PHIL 201 Exam 1 (Metaphysics) LU Hinkson
After doubting everything, what was the first result at which Descartes arrived? By which mental operation did he arrive at it?
"Cogito, ergo sum." He arrived at this by intuition (an immediate awareness of himself as existing)
What famous statement characterizes Protagoras's position? What is that position called?
"Man is the measure of all things." This position is called relativism.
Explain Locke's distinction between "primary" and "secondary" properties. Which inheres in the material object, and which in the mind?
"Primary" qualities (size, shape, position number, etc) are in the object. "Secondary" qualities are in the mind (color, sound, taste, texture, etc)
What was Parmenides' understanding of reality?
"That which is /is/, and what is not /is not/. There is not state of being between the two. No Void or absence of being." It is a material, motionless, changeless, infinitely extended, and fully-occupied being. Change is an illusion and permanence is all there is.
What is "substance," as Descartes, Locke, and Berkeley all understand it?
"That which stands under" (substantia -- sub + stare)
Give the reasons why Berkeley denies that material substances exist.
- Discontinuity of Dualism (2 different objects cannot relate) - Matter as Meaningless Idea (Devoid of qualities) - Un-experienced as Inconceivable (You cannot think of something without its qualities) - Inseparability of Primary and Secondary Qualities (They're intertwined and dependent on each other) - Subjective Nature of Primary Qualities (Almost perceptions of the mind)
"Nous" was a crucial concept for which of the Presocratics? Who praised him for his claim that it was the source of all order in the universe?
Anaxagoras (pluralist) believed that "nous" (mind) was the source of all. Aristotle praised him (An. spoke like a "sober man").
Who proposed the first theory of evolution?
Anaximander
Which Christian thinker followed Aristotle's philosophy?
Aquinas
Which Christian thinker followed Plato's philosophy?
Augustine
What is the difference between deduction and induction?
Deduction relies on reason and yields absolute certainty. Induction relies on sense experience and yields probable results.
What is Descartes' solution to the mind-body problem? What is Malebranche's? Leibniz's? Spinoza's? Describe how each philosopher's position "solves" the problem.
Descartes says "Interactionism" is the solution. (Mind/Brain intermingle in the pineal gland). Malebranche says "Occasionalism" is the solution (God creates the appropriate idea/response). Leibniz says "Pre-established harmony" is the solution. (God preordained the bodily states with the mental states). Spinoza says "Double-Aspect Theory" is the solution. (Only one reality exists and, although unknown, has attributes in mind and matter).
How does Descartes, at length, arrive at the certitude that the world exists?
Descartes says that since God exists, He would not deceive us with a fake world because deception is a moral defect and God is perfect. (Arrived at this by certainty not experience)
What phrase serves at the motto for Berkeley's position?
Esse est percipi (to be is to be perceived)
Which was Descartes' favored type of reasoning? Why?
He favors deduction because the senses can lead one astray. (Induction takes individual experiences and forms it into a general solution)
Does Berkeley deny the reality of things, or only their materiality?
He only denies their materiality. He does not think the universe is any less real.
What was Descartes' next result of doubting everything? By which mental operation did he achieve this?
He proved God's existence by deduction
Did Berkeley think there was a relationship between belief in matter and disbelief in God? Does his refutation of matter have any impact on the question of God's existence?
He thinks that if one believes in matter (self-existing), then he doesn't have to believe in God as creating and keeping matter in existence. It does.
Reason (or Logos) was a crucial concept for which philosopher?
Heraclitus
Who believed that permanence was an illusion?
Heraclitus
What is Aristotle's view of the relationship between form and matter called?
Hylomorphic Composition (Matter and Form existing together)
Why is reality unknowable if Heraclitus is right?
If everything is in a state of constant change, you learn a concept only for it to change. It doesn't stay the same long enough to be known
According to Plato, how do the Forms cause things to be what they are?
Imitation - Things strive to be like their model Participation - Things participate in the ideal (Form)
What is Plato's basic view of reality?
It is a continuum from Most Real to Least Real (Highest Forms [Being] to Lowest Form [Becoming])
What are the Four Causes?
Material - Stuff (Thing in which a change is made) Formal - "Whatness" (That into which is changed) Efficient - That which brings it into being (By which change is made) Final - Immanent end (Purpose for which change is made)
What is nominalism? Name its founder.
Nominalism is the belief that Forms do not exist but are names that we use to group together similar things. (Each individual has its own nature and doesn't share it with anything [one] else) William of Ockham founded nominalism.
What is the difference between "subjective" and "objective" idealism? Which type of idealist was Plato? Which type was Berkeley?
Objective Idealism - Ideas an exist independently of being perceived (Plato) Subjective Idealism - All exist in minds and would cease to exist if those who perceive did (Berkeley)
Who believed that change was an illusion?
Parmenides (and Zeno)
Who was the first to distinguish between appearance and reality? Which subsequent, extremely influential, philosopher did he influence by means of this distinction?
Parmenides distinguished between appearance and reality. This idea later influenced Plato
To which philosophers was Plato responding when he proposed his theory of Forms?
Plato responded to Heraclitus and Protagoras
How does Aristotle's view of the Forms differ from Plato's?
Plato thought the Forms were transcendent (unchanging/eternal/Being), but Aristotle thought they were immanent (In things/Becoming)
Name four realists
Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas.
What is solipsism? Was Berkeley a solipsist?
Solipsism says that the perceiver is the only thing that exists, that the world is produced in the perceiver's mind. Berkeley is not a solipsist; he believes the world exists outside of the perceiver and God produces the world
What is meant by teleology? In whose metaphysic is it a key concept?
Teleology is the idea that things are goal-directed. Aristotle saw end purpose in everything.
What was the basic "stuff" of reality according to each Presocratic philosopher studied?
Thales - Water Anaximander - Apeiron (indeterminate boundless) Anaximenes - Air Heraclitus - Fire Parmenides - "One" Pluralist - Small particles of being moving around in the void, colliding and sticking together Pythagoras - Everything is numbers
What, in Plato, best corresponds to our concept of God?
The Divine Artificer / Creator God
Name Descartes' two types of proof for God's existence. What is the basic idea behind each?
The Eidological Proof - An idea cannot come from nothing; the more perfect cannot come from the less perfect (effect to cause) Ontological Proof - Existence is a perfection (logical consequences of an idea)
What is the highest of Plato's Forms?
The form of the "Good"
What is metaphysical realism?
The metaphysical realism is the idea that the Forms exist.
Why is reality unknowable if Protagoras is right?
There is no independent objective reality, only each person's perception. So reality and truth will change from one person to the next
What was the problem of the One and the Many?
What is the ultimate reality that underlies all things, and how is everything else related to it? (Also continuity and change: "What is the continuous reality that is undergoing change?")
Do any of these reasons (unbeknownst to Berkeley) also apply to mental substance?
Yes. The of "Un-experienced as Inconceivable" applies to mind. We never have an immediate experience of our minds, only our ideas, feelings, and perceptions.
