Philosophy 101 midterm review
Hard determinism (Textbook)
The metaphysical view that because free will and determinism are incompatible, and because determinism is true, there is no such thing as free will.
Libertarianism (Textbook)
The metaphysical view which holds that freely-willed behaviors are not caused by anything outside of the person.
Metaphysics
The study of the nature of reality
Compatibilism (Textbook)
The view that determinism and belief in free will could both be correct
Incompatibilism
The view that free will and determinism are incompatible.
Nutritive-
This soul involves the capacity to take in food, convert it to energy and expel waste (Plants and animals have a nutritive soul)
Social Constructivist theory of truth
Very popular view in culture today, as is the pragmatic theory of truth -According to this view, truth is a creation of human beings through their social and linguistic practices. If a belief or statement gains sufficient currency and acceptance in a given community it becomes true for them -may overlap somewhat with the pragmatic theory (what works) -most philosophers reject this view bc it disconnects truth from reality and doesn't involve facts and we cannot argue that it's better than one theory or the other
Reductionism
View that mental events like being in pain or thinking are identical to certain events in the brain in the same way that water is identical to h20 -also called identity theory
Facts exist without statements and can statements exist without facts
"Facts can exist without statements because they exist whether a human utters anything about them or not however a "TRUE" statement cannot exist without facts.
Correspondence/Classical theory of truth
"If a person's belief denies something that is true, or affirms something that is false, then that statement is false" and "if a person affirms something that is true, or denies something that is false, then that statement is true" - the truth or falsity of a statement is determined only by how it relates to the world and whether it accurately describes (i.e., corresponds with) that world. - the truth of the proposition or falsity depends on the fact of the man's being or not being -Aristotle
William Alston
"The primary function of cognition in human life is to acquire true rather than false beliefs about matters that are of interest or importance to us"
Aristotle-
"To deny what is or to affirm what is not is false, whereas to affirm what is and to deny what is not are true; so that any judgement that anything is or is not states either what is true or what is false"
Parmenides
( ca 539-492) said that ultimate reality is being- unchanging, ungenerable, imperishable, wholly uniform, steadfast, and complete; and the world of appearances is composed of being (such as people, animals, tables, chairs) which are contingent and changeable. -formed the synthesis of materialism and immaterialism, which was then taken up by PLATO.
Zeno of Elea
(5th cen) said that reality is unchanging and motion is unreal
Examples of metaphysical questions
- "What things are real?" - "Are a person's actions free of his/her own responsibility?" - "What is the origin of the universe?" - "why is there a universe at all?"
Heraclitus
- ( ca 536-470) thought that reality is made up of change/flux- much like fire. However, he thought that there is an eternal principle underlying all change.
Pythagoras
- ( ca 571-497)greek philosopher who thought that reality is ultimately numbers (compared with galileo who said "Mathematics is the alphabet with which god has written the universe) -It says, in other words, that Number describes, if not yet everything, at least something very important about physical reality, namely the sizes and shapes of the objects that inhabit it.
Star Trek decision on data
- Judge made her decision on data based on sentience and whether or not he has a soul. She could not define whether she has a soul or not, and therefore cannot argue whether data has a soul or not, and on the basis of that she needs to allow data to explore that question himself, as that is what distinguishes him from being "just a machine". - The 3 Criteria for sentience include: Consciousness, Awareness and Intelligence. (CIA)
Aristotle's view on the 3 kinds of souls:
- Nutritive, Sensitive and Rational
Hard Determinism-
- if a person believes in determinism then he cannot believe that humans are morally responsible. (however we are morally responsible therefore determinism can't be true) - Defined that determinism is true and is not compatible with free will - The past and laws of nature determine in advance a particular future. - Supported by Baron d'Holbach and Friedrich Nietzche
Role of Evidence-
- is the difference between having a belief that is justified vs unjustified -includes things like reasons, personal experience, memory, testimony, logical arguments -when several diff sources of evidence point towards the same conclusion, that belief is strongly justified
Emergentism:
- this view holds that the ability of thoughts and feelings to cause changes in our body and behavior arises from the workings of our brain and nervous system.
Criticisms of Social constructivist theory
-Disconnects truth from reality -no connection to reality is needed for the statement to be true -telling a lie often enough doesn't make is true -humans don't create reality by talking -facts don't appear and disappear based on what our peers will let us get away with saying -it is not better or more accurate than another theory
Plato's theory of beauty
-forms are truly real and eternal ( Ex: Beauty, justice, and tallness) - contingent beings participate in many Forms, manifesting them in a less real way than they are in themselves. -plato thought that the world was an eternal, transcendent realm.
Justification
-something that promotes or in a sense makes the truth of the belief more probable -evidence/support that makes a belief more likely to be true -refers to a property of characteristic that a belief has epistemic support -justification is an indication of truth - -evidence can include things like: reasons, personal experience, memory, testimony or a logical argument -Justification raises the likelihood that our beliefs are true but does not guarantee it, as evidence or testimonies can be proven false.
libertarianism
: the view that human beings are free agents, that have the power to act in the world to cause future events 2 Criteria: a.) Ability to do otherwise than that action b.) absence of causal restraint FREE WILL supporting philosophers: Augustine, Leibniz, Reid and Van Inwagen
Substance Dualism
A human being is composed of 2 fundamentally diff substances, 1 being a mental and immaterial substance known as the MIND/SOUL and the a physical and material substance known as the BODY.
Pragmatic theory of truth
According to this theory, truth is what works, or what is practical. -could also be something that is true for them (brings them personal satisfaction) -most philosophers don't agree with this view, as if we are talking about what works we should just say it works.
Plato (427-347)
Completed first synthesis of materialism and immaterialism -believed that forms are truly real and eternal moreso than material items
Global Skepticism-
Global skeptics are skeptical of all knowledge in general - We don't know anything about anything
rational
Involves the capacity to gather and process information, and also apply it in productive ways. (IE WISDOM). -also involves caring about whether life has meaning, and questioning the meaning of life. -involves awareness of mortality, and desire to accomplish things before that (only humans have a rational soul)
sensitive soul
Involves the capacity to have emotions, feelings and desires. (Humans and animals have a sensitive soul)
Knowledge
Justified true belief -can't have knowledge without justification and one can't have knowledge by just simply guessing -does not depend on popular consensus or passions -knowledge requires truth and justification ie they are necessary features (evidence, reasons, testimonies etc) b/c you can't "know" something that is false and without evidence/reasons because that's true by accident.
Criticisms of pragmatic
Linguistic confusion ( True vs what works) and how the pragmatic definition breaks down by GE Moore
Relativism
Nothing is absolutely or objectively true but that instead, all truth is relative. -all ideas and beliefs are equally valid/legitimate -each person's belief is true simply because you believe it -relativism satisfies an urge to power -is the dominant view about truth in our culture
Compatibilism-
Philosophers recognize that either free will is compatible with determinism or that it is not. -it's a view that human beings can still be free, even if they are determined. -Ex: Desires are predetermined, so you wanted eggs for breakfast, and the free-will is eating eggs which is acting upon that desire. - Thomas hobbe, john locke, and david hume agree with this position
Robert solomon 3 techniques
Pre-socratic- pick out an essential element(s) and show how the world can be explained in terms of them Platonic- postulate a world behind this one, which explains why observable things are the way they are Aristotelian approach- assume the commonsense world but then show that there is much in it that we do not yet understand and that the whole picture cannot be grasped from the details of life alone
Immaterialists
Pythagoras, Zeno of Elea, Heraclitus, Parmenides
3 aspects to mind-body problem
Qualia problem -explain qualities of mental event -intentionality- "aboutness of mental events" -mental causation -how mental events can cause changes to our physical body (nervous cause headaches)
John Searle
Relativism satisfies an urge to power, whereas it seems too revolting that we should have to be at the mercy of the real world.
Local Skepticism
Skeptical of some claims to knowledge, usually in specific areas -skeptical about whether we can truly know about a certain topic
Epistemology
Study of knowledge (episteme-meaning knowledge and ology- meaning study of) AKA study of knowledge and rational belief -Normative discipline -(a belief being true has to deal with ontology whereas knowing that a belief is true deals with epistemology) **
Materialists
Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, and Democritus
Bertrand Russell-
The condition of the truth of a belief, is something not involving beliefs, or any mind at all, but only objects of the belief. A mind, which believes, believes truly when there is a corresponding complex not involving the mind, but only its objects. This correspondence ensures truth, and it's absence entails falsehood. Hence we account simultaneously for the two facts that beliefs A depend on minds for their existence, and B and do not depend on minds for their truth"
indeterminism
The future is not determined by the past (Future is completely random)
Anaximenes
Thought that reality was essentially air ca 585-528
Functionalism
What it takes for a thing to be a mind is that it performs a certain function
Epiphenomenalism (Textbook)
a form of property dualism which denies that mental causation exists at all.
Emergentism (Textbook)
a form of property dualism which holds that mental causation arises from the workings of our brain and nervous system
Contingent truth
a truth that might have been or could become false if certain things had been different. -dependent on something else taking place for them to be true "The patriots beat the falcons in the 2017 superbowl" "Bill Clinton was the 42nd present of the united states" "Springfield is the capital of Illinois" "Aanya exists"
Reality
a.) Quality or state of being actual or true b.) one such as a person or event that is actual c.) the totality of all things possessing actuality, existence or essence d.) that which exists objectively and is fact Basic assumptions: -Reality is a unity -what is real is what endures through change -some things are more real than others
Aristotle (384-322)
reality is NOT an eternal and transcendent realm, and believed forms have no seperate existence -there is a disitinction between appearance and reality
GE MOORE
pointed out that the word truth cannot really mean what works or what is practical bc a.) What is true is not always practical b.) What is practical is not always true c.) What is true and what is practical are not always the same
Democritus
ca 460-371 thought that reality consists of tiny indestructible atoms that combine in various ways to give us different elements and all the complex things we find in the world.
Anaximander
ca 610-546 thought that reality was made up of boundless stuff that we cannot experience in itself, but through its manifestations
Thales
ca 624-546 thought that reality was ultimately made up of water. That is he thought that water was the element that was most basic. He was the teacher of Anaximander. He claimed that water was the origin of all things, that from which all things emerge and to which they return, and moreover that all things ultimately are water. He probably drew this conclusion from seeing moist substances turn into air, slime and earth, and he clearly viewed the Earth as solidifying from the water on which it floated and which surrounded it.
Real-
existing regardless of being perceived or thought of
Feldman:
he believes epistemic peers cannot have reasonable disagreements as both parties can disagree however both cannot be reasonable in their assertions if they are epistemic peers presenting all their evidence or they also shouldn't come to diff conclusions.
Property Dualism
holds that there are two kinds of properties to human beings: Mental and Physical. -view can be held by materialists or substance dualists
Criticisms of relativism
knowing that a person believes something doesn't make that belief true, it just means that that person believes it -cant explain the fact that people have false beliefs -it is self-defeating "All truth is relative" -not all ideas are true and some are simply ridiculous (Robert Solomon) -surveys indicate this is the dominant view about truth in our culture today
Philosophy
love and pursuit of wisdom -aimed at discovering facts and understanding reality around us -similar to sciences
Mind-body problem
problem of explaining the relationship between mental events and physiological events
Evidence of testimony-
relying on the testimonies of others for our evidence such as how we read history books, science books and the like - Belief about past "abe Lincoln assassinated in 1865" - Present Water is H2O - Future What the weather is gonna be like on Saturday ** is a form of justification, and provides adequate epistemic support making our belief more likely to be true
Materialism
sometimes called naturalism -this view holds that all of reality is composed of purely physical or material components, be they atoms, quarks, water, fire or electromagnetic forces.
Necessary truth
statements are true by definition, mathematical or logical necessity -impossible to be false "2+3=5" "All bachelors are unmarried men" "If A entails B, and A is true, then B is true" "If john is taller than cara, and cara is taller than lisa, then john is taller than lisa" **Cannot be false
Uniqueness thesis
the idea that a body of evidence justifies at most 1 proposition out of a competing set of propositions. Case of lefty and righty Two officers share evidence that incriminates both lefty and righty. If one officer believes that lefty is the criminal and righty is not, she cannot believe that the 2nd officer is reasonable in their decision if it is opposite of hers
Proposition
the point or meaning expressed in a statement or belief -( what a statement or belief is about or the overall meaning/content of said statement) -a proposition can possess the characteristic of truth or it can be false
Ontology
the study of "what is" being. It is the stud of the various sorts of entities that make up reality
Cosmology
the study of theory of how things ultimately came to be. Involves a view about the origin of things
Hardline approach
think that one side is reasonable and the other side is unreasonable and vice versa
immaterialism
this view holds that the components of reality are spiritual/immaterial such as god, abstract entities like numbers and the like. Think that material items are just "less real"
epiphenomenalism
this view holds that there is NO such thing as mental causation. What seems like a mental phenomenon is really just a physical phenomenon that produced the appearance of a mental event.
Richard rorty
truth is whatever our peers will let us get away with - is in favor of social construc. theory
2 basic assumptions of metaphysics
what is real is what can endure change reality is a unity (there arent multiple realities)
Modest Skeptical alternative
where the evidence does not identify either belief as being reasonable and both sides should therefore suspend judgement, but in neither case are there reasonable disagreements.
