Philosophy Final

Long Essay

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Mock test (short essay)

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Quote identification Identify the author and work. If the author is Plato, identify the speaker as well. Explain the meaning of the quote in a few sentences.

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What are and explain Aristotle's three lives that compete to be the best human life and which does he say is best?

1. Life of pleasure, not suitable because you will be judged by others and it is not lasting. You have to repeat processes in order to experience the pleasure again 2. Life of politics, not suitable because it lacks philosophical understanding and that the life of a politician is painful because they are always worrying about being judged because of the various ethical decisions they have to make 3. Philosophical life, the best kind of life because someone who lives this life has a full understanding of how the universe works and how humans find and achieve happiness

Aristotle neo ethics

3 ways of life: 1. Philosophical or contemplative life is the best because you understand most things for example the difference between pleasure and happiness that allows you to truly get happiness 2. Political life and this is second because it's better than life of pleasure but this life Aristotle essentially says that you aren't truly doing political life for the better of others you are doing it to add value to yourself. He says that when you do the political life you see validation from wiser men. 3. The worst is life because you aimlessly grasp at things that you think make you happy but in reality they don't they are just pleasurable and you don't know the difference.

Explain Aristotle's "function argument."

Aristotle believes that individuals who are able to determine what human beings are, will be able to determine how human beings can achieve happiness. Aristotle claims that only human beings are capable of higher-order rational activity A human's capacity for higher-order rational activity is their function. When humans engage in this function, they will find happiness. Aristotle concludes his argument by claiming that rationality by itself is not enough. Humans also need virtue, family/friends, and a variety of resources in order to support a life of rational activity.

John Locke, Second Treatise of Government

He wrote that all human beings have a right to life, liberty, and property and that governments exist to protect those rights. He rejected the theory of the Divine Right of the monarchy, and believed that government was based upon a "social contract" that existed between a government and its people. If the government failed to uphold its end of the contract by protecting those rights, the people could rebel and institute a new government. Men kept their promises and honored their obligations in the state of nature. State of nature was mostly peaceful

Contrast Hobbes and Locke on the state of nature.

Hobbes believes that if there was no government or law, then life in the natural state of nature would be nasty brutish and short. Locke believes that all humans are naturally deserving of life liberty and property and that the state of nature could be relatively peaceful. If government failed life would not be violent, we would just rebuild another government

Plato Book 8

If a city lasts long enough, they will experience the following cycle of government: Aristocracy-A philosopher king at the helm (virtue) Timocracy-ruled by multiple individuals (honor and status (private property)) (private property leads to competition) Oligarchy-Wealth and class division (Once you make the mistake by admitting people with iron/bronze in their soul to the ruling class, you create strife/faction in the ruling class) Democracy-No order and no priorities (attack anyone who tries to impose rules on them, enslave themselves to the person who promises them freedom, Kills/exiles only threat to equality, people rule and are ruled) Tyranny-Cruel government ruling (Life of a tyrant is unhappy; have the most pain and the least pleasure, Incapable of friendship) SOCRATES IS THE SPEAKER IN THIS BOOK

"The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaching all mankind, who will be consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life liberty, or possessions..."

John Locke, Second Treatise of Government all humans are naturally deserving of life liberty and property and that the state of nature shall be peacefully governed

"Nature has made men so equal in their physical and mental capacities that, although sometimes we may find one man who is obviously stronger in body....yet taking all in all the difference between one and another is not so great..."

Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes With men being made so equal, it will only lead to competition. With competition their is violence.

Compare Rousseau's views on the human being in the state of nature and in society.

Man in the state of nature has few needs, no idea of good and evil, and little contact with other humans. Nevertheless, he is happy. As men start to live in groups, pity and self- preservation are replaced by amour propre, which drives men to compare themselves to others, and to need to dominate others in order to be happy.

Aristotle Politcs

Man is by nature a political animal, because he has the ability to communicate and to dialogue and about justice and the good. A citizen in the strict sense is one who shares in making decisions and holding office. the correct regimes are kingship, aristocracy and polity Because the city exists for the sake of living well, virtue must be a care for every city. The just one's regime is, the more just the laws will be. A regime must be based on the rule of law. The greatest method of preserving a regime is education relative to the regime, which means education to appreciate the claims of justice that the non-ruling element has. Farmers and laborers do not have the leisure to be well educated and live nobly. Rulers need to come from the leisured classes.

Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals

Master morality was developed by the strong, healthy, and free, who saw their own happiness as good and named it thus. By contrast, they saw those who were weak, unhealthy, and enslaved as "bad," since their weakness was undesirable. By contrast, the slaves, feeling oppressed by these wealthy and happy masters, called the masters "evil," and called themselves "good" by contrast. Guilt simply meant that a debt was owed and punishment was simply a form of securing repayment. Only with the rise of slave morality did these moral concepts gain their present meanings. Nietzsche identifies bad conscience as our tendency to see ourselves as sinners and locates its origins in the need that came with the development of society to inhibit our animal instincts for aggression and cruelty and to turn them inward upon ourselves. Nietzsche sees asceticism (force that dominated contemporary life) it as the expression of a weak, sick will. Unable to cope with its struggle against itself, the sick will sees its animal instincts, its earthly nature, as vile, sinful, and horrible. Unable to free itself from these instincts, it attempts to subdue and tame itself as much as possible. Nietzsche concludes that "man would rather will nothingness than not will."

Nietzsche's describes the "slave revolt" in morality (i.e., concerning 'good' and 'bad'). Describe the stages in this process.

Nietzsche touches on two moralities in his first essay, master morality and slave morality. Master morality was developed by the strong, healthy, and free who saw their own wealth and happiness as good and they saw those who were weak, unhealthy, and enslaved as bad. On the other end, Slave morality was developed by the slaves who felt oppressed by their wealthy and happy masters, deeming them evil and themselves as good.

"Exactly the opposite is true of the noble one who conceives of the basic idea 'good' by himself, in advance and spontaneously, and only then creates the notion of 'bad'!"

Nietzsche, The Genealogy of Morals Master morality was developed by the strong, healthy, and free, who saw their own happiness as good and named it thus. By contrast, they saw those who were weak, unhealthy, and enslaved as "bad," since their weakness was undesirable.

"But the citizen whom we are seeking to define is a citizen in the strictest sense, against whom no such exception can be taken, and his special characteristic is that he shares in the administration of justice, and in offices."

Politics by Aristotle A real citizen can be defined as a person who has the education and knowledge to be able to create and enforce ideal laws

Rousseau's Discourse on Inequality

Rousseau attempts to demonstrate that modern moral inequality, which is created by an agreement between men, is unnatural and unrelated to the true nature of man. To examine natural law, Rousseau argues, it is necessary to consider human nature and to chart how that nature has evolved over the centuries to produce modern man and modern society. He examines man's physical and mental characteristics, and finds him to be an animal like any other, motivated by two key principles: pity and self-preservation. The only real attribute that separates him from the animals is his perfectibility, a quality that is vitally important in the process Rousseau goes on to describe. Man in the state of nature has few needs, no idea of good and evil, and little contact with other humans. Nevertheless, he is happy. . As men come into contact more frequently, small groups or societies start to form. The human mind begins to develop, and as man becomes more aware of others, he develops a series of new needs. As men start to live in groups, pity and self- preservation are replaced by amour propre, which drives men to compare themselves to others, and to need to dominate others in order to be happy. inequality is natural only when it relates to physical differences between men. In modern societies, however, inequality derives from a process of human evolution that has corrupted man's nature and subjected him to laws and property, both of which support a new, unjustifiable kind of inequality, termed moral inequality. This is an unacceptable situation, according to Rousseau

What does the state of nature mean and compare the state of nature ideas of Aristotle (old) to Rousseau or Hobbes (modern)

The state of nature is a concept that explores hypothetical conditions of what the lives of people might have been like before societies came into existence. Aristotle: Aristotle believed man was a "political animal" because he is a social creature with the power of speech and moral reasoning: Hence it is evident that the state is a creation of nature, and that man is by nature a political animal. Hobbes: Hobbes believes that if there was no government or law, then life in the natural state of nature would be nasty brutish and short.

Describe Plato's allegory of the cave and what it represents.

There are humans tied up in a cave and can only see a small glimmer of light. One day a prisoner breaks free goes outside of the cave and realizes there is a brighter world out there. The analysis of this is that we are the prisoners in the cave and the guy who escaped is a philosopher because he is not scared to explore a real world of light. This world of light represents plato's idea of "forms" which he believes is the true reality. The moral of this story is that humans need to wake up and stop settling for an unexplored life. They need philosophy in their life to explore the other worlds out there.

Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes

articulated the idea of an absolute monarchy and its necessity. States that before kings,society was in a state of nature and it was anarchy. Humans were savages and they came together and chose to be governed Hobbes portrays the commonwealth as a gigantic human form built out of the bodies of its citizens, the sovereign as its head. Hobbes calls this figure the "Leviathan," The state of nature is the "war of every man against every man," in which people constantly seek to destroy one another. This state is so horrible that human beings naturally seek peace, and the best way to achieve peace is to construct the Leviathan through social contract.

Socrates says the life of the _______/_____ person is the happiest and most pleasurable life

philosopher just