FINAL EXAM - Philosophy of the Human Person PHL 113

Nominalism

everything is a particular; all things are individual stuff--out of convenience, our minds label things (makes morality different because there's nothing to compare anything to)

Universals

forms--unchanging, immaterial things

Liberum Arbitrium

free choice; the ability to choose between more than one course of action

Libertas

freedom/true freedom; the ability to want and choose what's truly good (lost at the fall)

Nutritive Soul

growth/reproduction

Necessary

has existence in itself; not borrowing from somewhere else Existence is good; everything is good in some way. If it is good to exist, then evil can't be a thing.

Nature (Aristotle)

having a *form* is what it means to have this. Natural substances have forms.

Physis

nature--the way things are naturally, there in reality (e.g., seasons)

Broad Human Nature

worldview--where humans fit in reality

Spirited Soul Triplet

seek nobility, get confusion, God offers glory

Appetitive Soul Triplet

seek pleasure, get sorrow, God offers joy

Rational Soul Triplet

seek truth, get error, God offers hope

Metaphysical Self-Knowledge

realization that he is both body and soul--assisted by Platonic ideas

Plato's Prescription for Humanity

-Guardians/Philosopher Kings -Auxilliaries -Craftsmen

Family (Aristotle)

prior to me, the individual, no one is ever a solitary individual

Aristotle's two kinds of change

accidental change substantial change

3 Parts of the Soul and what they seek (Augustine)

(1) *Rational:* seeks truth (got error)--God: hope (2) *Spirited:* seeks nobility (got confusion)―God: glory (3) *Appetitive:* seeks pleasure (got sorrow)―God: joy

Augustine's Manichean Hangups

(1) Not a sinner [sin is caused by bad particles] (2) Incarnation [matter is evil] (3) Materialist [couldn't conceive of a non-material God] (4) Evil was material (5) New Testament scriptures were corrupted

Confession

(1) Profession of faith (2) Praise of God (3) Accusation of self

Two Ways to Read Scripture

*Psychological*―law, literal *Spiritual*―spirit, allegorical/typological

Aristophanes' Speech

-A comic poet -We were once one with a human being, but Zeus split us apart. It's a story, but it recognizes that there is a deep psychological and sexual brokenness in us. -There were once three sexes: man, woman, and a union of the two―the androgynous. -The androgynous was round, rolled around to move. -They attacked the gods, and Zeus separated them. When one is united with their actual other half, they are inseparable.

Sin as False Imitation

-All vice is a perverse/false imitation of something good (God), but in a false way -All sin ultimately testifies to God's reality; the devil doesn't have any original material -Sin is taking something good that God made and twisting it. -This is the irony of sin. It's like a parasite of the good. -We sin to become more godlike, but the result is that we become less like God -Ex. drunkards enjoy beer less

Socrates' Speech

-Claims that love is better seen as a spirit rather than a god; a medium between gods and men. -When we desire something, it only makes sense to desire something you don't have. -If the god Eros is desiring love, then it wouldn't be beautiful. -Eros (love) = spirit (daimon) + desire (for beauty→ unity with beauty) -Permanent unity that will bring you happiness (eudaimonia) -Eros isn't just the desire for the lover; it is a desire for a deep wellbeing/happiness through unity with the beloved -Introduces Diotima's ladder

Agathon's Speech

-Claims that the others have focused too much on congratulating mankind than actually praising the god of Love. -The god of Love is the fairest, best, and youngest. -He is tender. -Love is just, temperate, courageous, and wise (4 chief virtues of love) -Love is the source of poesy and also invented all gods. -All that is good and beautiful comes from the god of love.

Platonists/Neo-Platonists

-Taught Augustine some truths about God, but they didn't understand the Incarnation―led to Augustine's intellectual awakening -*The One (creates being)→ Logos/Nous/Word/Divine Mind (job is to contemplate the One)→ World Soul (stems from divine mind)* -Trinitarian structure; did not have the incarnation so is still wrong. -Through the Platonists, he accepted that God is immaterial. By understanding himself, he realizes there is something immaterial about him which brings him to believe in an immaterial God.

Plato's Cave

An allegory that compares our reality to people chained/trapped in a cave, looking at the wall of the cave at the shadows, thinking the shadows are reality―everything is a shadow/echo of what's really real. His allegory posits what would happen if one left the cave and experiences actual reality. When he comes back to tell the others, they would think he was crazy. This allegory demonstrates his view of reality. The material world is a shade of the world of *Forms.*

Final Cause

Answers "What is it for?" ― where it's going; the purpose of the thing

Material Cause

Answers "What is this made of?" Stuff of which something is made.

Efficient Cause

Answers "Where did this come from?" ― normal causalities

Formal Cause

Answers "Why is the matter organized this way?" ― what kind of thing something is

Who spoke in Plato's SYMPOSIUM

Aristophanes Agathon Socrates

Who introduced the two kinds of change?

Aristotle

Sentient Soul

Aristotle. locomotive, appetitive/feeling, sensory/sensing―sentient cognition (sensation, memory and imagination) + sentient appetite (desire, pleasure, pain, fear)

Difference between Plato and Aristotle re: Forms

Forms are particular―each substance has a form―and in this world. Differs from Plato, to whom forms are universal and in another world.

Privation of Evil Theory (what it is)

Evil is a lack/privation of some good that ought to be present Evil isn't another substance in the world; it is a defect in a substance (in some thing itself), not a positive substance.

Aristotle's Three Levels of Community

Family Villages CIty/State

Diotima's Ladder

Goes from particular/material/temporal to universal/immaterial/eternal things. (1) One beautiful body (2) All beautiful bodies (3) Beautiful souls (4) Activities or laws (5) Knowledge (6) Form of Beauty

Academic Skeptics

Knowledge of things is impossible; is there knowledge?

The Four Causes

Material Efficient Formal Final

Two Kinds of Freedom

Liberum Arbitrium Libertas

Sin as Disordered Love

Loving something lesser at the expense of something greater. Sin is not just choosing bad stuff―there are many good things; they become bad when you're priorities are messed up.

Augustine's Order of Knowing

Outer→ Inner→ Upper World→ Self→ God (sin keeps us in the world) *Like Diotima's Ladder (particular→ universal)

Actual Sin

Particular instances of sin committed. Stages: (1) *Concupiscence* of the Flesh (2) *Contemplation* in the mind (3) *Consent* of the will

People Socrates Questions

Politicians Poets Artisans

Aristotle's Three Kinds of Souls

Rational Sentient Nutritive/Vegetative

Plato's Tripartite Soul

Rational Spirited Appetitive

Original Sin

The tendency to view ourselves as center; everyone else is an instrument. A pre-volitional problem (happens before your will is developed). Baptism is a pre-volitional solution.

Summum Bonum

The ultimate good―happiness, eudaimonia (living rationally/reasonably)

Substance (Aristotle)

Stable wholes; not part of anything else―each comes in a natural kind. A combination of matter and form. Humans are one substance made up of body and soul.

Augustine's Philosophical Anthropology

The body and the soul are both part of you, important, and good. He emphasizes the soul as the higher part of you―it is meant to rule the body

Substantial Forms

The form of a substance; an intrinsic principle [cause of change] of a substance by which it: (1) is structured/organized (2) possess its causal powers and tendencies Example: the soul is the form of a living thing

Aristotle on Virtue

The kind of thing you are (form) determines what your purpose/goal is. Our purpose/proper function is to use reason to govern our lives well. Therefore... [this] is the rational activity of the soul which follows reason; habits that help you consistently achieve your good, and therefore happiness. It is always a mean between extremes. --Example: Kind of Action: danger/fear Deficiency: cowardice Mean: courage Excess: recklessness

Privation of Evil Theory (what it isn't)

This does not state that evil is unreal/an illusion; it's real, but as a defect in a substance, not in a substance itself. Not all absences are privations. This theory is based on how something is supposed to be.

Rational Soul (Aristotle)

Understanding―intellective cognition (intellect) + intellective appetite (will). Can form intentions and consent with our will, making choices between things. Metacognition.

Twists Arguments

second argument against Socrates in the Apology; sophist--makes the worse argument the stronger and the better; takes money from young men and taught them verbal judo, not caring about the truth, for personal gain

Concurrent Causation

You and God can both be acting at the same time to cause the same event (wet nurse example; the nurse is the instrument of God.) God is the truer cause, for He sets up reality in a certain way. It is through God's work that you are able to do things.

Charges Made Against Socrates

[[in APOLOGY]] 1. He's a natural philosopher 2. Twists arguments 3. Corrupts the young 4. Impiety

Platonic Dualism

a sharp dualism--there is a body and a soul separate from one another, but the body/material is evil and ignorance; the soul is your true identity. Your body is cage.

Substantial Change

a substance turns into something else or entirely disappears (major change). A change of essential properties [e.g., human's capacity for reason] Ex. death

Accidental Change

a substance undergoes change without changing what it is; still remains the same substance (minor change). A change of accidental properties. Ex. hair color

Pre-Socratics

aka the natural philosophers (500s BC)--sought rational, philosophic, scientific explanations for the world and what it's made of; they threatened the entire worldview and the social, political, and religious orders (ie the sun is a hot rock - Anaxagoras)

Appetitive Soul

animal side--desires food, drink, sex, etc.

Reductionism

believes you are your lowest part. We're just a bunch of chemicals.

Politicians

can't defend their views of morality and justice

Narrow Human Nature

composition--what we're made of

Nomos

custom/human invention; the way we've decided to make things (e.g., daylight savings)

Argument from Scattering

death is a scattering of parts--the soul is a non-composite thing (one single, unified thing); it can't come apart. The soul will survive death.

Descriptive

describes the way things are right now--doesn't make a moral statement, just observing

Normative

describes the way things ought to/should be--uses moral language; identifies things that contribute to the flourishing/good of a creature

Anti-Essentialism

different kinds of creatures do not have unique features and capacities which distinguish them from all other creatures; we're not qualitatively different, just quantitatively in degree

Eudaimonia

different than psychological happiness/feeling good. Much more objective; it is the good life, being fulfilled, flourishing as a human being. A deep, lasting happiness.

Natural Philosopher

first argument against Socrates in the Apology; pre-socratics--"studies above and below." a threat to their culture

Impiety

fourth argument against Socrates in the Apology; accused of not belieing in the gods of the city--Greek society was a theocracy and thus impiety was a threat to political order; this is what Anaxagoras was executed for

Platonic Forms

ideas, more real than the material; immaterial, unchanging ideas that the world is based on. Our world is a reflection of this other unrealistic world/realm. Example: catness - the unchanging idea of what a cat is.

Three Arguments for the Immortality of the Soul

in Plato's Phaedo 1. Argument from Opposites 2. Doctrine of Recollection 3. Argument from Scattering

Particulars

individual things--a material, changing thing in reality

Four Elements of a Worldview

metaphysic philosophical anthropology diagnosis prescription

Rational Soul (Plato)

part that thinks and reasons--see's what's best for you

Moral Self-Knowledge

realization of moral faults―you are culpable for your own sins. Understanding your own heart/will. -"Grant me chastity...but not yet." -We have the ability to suppress things. -Self-control can't be consistent without God's help.

Cause

something that makes something the way it is

Art/Artifice (Aristotle)

stuff we've made; they don't have a nature, e.g., you can't plant a bed

Naturalism

the material is all there is; evolutionary accidents separate us; correlates with a rise in anti-essentialism

City/State (Aristotle)

the perfect/complete community; full range of human activities, where you can get everything to flourish

Plato on Knowing the Good and Doing the Good

the problem of humanity (diagnosis) is that we don't know the good; this is why we make bad decisions; "if we knew the good we would do the good"

Contingent Being

the things in the world don't have to exist; to be contingent is to have borrowed existence (evil is contingent) Dependent on something else.

Prescription

theory about how life should be lived so as to fix the problem in diagnosis

Diagnosis

theory about the problem with human beings, e.g. original sin, society, etc.

Philosophical Anthropology

theory of what a human is

Metaphysic

theory of what's ultimately/most real, e.g., God, material, spiritual, etc.

Manichean Dualism

there are two fundamental forces in the world: good and evil. Both of them are gods, and both of them are material. The material is primarily evil except for a small amount of "good" particles--makes people morally inculpable for their evil acts

Argument from Opposites

there is a flow of opposites--if all things come to be from their opposites then life comes from death and death comes from life

Poets

they don't have any wisdom themselves; just divine inspiration

Corrupts the Young

third argument against Socrates in the Apology; taught them to ask questions to their elders--upset people

Spirited Soul

thumos--hosts emotion (anger, drive for ambition, honor)

Socratic Wisdom

true wisdom is "I do not think I know what I do not know." The same as Socratic Ignorance: you're aware of your own limitations--know thyself. To increase knowledge is to increase self-knowledge, for ignorance of your ignorance prevents you from learning. *defn.* consists in self-knowledge; knowing how little you know

Artisans/Craftsmen

unexpectedly dangerous; they have actual, practical knowledge, but they don't realize how unwise they are

Essentialism

we are essentially one kind of thing at our core; different kinds of creatures have unique features and capacities which distinguish them from all other creatures (Aristotle)

Realism

we naturally group things into kinds; things come in groups because they reflect some immaterial form. Ideas are *real,* existing in some other realm. (makes morality easier because it has a point of reference)

Antireductionism

what Aristotle believes; we are more than just the sum of our parts. Nature is richer than matter bumping into stuff―we have formal and final causes. Important because it helps distinguish between the living and the dead; it allows us to make normative judgements because we do so with reference to the kind of thing something is. Nature is matter that's supposed to be organized in a certain way for a purpose.