PHL 100 midterm
what are the two proposals for Socrates punishment?
1. Meletus proposes death 2. Socrates proposes that he be given free meals for life because he feels that he has done the community a great service
what did Meletus charge Socrates with?
1. corrupting the youth 2. not honoring the gods of the state 3. creating new gods
why was Augustine attracted to the Manichees and their teachings?
1. he liked that they combined philosophy and theology 2. with their teachings and their belief that the mind/body are separated his soul would not be tarnished due to his physical relationship with his concubine
what are the two different ACTS of evil? (the evil we do)
1. individual evil 2. corporate evil (with others)
what are the two types of evil and what are they?
1. natural evil - the bad things that happen "naturally" such as earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis and various diseases - some question this because there is lack of freewill here 2. moral evil - the bad things we do to each other such as murder, rape, theft, war and torture OR the good we leave undone (blind eye on injustice)
what are the two realms in Plato's theory of forms and what are they?
1. physical realm - the material stuff we see and interact with on a daily basis - it is changing and imperfect (as we know) - only a shadow/image of the true reality 2. spiritual realm - exists beyond the physical realm which Plato called the "realm of forms" (the realm of ideas of ideals) - a reflection of a clear and perfect blueprint in this realm he says that there are unchanging ideals that are more real than any physical object (ex: the ideal friend/spouse does not change)
what are the 2 types of perception introduced in Plato's allegory of the cave and what are they?
1. sensory perception - appearance/illusions - the world of falsehood 2. spiritual perception - only possible when we reject the world of sensory perception
what are the 5 metaphors included in Plato's allegory of the cave and what do they signify?
1. the cave - the process of education, enlightenment, power, government, economics, etc. 2. slave's chains - the ignorance that restricts us from seeing anything outside of what we already know because when we are introduced to something else we become uncomfortable and would rather stay the same 3. shadows on the walls - reflections/ideals/forms - the power that stops people from learning the truth but once you know the truth you are no longer scared 4. people dancing around the fire - "gatekeepers" they are the ones who have the power and stop people from going outside of what they already know 5. sun/light outside of the cave - the truth/enlightenment/education - the real world
what does Augustine claim about children?
Augustine claims that children are born sinful because they are selfish, they cry to have their needs satisfied, and are jealous of others who share the same breast after examining their behavior Augustine realizes that he must have acted that way at the same age which leads him to question the concept of original sin
what is the Cartesian Doubt Method and how does it apply to Decartes?
Cartesian doubt is a systematic process of being skeptical about (or doubting) the truth of one's beliefs, which has become a characteristic method in philosophy Decartes used this method to answer: how do you determine what is real? which caused him to dismiss everything he thought was real until he could be absolutely certain that it was real with no suggestions otherwise
some people say that everything we know comes from our senses - what is Decartes argument to this statement and what example does he provide?
Decartes argues that we cannot base what we know to be real off of what our senses tell us because he argues that our senses can deceive us to support his argument he uses a solid piece of wax for an example - Decartes perceives the characteristics of the solid piece of wax through his senses and notes the color, shape, texture, smell and the sound it makes when he taps his finger on it but once the wax is placed next to a fire its characteristics begin to change as the wax is no longer solid, it enlarges, has a different color, becomes hot and has a liquid texture based on these characteristics our senses would tell us that the heated wax is something different than the solid wax but our senses would deceive us because the wax ITSELF did not change only its characteristics his argument that our senses deceive us leads him to reflect on self-awareness
overall, how does Decartes view the mind/spirit and the body?
Decartes believes that the mind/spirit is separate from the body like Plato, he believes that we are essentially spiritual and mental beings and our bodies are either unreal or not part of our essential selves making death a separation of our soul from our body - "spiritual liberation"
what does Decartes claim about god and the possibility that he is deceptive? what can we be deceived by?
Decartes claims that we can never be deceived by god because god is perfect - he says that we can only be deceived by our knowledge, perspective and consciousness
IF it were true that Decartes was being tricked/deceived by an evil demon what did Decartes conclude that he could never trick him into believing?
Decartes concluded that the evil demon could be tricking him into thinking anything EXCEPT the demon could not trick him into believing that he does not exist because Decartes finds that he is a thinking thing and therefore he exists (I think therefore I am)
how does Decartes overcome the dream argument (how can we know we are not dreaming?) - 3 reasons
Decartes says: 1. we can rely on our memory since physical things exist 2. there is a difference between dreaming sensations and waking sensations calling spato-temporal continuity 3. despite phenomenological sameness, we can tell the difference of being awake and dreaming by considering a series of sensations
after realizing that our senses are deceptive Decartes concluded that he needed to question everything (even his body) to begin his quest to find something/anything that is certain. what two possibilities did he suggest that could be controlling his thoughts?
Decartes thought about and questioned the two possibilities that could be controlling what he perceives to be real these were: 1. the possibility that god OR an evil demon could be tricking him into thinking he exists in the way he does (a person with arms, hands, legs, etc.) 2. the idea that he is actually in a dream-state but an evil demon is making him think that he is actually awake
what fault does Socrates find in Euthyphro's definition of pious?
Euthyphro tells Socrates that pious is "what the god loves" Socrates says that this definition is faulty because all gods love/hate different actions and they believe that different actions are just/unjust so saying that what is pious is "what the gods love" can't be true
who was Euthyphro and what was his definition of pious?
Euthyphro was a priest who is filing charges against his father for killing a servant for killing a servant - many people find Euthyphro's action as impious/unjust Euthyphro tells Socrates that pious means "what the gods love"
who was Saint Augustine?
Saint Augustine is a Christian theologian who has had a big impact on Western thought he is the author of Confessions which is a book written as a prayer to detail his conversion to god he was also a neo-plantonist
what is Socrates apology and why does he defend himself?
Socrates apology is his defense against the charges against him: corrupting the youth, not honoring the gods of the state and creating new gods. He defends himself because he feels that he has done nothing wrong because all he did was teach people for free in public and question them to see the truth (making people in power see him as a threat)
why did Socrates begin questioning everybody and what did he find?
Socrates friend went to the Oracle and asked if there was anybody smarter than Socrates and they said "no" which surprised Socrates so he began questioning people to find someone smarter than himself he found that people claimed to know more than they did when Socrates never claimed to know anything at all
what does Socrates say to the jury at the end of his apology and why is it important?
Socrates tells the jury that even though they are getting rid of him, his students will do what he did and continue to question the status quo and the people in power this is important because this shows Socrates legacy as a legend that will be studied for generations (because it is)
the socratic method/socratic questioning
Socrates way of arriving at the truth through a method of questioning - he used this method by walking through the Athenian marketplace questioning everybody
to decartes, can we still be a thinking thing without imagination or sensory perception and why?
YES we can still be a thinking thing without the ability to imagine because we can still understand because as long as you are thinking you are a pure intellect we can still be a thinking thing without sensory perception because it is our senses that can deceive us and it does not rely on our thinking/understanding attribute
what is deconstructivism/ists?
a theory that looks at how our normal way of thinking breaks down
what is Plato's allegory of the cave and what argument does it posit? how is it written? what types of perception are included?
also known as "Plato's cave" which he created to compare the effect of education (enlightenment) and the lack of it on our nature process of education, enlightenment, power, government, economics, etc. written in the form of allegory (philosophical writing) which has 2 levels: 1. literary (content/subject matter) 2. allegorical means (symbolic/metaphorical suggestion) - fiction/hidden truths introduces the 2 types of perception - sensory and spiritual perception Plato's way of criticizing our limited existence in the material world Plato writes about a number of slaves that have never seen the outside world because they are chained in the cave - at the top of the cave is a fire which projects shadows of dancing people onto the wall that the slaves stare at everyday which is all they have ever known - one day one slave escapes and sees the world (education/enlightenment) so he goes back to teach the others about the real world but they kill him/her because all they have ever known is there life inside the cave and do not want to hear anything other than that all elements of Plato's allegory of the cave are metaphors (slave's chains, shadows, fire, sun) that signify Plato's main argument that we do not question what is outside of what we already know but society does not want to hear the truth they would rather stay in the "cave" this resembles the story of Socrates who is executed for questioning/exposing those in power
what does apology mean?
defense - someone defending themselves/their ideas
what is "false awakening"? how does it relate to decartes?
false awakening is when you are dreaming but your dream seems so real that you feel you are awake even though you are actually sleeping/dreaming this concept made Decartes question: how can we be certain that we are not dreaming? what if we are dreaming within a dream? which lead him to question if there is anything that he can be certain about which eventually lead to the Cartesian Doubt Method
who is Plato?
he was an ancient greek philosopher who did a lot to change the way we think about the world he was taught by Socrates and then was the teacher of Aristotle Plato to questioned: what is real and how do we know? created Plato's theory of forms and the Allegory Cave
what does pious/piety mean?
holy/righteous
what are the 4 characteristics of god?
omnipotent (all powerful) omnibenevolent (all good) omniscient (all knowing) omnipresent (exists everywhere)
what does Decartes conclude about the "self" and the body?
once Decartes believes that god exists he concludes that the body has the primary attribute of extension and has primary qualities such as size and shape - making the body an extended thing however he also concludes that god is EXISTENT instead of extended this means that since god is not extended like our bodies are he can never be deceived because he does not have senses to deceive him and he is the origin of all things - which also means he cannot be deceptive
after Decrates reaches his epiphany of his existence what does he begin to question/claim?
once Decartes discovers for certain that he exists he begins to question the existence of god which leads him to believe that god MUST be real because the very IDEA of god is not something he could have created/imagined on his own - god is the only one that could have placed the idea of his existence into his mind
why do people question god being omnipotent and omnibenevolent?
people challenge god being omnipotent and omnibenevolent because if evil exists and god cannot prevent it then he is not all powerful but if god can prevent evil but doesn't then he is not all good
who were the Manichees?
questioned the mind/body problem and said that the mind (or the soul) is separate from the body they argued that anything that is matter is evil and anything that is spirit is good which meant that Jesus was not a person because that would make him matter and therefore evil - making him pure spirit
what is Plato's theory of forms?
questions what is real and how do we know? Plato believed that the physical world is not the "real" world because reality exists beyond our physical world he said that there are 2 realms - the physical realm and the spiritual realm (realm of forms) the physical realm is only a shadow of image of the true reality of the realm of forms what is actual reality is the idea/ideal forms (non-physical objects)
what does corporeal mean?
relating to a person's body as opposed to their spirit
what are the 2 types of sin?
sin is a "religious term" and has two different types: 1. sins of commission - the wrongs we do 2. sins of ommission - the good we leave undone or the things we should have done but didn't
what is the divine command theory and what does the theory question?
the divine command theory considers god's declaration about deciding/changing good or bad acts to good or bad or if actions are inherently bad/good the theory questions if actions are moral/immoral BECAUSE god says so or if god recognizes that actions are moral/immoral and THEN declares them as such? for example: is honesty and generosity good because god says so? is murder and rape bad because god says so? OR is honesty and generosity already good which makes god say so? is murder and rape already bad which makes god say so?
what is Original Sin?
the doctrine that claims that people are born stained with the sin committed by Adam and Eve
what is theodicy?
the doctrine that explores the nature of evil
how do feminist theorists feel about Augustine's writing?
the feminist theory seeks to uncover patriarchal structures in literature to expose how they portray women many feminist theorists criticize Augustine's portrayal of women in his writing because all women are nameless (despite his mother Monica) - even the concubine who gives birth to Augustine's child is left nameless which shows that only the women he considers are strong/righteous such as his mother are given a name while the others are nameless
what was Socrates punishment and how did he respond?
the jury determined Socrates was guilty and sentenced him to death Socrates does not complain, admit he was wrong, or seek sympathy for the jury by bringing in his family because he believes that would undermine his life and purpose
what is the significance of the pear and fig tree in Confessions?
the pear tree is a symbol of Augustine's youthful sins (stealing when he was 16) - it shows the knowledge of good and evil once Augustine becomes a Christian he is under a fig tree
what is the problem with Decartes' proof and Cartesian Dualism that god exists?
the problem with Decartes proof that god exists if his assumption that the thought of god is equal to all other thoughts he has about what he perceives is real outside of himself he believes that god is the only supreme being that could have put god's existence in his head but he does not taken into consideration that he could have imagined god's existence - for example: unicorns do not exist but we can still imagine them and think that they are real in regards to Cartesian Dualism the existence of god does not work/prove god's existence in the way that it proves the existence of the self-reflective being
why is the title of Augustine's book significant?
the title "confessions" is significant because it implies that he is admitting that he has done something wrong the book is Augustine way to confess/admit the sins he had committed that separated him from god while also detailing his conversion to god
what were trials in Athens like?
they had juries with 500 men chosen by lot once the accused is determined guilty the accuser and accused determine a fit punishment
what does epistemology question?
what we can know? how do we know what we know?
what happened when Augustine was 16 and why was it a significant event in his life?
when Augustine was 16 him and his friends stole pears from a neighbors land and threw them at pigs this event was the first time Augustine learned the nature of sin he later concluded that since he did not need or want the pears it was the act of stealing that he was interested in not the theft itself
what is Decartes' epiphany?
when he concludes that he exists in some form BECAUSE he thinks and that is the one thing he cannot be deceived about
why does Socrates refuse to escape from prison? (3 reasons)
while in jail Socrates is visited by his friends who try to persuade him into escaping prison/death but he refuses because: 1. if he leaves that will make him a coward and he has tried to live an honest life 2. he has remained a lifelong citizens and agrees with the law 3. even if he left athens it wouldn't matter because wherever he goes people will find out he rejected the law and no one would truth his teachings
when/why does Augustine finally become Christian?
while walking in a garden Augustine hears the words "take and read" so he opens a copy of Paul's Epistles where he reads a passage about behavior and desires and finally gives himself to god and begins his journey as a christian
what is a concubine?
woman/man relationship that can be sexual but not married because of the man's social status, rank, etc. can satisfy a man and can have children for a married couple if the man's wife cannot have children herself
