"? Whom do the dominant cultural beliefs serve? How has Marx's concept of ideology influenced non-Marxist thought? Is Marxism also an ideology? -- only one that is intended to benefit the proletariat class
1. ideology may be defined as a system of ideas which is determined by class conflict and which reflects and promotes the interests of the dominant class. 2.the dominant class 3.
The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts 1. Hegel Upside-down is Economics What does Marx believe that Hegel was really talking about in The Phenomenology of Spirit? What does Marx believe is the enduring importance of Hegel?
1. in its underlying meaning, was a philosophy of economic life, an economic interpretation of history. 2. Marx believe that the secret meaning of Hegel's conception of alienation and its over coming is the enduring importance of Hegel.
What are the three types of ideas according to Descartes?
1. innate ideas to be known by substance, cause, existence, time, space, the basic principles of mathematics & logic. 2. (factitious) imagination ideas ex. unicorns 3. outside ideas (adventitious) ex. seeing sun
5. Relativity of Politics to Society 1.According to Hegel, what is the best constitution or government for a particular people or nation? 2.How is this an expression of Hegel's historic-ism?
1. is the one that it has since it will manifest the absolute as it is revealed to the people 2. his view that to understand anything, including politics, we must see it in its historical growth and developement
What are Aristotle's four causes? (sometimes called the four principles or four questions).
1. material cause- material of which the house is built. 2. formal cause- the house to be build, the form to be actualized. 3. the efficient cause- the work & tools which produce the house as their effect. 4. final cause- the purpose for which the house is built.
The Spirit of a People (Volksgeist) 1.What does Hegel mean by Volksgeist or "the spirit of a people"? 2.How is this idea an expression of organic-ism?
1. means something very close to what today we call culture, in part because Hegel has taught us to think in this way. 2.The "spirit" or character or style of the people, indwelling in all the parts of the cultural totality, expresses itself though them, leaving its own mark on every aspect of culture. Nothing in a specific human culture can be understood in isolation; its religion, music, language, politics, and art are all expressions of the one spirit of the people and exhibit as a result the same style and character.
Explain how it is that Plato and Aristotle might represent two types of temperaments with respective intellectual outlooks upon the world.
1. platonist- favor the abstract, favor the truth & logic; want to attain PERFECT knowledge & ideas. 2. aristotelian- favor the concrete, wants to gather knowledge of ACTUAL things.
World-Historical Individuals 1.How does the cunning of reason use world-historical individuals? 2.What are the characteristics of the world-historical individual? 3.Why do other people follow them? 4.How is the greatness of the leader limited? 5.What is the attitude of Hegel toward the "immoral" acts of such leaders? 6.What purpose does evil serve?
1. the cunning of reason uses the desires of ordinary individuals to maintain the ongoing functions of the great nation-states, each of which embodies a stage in humanity's consciousness of freedom. 2.heroic figures; the great individual agents of change in history; motivated by their own desires and passions for power and greatness in their own times. 3. because the great men bring to consciousness what in other human beings is unconscious; the same thought as to what is the "next step" is part of their inmost soul, they feel unconsciously that the leader is on the right track. 4.the leader is only the formulator and activator of what is already ripe for development. He has no knowledge of the next stage of history, which he is serving to bring about. 5. although this may be viewed as morally wrong, especially by the victims, the world-historical individual is justified by his serving a "higher ground" than the morality of individuals- the goals of the cunning of reason. 6.Evils are the instrumentality used by god to increase good. Human failures are thus the successes of the absolute.
How are these contradictions and limitations the seeds of the destruction of the master-slave relation?
1. the master is dependent on the slaves recognition of him as master, and this is precarious since there are no masters unless other recognize them as such. 2. the slave has as his mirror another self who is an independent person, while the master, on the other hand, has as his mirror only a dependent slave-self to relate to; this is the mater's only reflection of himself. 3. most important element: although it appears that the master has the advantage in having the slave labor on material things for the mater's benefit, the long-run advantage of this is in fact for the slave.
CHAPTER 22: THE CONFLICT OF CLASSES Historical Materialism What does "materialism" mean? Who most influenced Marx in embracing materialism? What is the central theory of Marx's later though?
1. the name conventionally give in philosophy to any metaphysical theory which claims that reality is material. 2.Rene Descartes and Thomas Hobbes 3. Historical Materialism
The Communist World to Come 1. First Stage: The Dictatorship of the Proletariat What happens during this first stage? How does this picture fit with former and present-day communist governments? --such as the former Soviet Union and communist China.
1. the proletariat will establish will establish a government with absolute, dictatorial power in order to guarantee a successful transition from capitalism to communism. 2.but have you not already recognized that Marx's description of the dictatorship of the proletariat and it's crude communism is in many respects a remarkably accurate picture of present-day Russia?
1. The Rise of the Bourgeoisie How is the capitalist class (until the present), the most revolutionary class in history? How have the achievements of the bourgeoisie (the capitalists) been tremendous?
1. the rising bourgeoisie completely revolutionized economic production and with thishas they have now dominated the world and established the world market, which in turn accelerated the growth of industrial production. 2. These developments, says Marx, gave to commerce, to navigation, to industry an impulse never before known and thereby, to the revolutionary element in the tottering feudal society, a rapid development.; distinguished instruments of production and thereby the relations of production
7. Theory of Revolution According to Marx, how and why does a revolution occur? Describe the revolutionary process.
1. the ruling class, which had earlier helped to develop new ruling class, which had earlier helped to develop new technologies and forces of production, now fetters them and chains them down from developing further to prevent overproduction and thus to protect their profits and investments. 2. From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then comes the period of social revolution.
What are the three contradictions inherent in the master-slave relation?
1. the slave is enmeshed in matter 2. he is reduced to being a thing. 3. he is made to work upon material things for benefit of the master
Why does Hume believe that people accept the argument from design?
1. they learned these beliefs in early childhood 2. by the process of socialization they continue to hold them
a) Raw Communism What is the fundamental thing that "raw communism" accomplishes? (hint: it has to do with the ownership of property) How does the stage of "raw communism" still have some features in common with capitalism? How is it that envy and greed still exist?
1. wants to destroy everything which is not capable of being possessed by all as private property...for it the sole purpose of life and existence is direct physical possession 2. Raw communism calls also for equality of wages, with "the community as the universal capitalist" 3. This type of communism does not overcome greed-instead, it universalizes greed for private property and also expresses envy and a desire to reduce all to a common level
Communist Manifesto Problem (b) Truth or Propaganda? Describe how The Communist Manifesto itself can be understood not as scientific socialism but a tract attempting to convince people to take the actions that Marx believes are warranted. What does "praxis" mean? Define "radical pragmatism." How might Marxism be considered radical pragmatism?
1. we can explain Marx's strange inconsistency in urging the proletariat to fight for what is inevitabley going to happen as the result of necessary economic laws. 2. "Praxis" is the Marxian term for this concept of the use of theory to move the masses and by this means to change social conditions 3. Radical pragmatism is the view that any statement may be called true if it "works" in the sense of bringing about he desired goals of those who believe it. 4. Marx's theory of history thus loses its claim to objective truth and is revealed either as propaganda or as radical pragmatism, a theory which denies that there is objective truth and claims instead that any statement must be regarded as true if people believe it and if it "works" for them in practice.
Paris, 1844: The Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts What two problems did Marx attempt to address during the Paris years? What is the "key concept" of Marxism?
1. why had the french revolution failed?; what is the significance of the new industrial revolution, the great revolution of technology in factories, mills, mines, agriculture, and transportation which was transforming the social, economic and political life of the world, bringing with it increasingly great wealth to some and widespread poverty and alienation to others, as Hegel had already noted in his account of civil society?What is the future of the Industrial revolution? 2. the key concept of Marxism, which received its full treatment only in his last great work, Capital
7. Stages of Internalization of the Ethical Substance of Society 1.How does a person acquire the beliefs of a culture? 2.Describe how the family, civil society, and the state represent three dialectical stages in the process of internalization?
1. you acquire the beliefs of your culture by the process of internalizing them, by making them a part of yourself, by incorporation them, by appropriation them to yourself. 2.a) the family is the initial social group which one experiences, in the family there is a sense of unity b)Civil society- a scene in which individuals are striving to fulfill their own economic needs, but in order to do so they require the work of others, they require that there be a division of labor so that there can be an efficient production of goods to satisfy the needs of a growing society. c)The state- the developed political state is the synthesis of the unity of the family, and the separateness or individuality of life in civil society.
The Young Hegelian's 1.What famous philosopher had taught at the University of Berlin almost up until the time that Marx arrived there as a student? 2.What significance did this have for Marx? 3.What do the terms "left-wing" and "right-wing" generally characterize? 4.Describe the nature of the Prussian government (that ruled Germany) during Marx's lifetime
1.Hegel 2. he was immersed in the works of Hegel and became one of the leaders of the radical group 3.right wing- conservative left wing- radical group 4.Prussia was now an authoritarian police state.
3. Rejection of Political Individualism 1. According to Hegel which is superior the state or the individual? 2.Who or what is the only true individual of history? 3.What is the value of the human individual when compared with the state? 4. What is Hegel's position concerning Locke's idea of inalienable natural rights? 5.According to Hegel, what rights does an individual have? 6.From where are the moral value and the meaning of an individual's life derived? 7.What is an individual's supreme duty? 8.Define the term "political absolutism."
1.Hegel has argued that the state is superior to the individual. 2. the state is the only true individual 3.the human individual is no better than a cell within the organism which is the state. 4. the individual has no inalienable rights 5. the individual has only those rights and liberty's in which the state prescribes for him as serving its institutions. 6.derived from and dependent upon the organic totality of the nation-state of which he is a part. 7. is to be a member of the state 8. affirms the subordination of the individual to the state and claims for the state absolute political power and moral authority over the individual.
6. Theory of Historical Change What would Marx say about the nature of history itself? According to Marx, what is the only force powerful enough to bring about historical change? How does Marx explain historical change?
1.History is a meaningful single, developmental process; history is a rational structure which unfolds in time according to the laws of dialectic. 2.ideas are only a superstructure which collapses as soon as the economic foundation of forces are powerful enough to bring about historical change. 3.Marx explains historical change by a conflict or contradiction which takes place within the triad of the economic foundation of society and shatters it.
d) God 1.Why can't God be a source of moral guidance? 2.How is God primarily manifested accordingly to Hegel? 3.What is Hegel's interpretation of the true significance of God? 4.What is Hegel's attitude toward the state? 5.What might be the significance of the idea that successive nations are the medium of divine truth?
1.How can you be sure that the voice you hear is god's and not your own or that of your society. 2.Hegel's trump card to play; the nation-state is a manifestation or revelation of god. 3. The true significance of god is not as the personal god of religion, but as the absolute, the totality of truth as it unfolds and is revealed in the spirit of different peoples and their nation-states 4.for in incorporation the totality of culture and all political, economic and social institutions, the nation state embodies the absolute. The nation-state represents one stage in progress of gods rational truth as it moves through world-history. 5. the nation-state is the "divine idea as it exists on earth." Hegel is trying here to express something similar to the old testament utterance that god will deliver his judgement to the nations. God manifests one stage of his truth to each of the key nations of history and each in its historical turn becomes a carrier of his divine truth.
What are Descartes three requirements for an absolutely certain foundation for philosophy?
1.Its certainty must be such that it is impossible impossible to doubt, it is self-evident to reason, it is clear (in itself) and distinct (from every other belief). 2. Its certainty must be ultimate and not dependent upon the certainty of any other belief. 3. It must be about something which exists (so that from it beliefs about the existence of other things may be deduced).
Engels Who was Friedrich Engels? What role did he play in Marx's life? In what ways did he support Marx?
1.Marx best friend 2. wrote essays fro radical journals such as Marx and ruges German french annals and gathered data for what was to be his finest work, the condition of the working class in England. 3. they collaborated and worked together
Explain Aristotle's two major criticisms of Plato's theory of the forms.
1.Plato's theory of forms claims to explain the nature of things but in fact the abstract forms are only useless copies of actual things, and fail to provide any explanation of the existence and changes of concrete things; 2.Plato's theory of forms sets up an unbridgeable gap, a dualism between the world of intelligible ideas and the world of sensible things; the theory makes it possible to explain how sensible things & intelligible forms are related at all. *how can there be a cat w/ no flesh, teeth, bones?*
b) Ultimate Communism How does "ultimate communism" differ from "raw communism"? How is the State itself different? How is it "positive humanism" while "raw communism" and capitalism are not?
1.Positive humanism 2. There will be an end to the state, the family, law, religion, morality- all of these institutions in Marx's view are forms of human slavery to the money-god of capitalism. 3..In these institutions man lives a debased, coerced, powerless, contemptible life, in alienation from his free, creative, productive social essence. Man will repossess his alienated powers and the totality of objects they have created. Greed for money and private property will have been over come.
6. The "Unhappy Consciousness" 1.Why does Hegel describe the religious consciousness of medieval Christianity as an "unhappy consciousness"? 2.According to Hegel, what are the two major limitations of the religious worldview?
1.The medieval Christian unhappy consciousness is indeed aware of itself as divided, as a split self in which there is endless conflict between a true self, which longs for God but cannot reach him, and a false self, which clings to the world and to worldly pleasures. 2.a. the religious world view recognizes its internal conflict and also recognizes truth, that what the true self longs for is god or absolute spirit. b. it has not overcome the master-slave relation, for to the religious consciousness God is master and humans are his slaves.
5. Skepticism 1.In what ways do both the stoic and the skeptic reject the world? 2.Describe the skeptic's form of mastery. 3.What are the limitations of skepticism? 4.How is it that skepticism is split between two selves
1.The stoic rejects the world to the point of withdrawing from it into the quiet refuge of his won rational mind. The skeptic goes beyond the stoic- he rejects the world completely by doubting it. 2.Skepticism uses doubt as a negative and destroying force. 3. skepticism is limited in that it is torn apart by an inner contradiction. Among the things which skepticism attacks and doubts is the very existence of the self. 4. One self is like the master, secure and powerful, dominating every claim, and doubting, denying, negating, dissolving everything including consciousness itself. The other self is like the slave, which is mastered, subjugated, dissolved by doubt, and shown by the master-self to be only a bundle of passing perception.
The Problem of the Two Marxisms Describe the differing characters of the "two Marxisms"? What makes each unique? What is the advantage of the later, "more mature" Marxism? How can these two Marxisms be understood to be essentially one?
1.Understanding human life in terms of alienation or conflict within the self to understanding it in terms of external economic class conflict. 2. The taking of this step may have represented to Marx gaining the objectivity and prestige of social science for his theory. 3.permitted him now to identify with his father's enlightenment ideal of scientific objectivity 4.Mature Marxism thereby gains the double advantage of presenting itself with he prestige of scientific objectivity while still expressing the humanistic longings of historical man.
2. Society: Economic Base What role does "material production" play in Marx's historical explanation of the evolution of human societies?(Note that for Marx, the material economic foundation of a society causes everything elsein that society: economics explains everything.) What are the three components of human material production? Together, what do they comprise?
1.a key which will explain the characteristics of individual human societies and also changes which have taken place in human societies in the course of history. 2.conditions of producation, forces of production, realtions of production.; the total of these three components of production in any particular society Marx calls the economic foundation or economic substructure of society and sometimes the mode of production- one of the most influential concepts in mature marxism.
4. Theory of Exploitation Describe how the working class is exploited by the capitalist class, according to Marx.
1.exploitation 2. the capitalist exploits the worker by selling the goods the worker produces for more money than he pays to the worker in wages.
6. Philosophy and Politics 1.Can philosophy change the world? 2. When can philosophy grasp the truth of a culture? 3.How does Hegel differ from the French Philosophies regarding the trans formative power of philosophy?
1.he denies that philosophy has the power to change the course of a nation or of the world. 2.only when the culture has matured enough so that what the absolute has revealed to it has finally become clear. 3.expresses the thought that philosophic wisdom comes to late within any society to transform it, but can only make it possible for a society to understand itself, to grasp the meaning of its own culture and the truth of the absolute which it embodies.
8. Application of Theory of Historical Change Briefly describe Marx's explanation of the history of human societies from their inception until the present—and how all human society will ultimately be. What has been the driving force? What will be the ultimate and final form for human society?
1.primitive communist stage; succeeding stages: The Asiatic- one of oriental despotism, large irrigation projects, and the absence of private property in land. the ancient Greek and Roman- private as well as communal property in which the producing class consisted largely of slaves. the European feudal- land ownership with serfs chained to the land as the producing class, but there began to develop in the towns individual craftsmen who joined in guilds. The modern capitalist-seized political power and created their own ideological superstructure. 2.The rapid development of trade and technology, the growth of population have brought about an industrial revolution of machine production of goods and have created an international capitalist class. 3. proletariat
History and the Problem of Evil: The Slaughter-Bench What does Hegel mean by "the terror of history" and by his statement that history is the "slaughter-bench"
1.which expresses the fearful agonizing realization of the misery, destruction, death, and obliteration that have befallen even the noblest human hopes and achievements in the past and that wait in store for our own dreams and struggles as well. 2. a place where victims are tied down to be killed as a human sacrifice.
What is the method of mathematics?
2 mental operations- intuition and deduction.
According to Socrates, the body is considered ___________.
A Prison
clergy
A body of officials who perform religious services, such as priests, ministers or rabbis.
What is Hume's definition of the idea of the cause and effect relation?
A cause is an object in constant spatial and temporal conjunction with another such that the experience of the one compels the mind to expect the other.
totalitarianism
A form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)
imperialism
A policy in which a strong nation seeks to dominate other countries poitically, socially, and economically.
How is Socrates' view of virtue a rationalistic moral philosophy?
A rationalistic moral philosophy is a view which claims that reason, or rationality, is the exclusive or the dominant factor in moral conduct.
Diotima explained to Socrates that love is not a god, but instead is __________.
A spirit that meditates between gods and human beings
socialism
A system in which society, usually in the form of the government, owns and controls the means of production.
sheer
Absolute
What marks the end of the medieval synthesis and the beginning of the Renaissance?
Access to the world of art & learning of Ancient Greek culture. (the courts of kings, the popes, universities, artists, & writers)
Philosophy- Whom did Aristotle tutor?
Alexander the Great, Philip's son
5. The Overcoming of Alienation And what is the nature of the decisive character of human history?
Alienation is the decisive character of human history.
What is Hume's fundamental principle?
All our simple ideas in their first appearance are derived from simple impressions which are correspondent to them and which they exactly represent
Why do empiricists reject Descartes
All the empiricists rejected what they came to call Cartesian ism- The rationalistic building of great deductive systems of philosophy purporting to have grasped by the powers of reason alone the nature of total reality- man, nature, and god - and to have achieved complete mathematical certainty in this knowledge by the use of logical deduction from self-evident axioms.
How did they differ from previous philosophers in their ideas about what philosophy was supposed to do?
Already in the thought of the philosophes philosophy is no longer regarded as merely passive reflection on eternal truth or even on problems of the present, but as a force, a power, which can transform the world.
Paradise Lost
An epic poem by Milton. Wanted to justify the ways of God to man, but made Satan look somewhat heroic. Explains personal liberty and understanding its limits.
commissar
An officer whose special duty is entrusted by a higher power, officer in charge of food supplies
How does Thomas Aquinas make use of philosophy while avoiding conflicts with Church dogma?
Aquinas build upon Aristotle's work. He created, Summa Theologiae (western world). Summa Theoligiae contains 8 attributes of God.
aesthetic
Artistic
What was the outcome of this war?
Athens finally surrendered to Sparta in 404 BC
How did this city-state's government differ from that of Athens?
Authoritarianism (ruled by a military elite with absolute power).
4. Stoicism Describe Hegel's view of the stoic philosophy. Under what two conditions do people become stoics
Because all of these contradictions, paradoxes, limitations, contained within the master-slave relation, it is left behind and the human spirit moves on in its development to a new viewpoint which Hegel calls stoicism.
In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato depicts prisoners as breaking free from their chains and eventually able to see artifacts being passed in front of a fire, which produced the shadows the prisoners originally held to be real. When the prisoners can see the artifacts and the fire, Plato is referring to the _____________ section of the Divided Line.
Belief
What was Berkeley's day job?
Bishop of Cloyne
Why is causal necessity not an objective relationship but a subjective compulsion?
Casual necessity has no source in sense impressions but only in the laws of our own psychology
How is it that relations of ideas are analytic propositions?
Certainty is the exclusive property of analytic propositions, propositions about formal relations of ideas
(Please note that above all, it's the Copernican revolution--through proving that Aristotle, Ptolemy, and the Church were wrong about the nature of the solar system--that inspires the search for an infallible basis for knowledge which Descartes finds in his Cogito ergo sum.)
Cogito ergo sum- i think therefore i am.
egoism
Conceit; valuing everything according to one's personal interest; excessive confidence in the rightness of one's own opinion.
Immanuel Kant Kant is generally given credit for " a Copernican revolution in philosophy".What was the name of his most influential book that accomplised this?
Critique of Pure Reason 1787, eight years before the revolution.
Aristotle believes to understand something one must be able to
Define it
Why does Hume reject Aquinas' argument from design?
Deism
What form of government did Athens have during its Golden Age?
Democracy (people elect all officials).
How does Descartes use a piece of wax as an illustration of the primary qualities and the secondary qualities of a substance?
Descartes examines a piece of wax, noting its properties. It looks, feels, and smells like wax. Descartes then holds the piece of hardened wax next to a flame and the wax melts. He observes the wax again after it has melted and notes that it smells, looks, and feels different than it just did, but it is still obviously wax. Even though the properties of the piece of wax had changed, we are able to conclude that an object is still an object even if it has gone through change. We rely on our senses to provide us with the information that allows us to determine what a thing is, and although our senses tell us different things, our minds are able to take that information and determine what a thing is. Therefore, there must be something inherently characteristic of that thing; otherwise we wouldn't be able to conclude what exactly it was because our senses can deceive us.
What is the relationship of the categories or pure concepts to independent reality?
Descartes says that our innate ideas correspond to the structures of independent reality, and that they are imprinted in us by God so that we can know the true nature of reality. But Kant does not claim that the categories or pure concepts of the understanding correspond to independent reality.
What is the relationship between Newton's worldview and Descartes' mechanism?
Descartes', Kepler, and Galileo had shown the power of human reason to penetrate the laws of nature. But their discoveries had been limited to specific areas only. Could mathematical physics explain the whole of the physical universe and not only isolated parts? Newton proved that it could.
What is the literary form of Plato's philosophical writing?
Dialogue
Evaluation of the Hegelian Philosophy What are Lavine's major criticisms of Hegel's philosophy
Does hegels idealistic philosophy in which reality is only the reality of concepts give us an adequate grasp of the variety, mutability, and contingency of the material side of reality, the problem of the human body in its material environment, the problem of the economic production, of technology, or of material resources of the planet?; with his regard to god; what kind of method is dialectic
Why can experience never give us the idea of necessary connection between cause and effect?
Each impression is a separate experience
Where was David Hume from?
Edinburgh, Scotland
What was the extent of Plato's political involvement in later life?
Educated the new young King, Dionysius II.
ornate
Elaborately decorated
According to empiricists, what is all knowledge based upon?
Empiricism is thus basing knowledge upon the senses, upon the flux of the sensible world, which the two great rationalist, Plato and Descartes, rejected as an inferior way of knowing.
What was the most famous literary work that the group-as-a-whole produced?
Encyclopedia
a) Social Immorality If the nation-state is the source of our ethical values, upon what grounds do we criticize the moral lapses of the state or any citizen in it?
Ethics which has no other ground than the values of a particular society goes against the grain.
What is the most common criticism of this view?
Even if one possesses the knowledge
What does Socrates mean when he says that "to know the good is to do the good"?
Evil, wrongdoing, or vice are due to the lack of knowledge or to ignorance, and to nothing else. wrongdoing comes only from failure to know what is good.
According to Stoicism, the universe is ultimately irrational.
False
Aristotle agreed with Plato that the forms (essences) of things were transcendent.
False
For Aurelius, wisdom involves the ability to distinguish between what we can and cannot control. He believes that we can control both the external world and our inner states of feeling and opinion.
False
Compare Aristotle's understanding of "substance" with Plato's understanding of "form."
For Plato, as we have seen, the immutable, eternal " FORMS"constitute reality and are transcendent of the sensible world of flux, of changing things which constitute mere appearance. Aristotle claims the very opposite: it is the concrete, individual things that are real—particular plants, animals, men, and states. Aristotle calls such particular things "SUBSTANCES". Metaphysics, which is the study of the nature of reality, is for Aristotle the study of individual concrete substances.
Which of the following is a condition for friendship?
Friends must live together, friends must be equal and the good between friends must be reciprocated (all of the above)
3) The Individual As Culture Carrier In Hegel's view, is it possible for an individual to transcend his or her culture or society? Why? What relationship does a philosophy have to its surrounding culture?
From Hegel's perspectives of organic-ism and historic-ism, the philosopher, like other human individuals, is a carrier of his culture and of his time. Since he cannot transcend them, his inescapable task as philosopher is to reflect and to penetrate to their conceptual truth and their dialectical changes.
How is Plato a synthesizer of earlier philosophical ideas?
From his synthesis of many points of view comes the rich variety, the depth and the scope, of Plato's philosophy.
Why is empiricism an epistemology and not a metaphysics?
From the very early days of empiricism in the work of John Locke, empiricism shows itself to be deliberate and defiant rejection of philosophic rationalism, especially of Descartes
posterity
Future generations
Homage to Catalonia
George Orwell's thoughts on Spanish Civil War
How did Germany as a country differ at the time from France and Britain?
Germany had remained feudal, agricultural, and rural while England and France had become industrialized and urban.
What could be wrong with this argument? (argument for God's existence)
God as a perfect being has nothing to do with the actual existence of such a being.
Describe Descartes's first proof of God.
God exists as the only possible cause of my idea of Him.
According to Descartes, what do we mean by the idea of God? What does our idea of God tell us that God is like?
God is an existent substance possessing all positive qualities in their most eminent degree, that is, in the fullest degree of reality, in their perfect form. God: "By the name God I understand a substance which is infinite, independent, all-knowing, all-powerful, and by which I myself and everything else that does exist, have been created."
How does Hegel's view about the universe differ from Descarte's mechanism?
God is not the engineer-designer of the world machine, as the Enlightenment Deists claim. God is the indwelling soul of the universe.
Aristophanes
Greek writer and comtemporary of Sophocles and Euripides. Was the "Father of Comedy" - used satire and fantasy to challenge problematic situations. Most famous: The Archarnians and The Lysistrata
According to Aristotle, the goal or end for the human being is:
Happiness
What is the fundamental purpose, goal, or end of human life? according to Aristotle?
Happiness as a central purpose of human life and a goal in itself
What does labor do for the slave? How does the lack of labor affect the "master"?
He discovers his won independent existence as a consciousness with a mind and will and power of his own. The slave lives by the work he performs and he becomes independent through his work, whereas the master remain dependent on the slave's labor.
Which of the following is NOT one of the types of friendships that Aristotle discusses?
He discusses friendships based on utility, pleasure and good. (none of the above)
What did Plato do after the death of Socrates?
He left Athens with some of his close friends.
Why do we think that a particular cause must necessarily have a particular effect if we cannot know this by reason?
He restricts reason to the areas of mathematics and logic
1. The history of Philosophy How is it that differing philosophical systems are actually elements of an organic unity?
He says that the history of philosophy may be compared to a living, growing, fruitful tree, and that different philosophies are like the stages of growth of the bud, the blossom or fruit. The bud and the blossom disappear to make way for the fruit; we dont think of them as false, but as part of an organic process. So also no philosophy is false. Each is a necessary part of the organic growth and unity of all of philosophy.
What were the charges the Athenians brought against Socrates?
He was charged with impiety, speaking against the gods, and also with corrupting the youth of Athens.
The Formation of Hegel's Metaphysics The two most important concepts in Hegel's philosphy are Geist (the German term for "spirit") and Hegelican dialectic. Explain both of these and their role in his philosophy.What do each of these concepts do?
He will do this with his concept of absolute mind or spirit. and how to incorporate within it the unending creative destruction, conflicts, reversals, unintended consequences, reconciliations, renewed conflict, which appear to be the enduring traits of all these aspects of reality? He will do this by his theory of dialectic
Explain what the following statement means: " The truth is not the only truth of substances, but it is the truth contributed by the knowing subject"
Hegel believes that the time is now ripe for him to offer a philosophy which talks not only of objects, of substances and their properties, as the scholastic and Descartes had done, but which recognizes that the subject, the human consciousness, in part creates the object that is known. Here Hegel is basing himself upon Kant; this was the point of the Kantian turn in philosophy
3. The Master-Slave Relation Why is the master-slave relation superior to the more powerful one killing the other?
Hegel regards the master-slave relationship as having an historical role, as well, occurring commonly in primitive societies, and occurring also during wars, in which in the course of battle one self overpowers and enslaves another.
How does he use the dialectic to explain the history of philosophy?
Hegel will also ask what kind of persons hold these views of the world, and under what circumstances, but Hegel will also indicate how each philosophy in the history of human spirit, when it is reflected upon and lived with, reveals its own limitations shows itself to be only partial truth, one-sided, distorted, inadequate. As a result, each philosophy is unstable, tipsy, and passes over dialectic-ally into an opposite viewpoint which presents the other side of the issue, basing itself upon what the first philosophy left out.
How is it that no philosophy is false?Is anything "false" in Hegel's view?
Hegel's point is of course that this is exactly how conflicting philosophies should be understood. Each one displaces the other, but they do not falsify each other. Each is necessary stage in the development of the whole truth, of the dialectical manifestation or revelation of absolute spirit to the growth of finite, human spirit.
The Importance of Economics1. Hegel How did Hegel see the nature of economic relationships in civil society?
Hegel, civil society in its economic affairs was a war of all against all, the continuous conflict of egoistic desires.
According to Hume, does human life seemed designed or orderly?
Hume's analysis of causality showed that the casual order within the universe is nothing but constant conjunction of our impressions
What do I need that without which I can never know myself?
I need to have the other self exist in order to be conscious of my own self hood.
Why is there more satisfaction in defeating another person without killing him or her?
If the other is dead, I cannot gain the satisfaction he would give me being alive and recognizing that I am the victor, and have mastered him; and second, if he is dead, I have no other self to recognize me as a self, no other self to be the mirror in which I see that I am a self and recognized as such.
The story of the Allegory of the Cave
Illustrates the dualistic theory of reality. Pictures mankind as living in an underground cave which has a wide entrance as prisoners. The prisoners see nothing but the shadows of what goes on behind them. The shadows become their world and reality. If the prisoners ever were freed, and saw what the shadows were, they would be blinded by the fire and become angry and prefer to regain their shadow-world.
In Plato's Allegory of the Cave, he depicts prisoners as being chained to a wall and only able to see shadows. With regard to the Divided Line, this scene represents the section of ________.
Imagination
What is the relation between impressions and ideas?
Impressions enter our consciousness with more force and violence, ideas are only images of our impressions which occur in our thinking, reasoning, and remembering.
Spanish Civil War
In 1936 a rebellion erupted in Spain after a coalition of Republicans, Socialists, and Communists was elected. General Francisco Franco led the rebellion. The revolt quickly became a civil war. The Soviet Union provided arms and advisers to the government forces while Germany and Italy sent tanks, airplanes, and soldiers to help Franco.
How are intellectual virtues developed in contrast to moral virtues?
In distinction from the moral virtues, the intellectual virtues consist in the contemplation of truth—the truths of science, art, philosophy, intuitive reason, and ethics. Intellectual Virtues (determined by heredity and education) 1. Philosophical Wisdom (pure reason) 2. Practical Wisdom (practical reason) b. Moral virtues (established by habit or disposition) 1. Moral Virtue a "Golden Mean" Between Excess and Deficit 2. Moral Virtue an "Acquired Taste" Established by Habit (we are born without preference)--to the virtuous, virtue is pleasant , but unpleasant to the unvirtuous
How does Berkeley call upon God to solve problems in his philosophy?
In his philosophy
What were the values/philosophy of the Enlightenment?
In short, "Enlightenment values" are meant to be the values (emphasis on the plural) of dispassionate secular reason, but what we see in the historical record is the struggle of several generations to figure out what that actually means.
In what ways did he believe that both of them were wrong?
In supposing that one or the other must be true of all of reality. Reality is not characterized by a single quality.
2) The Individual As System-Determined and System-Determining What is the relation between human individuals and their society?
In this way, the cunning of reason uses the desires of human individuals to sustain the ongoing functions of the nation. Moreover, when you pursue your own desires you not only sustain or determine the continued existence of these various functions of your society, but your desires themselves are sustained or determined by the society.
And if the French Revolution was the third, what were the first two revolutions it inspired?
Industrial, American, and French
What is Descartes's absolutely certain first principle from which he builds his philosophy? Why is it absolutely certain?
Is it self-evident to reason, indubitable? Descartes answers: Yes, you can't escape the Cogito by doubting it. Every time I doubt it, I affirm it.
How is this related to Hegel's concepts of Geist and of truth?
Is metaphysics any longer possible? The empiricists, beginning with John Locke, had taken a hard line with regard to metaphysics.
the Socratic Method AKA the "Method of Dialectic"
It is a form of seeking knowledge by question and answer.
The Fettering of Reason According to the Philosophies, why has reason been fettered in the past? for what purpose,and by whom?
It is because reason has been in chains, reason has been fettered throughout history by the greed and the lust for power of certain identifiable historical groups.
what is Kant's new conception of knowledge?
It is equipped with its own pure concepts by means of which it organizes the flux of sensory impressions into substances, qualities, and quantities and into causes and effects.
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a friendship based on the good?
It is possible to have many of these types of friendships
Describe how Isaac Newton's work was the greatest achievement of the Enlightenment era.
It was so tremendous a work of synthesizing the scattered fragments of existing knowledge in astronomy and physics under a few simple principles that it stands forth as one of the greatest scientific achievements of any age.
Name the three most important British empiricists
John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume
Why do most modern people disagree with this view?
Just possessing the knowledge of human nature, how to live, and what will bring happiness does not guarantee that they will act upon it and do good.
Kant's theory of knowledge 1. The Sensory Component What is Kant's response to the idea that all knowledge comes solely through sense experience? that is, what is his response to radical empiricism?
Kant urged that the cure for this disaster into which Hume lead philosophy lies in not taking the first step- the step of radical empiricism, which claims that knowledge is solely from sensory experience.
What does biology have in common with romanticism?How does this differ from enlightenment mechanism?
Kant viewed the a priori concepts and other structures of consciousness as an organic unity; Goethe viewed nature as an organic totality; the romantic poets, Schlegel, Wordsworth, and Coleridge, all viewed true art as achieving organic unity out of multiplicity; social philosophers such as Rousseau, Herder, and Burke viewed society, not as an Enlightenment aggregate of atomic individuals, but as an organic unity.
How is it that knowledge is virtue, and virtue is knowledge?
Knowing the good, no man would voluntarily choose evil. A lack of virtue comes from an ignorance of right vs. wrong.
The Kantian Turn in Philosophy Of what does knowledge consist according to Kant?
Knowledge consists not only of the sensory element in which the mind is passive but also of a rational element, the twelve pure, rational concepts of the understanding with which the mind actively synthesizes, unifies, organizes the sensory flow into things with qualities, into causes with effects.
Which of the following is NOT one of the things that Agathon says about love?
Love is the oldest of all gods
Editor of the Rhenish News (Rheinische Zeitung) Why was the Rhenish News banned by the government?(Note that this was Marx's first job after graduating, and pay attention to the description of him as editor.)
Marx's incisive and uncompromisingly radical contributions to the journal soon brought official censorship down upon it and Marx was forced to resign.
What is Hume's opinion of metaphysics?
Metaphysics must be shown to be pretentious nonsense, along with the doctrine on which it rests
humbug
Misleading nonsense
What is the difference between natural theology and revealed theology?
Natural Theology - with regards to reason; deals with the knowledge of God that human reason alone can attain by natural means (observing nature, etc). Revealed Theology - with regards to faith;therefore deals with the knowledge of God which lies beyond the reach of our natural faculties and is attainable only by divine revelation.
4. Nature as spirit What might be the significance of spiritualizing nature?
Nature is no gigantic, mechanical clockwork, operating by Newtonian laws, but is instead a living spirit, a vast will, and a wiser teacher than a scientific treatise.
What were the sources of these false beliefs?
Newtonian Science
What did his family likely think about Athenian democracy and why?
Once supported Pericles and his democracy; however, opposed the failures of the democratic government in its conduct of the war.
How does happiness need external goods as well? (this idea is often referred to as "moral luck).
One attains happiness by a virtuous life and the development of reason and the faculty of theoretical wisdom. For this one requires sufficient external goods (practice of virtue) to ensure health, leisure, and the opportunity for virtuous action.
Into what socio-economic class was Plato born?
One of the most aristocratic landowning families in Athens.
In what way did Plato believe that Heraclitus was right?
Only about one kind of reality, physical or material, not about all reality.
What are impressions?
Our immediate sensations, passions and emotions, the immediate data of seeing, touching, hearing, desiring,loving,hating
Who was Athens' most famous political leader during this period?
Pericles
What is Hume's opinion of rationalistic knowledge?
Philosophers who foist this notion upon a gullible public are guilty of fraud and deceit. Metaphysics such as that pf Plato or Saint Thomas or Descartes is the product, says Hume, of "rash arrogance," "lofty pretensions," and of "superstitious credulity" on the part of those who believe them.
the Sophists
Philosophers who made a reputation as teachers of rhetoric, the art of making persuasive public speeches. They argued that since reason produced conflicting claims, one must doubt the power of reason to lead to truth.
Chapter 18: The cunning of reason Philosophical History Describe the three different approaches to history: original history, reflective history, and philosophical history
Philosophical History is clearly the approach to history of Hegel's own philosophy of Absolute Idealism and its basic principle that the real is the rational, and can be discovered only by penetrating the surface of existence to its rational and dialectically developing conceptual core. The search for the underlying rational truth of history
From his recurring dream, Socrates interprets ___________ to be the greatest music.
Philosophy
How does a historicist was of viewing philosophy reject the idea that there is one true philosophy?
Philosophy must be understood as the evolving, changing historical development which it is, with all its conflicts playing their necessary parts in the developmental process.
Where does Plato locate form? Where does Aristotle locate form?
Plato locates form in the purpose or end which the matter serves. Aristotle locates form in actuality.
Describe the difference between Ptolemy's view of the solar system (which was the same as Aristotle's) and the views of Copernicus and, later, Gallileo.
Ptolemy earth-centered theory offered that planets moved around the earth in circles within one large circle. Copernicus offered the sun-centered theory that the earth revolves on its own axis & around the sun, along w/ other planets. Galileo agreed w/ the Copernican theory.
Why is the care of the soul more important than the care of the body?
Pursuit of knowledge and wisdom is the highest good. Through this virtue, comes very other good thing for mankind
What was the most important principle of the Age of Enlightenment?
RAtionalism, as we have already seen is the claim that reason is the most important source and test of truth
According to Locke, what is the rubbish the philosopher removes?
Rationalistic rubbish, of course, such rubbish as Plato and Saint Thomas and Descartes wrote.
When Socrates gives his account of love he...
Refers to a conversation he had with a woman named Diotima, begins by making a discussion between appearance and truth, and begins by using his method to show that Agathon's speech was not sufficient
CHAPTER 20: THE YOUNG HEGELIAN What Is The Power of Marxism? Why would Marx be offended by the suggestion that Marxism has at least some common features with religious views
Religious belief to Marx meant belief in supernatural God, divine revelation, and a redeeming messiah, and Marx scorned such beliefs as an atheist, and with his celebrated epigram: "It [religion] is the opium of the people."
How is [the Allegory the Cave] an indictment of modern science?
Science, too, is chained so that it can see only shadows. Its basis is in sensory observation, its conclusions are only in the form of correlations of observations. It does not venture into true causes or into long-range consequences.
rationalistic moral philosophy
Socrates's view of virtue, of what is right and what is good
Who did Athens fight in the Peloponnesian War?
Spartans
What does "substance" mean to Aristotle.
Substances (form + matter: matter in particular physical forms or according to particular material formulas) 1. Form: An object's form is its "whatness"--what something is, its essence or nature which is related to its function or purpose. Form is the specific characteristics of a particular kind of substances. 2. Matter: An object's matter is what is unique to that object, its "thisness"--Matter is the principle of individuation. Human beings have the same basic form but it is our matter that is different.
Trotskyists
Supporters of Trotsky. Were often assassinated, tortured, or killed by Stalin. Often old Bolsheviks.
CHAPTER 23: THE WORLD TO COME Manifesto of the Communist Party Describe the nature of the last great struggle of history.
The --Manifesto-- swiftly, deftly, explains all the human past as the history of class struggles which have taken place according to necessary dialectical laws. This Explanation of the human past leads to the Manifesto's diagnosis of the present period as a fateful time, the time of the last great class struggle of history, between the capitalists and the proletariat, which is the last enslaved class remaining to be freed.
What was the name of Plato's school?
The Academy
What was the period from 1650-1770 known as?
The Age of Enlightenment/ The Age of Reason
why is meatphysics impossible for both the empiricists (such as berkeley and Hume) and for Kant?
The Kantian turn in philosophy had given primacy to mind, had made mind the law-giver to nature, such that whatever we know is in part due to our own concepts. but kant had placed severe limitation on these concepts. To construct through these concepts a metaphysics which seeks knowledge of total reality is impossible.
What was the name of Aristotle's school in Athens?
The Lyceum
What are the titles of the two most important books that Hegel wrote?
The Phenomenology of Spirit; Philosophy of Right
What was the Renaissance?and how did it differ from the medieval era?
The Renaissance was a period of the rebirth of classical learning & the emergence of a new mode of consciousness which extended into the 16th century. Renaissance- period of rebirth; greek humanism medieval period- prevailing christian religiosity. They differ in art.
2. The Bourgeois Revolution in Production How has the bourgeoisie altered the mode of production?
The bourgeoisie have created in every country of the world new needs for the expanding products of industry, and they have created world markets for the vast outpouring of the new technology.
Compare and contrast the classical world view of Plato and Aristotle with the Christian world view of the medieval Church in Europe.
The classical world view of Plato and Aristotle was of a natural cosmos, rational, ordered, moral, and purposeful, which is known solely by human reason. This was replaced by the supernaturalistic world view of the Church, whose source is divine revelation and whose fundamental beliefs, such as the Incarnation and the Trinity, are dogmas which must be accepted by faith, and are beyond the power of human reason to explain or to prove.
How did the conservative right-wing Hegelian's and the radical left-wing Hegelians interpret Hegel's statement: "the real is the rational and the rational is the real"
The conservative camp took the first half of Hegel's statement and they interpreted it to mean that whatever exists is necessary for the rational process of dialectic, which embodies the absolute. the radical camp took its stand on the second half of the statement. They protested violently that hegel never meant to defend the status quo, to say that whatever exists, no matter how confused or unworthy, is rational.
What are perceptions?
The contents of consciousness in general
2. "The Struggle unto Death" How is our relationship to objects similar to our relationship to other human beings?
The desire of the self with regard to objects which are other human beings remains the same: We desire to master them.
Why does Plato choose to speak through the person of Socrates in his writings?
The dialogue came from his actual experience of listening to Socrates in his characteristic conversations. All the philosophy Plato wrote is attributed to him.
3. Influence of Feuerbach (a) The Translation of Hegel According to Ludwig Feuerbach, what is the real essence or true nature of Christianity as a religion?
The essence of Christianity as a religion is that it is projective, the projection upon God of man's own ideals of knowledge, will, and love, elevated to infinite power.
In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato represents the prisoner as coming to understand the Sun as the source of all things. In respect of the Divided Line, what does the Sun represent?
The form good
With regard to the idea (i.e. form) of beauty, justice, and goodness, Socrates claims:
The form is simple, the form is unchanging and the form is not accessible via the body (sense perception)
Which of the following characteristics does NOT correspond with Plato's Forms?
The forms are physical archetypes for things in the visible realm
2. The pure concepts of the understanding: The rational component What is krant's response to the tabula rasa idea?
The human mind is not a blank tablet or an empty cupboard as the empiricists Locke and Hume claimed.
Why does Hume claim that we cannot say that substances exist?
The idea of substance is nothing but these qualities which we experience. We cannot, therefore, say that substance exist.
Which of Aurelius' ideas is prevalent in contemporary therapy and counseling?
The idea that we only have control over the present moment
The argument from opposites is meant to explain:
The immortality of the soul
According to John Locke, what was the law of nature for human beings?
The law of nature for human beings, John locke argues, was that all human beings are rational, all are equal, in possessing the same natural rights of life, liberty, and property, and the same obligations not to infringe upon the rights of others.
Explain the statement that with Kant "the world order has become mind-dependent."
The laws of nature are dependent upon the concepts of the human mind
Who in the [Allegory of the Cave] is the philosopher-king?
The liberated one, having made the ascent to know the truth and the good, has a mission: to return to the cave, to bring enlightenment, to bring the good news, even though he may be killed for his services.
Why did Plato believe that all democratic governments are doomed to disaster?
The many an never know what is good for the state. They lack intelligence and training + are swayed by unstable emotion.
According to Hegel, where is the meaning of philosophy found?
The meaning of philosophy, then, can only be found in its won historical development: The history of philosophy is philosophy.
How does Hume describe the mind?
The mind is a kind of theater, where perceptions successively make their appearance, pass and re-pass, glide away and mingle in a infinite variety of postures and situations
The Natural law of progress What was the French Enlightenment's most moving and dramatic appeal?
The most moving and dramatic appeal of the French Enlightenment was the call for the natural rights of liberty, equality, and property.
What did Hegel understand to be the true task of philosophy, his philosophy?
The new task of philosophy and his own task, is now clear: it is to bring together all the changing attitudes, religious beliefs, and philosophies in the long history of the human subject in its quest for truth, and to unify them into a single, organic totality, into a single unity-in-diversity, a single dialectic system which will constitute a "systematic science"
9. Prediction of Revolution and the World to Come Describe Marx's vision of the world to come. How is it that he can still be interpreted as utopian and at least quasi-religious?
The next development of history is inevitable: The proletariat will become revolutionary, they will burst through the capitalist relations of production, they will destroy the economic base of capitalism just as the rising capitalist class once destroyed the economic foundation. The Proletariat will introduce a communist mode of production, they will seize political power and erect a dictatorship of the proletariat which will be an interim stage before the final coming of the classless society.
How is our relations to other humans different from objects?
The principle of negation is ever at work within the self, which desires to negate the other person he sees before him, to cancel, annul, overcome, destroy, and kill the other. But the other self has the same attitude, and seeks to kill the first self. Each self seeks to assert its own self-hood by killing the other.
What is the political message behind the [Allegory of the Cave]?
The public are ignorant and corrupt, without true knowledge of themselves or of the world, motivated by greed, power, and self-gratification. They are chained in bondage to ignorance.
What is the significance of this dialectic process describing the whole of reality, the absolute mind?
The rational conceptual truths which underlie all the areas of human experience and knowledge are not static, but in dialectical movement from thesis to opposing antithesis to reconciling synthesis. Absolute mind, which is the totality of these concepts, is thus itself a process, revealing it's truths to us dialectic-ally, unfolding them stage by stage, from thesis to antithesis to synthesis, to our finite minds.
5. Romantic Polarity If two-sidedness, polarity, ironic reversal is affirmed and emphasized, how might this affect Hegel's understanding of the nature of truth?
The romantic ideal is to experience both sides of every polarity, and never to become rigid or static, never to become confined, the prisoner of any one mode of thought or way of life, but always to be in pursuit of the infinite.
What is the difference between subjective minds and objective, absolute mind?What is the relation between absolute mind and god?What is the meaning and significance of "the real is the rational and rational is the real?"
The totality of concepts used in the vast stretches of all knowledge, all the arts and sciences, religion, political thought, history- they are unified in the absolute mind or absolute spirit, or god which is ultimate reality; Reality is thus a vast and complex totality of rational concepts and this totality constitutes absolute mind or absolute spirit or god the real, says Hegel, is the rational and the rational is the real. This totality of thought is absolute, and characterizes absolute spirit, in contrast to finite minds such as our; it is objective mind in contrast to the subjectivity of human minds.
How is it that propositions of matters of fact are also synthetic propositions?
The truths of mathematics assert relationships between ideas, between abstract symbols. They are formal abstract truths. They tell us nothing about matter of facts, and on the other had, matters of fact cannot refute them.
What is the "trial by death" or "struggle unto death"?
The two selves now enter directly into what Hegel calls the trial by death or the "struggle unto death" in which each party risks his life, puts it on the line, in the struggle to kill the other party.
3. Historic-ism What is the definition of "Historic-ism"?
The view of the significance of history which appears in Hegel's metaphor is called historic-ism: historic-ism is the claim that the understanding of any aspect of human life must be concerned primarily with its history, its evolution, it genesis, or its roots, rather than with empirical observation of it as it is now.
In comparing Plato's Allegory of the Cave to his Divided Line, the inside of the cave represents ____________ whereas the outside of the cave represents ____________.
The visible realm/the intelligible realm
How did Marx regard the nature of his work both as a younger man and toward the end of his life?
The young Marx must of thought of himself as a philosopher, as a follower of the great Hegel, but making drastic changes in the Hegelian system to bring it down to earthly issues from the lofty plane of the abstract Metaphysics of German idealism. The older mature Marx, claimed to be a scientist, specifically, a social scientist,and to be no less than the Issac Newton of Social Sciences.
If someone were upset about their death what would this say about them?
Their souls were nailed to their bodies, they are likely concerned with money and they are likely concerned with power
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a friendship based on utility or pleasure?
These are rare
2. Influence of the Young Hegelians: Criticism, The Divinity of Man, World Revolution Explain the meaning of these three themes that the Young Hegelians embraced.
These three fighting fronts of the campaign of the young hegelians- the power of merciless criticism as a political weapon, the concept of the divinity of man in place of god, and the view of a necessary, impending horrible world revolution, destroying so as to reconstruct a rational world order- these three themes marx incorporated from his years with the young hegelians at the university of berlin.
Hegel's Ambiguities and the Young Hegelians 1. How did Hegel regard the Christian-Germanic State of Prussia? 2.How did this differ from his theory of the dialectic
They argued that the Prussian state which was in fact daily becoming more restrictive and authoritarian, was not immune to the negative, critical power of dialectic, and must be attacked.
How was the French Revolution an expression of confidence and optimism? Confidence in what? Optimisim about what?
They believed they were, or would be soon, in the command of all the knowledge necessary to improve the world, but today they are less confident that we have the knowledge to solve the problems of energy; the ecological problems of air, water and land; economic inflation; unemployment and poverty; the decay of our cities; racial problems; the world population explosion; or the spread of communism in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Why did they have such confidence in the idea of inevitable progress?
They looked ahead to the bright future for all humanity, which was guaranteed by a necessary natural law of progress: the nautral law of human reason is to discover scientific truths about nature and turn this expanding knowledge into practice in the form of technology for the benefit of humanity; and to discover truths about human nature and to turn these truths into practice in the form of reforming or overturning all social institutions.
What are our sense impressions of God?
They tried to prove God exists as the only possible cause of my idea of him and of my existence as a thinking substance. But we have no sensory impression of God as cause, nor do we have any impressions of thinking substance as effect.
How did the Sophists turn Greek philosophy in a new direction?
They turned away from philosophizing about the physical universe and toward the study of human beings and their moral, social, and political life.
Why is a miracle a kind of self-contradiction?
To claim a miracle has occurred is to stand in opposition to all human experience, to all scientific knowledge, to all of the orderly and constant conjunction of human impressions.
According to Marcus Aurelius, the overall value of philosophy is:
To help us cope with the world
According to Aristotle, the function of the human being is:
To live in accordance with reason
During his lifetime, what was Hume famous for writing?
Treatise of Human Nature
According to Stoicism, while things may appear messy and chaotic to us, the universe as a whole is rational, orderly, and good.
True
Friendships that are based on pleasure have a closer resemblance to a true friendship compare to friendships based on utility.
True
How is the [Allegory of the Cave] an Allegory of hope?
Truth and value are guides to the good life.
Who was the best known person among that group?
Voltaire (1694-1778)
What did Hegel mean by "the principle of negation"? and when is it manifested?
We are beings, says Hegel, who take mastery as our goal, and our personal histories and the history of the whole human race show this. Hegel sees such mastering actions as examples of the principle of negation, the power of the negative, or as he sometimes calls it, the principle of death.
Are we able to know the ultimate nature of reality?
We can never know the nature of ultimate reality
The quote that begins this section is an example of Hume's fork--the idea that all statements belong in one of three categories: analytic (relations of ideas), synthetic (matters of fact), or nonsense.
We run over to libraries persuaded of these principles, what havoc must we make? Take in hand any volume of divinity or school of metaphysics...and let us ask: Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? no. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames: For it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.
What was Hume's breakthrough?
Why not extend this view, that moral beliefs are neither divine nor rational but only express our feelings, to all our beliefs?
Were the Young Hegelians conservative (or radical) politically?
Young Hegelians, radicalize-rs of the philosophy of Hegel.
b) Private Conscience Why does Hegel discount our individual consciences as sources of moral guidance?
Your private conscience is by no means infallible, Hegel will say, in fact it may deliver erroneous or contradictory moral judgement. and this is because a purely private conscience can have no objective standard on which to base itself.
What does Hume mean by "bundle of perceptions"?
a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and movement.
What does the term "Copernican revolution" mean?
a drastic change in thought
What did he originally study to become?
a philosopher
The French Revolution: Paradoxes and Reversals What does the word "Paradox" mean?
a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true
What is the difference between simple and complex impressions and simple and complex ideas?
a simple idea with a complex impression- consisting of many sensations a simple-idea with complex ideas- corresponds in all its details to the original complex impression
Jenny What role might Jenny have played in Karl Marx's work?
a study of jenny offers evidence that she is the actual author of several essays which had been credited to marx.
From what social and economic class did this leader come?
a very prominent, powerful family.
How does Hume define a miracle?
a violation of the laws of nature by a divine, supernatural being.(i.e. a man coming back from the dead)
3. Division of Labor (a) What is the definition of "division of labor" that Marx borrowed from Adam Smith? (b) What does Marx believe are the consequences of the division of labor? (c) What additional evils is the division of labor responsible for? (d) What impact do the relations of production have on human relations? (e) What does the division of labor do to the relations between workers? (f) How is the division of labor the origin of the division between capital and labor? How is it the source of the institution of private property itself?
a) is a concept which Marx found in his reading of Adam Smith and other economic theorists, for whom it meant that labor becomes specialized in order to perform efficiently the many different skills required in production b) It enslaves the working to a limited and restricting sphere of activity, from which there is no escape. As a result, the worker is denied the fulfillment of the totality of his human creative powers, which can never develop under the division of labor. c) brings into being a slave-like state of affairs in which no on any longer controls the means by which he provides for his own subsistence, his own livelihood. d)they take the place of human relations in social life. e)alienates the individual worker from his fellow workers, and sets one against the other. f)It leads to a situation in which what one man produces, another man appropriates the greater part of as his own private property. -where there is a division of labor between producer and owner, the product of labor no longer belongs to the one who produced it, says Marx, but to the non-productive owner.
Why do we approve traits such as being just, truthful, humane, etc.?
all of these traits please our sentiment of benevolence and are useful to us or to others.
Describe Thomas Aquinas's "argument from design."
also assumes that the world exists, and reasons that the harmony and orderliness and beauty of physical nature, by which humanity is provided with suitable temperature, light, air, food, water, shelter, and aesthetic delight, could not be accidental, but must have been planned or designed for the well-being of humans by an intelligent being.
What does the term "blank tablet" or "tabula rasa" mean?
an absence of preconceived ideas or predetermined goals; a clean slate
partisanship
an inclination to favor one group or view or opinion over alternatives
What is Hume's most original contribution to philosophy and his greatest influence?
analysis of the cause-effect relationship
noesis objects
arche/forms; abstract reasoning
What are ideas?
are copies of faint images of impressions, such as we have in thinking about or recalling any of our immediate impressions.
Explain why Protagoras was a skeptic.
argued that since there is no way of determining the truth about reality, reality must be said to have whatever qualities are claimed for it.
After the war was over, what group revolted against the democratic government?
aristocrates
How does the Allegory of the Cave critique our everyday lives?
as being in bondage to superficialities, to shadow rather than to substance.
a) The Family (b) Civil Society 1.What is the difference between existence in-itself and existence for-itself? 2.What is the nature of civil society? 3.How does it differ from both the family and the state? (c) The State Where is the most complete embodiment of the ethical substance of a society found?
b)1.Hegel has here distinguished between two kinds of existence, existence which is in-itself and which is unconsciousness existence and, on the other hand, existence for -itself, in which one exists as a self conscious personality. 2.by civil society Hegel means the economic aspect of modern capitalistic society, the society from the standpoint of the ways in which human individuals relate to each other in terms os satisfying their individual economic needs and interests. 3.Hegel sees the cunning of reason at work in the economic relations within a society, as well as working within history. As human individuals consciously work for their own personal needs and interests, he says in actuality, although they do not intend this themselves, they are fulfilling the interest of the economy as a whole, they are making the wheels of the economy go round C) state 1. In the political institutions of the state there is the most complete embodiment of the ethical substance of society. And thus the individual who internalizes the ethics embodied in the ongoing life of the state has acquired the ethical substance of his society.
Since moral judgement are not based on mathematics or matter of fact, on what are they based?
based upon certain sentiments or feeling which can be discovered to be in constant conjunction with certain actions.
Explain how Kant is a synthesizer of empiricism and rationalism?
because he is a synthesizer of rationalism and empiricism, the two great conflicting philosophies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
What is the only test of truth for empiricism?
began with observation facts, with the data of sensory experience aided by new scientific instuments.
pistis
belief or conviction
Dualistic metaphysics
branch of Plato's philosophy which claims that there are two kinds of reality: (1) "the reality of physical objects in space and time" (2) "the reality of concepts, ideas, forms, or essences, which are objects of thought"
ethics
branch of philosophy that questions morality vs right and wrong
logic
branch of philosophy that questions the validity and principles of reasoning and arguing/rhetoric.
epistemology
branch of philosophy that questions truth and the limits of knowledge
political philosophy
branch of philosophy which seeks to find the best form of government and questions the principles of government & power
philosophy of history
branch of philosophy which seeks to understand how human history relates to present and future life
metaphysics
branch of philosophy which seeks to understand reality and what is real
How is Hume's position a modified skepticism?
by introducing the psychological factor of animal faith
How are we misled into belief that we are each separate, single selves?
by memory
From what impression do we derive the idea of necessary connection between cause and effect?
by necessary connection is meant the relation between cause and effect in which the cause necessarily produces the effect.
What does Hume mean when he says that animal instinct or animal faith, not philosophy, governs our lives?
by showing us once again that our commonsense knowledge, like science, religion, and ethics, is based only upon human psychology.
Why does Hume reject the arguments of Aquinas, Anselm and Descartes?
cannot prove anything about existence, about matters of fact. It can only offer only logical, and mathematical, proofs, it can tell us only about relations of ideas. The existence of god is not a self-evident idea, nor a logically demonstrable truth.
Capital 1. Capitalism: Definition What is Marx's definition of capitalism?
capitalistic mode of production is one in which a few humans own and control the major forces or means of production as their private property and they employ as workers those who have nothing to sell but their own labor power.
What is the nature of all our reasoning about matters of fact?
casual reasoning, scientific reasoning
What were the sources of the self-confidence of this period?
celebration of human reason,rapid growth, vitality, and progress of the new sciences
What is the origin of motion, according to Descartes?
clockwork
To what does the term "medieval synthesis" refer?
coherent integration of institutional, cultural, and personal life under Church direction and control (St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Augustine)
The Greek term, telos, which is fundamental to Aristotle's philosophy means:
completion, perfection and fulfillment
narcissitic
conceited: having excessive self-love or admiration: vain
eikasia example
contemplates a globe as a representation of earth
What three relationships must be present in our everyday idea of cause and effect?
contiguity, temporal priority, necessary connection
Chapter 16: The real is the rational Describe the basic features of Continental Rationalism, British Empiricism, and German Idealism. ( You'll have a better picture of German Idealism by the end of this section)
continental rationalism- which the french philosopher Descartes is the supreme example. British empiricism- which Hume is the outstanding example German Idealism-a type of philosophy which is regarded as characteristically German beginning with kant and the romantics Hegel is the preeminent example.
The Revolutions of 1848 Of what did the failure of the Revolutions of 1848 convince Marx?
conviction that no alliancee between the proletariat and elements of the bourgeoisie would work, that only a revolutionary destruction of the bourgeoisie by the proletariat, led and organized by the Communist party at the historically ripe moment, would be successful, and that it could maintain its victory only by a dictatorship which "will abolish immediately all the old institutions"
What is meant by "the Cartesian circle"?
criticism of Descartes Meditations; : Descartes' proof of the reliability of clear and distinct perceptions takes as a premise God's existence as a non-deceiver. Descartes' proofs of God's existence presuppose the reliability of clear and distinct perceptions..
What does "humanism" mean?
cultural & intellectual viewpoint which affirms the dignity & worth of human beings, in respect of the power of human reason to know the truths of nature & the capacity of the human spirit to determine, express, & achieve what is good for human beings.
What were the philosophical and political purposes, goals, or ends of the Philosophies? that is, what is it that they wanted to accomplish
debated the differences between rationalism and empiricism. They used advantages of each side for their own philosophical and political purposes, where were to reform or bring down the dominance over France of the catholic church and the absolute monarchy, and to establish a new social and political order, based upon the enlightenment philosophy of the truth of science and of the natural rights of mankind
What does methodological skepticism or methodological doubt mean in Descartes's case?
defined as the use of doubt methodically in order to arrive at true knowledge.
The development of self-conciousness 1. Mastery of pHysical and living objects What does Hegel see as one of our goals?
desire/ mastery
How did the German Enlightenment differ from in expressions in France and Britain?
did not have an enlightenment revolution, had not taken part in the new commercial and industrial developments, no financially strong upper middle class, no flourishing economic interests
eikasia objects
eikones/images; second-hand imitations
What distinguishes an empiricist epistemology from a rationalist epistemology?
empiricism- re guards observation by the senses as the only reliable source of knowledge. rationalism- a theory of the method used by the new sciences, the most important intellectual development of the modern world.
Why are relations of ideas only trivial knowledge?
empiricists maintain that no synthetic proposition can have certainty.
How are secondary qualities known?
empiricists will argue that both primary and secondary qualities are known only by the senses.
1. Organic-ism How is Hegel's organic-ism expressed in his ethics?
ethical life, the moral life, is life lived in a community, in an organized society.
Why do we believe in the universality of cause and effect relations?
everything must have a cause, that nothing is uncaused, that something cannot come from nothing
What is the one source of all our ideas?
experiences
At the end of the Symposium, Alcibiades compares Socrates to a sileni (a hollow statue that is ugly on the outside but when opened it has little figurines of the gods inside). He also compares Socrates to a piper. His explains these analogies by:
explaining that the effects of Socrates' words make him staggered and smitten, explaining on the inside Socrates is godlike, golden, beautiful, and amazing, explaining that Socrates makes him shameful and want to be a better person (all of the above)
meticulous
extremely careful; fastidious; painstaking
Indoctrination with False Beliefs What were the false beliefs that the Philosophies charged had been indoctrinated into the public?
false beliefs such as the inferiority of the ordinary people, in intelligence and morality, to royalty and the clergy.
If material substances do not exist, what sort of mental substances exist?
finite minds and also in form of God as infinite mind
What are the characteristics of a good state?
for Aristotle, a good state is one in which the constitution is sovereign and the relation of ruler to ruled is that of free men who are morally equalideals which are expressed in the laws, customs, and public opinion of the people of actual states; these are the materials which politics must respect, work with, and seek to improve.
4. Participation in a Larger Life and Truth of the Nation How does an individual human participate in the life of the Absolute?
for the individual, to live as a contributing member to the nation-state is to participate in the life of the absolute which the culture expresses, it is to participate in a larger than life than that of merely personal, private, individual desires and concerns. The moral center of your life as an individual becomes, then, not yourself as an isolated atom, but this larger life of the spirit of the whole people, the spirit of the unfolding absolute.
arche
forms
7. Reason How is the master-slave relation finally overcome? What role does reason serve in accomplishing this? What are the differences between how religion and philosophy express truth? How does Hegel's understanding of God differ from more traditional interpretations of God?
free human being: it is to master the totality of truth which god reveals to us in our time in history. But this is also God's goal for us- not to be slaves but freely to receive and master his unfolding truth in history.
Where does the idea of necessary connection come from?
from the mind
2. Organicism How might the development of the biological sciences have influenced Hegel's views?
has been influenced by their fundamental concepts of the organism as a hierarchical, interdependent unity of parts, in which each of the parts, in which each of the parts ( like the heart, the liver, and the lungs in the human organism) plays a necessary role in maintaining the life of the whole.
4. Truth as subject as well as substance What was hegel's attitude toward the significance of his own era, culture, and philosophy?
he and his time are about to step on the threshold of a door opening into a new world. Hegel gives us the sense of change, growth, progress, of a ripening process that is now ready to burst forward.
What was Hegel's attitude toward political liberalism (individualism and democracy)?
he had nothing but contempt for political liberalism, and its twin component individualism and democracy.
What is Descartes's explanation for my sense experience of physical substances?
his knowledge of physical things has usually come to me through my senses; refer feelings to my own body as their own source. senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.
How are these events ironic when viewed in the light of the intentions, hopes, and beliefs that inspired the original revolution?
idea of progress and to the ideals of freedom, equality, universal education, universal peace. In which he presented the history of human race as moving ahead, despite obstacles, through stages of progress into a glorious future of the perfecting of universal humanity, in intelligence, health, and happiness
eikones
images
eikasia
imagination or conjecture
What are the sensory impressions of relations between objects from which the idea of cause arises?
impressions of two kinds of relations between objects
According to Hume, where are the roots of religion found?
in human feelings
How did the French Philosophies share common ground with Karl Marx's later concept of "ideology"?
in it's simplest form, ideology for Marx signifies the set of seemingly true but deceptive ideas by which one social class dominates the thinking of another, in order to exploit them, as the capitalist class dominates the thinking of the workers.
In what sense is Aristotle's metaphysics teleological?
in the sense that everything in the universe has its own form, or end, or purpose (telos) to fulfill (Nicomachean ethics ;10 books)
6. The Need for Unification If unification is a greater need that individuation, what sort of society does this encourage?
in total opposition to the enlightenment and its idealizing of the atomic individual as rational, autonomous, independent, and free by virtue of his inalienable rights.
Of what significance is it that the idea of God is innate (Descartes claims) rather than one of the other types of ideas?
innate ideas (natural) are clear and distinct, self evident to the mind. We can know that there are certain truths since God has been proven to exist, he can not deceive us.
6. Communist Manifesto Problem (a) Why Fight for the Inevitable Revolution?Explain how this at least seems to be a contradiction in Marx's thought.
is it not illogical on marxs part to incite the proletariat to action to bring about a revolution that is necessary and inevitable according to the dialectical laws of history.
Berkeley's famous dictum esse est percipi (being is perceived) means that the existence of physical substances is only in their being perceived. How is Berkeley's empiricism more radical than Locke's?
is more radical than Locke's in that Berkeley destroys the belief in the existence of physical substance to which Locke was still clinging
Why is metaphysics impossible?
it attempts to transcend the limits of our understanding, to know that which we cannot know, that of which there are no possible impressions.
Why is science impossible?
it cannot provide objective casual explanations of events or predict the future, since there is no justification for assumption that regularities observed in the past will continue in the future.
Describe Thomas Aquinas's causation version of the cosmological argument for God's existence.
it claims that since everything in the world has a cause there must be a first cause in the series of causes, and to this necessary first cause of all else, "everyone gives the name of God."
How does this change in epistemology constitute a metaphorical "Copernican revolution" in philosophy?
it is the turn away from the external world of independent nature to the inner world of the activity and powers of the mind as the key to what we experience and what we know. The new turn in philosophy has the significance: After Kant, and under his influence, whatever is experienced or known will be shown in part to be due to the mind itself, to the concepts by which the mind understands things.
Why didn't Socrates leave Athens in order to escape the death penalty?
it would be legally and morally wrong to escape, since every citizen of a state has entered into a social contract to obey its laws
How is it that the French Revolution and the resulting Reign of Terror are a paradox?
its guiding philosophy is the enlightenment philosophy of reason, of the rational order and harmony of nature and human nature- but its unintended outcome is a reversal, the opposite of reason, the reign of terror and its irrational passions and mob violence
Notice how the second proof is a simplified version of the earlier argument based on causation.
just reminder
episteme
knowledge (noesis and dianoia)
What is the only kind of knowledge, according to Hume?
knowledge by sense perception
What are the two kinds of knowledge according to Hume? Why can neither of them move us to action?
knowledge of relations of ideas as in the formal, abstract statements of mathematics and logic; and knowledge of matters of fact which is derived from sense impressions.
What is the outcome of Hume's driving, consistent empiricism?
leads to the conclusion that we have no knowledge. We cannot know that any scientific law will be true in the future, no matter how often it has been confirmed in the past.
Pay close attention to the list of 10 clear and distinct ideas and their order. It will help you to understand Descartes's train of thought.
look at packet
dianoia objects
mathematical objects
(Life of Descartes)What one discipline did Descartes believe to be certain?
mathematics
What do propositions of matters of fact consist of?
mathematics and logic
How is it that relations of ideas are the domain of certainty?
mathematics gives us absolutely certain knowledge
What does Descartes mean by "deduction"?
means orderly, logical reasoning or inference from self-evident propositions, as all of geometry is reasoned in strict order by deduction from its self-evident axioms and postulates.
The Early Life of Karl Marx Describe the nature of the environment (economic, social, religious) of Marx's early years
middle class, baptized as Lutheran in 1824, University of Bonn where he registered as a law student, transferred to university of Berlin, before returning to school he got engaged to Jenny von westphalen,
Reality has the characteristics of what?
mind or thought, that reality is rational, logical, or spiritual.
What are the two kinds of virtues?
moral & intellectual
Which one is most important?
necessary connection
If "the unexamined life is not worth living" what is the nature of the examined life that is worth living?
never to know what is good for human beings is to live a life of striving to achieve but never finding happiness.
How did Francis Hutcheson influence David Hume?
new scene of thought which led him to feel that he was the master, conqueror, and destroyer of all past philosophy. Our moral beliefs rest only on our feelings, our sentiments of approval or disapproval.
Why can no miracle be an adequate foundation for religion?
no human testimony can have enough force against the bulk of human experience of the laws of nature to prove that a violation of these laws has occurred, that is, to prove a miracle.
What is Hume's conclusion concerning necessary connection?
no impression, no idea- the idea of a necessary connection between causes and effects is worthless as knowledge and is meaningless, a fraud, nonsense
tumultous
noisy and disorderly
The views of Parmenides
not change but permanence is the fundamental character of reality.
Chapter 17 Master and Slave The phenomenology of spirit In what sense is Hegel's first book, The Phenomenology of spirit, a biography?
not of a specific person, but of the spirit of humanity over the long centuries as it develops, grows and matures in it's striving, valuing, and philosophizing.
What are the atomic elements of our experience?
of distinct and separable impressions and ideas, each an atom constituting our experience.
What is the most powerful connection between our ideas?
of the three laws of ideas, the association or connection of ideas by cause and effect is the most powerful connection between our ideas
What does it mean to describe them as "eclectic"?
of, denoting, or belonging to a class of ancient philosophers who did not belong to or found any recognized school of thought but selected such doctrines as they wished from various schools
What is the political significance of Plato's dialogue The Republic?
offered a blueprint for an ideal government of an ideal society.
Describe the two-sided nature of Hegel's position about God?
on one side Hegel says a god who is the absolute totality of rational truth, of all conceptual rationality. but on the other hand, hegel acknowledged that god has no existence except in the human sphere. god exists only as he is revealed, manifested, externalized and embodied in human consciousness, in finite minds, in social institutions, in the course of history.
The progression one would take through the "Ladder of Love" would be:
one body; multiple bodies; beauties of the soul; beauty of laws and institutions; the beautiful itself
Where do our scientific laws have their source?
only in feelings
According to the empiricists, how did Newton's scientific method proceed?
only on the basis of the order which he discovered by observation of the data of experience was Newton able to construct a logical system out of the laws he discovered.
doxa
opinion (pistis and eikasia)
What do the a priori concepts do?
organize sense impression and make experience of objects and scientific knowledge possible.
How did Hume's philosophy combine ideas from Locke, Berkeley and Hutcheson?
our best knowledge, our scientific laws, are nothing but sense perceptions which our feelings lead us to believe. Therefore it is doubtful that we have any knowledge; we have only sense perceptions and feelings
According to Hume, what is it that does move us to action?
our desires, feelings, sentiments, the prospect of what will give us pleasure or pain.
The reign of Terror After the French Revolution occured in 1789, what happened later to user in the period known as "the reign of terror"?
passed into the control of the radical party of the extreme left, the Jacobins, and a revolutionary mob soon ruled.
How is this an indictment of innate ideas?
people can learn to understand such ideas does not mean that such ideas have to be born with them, or be innate in them, but only that human beings are rational and are capable of learning
How did the age of Enlightenment or Age of Reason perceive itself?
perceived itself as a time in which human reason was shedding its great light upon nature and humanity, banishing the darkness of the middle ages with its scholastic philosophy, religious dogmatism, and political absolutism
Why does he choose a "mathematical model" for philosophy?
philosophy could achieve absolute certainty and could prove itself, as mathematics does, to my own reason, to all human reason, and be acknowledged as universally true.
The Truths of Physical Nature and Human Nature will make men free? According to the Philosophies, who were the two great enemies of freedom?
physical and human nature
How did each country differ religiously?
political beliefs remained feudal and absolutist.
vers d'occasion
public poetry inspired by historically or socially significance.
In what way did Plato believe that Parmenides was right?
reality is permanent and unchanging, but it is true only of one aspect of reality. There is Parmenides's world of universal and unchanging true ideas which are knowable by reason
What is the most important source and test of truth for rationalism?
reason
noesis
reason
What does Hume mean by saying reason is the slave of the passions and should serve and obey them?
reason provides the means, the instuments or devices, for gaining what the passions desire; he isists that reason cannot criticize my motives, it cannot find fault with the passions and feeling which move me to act, no matter what they are.
literary
relating to literature
What does "necessary connection" mean?
relation is of much greater importance than any of the other two
What are the three laws of the association of ideas?
resemblance, contiguity, cause and effect
Philosophically, what was the most significant development during the Renaissance?
revolutionary view of truth;the new view that human reason has the power to know the truth of reality and that reality is neither divine nor transcendent.
What are the natural rights of human beings?
same natural rights of life, liberty, and property, and the same obligations not to infringe upon the rights of others.
What might Lavine mean when she describes Hegel's thought as "a totalizing philosophy"?
seeking to comprehend total reality, is a metaphysics, a study of the nature of total reality.
What is the fundamental principle of empiricism?
sense perception is the only reliable method for gaining knowledge and for testing all claims to knowledge.
Why doesn't this mean that physical substances are just as I perceive them to be?
senses don't tell the truth about physical things.
zoa
sensible things
According to Berkeley, what is my actual experience of substance?
sensory qualities of of material substance
Counterexample
shows that the definition which was offered is too narrow, too restricted, or is biased/uninformed.
Kant's Answer to Hume Why is Hume's theory of knowledge incorrect?
since it cannot account for the fact that we do experiene things and casual relations(merely sense impressions), or for the fact that we do have scientific knowledge of things (not mere psychological expectations or animal faith)
3. The primacy of will In hegel's philosophy, what is the role of will in comparison to reason?
strives for self-fulfillment; seeks to possess the totality of experience of nature, history and culture ascending from human finitude to the divinely infinite; to experience, to enjoy the concrete fullness of totality.
What is metaphysics?
study of reality; according to Hume is worthless knowledge and even meaningless' makes grandiose claims about the whole of reality as being one or many, material, or mental, permanent or in flux.
c) Universal Moral Principles Why does Hegel believe that universal moral principles (such as the Golden Rule) cannot serve as moral guides?
such universal principles are so empty and hollow that they cannot direct you to any specific action or prohibit you from committing any action.; they are empty, formal, vacuous, content-less.
3. Surplus Value What is surplus value? What does it become?
surplus value as the difference between the value of the wages received by the worker and the value of what he has produced. 2. what the capitalist can sell the worker's product for, makes up the capitalist profit.
Describe Aristotle's concept of God.
that God exists as the necessary first cause of the series of causal changes in the universe; this proof will later be employed by Saint Thomas and Descartes. God is an eternal actuality which causes change, and a pure actuality. God is thought thinking thought.
What is Descartes's fundamental criterion of truth?
that in order to be certainly true, ideas must be self-evidently clear and distinct.
Describe the epistemological position of rationalism.
that reason is universal in all human beings; that reason is the most important element in human nature; that reason is the only means to certainty in knowledge; that reason is the only way to determine what is morally right and good and what constitutes a good society.
What are the two contradictory things for which Lavine says the history of the French Revolution seems to stand?
the French Revolution stands forth as a glorious spectacle of the human struggle for freedom, but also it stands forth as the very opposite, as a spectacle of the shameful human capacity for being swept up into self-righteous mob frenzy and murder.
Where was Plato's school located?
the Grove of Academus.
From what impressions does the idea of substance arise?
the answer cannot claim to be from and impression of substance, but only from impressions of qualities we experience, such as qualities as size, shape, color
What is ethics or moral philosophy?
the branch of philosophy which is concerned with the meaning of good and evil, of right and wrong action.
According to Kant, how can we be certain that the laws of nature will continue to operate in the same manner?But why dont these laws ( as we interpret them) describe the way nature is in itself?
the categories are not structures of reality, they are only structures of our consciousness, our minds. They are significant only epistemological, that is, in relation to our knowing; they have no significance metaphysically, or onto logically, that is, in relation to reality. And so we can know that the laws of nature will continue to hold true, because the universal and necessary concepts of our own minds structure them.
How does Locke also take over the subjectivism of Descartes?
the chasm or gap between my own mind with its ideas and the physical objects and human beings to which my ideas refer, and which are external to me, in the physical and social world.
typography
the craft of composing type and printing from it
What was the political goal of Plato's work as a teacher?
the development of a true philosophy and the education of potential philosopher-kings in the Academy
The views of Heraclitus
the fundamental character of reality is change itself. Nothing remains the same.
What is the moral end and purpose of the state? according to Aristotle.
the highest possible moral development and happiness of its citizens.
According to Kant, where do the so-called laws of the universe have their foundation?
the human mind
how is it self gratifying?
the human self relates to objects, says Hegel, through desire. The self desires objects for its own gratification, in order to satisfy its bodily needs. But it also finds gratification in mastering, overcoming objects in some way.
Why does Hume reject the idea of a fixed self?
the idea of a self which is permanent, identical, continuously the same must be derived from an impression that is permanent, identical, continuously the same. It cannot,therefore, be from any of these impressions, or from any other, that the idea of self is derived; and consequently there is no such idea
From what impression does the idea of cause come?
the idea of causation must arise in the mind from the way in which objects are related to each other
What does the term "scholasticism" mean?
the name conventionally given to the philosophy of the medieval cathedral schools. (later to become universities) which attempted to fuse Christian beliefs w/ the elements of the Greek philosophy of Plato or Aristotle, using the logical syllogism(reason) & debate.
What does the term "skepticism" mean?
the name for the philosophic position of doubt concerning the reliability of knowledge.
What was the principle concern expressed by the writers of the Renaissance?
the need to restore man the capacities, strengths, & powers of the individual person which the medieval world had denied or ignored.
1. inward path how does the "inward path" differ from the viewpoint of empiricism?
the new horizon for philosophy in which the path to truth is through the world within, since it imposes its thought upon what is found in the outside world.
Historical Situation: The Enlightenment in France Who developed the philosophical ideas which inspired the French Revolution?
the philosophes
skepticism
the philosophic position of doubting the possibility of any true knowledge.
What is the best form of the state? according to Aristotle.
the polity, which is a mean between oligarchy and democracy. The polity is the rule of those with property, as in oligarchy, but the property qualification is low, so that the majority of the citizens have a share in government, as in democracy.
What was "the price Kant paid" for certainty abotu the phenomenal world--the world as it appears to us?
the price was that we cannot know things as they really are in themselves. WE know only things as they appear to us through the universal and necessary categories of the human understanding .
What did the Young Hegelians regard as central to Hegel's notion of the dialectic?
the principle of negation, the principle by which every concept, every structure, every institution is necessarily criticized, attacked, destabilized, delegitimated.
What are the only objective, real qualities of physical objects?
the qualities of being extended in space with some size & shape, and being capable of motion
Is there rational proof of the causal principle?
the rationalists have not shown, he says, that the causal principle is absolutely certain, self-evident to reason, and needs no further proof, as is the case with propositions like 2+2=4
What is the crucial concept in all our thinking about factual matters?
the relation of cause and effect
What happened during the Reign of Terror?
the revolution devoured its own leaders, one of the bloodiest scenes of horror and violence in European history.
Inspired by Newton's discoveries, 18th century philosophers moved on to a new model for philosophy. What were their goals?
the search for order, harmony, and lawfulness in all of nature physical and human.
How does Aristotle explain developmental changes in substances?
the stages of growth from acorn to young tree to giant oak: the acorn is the potentiality which is actualized by the oak tree. Aristotle acknowledges the close relationship of the two sets of principles: matter, he says, is the principle of potentiality; form is the principle of actuality.We can say, then, that the oak tree is the form toward which the matter of the acorn moves through its developmental stages from its potentiality to its actuality as an oak. Moreover, the oak tree is the actuality of the potentiality of the acorn, but the oak tree, in turn, may be the potentiality, or matter, of a house, which is its actualization.
Hegel's life What did Hegel study at the university of Tubigen?
the theology for the protestant ministry
What does "mechanism" mean?
the theory that all of nature can be explained by the mechanical motion of material substances.
2. Man as Creator of Nature and Culture What does it mean to say that "Man actualizes himself in the world"?
the vast historical and natural accumulation of the material and cultural objects mankind has produced are the manifestations or externalizations or embodiment's of man's creative powers.
What does the term "subjectivism" mean?
the view that I can know with certainty only myself as conscious subject and my thoughts.
What does "solipsism" mean?
the view that my mind with its thoughts it the only thing that exists, the only reality: and that other persons and the physical world are only ideas within my mind. (expression schizophrenia)
Plato was born in Athens around 427 B.C.E. (before the common era); what historical events had been happening there around the time of his birth?
the war with Sparta began
How is Descartes's view of the universe "mechanistic"?
the world is infinite in extension, w/ bodies of all shapes sizes continually moving and changing.
If god is a process, what does that do to the views of god?
then does it not follow that absolute mind, consisting of conceptual truth, is not a transcendent realm of truth but is merely tied to, immanent in, the changing processes of the world and to time? How then can hegel refer to absolute miind as god or as absolute, or as a totality?
Explain how his ethics is telelogical as well.
theory of morality that derives duty or moral obligation from what is good or desirable as an end to be achieved.Happiness as the highest good for man consists in the fulfillment of his function as a man, in the "activity of soul in accordance with virtue."
What is Kant's position (against Hume) about the nature of causality or cause and effect relations?
there is and always will be a necessary connection between causes and effects because the mind itself imposes the concept of necessary connection between causes and effects.
Chapter 19: the owl of minerva Hegel's Moral Philosophy According to Hegel, what or who is the highest moral authority?
there is no moral authority above the state.
According to empiricists, what is the limit of knowledge or what sort of information is it that we can't know?
there perhaps limits as to what the mind can know, limits set by the origins of its ideas, limits as to the certainty it can acheive.
Human Individuals: (1) The Role of Desire What is the significance of human individuals having no independence from the state?
they are dependent parts of the state, like the cells of an organism. Here again we see Hegel's organic-ism; you as an individual are part of a larger organism, the nation-state.
How are primary qualities known?
they are known by reason, by a clear and distinct idea
What philosophical influences did Augustine and Thomas Aquinas have?
they produced their philosophies by fusing Christianity with precisely the pagan Greek philosophy which the Church had almost entirely destroyed: Saint Augustine with Plato, Saint Thomas with Aristotle.
The Philosophies How did the Philosophies compare with professional academic philosophers?
they were not professional academic philosophers, but rather that they were intellectual types, opinion makers, political activists in the sciences or arts, journalists, cafe philosophers.
noesis
thinking about "sphereness" the form
dianoia
thinking about geometry of spheres
Explain Descartes ontological argument for God's existence: If I have an innate idea of God as perfect, then he must exist; because in order to be perfect, God must exist (as non-existing things are by that very fact, imperfect).
through his hostile critic of the empiricist Pierre Gassendi.
What is the ultimate reality for Hegel?
to achieve thise goals and also to incorporate the truth embedded in rationalism and empiricism, Hegel has to construct a new theory of reality as the heart of his metaphysics.
What role does human emotions and feeling play in romanticism? in rationalism? in empiricism? in Kantian-ism?
to express the inner world of human feelings and to offer powerful protest against philosophies which ignore them.
What was Plato's primary intention as a philosopher?
to find definitions for the concepts of justice and of the state.
Why must he prove that God exists? and is not a duplicitous God.
to prove that God is not a deceiver
What is the foundation of all knowledge, according to Hume?
to study the science of man, the science of human nature
dianoia
understanding
What does Descartes mean by "intuition"?
understanding of self-evident principles, such as the axioms of geometry (a straight line is the shortest distance between two points;
2. Labor Theory of Value How does Marx determine the value of any commodity?
value is equivalent to the amount of labor needed to produce them.
pistis
viewing earth from space
How did it differ in attitude from previous eras?
violence was happening
"We become just, by doing just acts"—explain how this quote exemplifies Aristotle's moral view.
virtue is knowledge, that to know the good is to do the good; knowledge of the good can affect our conduct only if it is practiced so that it becomes habit.
What does happiness consist of for Aristotle?
virtues
What role does habit play in the development of virtue?
virtues are developed by practice until they are established as habits
What are the limits of our knowledge of the world of facts?
we are limited to our atomistic impressions and the
In the world of fact, what are our limitations in terms of what we can know?
we are limited to our impressions and our ideas
Is it possible to know anything of which we have not had a prior sense experience?
we cannot know anything which we have not had a prior impression of in sensory experience.
Why do we disapprove of other traits?
we feel disapproval because they are universally contrary to the sentiment of benevolence
Why does Hume claim that substance, mind, and self all have no meaning?
we find that there are no impressions of any of them(substance,mind,self), but only of particular qualities which we experience. And so these words, substance, mind , self, have no meaning, since they come from no impression.
What meaning does the term "constant conjunction" have for Hume?
we have the idea of a necessary connection between a particular cause and effect after we experience their conjunction repeatedly
what is the doctrine of organic-ism?
which claims that an organism, as a developing unity of hierarchical and interdependent parts serving the life of the whole, is the model for understanding the human personality, societies and their institutions, philosophy and history.
Why might "modern" philosophy be said to begin with Descartes's Meditations?
with the self in solitude, meditating, becoming conscious of the false and doubtful ideas one has accepted so far in life, and deciding that the time has come to overthrow all of one's beliefs. Descarte says: "Everything must be thoroughly overthrown for once in my life, if I ever want to establish anything solid and permanent in the sciences."
How does this differ from Hume?from descartes?
with these two components of knowledge, kant has found roles for both the empiricist and rationalist elements in his new theory of knowledge.
purple passages
wordy, overly descriptive writing
5. The Moral Ideals of the Individual and the Nation-State Are Identical What might Hegel's attitude be toward nonconformity?
you yourself, as an individual, find your own moral identity, your moral self hood in this larger than life spirit of the people, in the truth of the nation.
Who did Plato teach?
young men and women of the noble classes from all of Greece and Asia Minor who were intending to pursue a political career.
pistis objects
zoa/sensible things; "real" objects
Burmese Days
• Written by George Orwell in the 20th century.