final exam
Pre-Socratic Philosophy/Nature Philosophy
'Pre-Socratic' is the term used to denote those philosophers of the Western tradition who come "before Sokrates." Most of the pre-socratics were focused on cosmological and metaphysical questions, and would better be designated Nature Philosophers (or Natural Philosophers) They were interested in offering a non-mythical account of the origin and causal processes of the natural world. They are among the first to emphasize the use of reason and observation as a vehicle to understanding the nature of reality, and their rational approach to problem solving became the foundation of the Western intellectual tradition. Among the more famous pre-socratic philosophers are Thales of Meletos (c. 625-545 BCE), Pythagoras of Samos (c. 570-495 BCE), Heraklitos of Ephesus (c. 540-480 BCE), and Demokritos of Abdera (c. 460-370BCE).
Skepticism
(Alternate spelling, 'scepticism') In Epistemology, the view that we cannot have knowledge. Skepticism may apply to many areas of knowledge; one might be skeptical of the ability to have accurate knowledge of morality (Moral Skepticism), or more generally, of the world around us. There are strong and weak versions of skepticism which claim that we cannot have any knowledge at all, or that we cannot have any significant knowledge of the world, respectively. For example, one might think we are epistemically limited in regard to any beliefs dependent on sensation while at the same time admitting we can have accurate knowledge of matters of reason (i.e., things which are true by definition, or mathematics, etc.). Alternatively, one might be skeptical of the possibility of having any knowledge whatsoever (radical or extreme skepticism).
Vasco da Gama
Circumnavigated Africa establishing trade routes to india
Alcibides/Alkibides
Companion and follower of Sokrates, an Athenian general during the Peloponnesian War, and one of the most infamous Athenians of the 5th Century. No doubt Alkibides negative reputation is responsible, in some part, for the charge of "corrupting the youth" brought against Sokrates at his trial in 399 BCE. Also, see Kritas (Critias).
Thomas Hobbes
Metaphysical Materialism
The Republic
Socratic dialogue, written by Plato around 380 BC, concerning justice, the order and character of the just, city-state, and the just man.
secondary qualities
the effects of the primary qualities in our minds
sensation
the mental experiences (sense data) caused in us by external objects
primary qualities
those qualities that cannot be separated from the object itself
divided line
A doctrine from Plato's Middle Period found in the Republic 6:509d-511c. The divided line is a visual metaphor for Plato's ontological (and epistemological) view of the Universe. Reality is divided into two basic parts: the invisible, unchanging realm of universals (or Ideas also sometimes called Forms), and the visible, ever-changing realm of particulars (i.e., physical objects). Each of these two realms may be sub-divided giving us four realms of being and cognition. The lowest region is the realm of images (eikones) or reflections of physical objects which are cognized through the faculty of imagination (eikasia). Next is the realm of physical objects which are cognized through opinion or trust (pistis). The next level is the realm of mathematical objects (or what we would call abstract ideas) which are cognized through intellect (dianoia). Finally there is the realm of ideas which are cognized through reason (noesis). These four realms represent the ontological hierarchy of Plato's middle metaphysics. In book 7:514a-517a Plato gives the famous Allegory of the Cave to further clarify the ontological and epistemological doctrines implied in the divided line.
John Locke
An Empirical Response to Descartes' Rationalism Rejects the existence of innate ideas. Wrote An Essay Concerning Human Understanding: tabula rosa, or blank slate Reason is properly defined as natural revelation
polis
Ancient Greek for "city". The basic political unit in Ancient Greek civilization. Unlike other ancient civilizations, the Greeks never unified under a single political entity so the poleis which developed in the late Dark Ages (the period of chaos between the collapse of the Bronze Age and emergence of the Iron Age) remained politically independent from one another forming virtual city-states.
Logos
Ancient Greek, "argument", "explanation", "a rational account of" The English word 'logic' is a transliteration of the Greek 'logos'.
episteme
Ancient Greek, "knowledge", "complete understanding", "science"
techne
Ancient Greek, "skill", "technical knowledge", "knowledge of how to do"
Kosmos
Ancient Greek, "the ordered", "the universe"
Athens
Capital of Greece. The heart of ancient Greece
Bertrand Russell
Argues that philosophy does directly benefit society as a whole
Aristophanes
Athenian playwright and Father of Comedy. Wrote nearly 100 plays (only 11 survive today), originated the Old Comedy form in Ancient Greek literature. Author of The Clouds in which a character named 'Sokrates' teaches sophistical arguments and natural investigations to those who can afford it. According to Plato, Aristophanes was unwittingly responsible for the infamous reputation of the philosopher Sokrates that eventually lead to his trial and execution in 399 BCE (see Plato's Apology, 3a-4d).
Martin Luther
Began the Protestant Reformation in 1517 in Wittenberg Argued that the church does not have the authority to forgive sins
meditations on First Philosophy
Book by Rene Descartes; Book about how Descartes gets rid of all matters he belived were true
Democratus/Demokratos
Demokritos of Abdura (Ancient Thrace) was a Presocratic Nature Philosopher who posed the Atomic Hypothesis: everything that exits is composed of invisibly small and indivisible (atomon) particles that have always and will always exist.
David Hume
Empiricism - The Next Generation
enthusiasm
From Ancient Greek, en - "in" and theos - "god", "to be filled with God" The term 'enthusiasm' is used by John Locke in Book IV, Chapter 19 of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding to describe the psychological state of being disposed to accept a belief as true, in the absence of evidence, because it feels true. Locke believes there are only two legitimate sources for belief formation: reason (which he calls "natural revelation") and God (what he calls "genuine revelation"). Since God has equipped us with natural faculties of reason (i.e., the five senses and a rational mind with which to process information) he will not directly reveal true beliefs that could be known via "natural revelation". Therefore, the kinds of beliefs that God does directly reveal to the mind are limited to those beliefs that are true, but beyond the ordinary capacity of human reason (divine truths). But just because God has given us rational faculties does guarantee that we will use those faculties the way he intended. Because we have free will, we have the capacity to formulate and hold beliefs that are not rationally justified; that is, we have the capacity to believe things that are derived neither from divine revelation or reason. Enthusiasm refers to one type of unjustified belief that people might hold. DY>
Metaphysics
From Ancient Greek: meta (after) + physis (nature). The systematic philosophical investigation of the nature of reality; the fundamental principles of philosophical investigation. Ontology - What is the nature of being? (Ontology); Philosophy of Mind - What is the nature of consciousness? Philosophy of Religion - What is the nature of the divine and its relationship to the universe? Universals (and their nature) - What is a universal and what is their ontological status? Identity and Change - Are identity and change real features of the world? Time - What is the nature of time?
Philosophy
From the Ancient Greek philia "love" and sophia "wisdom", 'philosophy' literally means the "love or pursuit of wisdom." Academic Philosophy is a very broad field composed of five main subdisciplines which in turn divide into many dozens of sub-subdisciplines. The core fields, or subdisciplines, are: Metaphysics - the logical investigation of reality Epistemology - the logical investigation of knowledge Axiology - the logical investigation of value Logic - the logical investigation of reasoning (also the methodology of Philosophy) History of Philosophy - the study of philosophers and ideas in historical context It is probably easiest to grasp the nature of Academic Philosophy by comparing the word 'philosophy' to 'science'. Both are umbrella terms for a series of distinct, but related, fields of inquiry. Philosophy is a phenomena of the Axial Age and began in the 7th Century BCE in the Ionian region of Ancient Greece. It was marked by a rejection of the mythological world-view that had dominated human explanation until that time. The people we recognize as the earliest philosophers sought to give systematic, rational explanations of the world around them instead of the narrative accounts common to religion and epic poetry. The fundamental tension between muthos and logos (narrative and reason) can be summarized as follows: the mythological worldview holds the universe to be controlled by powers (i.e., ancestors, gods, spirits, etc.) beyond the limits of human knowledge. The rational worldview of philosophy begins with the supposition that the universe is knowable to humans and through careful observation and rational thought we can come to understand the world and our place in it. The philosophers of the 7th and 6th Centuries BCE are referred to as Nature Philosophers as their primary interest was explaining the natural world around them. In the 5th Century Sokrates of Athens was one of the first rational thinkers to turn attention to human nature in particular and made the study of human virtue a central phenomena of philosophical investigation.
Sophist
From the Ancient Greek, sophistes - "wise person", "teacher" In the 5th Century BCE a sophist was an itinerate professor of higher education specializing in rhetoric, astronomy, mathematics, music and politics. Among the more famous Sophists were Protagoras, Gorgias, Hippias, and Antiphon.
Axial Age
From the German, Achsenzeit - "pivoting age". Term coined by the Post-Modern philosophy Karl Jaspers to refer to a period in the Iron Age (c. 800 - 400 BCE) which witnessed an intellectual revolution across the Old World, from China to Greece. The period in which the great world religions as well as Western Philosophy (which largely rejected a religious world-view) emerged.
elenchos
From the Greek "to cross-examin." An elenchus is the examination of a set of beliefs testing for coherence. Sokrates employs elenchus in his quest to find wisdom. In Plato's Socratic dialogues we find this method employed in the following way: Sokrates meets an interlocutor who claims to know something; he illicits from the interlocutor a set of beliefs related to what they claim to know; Sokrates then examines the beliefs to see if they are consistent with one another. In the Apology we see this method exemplified when Sokrates crosses Meletos' claims that he (Sokrates) corrupts the youth of Athens, and fails to believe in the Athenian gods. It is important to note that the elenchus in itself does not provide support for positive claims of knowledge, only that someone has an inconsistent set of beliefs, and therefore they do not know what they claim to know.
anthropocentrism
From the Greek - anthropos (human), human-centered. The fallacy committed when one assumes that the human point of view is objective (i.e., the right point of view). A species centered version of egocentrism.
Epistemology
From the Greek episteme and logos meaning the study of, or understanding of knowledge. One of the five basic subdisciplines of Academic Philosophy, Epistemology is the systematic or logical investigation of three fundamental questions: What is knowledge? Can we have knowledge? and How do we get knowledge?
Sparta
Greek city state that lead the peloponnesian league against Athens during the Peloponnesian War.
Rationalism
In Epistemology, Rationalism is the dogmatic theory which holds that knowledge is acquired through rational, or logical, reflection on innate ideas. A core tenet of Rationalism is the belief that the senses are unreliable sources of information since they often deceive us. If all our beliefs were acquired through sensation (as Empiricism holds) we would be unable to obtain knowledge. Thus, rationalists believe there must be an alternative source of ideas which is not subject to the fallibility of the senses. If some ideas are innate to the mind (or soul), and if these ideas are self-evidently or analytically true, then they can provide a reliable foundation upon which to validate or justify beliefs acquired through the senses.
Knowledge
In Epistemology 'knowledge' is traditionally defined as composed of thee essential elements: beliefs, which are true, and which can be justified (or, true, justified, belief). While this is the definition we will use in our courses it should be noted that significant objections have been raised against this account of knowledge, most notably by Edmund Gettier. In his now famous 1963 article "Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?" Gettier poses two counter examples which seem to show the traditional analysis of knowledge is in need of revision.
Coherentism
In Epistemology, Coherentism is an internalist theory of belief justification which maintains that individual beliefs receive epistemic justification from the degree to which they are coherent with the larger set of beliefs of the cognizer. That is, the more a belief is coherent with the rest of a cognizer's beliefs, or some coherent sub-set of beliefs, the more epistemically justified someone will be in holding that belief. Coherentism differs from Foundationalism in that no beliefs are thought to have special (i.e., self-justifying) status.
Internalism
In Epistemology, a family of justificatory thories which hold the locus of belief justification to lie in the internal relations between ideas. There are two models of Internalism: Foundationalism - which holds some beliefs are self-justifying and lend their justificatory status to other beliefs, and Coherentism - which holds that beliefs are connected in a large web (or set of webs) of belief based on logical coherence.
Externalism
In Epistemology, a type of belief justificatory theory which maintaint the locus of epistemic justification lies primarily in the way we formulate beliefs, not in the logical relations between beliefs. In other words, how we get a belief is more important than how it is related to other beliefs. This approach to belief justification is an alternative to Internalism.
Foundationalism
In Epistemology, the Internalist position which holds a belief is epistemically justified in one of two ways: If it is self-evidently true and therefore self-justifying (sometimes referred to as "terminal" beliefs because they are the termination point in the chain of justification) If it is rationally derived directly or indirectly from a foundational belief which, because of its self-evident nature, requires no further justification. This model of Internalist justification is often characterized as linear since justification travels directly from foundational beliefs upward to non-terminal beliefs.
skeptical hypothesis
In Epistemology, the skeptical hypothesis (or SH) holds that every candidate for a basic or self-justifying belief may be false. The SH has beeen expressed through various thought experiments, but none so famous as Descartes' Evil Genius from the end of the first chapter of the Meditations on First Philosophy. There Descartes imagines a being of infinite power and knowledge who is equally malevolent and who entertains herself by deceiving us. How could we know anything if such a being used all her powers against us. A more contemporary version of the SH is the Brain-in-a-vat hypothesis: suppose aliens remove your brain and place it in a vat of nutrients and attach it to a computer which feeds it stimuli which exactly imitates sensory data. Could you, under such circumstances, know that you are reading this entry on your computer? After all, you're just a brain in a vat which is being caused to think you are reading this on your computer. The strength of the SH is that the skeptic need not believe it to be true. The point is not to prove our beliefs are false, but merely show that they could be false; this is sufficient reason to embrace some degree of skepticism.
Empiricism
In Epistemology, the view that all ideas are derived directly or indirectly from sensory experience. According to empiricists our minds contain no innate ideas and are therefore without cognitive content at birth (John Locke likens our mind to a "white piece of paper" or blank slate - tabula rasa). Empiricism is opposed to Rationalism which holds that there are some innate ideas.
Dogmatism
In Epistemology, the view that we can have significant knowledge - opposed to Skepticism.
particulars
In Metaphysics, 'particular' is defined as "the many that stand under the one." A particular is an individual of a general class of things. For example, my dog Kato is a particular (i.e., a specific individual thing), a member of the set of things that are dogs (Dog would be the universal of which Kato is a particular). Opposite of universal.
universals
In Metaphysics, a universal is "the one which stands over many." To get a grasp of universals, think of dog. From Akitas to Chihuahuas there are a wide variety of dogs, despite the differences in size, color, coat, etc., we would say of each that they are dogs. In this case Dog (or dogness) is the universal which stands over the many particular dogs.
evil genius
In Rene Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy, "First Meditation", Descartes hypothesizes the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient, and malevolent being who is capable of deceiving us with false beliefs. If such a being existed, how could we ever know if the beliefs we hold at any given time were true? This is Descartes' version of the skeptical hypothesis which states that all of beliefs might be false.
Ockham's Razor
The simpler one is usually better. Another way of saying it is that the more assumptions you have to make, the more unlikely an explanation is.
Reductivism
In the Philosophy of Mind, a materialist position which maintains that all mental events can be reduced to physical events (specifically, brain events). Reductivists do not want to purge our langauge of mind-talk as do the more radical eliminativists, they simply want us to recognize that what we have traditionally called mental phenomena are in fact physical in nature.
Relativism
Its all knowledge Whats true for you is not necessarily true for me Relativism is a doctrine which is associated with both Epistemology and Ethics. Epistemic Relativism - They epistemological view which holds that there are no facts beyond one's own perceptions (or experiences). Hence, anything that I believe is "true" because there is no objective fact of the matter. The strong version of epistemic relativism (called 'Subjectivism') holds that the inidvidual determine reality while the more conservative form of relativism (called 'Conventionalism') claims that truth depends on cultural or historical perspective. Ethical Relativism - The Descriptivist position which maintains that ethical systems are not objective features of the universe. Since they are not objective, the Relativist maintains that ethical systems are relative to either individual agents (called 'Subjectivism') or specific social groups (called 'Conventionalism').
Essay Concerning Human Understanding
John Locke's Essay presents a detailed, systematic philosophy that It is not enough to simply WANT something to be true, we must have REASONS for our beliefs
tabula rasa
Latin for, "blank tablet". John Locke, in The Essay Concerning Human Understanding, describes the human mind as a blank tablet or "white piece of paper" at birth, empty of ideas or cognitive notions. It is only through sensory experience (or in some cases divine revelation) that we build up the necessary stock of ideas to form knowledge.
Meletos
Meletus (Greek: Μέλητος; fl. 5th-4th century BCE) was an ancient Athenian Greek from the Pithus deme known for his prosecuting role in the trial and eventual execution of the philosopher Socrates.
The Meno
Meno is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato. It appears to attempt to determine the definition of virtue, or arete, meaning virtue in general, rather than particular virtues, such as justice or temperance. Introduces theory of reincarnation in this work
cogito ergo sum
Latin, "I think, therefore I exist." Rene Descartes' famous assertion from the Discourse on Method, part 4, and restated in the Second Meditation. Descartes' method of introspection leads him to believe that even if all else is dubitable, it cannot be the case that as long as he is conscious (i.e., has a mental life) he does not exist. Thus, awareness alone is sufficient to guarantee his existence. He will go on to investigate the nature of this belief and argue it is distinct from other kinds of beliefs in that because of its indubitability, and, therefore, knowledge of the mind's (i.e., soul's) existence is more certain than that of the body. Hence, the mind cannot be identical to the body (i.e., brain). This "proof" for the soul's independent existence was intended by Descartes to entice the Catholic intelligentsia to adopt his new method as a replacement for Scholastic Aristotelianism in the Catholic universities of Europe. His arguments were not well received because his methodology shifted the weight of authority from church authority and divine revelation to the power of human reason. During the Counter Reformation his works would be included in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (i.e., list of banned books).
a priori
Latin: "from the earlier". In Epistemology the adjective used to describe beliefs, knowledge or other cognitive states that do not require previous experience. For example, the proposition "All bachelors are unmarried men" can be known to be true in virtue of the definition of 'bachelor'. Or, the proposition, "Bachelors are bachelors," is logically true because the predicate merely repeats the subject. All tautological, definitional, and analytical propositions (e.g., mathematical propositions) are described as a priori. Rationalists (such as Rene Descartes and Plato) maintain that each mind (or soul) contains a set of beliefs which are independent of sensory experience. These "innate" ideas are usually thought to serve as a kind of epistemic foundation for the rest of our knowledge (see Internalism and Foundationalism). Empiricists (such as John Locke and David Hume), on the other hand, tend to think of a priori ideas as abstractions from a posteriori ideas. What Locke calls "simple" ideas, or Hume labels "impressions" are the a posteriori atomic building blocks out of which compound/complex (a priori) ideas are built. NOTE: the terms 'innate' and 'a priori' are not synonymous. The former describes ideas that the mind/soul is thought to contain at birth, as opposed to ideas that are acquired through the course of one's life. The latter is a description of the idea's relationship to the process of experience. All innate ideas are a priori (if indeed there are any innate ideas), but not all a priori ideas are innate.
a posteriori
Latin: "from the latter". In Epistemology the adjective describing beliefs or knowledge that depend upon previous experience (usually sensory experience). For example, the idea of what a rose smells like, or what royal blue looks like is said to be 'a posteriori' because the existence of the idea is dependent on the experience of smelling a rose, or having seen the color royal blue. Similarly, the proposition "Bill is a bachelor" is known to be true only if we have met Bill, and know that he is unmarried. The Empirical Hypothesis (most famously articulated by John Locke in the Western philosophical tradition) asserts that since we are born without innate ideas (i.e., as a blank slate), all the ideas we have must be derived from experience. Radical Empiricism maintains that since ALL knowledge is dependent on the ideas we have, and since all ideas are a posteriori, all knowledge must be a posteriori.
Logic
Logic is one of the five main subdisciplines of Philosophy. As an area of investigation, it is focused on the nature of reason. However, Logic is also the methodology of Philosophy. As an academic investigation, Logic can be called the systematic investigation of argumentation (an argument being a linguistic articulation of rational thought). There are two distinct systems of argumentation: Induction - a method of reasoning which yields conclusions with a degree of probability. Deduction - a method of reasoning which yields certain, or necessary conclusions.
History of Philosophy
One of the five basic subdisciplines of Academic Philosophy, The History of Philosophy uses the tools of Philosophy to investigation both philosophers and their ideas in historical context.
recollection
Plato's doctrine from the Meno which he thinks explains how we come by knowledge. At 81c-d Sokrates poses the hypothesis (he claims to get it from certain religious experts) that the soul is immortal and therefore will already have knowledge of everything; thus what we think of as learning is actually just remembering or 'recollecting' (anamnesis) what the soul already knows from its previous immortal lives. This doctrine is thought by some scholars to mark the emergence of Plato's own philosophical views which, they claim, differ from the views of Sokrates expressed in earlier dialogues.
Plato
Real name - Aristokles Ancient Greek philosopher (428-348 BCE), disciple and friend of Sokrates, teacher of Aristotle, founder of a philosophical school in Athens called 'The Academy'. Plato is perhaps the single most important figure in the Western tradition of Philosophy. From his mentor Sokrates he gained insight into the importance of virtue in human life. In addition to attempting to work out the implications of the quest for virtue, Plato made unparalleled contributions to Epistemology, human Psychology, and Metaphysics. Alfred North Whitehead said that all of Western Philosophy is little more than a footnote to Plato Writer of the Apologyt Believes that the soul has always existed: Argues that all learning is recollection.
Thirty Tyrants
Ruled Athens after the war. Lead by Critias after the Peloponnesian War
Delphic Oracle
The Oracle of Apollo located in the Ancient Greek town of Delphi, northwest of Athens. The oracle, also known as Pythia, was the spokesperson for the God Apollo. In the Archaic and Classical world, the Delphic Oracle was the most widely respected and sought out source of divination. After making an offering to Apollo, a supplicant could pose a simple "yes or no" question, or a more open ended question. The simple questions were answered by a priest of Apollo drawing a white or black pebble from a bag (white for "yes", black for "no"). Open ended questions were posed to the Pythia, a priestess who served as the conduit through which Apollo was supposed to speak. After hearing the question, she would inhale gasses bubbling up from a spring in the temple floor. She would then go into a trance and begin speaking gibberish (the divine language) which would be interpreted by an attendant priest. The answers given at Delphi where almost always in the form of a riddle that the supplicant would then have to interpret for themselves.
Pythia
The common name for the person who functioned as the Oracle of Delphi.
Socrates/Sokrates
The father of moral philosophy
Apollo
The god of the Delphic Oracle.
Delian League
The military alliance led by Ancient Athens, formed after the Second Persian War (480 - 479 BCE) to defend against a future Persian invasion of the Greek mainland. The military alliance opposed to the Peloponnesian League during the Peloponnesian War (461 - 404 BCE).
Peloponnesian League
The military alliance led by Ancient Sparta formed after the Second Persian War (480 - 479 BCE) to defend against a future Persian invasion of the Greek mainland. The military alliance opposed to the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War (431 - 404 BCE).
Axiology
The philosophical investigation of Value. One of the five main subdivisions of Academic Philosophy which focuses on the nature of value judgements. Axiology includes: Aesthetics - the philosophical investigation of beauty Ethics - the philosophical investigation of goodness Political Theory - the philosophical investigation of justice
Aesthetics
The systematic philosophical investigation of Beauty. The subdivision of Axiology focused on aesthetic judgements of art, architecture, literature, music, etc. The core questions includes: What is beauty? Is beauty objective or relative? How do we come to know the beautiful?
Ethics
The systematic philosophical investigation of moral systems (i.e., that which is Good). In Academic Philosophy Ethics is one of the three subdivisions of Axiology (the theory of value) which provides an analysis of goodness.
ethnocentrism
The uncritical belief in the inherent superiority of one's own culture over all others. The fallacy committed when defining 'the good' solely in terms of what one's own culture believes is good. In Moral Theory, the version of Conventionalism that defines 'goodness' in terms of the accepted moral values of a particular culture (ethnos).
Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Work by John Locke concerning the foundation of human knowledge and understanding (describes the mind at birth as a blank slate)
Rene Descartes
Writer of Meditations: famous for cogito ergo sum
Chairephon/Xairepon
Xairephon the Athenian was a close associate of Sokrates. According to Plato, it was Xairephon who traveled to Dephi to inquire if anyone was wiser than Sokrates (Plato, Apology, 9).
Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
book by the Scottish empiricist philosopher David Hume
Apology
by Plato, the Socratic dialogue that presents the speech of legal self-defence, which Socrates presented at his trial for impiety and corruption
Pericles/Perikles
influential Greek statesman, orator and general of Athens during the Golden Age—specifically the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars
