ILS 205 Midterm 2

Thinking v. doing

Arendt

3 propositions about thinking

Arendt 1. Everyone can do it 2. Doesn't have tangible end 3. Unnatural character "thinking is out of order"

2-in-1 dialogue

Arendt An understanding of human knowledge as a dialogue between body and soul, conscious and consciousness. Thinking is a back and forth between these.

Know thyself

Arendt Carved on the oracle at Delphi. The unexamined life is not worth living. Greek wisdom according to Socrates is examining yourself.

Philosophia

Arendt Love of wisdom. Thinking as an incomplete erotic quest for wisdom.

Sting ray

Arendt Metaphor for Socrates Paralyzes. Thought paralyzes, undermines all values, can corrode moral codes.

Midwife

Arendt Metaphor for Socrates Sterile, delivers thoughts to others. Wind egg--decides which thoughts should be thrown out

aporia

Arendt Philosophic puzzle; can't be resolved; "state of confusion." There is no final end to thinking, no tangible outcomes. Socrates's speeches are circular. The sting ray is an illustration of it.

Alcibiades

Arendt Politician who Socrates advised in Athens Embodies relativism/nihilism--the danger of thinking when you stop in the middle

relativism

Arendt Rejection of all values. View actions as all relative to each other. No absolute good. Danger of incomplete thinking. "If we can't define piety, let's just be unpious"

Banality of evil

Arendt The notion that evil comes from ordinary sources. The most wicked men are ordinary men. Thinking is the way that ordinary evil is avoided.

Stronger speech

Aristophanes

Gnat's anus

Aristophanes Critique of science for the sake of science... why does it matter?

Strepsiades

Aristophanes Father in The Clouds. In debt because of his son, so enrolls in the Thinkery.

Lysistrata

Aristophanes Leader of Greek women. Calls for sex strike to make peace. Makes up an oracle to convince women that they'll win. Mixing up of public and private duties. Critiques war and masculinity--Greeks' main societal values.

weaker speech

Aristophanes Learning how to make the weaker speech stronger = sophist

Clouds

Aristophanes Metaphor for god. Clouds are empty, substance-less, ridiculous. "Nourish the sophists." Shape-shifting. Critiques philosophy.

Just speech

Aristophanes Old, simple, portrayed as dumb

Unjust speech

Aristophanes Young, sexy, ready-to-go. Gaining popularity, wins w/ novel notions. Attacks justice. Says pleasure = happiness

Chaos

Aristophanes void, emptiness, abyss, large mass of air or wind

Pheidippides

Aristophanes. Son in the Clouds. Refuses to go to school, but ends up going when Strepsiades fails. Becomes a pale, boring intellectual as he feared. Educated in making the weaker argument stronger to repay his Father's debt..

Golden mean

Aristotle

philia

Aristotle

praxis

Aristotle Actions--can't be universal, cannot be defined. Ex. You shouldn't always repay debts.

goodwill

Aristotle Beginning of a friendship. Lacks passion emotion, investment. Can have goodwill toward someone you don't know, but it's the first step to friendship. (not in utility or pleasure)

concord

Aristotle Can agree with strangers about hints. Political friendship about what should be done. (not in utility)

telos

Aristotle End Aristotle says everything leads to an end. The end is good, happiness. (Not striving for idealized forms like Plato)

True friendship

Aristotle Rare, long-term friendship

theoria

Aristotle Studies like math where it is easier to get singular, exact answers.

Chaerephon

Clouds, Apology The old man who goes to consult Delphi, asks who is the wisest in Greece. The answer is Socrates--leads to Socrates's experiment/search for wisdom.

eristics

Dispute another argument instead of searching for truth

Calculation and truth

Plato

Philosopher Warrior

Plato

Political animal

Plato

Vulgar utilitarianism

Plato

divine spark

Plato

5 cities/souls

Plato 1. Aristocracy--the best. Balance between all three parts of soul. 2. Timocracy--deficiency is love of honor and victory 3. Oligarchic--love of money. Rich rule, poor despised. Actually 2 cities fighting against each other. Appetite rules 4. Democratic--love of freedom. Kaleidoscopic--wide array of desires, relativism. 5. Tyrannical--most undesirable

Myth of Metals

Plato 1. Guardians = gold 2. Auxiliaries = silver 3. Regular people = iron and brass The Noble Lie that God put metal into People's souls to give them their task in life. Founding myth needed to legitimize political order in the Republic.

Three waves

Plato 1. Men and women are equal 2. Women and children held in common 3. Philosopher kings

Tripartite soul

Plato 1. Reason 2. Desire 3. spirit

4 virtues of the city

Plato 1. Wisdom 2. Courage 3. Justice 4. temperance

Thrasymacus

Plato 3rd person in dialogue with Socrates. Most bold/aggressive. Arguments: Justice is in the interest of the stronger (relativism). Injustice benefits. People only dislike it because they don't like suffering it. Socrates's counterarguments: medicine is in the interest of the patient. Just people aren't trying to outdo each other (music, medicine)

Art and imitation

Plato Artist lies--corrupts because it is not the true reality. Art is 3rd order from reality (forms--> physical objects -->art)

Socratic method

Plato Ask questions until you can't answer. Finding ignorance.

Sleeping Athens

Plato Athenians need to reawaken their souls. Gods sent Socrates as a gadfly to awaken them.

Polemarchus

Plato Cephalus's son. 2nd person in dialogue with Socrates. Definition of justice: be good to friends, be bad to enemies. Socrates disproves with perception argument. It is better to be harmed than to harm. Justice cannot harm.

Myth of er

Plato Fairytale told to Glaucon at the ending of the Republic. A man went to the underworld and received punishment for injustice and rewards for justice. Despite the rational justifications for Socrates's arguments, suggests that those unconvinced by reason need fairytale to learn to do good.

Forms/eidos

Plato Forms are the good, true nature of a thing, seen outside the cave, forms have another realm. The things we see in our lives are only appearances of forms.

daimon

Plato God-like thing, medium gods. Acts as Socrates's conscience; always tells him no. A rational voice in his head. Claims death can't be bad or his daemon would have stopped him from facing death in his Apology.

agathon

Plato Good, supreme/highest good.

eudaimonia

Plato Happiness, welfare, human flourishing

gadfly

Plato He's a gift from the gods, but he's annoying like a bug. Athenians need someone annoying to wake them up. Life without thought is not worth living.

Ring of Gyges

Plato If you turn it around, you become invisible. Just man and unjust man would do the same thing with it. Justice is not in one's self interest. If everyone had the power to do wrong, they would. Way of comparing absolute justice and absolute injustice. Human nature can be boiled down to self-interest

mimesis

Plato Imitation, representation

Kaleidoscopic man

Plato In democratic soul, man who has a wide array of desires. Downfall of democracy.

dike

Plato Justice, balance, harmony

psyche

Plato Mind, soul, spirit

Cephalus

Plato Old man in dialogue with Socrates; discusses old age, virtue, his definition of justice: Tell the truth and pay your debts. Socrates counters with gun example. Represents tradition. Only concerned with justice because he's close to death. Set in his ways even though Socrates proves him wrong--leaves without examining.

pythia

Plato Oracle. Said Socrates was the wisest; mouthpiece for Apollo.

Parable of the pilot

Plato Parable in the Republic to illustrate why philosophers won't rule. The ship captain is best to lead because he knows all the soft skills (i.e. astronomy, weather), but can't convince the others to put him in power. Shows why people cast away the best leaders. People who use rhetoric to persuade to lead; others are ignored. Why the few are deemed useless.

Philosopher's courage

Plato Philosophers don't flee in the face of questioning. Fear of death doesn't stop Socrates from philosophizing. He won't stop his mission, even if acquitted.

Bless and exile the true poet

Plato Poets are dangerous to the social order; imitators are bad

Tyrant's roof

Plato Rule of the tyrannical city/soul. To appreciate aristocracy, you have to live under the tyrant's roof. It points you to the good. Ex. Cocaine binge

Prytaneum

Plato Sacred hearth of the city. Heroes are honored here with free meals for life.

Piraeus

Plato Small port city where Republic takes place. Loose morals, fuzzy boundaries; especially during festival (need to be outside of something to question it).

dialectics

Plato Socrates had strict policy of not writing anything down. Most important part of education. Brings the soul upwards. Rational discourse NOT rhetoric. Cave process applied to the mind. Explains things. If you don't use the dialectic you're asleep--need gadfly to wake you up and examine yourself.

thumos

Plato Spiritedness (the second part) in the 3 part soul. Assists reason in taming desires.

epistemology

Plato Study of how we acquire knowledge, the nature of knowledge Socrates says you must ascend from the cave to gain knowledge.

ontology

Plato Study of meaning. Where your standard of meaning comes from. Branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature of being. Socrates says that the soul is what's meaningful. Goodness and justice provide meaning. Ex. Achilles's sword has ontological meaning.

doxa

Plato The "seeming," appearance, opinion In the Cave, the unexamined life lives in the shadow world of appearances. The philosopher's life asks questions to get to reality.

Noble dogs

Plato The guardians; quick in discerning enemies, high spirited, brave, philosophers, loyal to truth and the city

Lingering death

Plato When people are so obsessed with their health that they do whatever they can to put off death, but put off the business of life. What is the ontology in this life? Socrates would say that life is about justice, not physical health.

Glaucon

Plato blind

philodoxer

Plato. Love of opinion.

Hoi Polloi

The many, the masses, the common people

arete

Virtue, excellence

thauma

Wonder, a wonder, marvel