Philosophy: Plato and Aristotle

Aristotle: cardinal virtues:

Activity/ feeling is Rational guidance in decisions and actions: excess is craftiness, virtue is PRUDENCE, defect is negligence. Activity/ feeling is bodily actions (eating, drinking, sex, etc.): excess is gluttony, lust, profligacy, virtue is TEMPERANCE, defect is insensibility. Activity/ feeling is Facing dangers/ death: excess is rashness, virtue is FORTITUDE, defect is cowardness. Activity/ feeling is according honors and retributions: excess is injustice, virtue is JUSTICE, defect is injustice. +justice will give to each his due; think of favorite and severity as being the two vices associated with Justice;

Aristotle: other virtues (known 3 for extra credit on test):

Activity/ feeling is social conduct: excess is obsequiousness, virtue is FRIENDLINESS, defect is cantankerousness. Activity/ feeling is Shame: excess is shyness, virtue is MODESTY, defect is shamelessness. Activity/ feeling is indignation: excess is envy, virtue is RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION defect is spitefulness. Activity/ feeling is honor/dishonor: excess is vanity, virtue is PRIDE, defect is humility. Activity/ feeling is anger: excess is irascibility, virtue is PATIENCE, defect is lack of spirit. Activity/ feeling is getting and spending: excess is prodigality, virtue is LIBERALITY, defect is stinginess/ illiberality

Plato: desire:

Appetitive part: desires for things of the body; lust, drinking, desires are blind: cannot regulate themselves; if they are not satisfied, it is only because of the restraint of reason. The celibates reason holds back west; moral motives. The dieters reason hold back over eaten; Prudential motives. Passions and appetites can deceive us, seek only pleasure. Pleasure can be good as well as bad; do you know which one is which appetites and pleasures can't tell. Only reason can. Reason can penetrate world of fantasy and pleasure to discover real and true pleasures. Desire must be Moderat; must act moderately or with temperance, without being forced to do so. "Many-headed beast"

Altruism:

Does good things only for sake of other person

Aristotle: mean determined by practical wisdom:

Correct moral principles to do in a specific case is determined by a rational principal, and by the principle by which the man a practical wisdom with it. Moreover two links up with the intellectual virtue of practical wisdom. It really good person is one who carefully follows reason, desires to do the right thing, has a well formed character, knows the proper goals in human life, can estimate how to achieve those goals in practice, and probably the one who has the most experience in making tough, moral decisions. Being at the coal is like learning how to ride a bike, not to doing a math equation. Moral virtue: points to the rate/good goals/ends. Practical wisdom: instructs the virtuous person concerning the ways of achieving the morally worthwhile ends; correct deliberations regarding the means.

Aristotle: happiness

Happiness: not a state but an activity, look forward and purpose/goal. Well intermediate goals must ultimately aim at some final good, therefore most important task in life is to determine what this chief and final goal of all human activity is: happiness (eudaimonia). Eudaimonia: well-being, living good, having a life worth living. Being a good human being/finding personal for filament means for feeling the end of being human. Pleasure and amusement is not the end goal/ happiness. However a minimal amount of pleasure accompanies the good life. Highest and most satisfying form of happiness is the link to what is the very best within us; contemplation fits this description. 1. Reason is that part of us that most fully express is our humanity 2. Engaging reason continuously, in the midst of lives other engagements. 3. Rational contemplation is a self-sufficient activity, for we engage in it on our own. 4.it is the one activity we engage in for its own sake and not for the tangible results it brings. 5. Contemplation imitates the activity of God, the unmoved mover. Distinction of Ends Instrumental ends ( means ) EXAMPLE, taking this course-getting degree-getting a good job-and so on Last/ final/ chief end Happiness "Eudaemonia " this is not to be confused with pleasure; happiness is not pleasure, wealth, honor, or virtue NOT HONOR: The end of life can't be on her, because honor depends on the giver, and it is not really our own; and it seems to be aimed at assuring us of our virtue NOT MORAL VIRTUE : No, but happiness will be in activity according to virtue and by virtue will be meant both moral and intellectual virtue; and activity must be manifested over a whole life, and not just for brief periods of time. HAPPINESS: Is an activity of man's most peculiar function Final end of human activity Man always desires happiness Highest good or set of goods Lasts end: sought for its own sake; ultimate; directed to no further end, but everything else is directed to it. Self-sufficient, and satisfies man's function; "that which is desirable in itself... ". The fulfillment of our distinctive function; there are three significant types of life: pleasure, political, contemplative life. Happiness is not amusement: life is serious matter. Serious work is the necessary means to happiness. It is not political activity: that is aimed at results outside of it; it is in contemplation,: of the highest object: I've metaphysics, natural science, and mathematics. so far it is possible More a kin to the divine: next best thing is the moral life; it's exercise constitutes perfect happiness. It is intellectual or philosophical activity. Philosophic wisdom is superior to practical wisdom. Most likely to lead to happiness. But without moral virtues: true happiness or flourishing would be impossible;--definition of happiness as contemplation presupposes The satisfaction of moral requirements.... Meaning that one lacking in courage, justice, Temperance, and so on cannot be called happy;-we cannot abandon the requirement of acting excellent toward self, family, friends, and city-the overall good of the agent is at stake.

Plato illustrates the human condition by the simile of the charioteer and two horses:

In Phaedrus. This image represents hopelessness of driver; excavate breakdown of order; driver needs to horses to get to the destination; soul needs all of its parts: but, there needs to be the one who has right, duty, function to be in control. This must be the prerogative of reason. Goal seek in and measure in faculty: passion seek only pleasure, cannot distinguish good from evil pleasures. Good pleasures are long-lasting. Evil pleasures deceive; world of fantasy. Reason penetrate this world of fantasy to discover true pleasures and true happiness. And direct passions to this real world of lovable objects. The charioteer has a clear vision of where to go. The good horse needs no touch or whip, but guided by word and adomition is on track. Bad horse "meet of insolence and pride-hardly yeilding to whip and spur. Plunges and runs away, giving trouble to other horse and driver." Only when reason tightly controls the reins can the other two elements, the appetites and the spirit, can be lead to pull the person in the appropriate direction.

Just man

In his nobleness and simplicity; wishing to be and not to seem good; he is dressed, not for the sake of honors and rewards, but for the sake of justice; let him be clothed in justice only; but-he must be imagined in a state of life the opposite of the unjust man; let him be the best of men, and let him be thought the worst; then he will have been put to the proof; we will see whether he will be affected by the fear of him for me and its consequences; and let him continue this to the hour of death; being dressed and seeming to be unjust;

Unjust man

Is skilled, a master of injustice; a master liar, cheater, thief, etc., able to recover himself at all times (after taken a false step) ... and who is in justice is to remain hidden to all people; quote for the highest reach of injustice is, to be named just when you were not". This man will have the greatest reputation for justice. He must be the man "who can speak with effect, if any of his deeds come to light, and you can force his way where forces acquired by his courahw and strength, and command of his money and friends"

Justice: Socrates and Plato

Justice is a virtue; it has a value in it self; it's value is not measured by benefits. Nor is it diminished by hardships; Plato grounds justice in the healthy soul, which as a reference to and is measured by the form/idea of justice

Plato- the problem of change:

Metaphysical dualism: there are two different kinds of reality, the world of sense: constantly in flux, and the world of forms: eternal and unchanging. Constant flux world: since it's constantly changing, we cannot have rational thought of it; shadows of reality. Eternal and unchanging world: A.m. physical reality. Not located in space or time. That intelligible world; this reality is intelligible to reason.

Aristotle's metaphysics:

Metaphysics: the science of being/existence. Metaphysics asks a more general question than what the various sciences ask. What does it mean to be anything whatsoever, what does it mean to be, the signs of any existent as existent. The study of being in its principles and causes, all existence is individual and has a specific nature, to be is to be a particular kind of substance; to be: to be a substance as the product of a dynamic process. Metaphysics: is concerned with being (existing substances) and its causes (the processes by which substances come into being). Various sciences seek to find the first principles and it causes of specific kinds of things.

Aristotle- nature:

Nature is a busy drama of restless, changing entities. What is the origin of all the activity of nature? Matter by itself, is according to Aristotle, is merely a bundle of potentialities; it needs some other forced to actualize its potential. Believe the universe in the motions of the heavenly bodies are eternal.

Ethical egoism

People "ought" to be selfish and do things only to benefit themselves

Psychological egoism

People only do nice things for others to benefit themselves: humans are naturally selfish

Plato's definition of justice in the city:

Social stability: do in one's only work-each one has a single job; cooperation between classes in common good greater than individual good; when the cities classes: becomes distinct; each one doing their work. No one and preaching on the spears of the others. And where the guardian and the other submit willingly = definition of justice in the city. Benefit to the whole city: only when this happened; it becomes very wise and better city. The city is good only when it is: wise, courageous, moderate, just. Self regarding Street: master himself, consideration of others, by knowing one on skills and limitations, by submitting to the common good. Ability, not welath or power, will dictate placement into class: Plato believed it is impossible to live the good life or to be out of the field individual apart from the state. A good society is only possible if the people in power are good and live by the light for sciatica reason. The good person and a good society depend on each other. Plato did not like individual list; the state is like an organism in which each part friends it's life in relationship to the hole. Most functional state is built around labor.

Aristotle's potentiality and actuality:

Stages a changing develop an individual goes through as potentiality changes to actuality. Potentiality (matter): a cord contains possibility to become a tree. Actuality (form): actual tree that results from the form guiding its process of development. All things are involved in processes of change. Each thing possess a power to become what it's form has set as its end: What turns a seed into a Tree? It must be some power within; The power to become that which it's form designated for it to become, its end. Two types of ends: Striving to achieve external ends; Ex. Building a house Striving to achieve immanent ends; Es.: fulfilling our nature be the acts of thinking; This notion of a self- contained end: Led Aristotle to consider the Distinction Between: Potentiality Actuality Immanent Ends: He uses this distinction to explain the processes of change and development: If the end of an acorn= to be a tree The acorn is only potentially a tree, but not actually so at this time. The change from Potentiality to actually= a fundamental type of change Priority of Actuality over Potentiality: Yes, something actual emerges from the potential; But no movement could occur from potential to actual if there were not first of all something actual. Ex. A child is Potentially an adult, but before their could be a child with that potentiality, there had to be an actually adult. In nature were involved in change- in generation and corruption- everything would partake of potentiality But since " Priority of Actuality over potentiality " is the case. I.e, for something to be potential there had to have been an actual, Aristotle thought it was necessary to assume the existence of some Actuality at a level above potential or perishing things. There is a Being that is pure Actuality, without any potentiality= the highest level of being The whole visible universe = is in motion = therefore a type of change= therefore, involves potentiality But al these potential things and the whole potential universe (since it is in motion) and parentheses he must be moved by something that is actually in motion; unmoved mover.

Aristotle: Virtue (human excellence):

Virtue ( or human Excellence) as described by Aristotle: "a state of character concerned with choice, lighting in a mean, the mean relative to ask, this being determined by a rational principal, and by that principle by which the man practical wisdom would determine it".

Aristotle: virtue and the mean:

Virtue is a choice lighting in a mean: Doctrine of the mean. Mean: position between two extremes are vices. Person must find correct balance/mean between the two extremes of passion/actions. The golden mean: meeting between excess and defect. passions: examples are Joy, anger, hatred, grief, shame, pity.

Aristotle- Moral Virtues:

Virtues are habits that help us follow the middle ground in response to the desires of our appetitive nature. Moral virtues: good habits in the appetitive part of soul directing activity of will and governing passions.

Plato's four primary moral virtues:

WISDOM: When reason is in control. COURAGE: when spirit subordinates itself to counsel of reason and applies its pull to right goals. TEMPERANCE: if appetites are controlled by the Spirit and reason; self control. JUSTICE: when person possesses wisdom, courage, temperance and in whom each element plays its proper role and maintains its proper place.

Plato's justice/happiness in the soul:

When each of the three parts performs its appropriate function; balance of power among parts. This preserves order in the soul; unity; restraint; cooperation ; hierarchy. When reason governs, since it is best suited to know what is best for entire person. Self-regarding constraint and consideration of others. The just soul will be least likely to: embezzle money, betray friends, commit impieties, Rob temples, break oathes. Highest sort of pleasure and happiness is attained through moral goodness; the person has wisdom and justice and what's their physical pleasures have a proper place. Justice is a healthy soul. Doctrine of the healthy soul: let reason guide spirit.

Five kinds of government/5 kinds of mental constitution among individuals:

1. Aristocracy- love of truth: ideal/rational element embodied in the philosopher King/peoples reason control their appetites/proper subordination of all classes; only an ideal to aim at. Love of truth. 2. Timocracy- love of honor: Spirit is dominant, not region; spirited part of Saul who serves role of reason, rationality. Since nothing is permanent, ideal state declines first into timocracy. Lovers of honor equals overtakes love of common good. A degeneration, because love of honor overtakes love of common good. Love of honor. 3. Plutocracy or Oligarchy- love of wealth: A short step from timocracy... Appetites begin to ascend. Desires for riches/beginning of private property/Rich rise, virtuous sink/breaks unity into classes/rich and poor/they become dangerous equals always wanted more and more/there can never be perfect satisfaction equals always torn between many desires. Love of wealth. 4. Democracy- love of equality: the many poor: all appetites are on the same level. And its principles of equality and freedom reflect character of people; all appetites are seen as being equal, I'll pleasures are equally valued. When the poor win over Rich, liberty and free speech prevails. No one standard is respected above all else; respect for authority decline. All this political equality comes from: a soul that has changed: order between its parts have been destroyed. appetites are all equal, free to act as a mob of passions. One appetite is as good as another: equal rights for all appetites. 5. Despotism or Tyranny- love of power: ascendancy of a single master passion. In individual, continuous indulgences of appetite will reveal degrees. These will lead to a single master passion-strongest and most persistent which will enslaves soul. In state, likewise: we have two classes-rich: take advantage of poor, poor: defend themselves by resisting the Rich. Rich resist. Masses seek out a strong person to be their leader, this person six and acquires absolute power, and slaves people equals tyranny; subjugation; this is the unjust society. So natural and of democracy is despotism.

Plato- The relationship of particulars to the forms:

1. Forms are the cause of the essence and existence of particular things. 2. Physical objects resemble or imitate their forms. 3.things participate in their forms. 4. Forms represent the standards of a valuation we used to judge particulars as excellent or deficient. 5. Forms make particulars intelligible. Without the forms we could nothing, speak, or make sense of anything. Ex: The photograph and the reflected images participate in the reality is they were present. Something is a lower level of reality if that depends on something else for its existence and bears the image of that Higher reality. Ideals of things constitutes with the real version is. Being human: condition of one's soul, the degree of a persons rationality, and one's values. No earthly, physical being ever attend the perfect reality of its form, for to be physical is always to be limited, deficient, and changing.

Plato-theory of knowledge: reason versus opinion:

1. Plato rejects relativism; knowledge is universal. Plato rejected the doctrines of the sophists: our lives must be founded on knowledge, not personal opinion or custom. 2. Rejection of sense experience: Plato makes a strong distinction between here and now since experience and unchanging realm of rational knowledge; our sense experience is not reliable-constantly changing, relative to perceiver. Sense experience would not allow language to function, we achieve understanding through universal concepts. Plato's position was close to rationalism. Object of knowledge must be universal; captured in a definition. We have innate knowledge of the forms. The object of knowledge must be universal, which only reason can know. Math, Objects and concepts; moral and aesthetics concepts: goodness, justice, beauty. Circle is not seen with the eyes, but known conceptually with the mind. We have never seen perfect justice in human history, yet we have a concept of perfect justice. Therefore, it could never have come from human experience. If justice is not fixed, transcending the physical world, metaphysical, then the Sophist were right in saying that moral qualities such as justice are merely sounds or puffs of air. And there is no difference of character between Hitler and a mother Theresa. Plato rejected the position of empiricism: empiricism is the claim that all our knowledge derives from sense experience. .

Aristotle- the discovery of logic:

Aristotle was the first person to discover the rules of logic. Sometimes to know: argument: arguments can be valid or invalid, sound or unsound. Syllogism: no the entire section. First principles: first principles are not innate, as in Plato's philosophy. How do we know the first principles: induction and intuition are the route to first principles. First philosophy: The examination of the principles that are the common foundation for every science.

Aristotle: human nature:

Aristotle's ethics will be founded upon the universal characteristics of human nature. Human nature is universal and constant; human nature has an essence which will determine what good actions are, and what the final end is. Human nature: two parts of soul: rational and irrational. Irrational: appetitive part (will, desire, and passions), and vegetative part. Rational: reason is it's most distinctive features. For the good of me and will consist in the life of reason and it's major achievement; to act in accordance with right reason, the rational part of Soul to control the irrational part; which means the life of virtue = morality has to do with developing habits of right thinking.

Aristotle- metaphysics: understanding the here and now world:

Critique of the platonic forms: 1. The forms are useless. They have no explanatory power. Instead of simplifying natural world, he creates a second world doubling numbers of things need an explanation. 2. Forms cannot explain change or movement with in our experience. Aristotle believed our lives or lived in a changing World, we need to make some sense of it. 3. The forms cannot be there essence or substance of things if they are separated from. 4. It is not clear what it means for particulars to participate in the forms. Do you say that the forms are patterns and that particular share in them is to use empty words and poetical metaphors. 5. Aristotle uses the third man argument. If the relationship between two men is explained by means of the form of man, then do we need yet another form to explain the similarity between the individual man in the form of man? If so this process would never end-forms explain in the forms forever. According to Aristotle, forms do exist, but as the essences a physical objects. This is a rejection of Plato's theory that the forms exist outside of nature, in a separate, immaterial and unchangeable dimension of reality. End it is because of these forms that we are able to have knowledge.

Plato: Demiurge

Demiurge means divine craftsman; yes, along with all the ingredients of things, and the forms or patterns after which things are made are all assume to exist by Plato: there is no theory of creation out of nothing in Plato. Receptacle is a matrix or a medium that has no structure but that is capable of receiving the implies a shin of structure by the demiurge. Space is another word Plato uses for receptacle. It is under arrived, as are the forms and the demiurge. The receptacle is where things appear and Parish. Matter is a reflection of a form, and these forms are expressed through a medium. Generation of things equals out of what he calls the receptacle, "The nurse of all becoming." Material objects are not substances; they are composed of nonmaterial compounds. No substances, there are only qualities. Pythagoreans= Plato followed them: solid objects of matter are described and defined in geometric terms according to their services. Any surface can be resolved into triangles. Any triangle... And two right triangles. These triangular services are the ingredients of the compound known as matter. They are irreducible. The simplest solid is a pyramid that consists of four triangular surfaces. A cube is made of six square surfaces, each square surface is composed of 2 half squares, example, two triangles. Solid never contains anything more than surfaces. Body or molecules are geometric figures. The whole world could be thought of in terms of its geometrical diagram. Matter, therefore, is the appearance of something more basic. Mind: orders all things, that is what explains the variations in things. Cosmo's: the activity of the world soul in the receptacle. World of things: world of phenomena, Greek word for appearances. Geometric services: these are primary and irreducible, are found as raw material in the receptacle and require some organizing agency to arrange them into triangles and then into phenomena. World soul; all this activity is achieved by the world soul: it is eternal, though at times Plato appears to say that is the creation of the demiurge. Although it is eternal, the world of appearance is full of change. Just as in humans: soul represents the eternal element, body it's the principle of change. World of matter and body: it changes because it is composite and always tends to return to its basic constituents, "going into" and "going out of" space. World soul represents what is stable, permanent, a structure, a discernible universe: it is eternal.

Plato's three parts of the soul: justice in the soul:

Division made on the presence of conflict in the soul: when anything performs two different acts at once, then the thing must contain more than one part. When soul moves towards one object but rejects it at the same time is the two different acts, proving the soul has more than one part. The essential core of the person is her or her psych (soul); refer to it as the "self". 1. Desires: appetite-bodily needs and desires such as the desire for food, drink, sex. Appetite pulls us in the direction of physical gratification and material acquisition. Appetites: lowest and most dangerous of our desires; "I want, I want", without regard for consequences. 2. Reason: more reflective, rational part of the show, which sometimes vetoes the urging of the appetites. The voice of reason within us. This element also has desires, but these are rational desires. It is the source of the love of truth and the desire to understand it. 3. Spirit: used in same way we talk of a spirited horse. The willful, dynamic, executive faculty with in the soul. The spirited part expresses itself in anger, righteousness, indignation, ambition, courage, pride, or assertiveness. It is the source of the desire for honor, respect, reputation, and self esteem. The spirit is a Sociedad with the passions or the emotions. Neither physiological drives nor the product of reflective reason. The spirit is a motive force, but it receives its direction from the two other faculties. It can't follow the commands of either the appetite or reason.

Aristotle- theory of knowledge:

Finding universals within particulars. Aristotle's appeal to experience: Empiricism: "the theory that knowledge is obtained solely through sense experience". "All human beings by nature desire to know". Differ. Bet. Plato and Aristotle. Plato: science is not possible of physical things; Plato urged students to turn away from the realm of particulars. Aristotle: knowledge begins with a study of particular things, but science goes beyond knowledge of particular facts- by abstraction of the essence from accidental features of things. Ex: abstracting tree from this particular tree.

Aristotle's causes:

Four different aspects that go into the explanation of any individual thing (causes): 1. Material cause: matters; example- Marble slab is material cost for statue. 2. Efficient cause: origin of the process that produces the article in question. Example-for statue, it would be sculptor and his tools. 3. Formal cause: essence of the item, the form being actualized and it's matter that which makes it the sort of thing. Example-sculptor begins work with statue form in his mind. This is the second most important cause. 4. Final cause: the end or purpose or function it is to for fill. Example-statue made to resemble or depict someone. This is the most important cause. Since he is not a Platonist, Who has to look to an innate idea in a heaven in order to understand the thing before him, Aristotle will have to find knowledge in the changing thing itself. Change = motion, growth, decay, generation, corruption Some = natural Others = the products of human art. Things are always taking new form; New life is born Statues are made Causes = not the modern usage of an event prior to an effect; but it meant for Aristotle = explanation Aristotle looked at life through the eyes of a biologist Nature is life All things are in motion-in the process of becoming and dying away; Process of reproduction = a clear example of the power inherent in all living things to:-initiate change and to reproduce their kind " all things that come to be come to be by some agency and form something and come to be something" Therefore, form and matter never exist separately. Change occurs always in into something that is already a combination of form and matter, and that is on its way to becoming something new or different. Two kinds of objects Objects caused by nature Does not have "purposes" in the sense of the reason for but it does have ends Having built- in ways of behaving Ex. Seeds sprout Roots grow down ( not up ) Plants grow In this process of change, plants move toward their end, that is, their distinctive functions or way of being; in nature changes will involve the same four elements

Plato- World of change and purpose:

Full of change but also exhibits order and purpose. Against Democritus; things do not come into being through the accidental collision of at times. He saw orbits of planets= harmonic scale. Partly agreed with Pythagoreans; they said things are numbers, Plato said things participate in numbers, and are capable of a mathematical explanation. This mathematical characteristic of things suggested to Plato that behind things there must be thought and purpose, and not merely chance and subsequent mechanism. Cosmo's equal must be work of intelligence,... Since it is the mind that orders all things. Humanity in the world... Bear a likeness to each other, for both contain first and intelligible and eternal element, and second a sensible and perishing element. Humans = body and soul. World= a soul in which things are arranged.

Plato: Ring of Gyges

In book 2 of Plato's Republic, we encounter the legend of Gyges. Glaucon in book 2 of Plato's Republic; Glaucon recalls the legend of Gyges, a shepherd who was said to have found a magic ring in a fissure opened up by an earthquake; this ring makes its wearer invisible; Gyges use the power of the ring to gain entry to the royal palace where he seduced the queen, murdered the king, and then seized the throne; then Glaucon asks Socrates to imagine that there are two such rings: one given to a man a virtue, the other two a rogue. Glaucon contends that the so-called man a virtue will act like a rogue, if given the protection of the ring; no one would resist the temptation of "keeping his hands off other men's goods, of entering houses and sleeping with any woman he chose, set prisoners free and kill man at his pleasure... In other words, go about among men with the powers of a God" both would take the same course; what reason is there for him to continue being moral when it is clearly not to his advantage to do so? This is ethical egoism.

Plato: innate knowledge:

Innate knowledge: imprinted on the soul. Plato believe our souls were directly acquainted with the forms, but I'm entering the physical world we forgot the knowledge. We have this knowledge but it must be recovered through RECOLLECTION. Through dialectic: the power of abstracting the essence of things and discovering the relations of all divisions of knowledge to each other. Through the power of desire or love (Eros). Socrates method of dialectical questioning and sent experience cannot give us knowledge of the forms, for this is already in our possessions. Instead they remind us of what we dimly new but could not consciously apprehend.

Aristotle- Understanding the natural world:

Kind: we must specify the subject matter that we are discussing. Predicates: two this we add the properties and causes that are related to that kind of thing. Categories: Aristotle developed this notion: explains how we think about things. Thinking about things: we think of a subject, SUBSTANCE, and it's PREDICATES, accidents. Essential categories: 1. Substance 2.quantity 3.quality 4.relation 5.place 6.time 7.position 8.state 9.action 10. Passivity In our thinking, we arrange things into these categories, classifying such categories into: Genera: A class of things that have common characteristics and that can be divided into subordinate kinds. Species: related to the Genus. Individual thing called a member of the species. These are not artificial creations of the mind; they have actual existence outside the mind and in things, things fell into various classifications by their very nature, and we think of them as members of a species or genus because they are.

Plato- knowledge:

Knowledge is not true belief: knowledge is always true, but believes may be true or false. Knowledge is when you can demonstrate the truth of a believe/ Grounded in rational insight. Universal forms are the basis of knowledge: genuine knowledge is objective, unavailable to the senses, universal (been in any general term or concept that refers to a number of particular things.) , grounded in a rational understanding. Examples of universals are: human being, circularity, triangularity, beauty, justice itself, goodness itself. Plato's theory is also known as theory of ideas/platonic ideas. Ideas: objects of knowledge/ forms. Universals reside in an eternal, unchanging world. Particulars come into being, change, and pass away.

Plato's divided line:

Modes of awareness and levels of reality. Correlate the degree or levels of knowledge with the different levels of reality. Epistemology and metaphysical parallel each other. A = imagination or conjecture. Imagining; sense experience of appearances; we think these are real; example artists and poets; two steps removed from reality; example: form of Humanas - Socrates - painting of Socrates. B= commonsense belief: double and tangible things; hire form of reality then imagine; but things we experience like colors, wait, etc. our experience under particular circumstances. Still not at the level of scientific principles. C= thinking: characteristic of the scientist; realities are thought, not scene; but still use symbols, even though knowledge is of obstructed form. Levels of laws or principles. Obstructing the common property of objects in class from the visible objects. But this is still thinking of one truth at a time, not of the interconnectedness of these truths with each other, perhaps, or with there around: we still we have begun to find our way into the realm of knowledge; transitional stage with a higher room of awareness; represents the reasoning in math/special sciences. D= perfect intelligence/poor Alex: grasping the relation of everything to everything else; seeing the unity of the whole or reality; dealing directly with the form; completely released from sensible object; "through dialectic we are in able to see at once the relation of all divisions of knowledge to each other" -Stumph. Unity of knowledge is the unified view of reality/ perfect intelligence. The mind sores beyond all a Sumption's and sensory crutches to a rational intuition of the pure form; ultimate principles used to derive all subsidiary and specialize knowledge. The final destination of this process of dialectic is the apprehension of the first principle of the whole. Plato called this ultimate source of knowledge and reality "the good"; compares "the good" to the sun. It is a impersonal, rational principle that is the foundation of reality.

Aristotle's ethics:

Most complete work on ethics is the Nicomachean Ethics. Already have a sense of the character traits and moral principles that produce human excellent; although it is a commonsense approach, it can allow people to blindly follow immoral society such as slavery and sexism. Ethics constitutes a body of objective knowledge; it is a science that guides us toward the goal of human excellence. Cannot apply universal principles to the conduct of concrete human beings, because we run into great areas and ambiguities. Ethics: habits lead to a good life lead to happiness. Ethics: constitutes a body of objective knowledge (because we all have the same human nature; we discover it) Morality: is a matter of knowing, internalizing, and applying objective printable's But can't except the same Percision as in mathematics ( with respect to applications of universal principles )

Aristotle's Form and Matter:

Object has formed because of a particular purpose or function it service; objects essence. Matter; principle of each individuation ; What distinguishes the individual members of a class that share the same form, collection of possibilities from which something else maybe actualized. Each individual substance is made up of two dimensions: form (whatness) and matter (thisness). Matter: what something is made of. Form: what it is made into. We never find a nature matter without form or form without matter. There is no primary matter in reality. Everything that exists is some concrete individual thing, and everything is a unity of matter and form. Substance is therefore always a composite of form and matter. Aristotle rejected Plato's theory of the universe of forms, but he excepted that there are universals, and that universal such as human and table or more than merely subjective notions. Universals do exist, otherwise there could be no scientific knowledge; for otherwise there would be no way of saying something about all members of a particular class. Scientific knowledge discovers classes of object; not merely mental fictions. This is the DOCTRINE OF HYLOMORPHISM: The doctrine that sensible things are composite of matter and form.

Aristotle: intellectual virtue/excellence:

Philosophical wisdom theoretical, achieved by understanding the unchanging structure reality. Practical wisdom: intellectual virtue required to be moral, it is the rational understanding of how to conduct one's daily life. We need moral virtue: ability to balance one's desires and emotions. Virtue, human excellence,: a state of character concerned with choice, lying in a mean, The mean relative to us, this being determined by a rational principal, and by the principle by which the man of practical wisdom would determine it. Virtue is a state of character; a morally right person has developed a habit/disposition to do what is right. Example: someone is tempted to cheat, decides not to, compared to someone who easily does not cheat and has no temptation to. Good person delights in virtuous actions and is vexed at vicious ones. Moreover choose can only be acquired through practice leading to habit. Or an action to be a genuine choice in those capable of more appraiser blame, the action must be voluntary. Actions done out of compulsion or of ignorance, the moral responsibility is diminished. River acting by reason of ignorance, allowing self to become drunk given ignorant lead into a crime, does not excuse action because it was self-inflicted. Intellectual virtues focus on our intellectual rather than bodily nature. Philosophical wisdom... Sophia: this is chief among the intellectual virtues: include scientific knowledge and the ability to grasp first principles. Purely DeRidder cool and is achieved by understanding the unchanging structure of reality. Practical wisdom: this is the intellectual virtue required to be moral... In daily life.

Who was Plato?

Plato was a student of Socrates. Did the first university in the Western world, called the Academy, located in Athens. The republic, which said society will never be just unless leaders have philosophical wisdom. Plato wanted to make philosophy comprehensive: interested in ethical questions, establishing foundations of knowledge (epistemology), metaphysical questions, and political philosophy (Socrates tragic death).

Plato's ideal society: and it's fall:

Plato's society a meritocracy/ aristocracy. The state is "man writ large"; it will reflect the kind of people a community has become; even though human nature is fixed, having three parts, the kind of people they become will depend upon the degree of internal harmony they achieve; state equals will reflect these variations in human character. There are five kinds of government, and five kind of mental constitution among individuals. He knew his ideal society would only fall to corruption eventually, leading to an oligarchy or plutocracy where movers are the wealthy for you. Then the poor will reach turning point, resulting in democracy. Then it will degenerate into a despotism or tyranny. Democracy will lead to political and psychological bondage.

Aristotle: pure actuality:

Pure actuality: unchanging

Plato: reason:

Rational part: suggests goal: is aware of a goal or a value. The agency of deciding between two desires, so that it won't be tossed about by then. Can't be overcome by sensual appetite; should be in control: sees goal, knows purpose, measures, assigns limits, has knowledge of principles, knows good of each part. Must be wise: must act wisely; must not be tossed about by the appetites. "Smaller person inside".

Plato: spirit:

Spirited part: ambition; competition; indignation; thirst for revenge. The area of difficult and dangerous tasks. Can be pulled in either direction; is able to withstand the pull of the appetite or do what reason commands. It is a rational faculty, because reason can adomish witg words. Neutral at first. But become a slave of one or the other depending on habits of soul Although a natural alley of reason, maybe weekend by pleasures and begins to Will what appetite present. Must be courageous. "Lion"

Aristotle: Central concern of metaphysics- the study of substance:

Substance = " that which is not asserted of a subject but of which everything else is asserted." The basic thing that is known about something, after which we can know and say other things about it. The basic thing we know about a person is that he is Human, and that we can say other things about that person: of a different size, color, age, etc, Or, Large table, healthy person.... Here: Table and person are understood in their essence; In what way makes them a table or a person before they are understood as large or healthy We can distinguish the essence, or substance, of a table or a person, from its categories or qualities( largeness, Brown) Substance = is never found without its categories or qualities; But being the essential nature, it refers to the universal note that is found in all members having this same essential nature. Ex. The one essential " Tableness " is found in all table, but no single category or quality is found in all tables.

Aristotle's forms: Substance:

Substance-the key to reality: as the primary essence of things. Substance: A separate and distinct feeling; that which underlies phenomenon; the essence of a thing which underlies the other qualities of a thing. Substance is a composite of matter and form; the primary essence of thing; the essential nature of a thing; the separated "thingness" from all its categories, qualities.. there is something "beneath" (sub stance) all the qualities of the things; thus, any specific thing is a combination of qualities, on the one hand, and a substratum to which the qualities apply, on the other. Essential properties, accidental properties. Aristotle still believes there are universal forms that are objective and that constitute the essences of things in the world. Because of these forms we can have knowledge. Aristotle agrees that the order in reality can only be explained by reference to the forms. First that'll look to our reality, the natural world, around us. Instead of Plato's transcendent forms, he substituted immanent forms; The forms can only be the cause and explanation of things if they are an intrinsic part of things. The fundamental reality is a collection of substances we find in our every day experience; in reality itself. Reticular substances must be composed of more than just their universal features: Whatness: form, and Thisness: The particularity particular things; matter.

Aristotle's Teleology and Entelechy:

Teleology: end goal; telos (end or goal). The essence of each kind of substance include it in our drive to behave or develop in a certain way-embedded in nature. Nature is viewed by Aristotle as collection of dynamic processes all pointing to the fulfillment of their various ends There is an order of nature Goals embedded in nature, include human nature Which directs beings-such as plants and animals-toward their respective goals. This view is teleological The various ends are also good for natural being EXAMPLE. Acorn-becoming-oak tree Entelechy: end stage of process. End stage of the process; the full actualization of the things form.

Plato- Physics-shadows and reality:

The reality of the forms: the forms are real; objective, independently existing realities- they are the cause of the essence of all things. They are the agency through which the principle of reasonable rates in the universe. Apprehended by the mine, not the senses. Not invented, but discovered by the mine. Eternal archetypes of things. Changeless, nonmaterial, eternal, timeless, abstract reality, estrogen/patterns, standards, I have more being then things, uniqueness of forms. If the forms are real, then where do they exist? These questions only apply to spatiotemporal objects, example a multiplication table: it may exist in our minds or on paper, but those mediums are not forever. However, the multiplication table truth endures; they are not invented by people, they were discovered.

Plato: virtue as for fulfillment of function

This is applicable to justice in the city and to justice and the soul. The idea that the soul has "a function that can be performed by nothing else;" the souls unique function is living. The soul has three parts: therefore, the good life will be when each part is doing its proper function. And this requires a knowledge and application of limits and of measure. Which leads to Plato's identification of the cardinal virtues: the soul needs to acquire these in order for it to attain to well-being and inner harmony, the attainment of which is secured when each part of the soul is fufilling its proper function

Plato: the three divisions in society-justice in the city:

Three classes doing their own work. No one encroaching on the spheres of the others. 1. Guardians (reason-highest rank): Rulers rule wisely; to be a wise city, must have wise guardians. Wise rulers make happier citizens. State; distinguished by their intelligence and philosophical wisdom. Establish policies and laws with in the society. 2. Auxiliaries (spirited-higher rank): Soldiers will preserve city courageously. Police, military personnel, etc. That support/reinforce rules of rulers. 3. Producers (appetites-lowest rank): laborers will work and desire moderately. A habit of the screen, self-control. Also implies self-knowledge: one becomes modest and gentle by knowledge of shortcomings. Provide necessities of life and all its material and economic goods or services. Principle: each one has a single job to do: and ought to do that job. Harmonious domination of one class over the rest. Disharmony: social mobility: when members try to do other work that work they are able to do. Example: when carpenters trying to rule, they simply are not equipped by their knowledge or ability or interest. Politics is science that should be left to expert; Democratic majority is least likely to make an informed decision.

Plato- Cosmology:

Timaeus: plato's dialogue return when he was about 70 years old, dealt with his theory of nature, or physics. Six can never be more than a likely story, probable knowledge. World of forms is the only real world. The visible world is full of change and imperfection. Science: yet it is about the visible world of things that science seeks to build its theories, how can we formulate accurate, reliable, and permanent knowledge about a subject matter which is it self inperfect and full of change? On the other hand, Plato clearly felt that all his other ideas required him to have a view of the cosmos in which all these elements taking theory of forms, his notion of morality, evil, truth-of his thought to be brought together in a coherent way.

Plato- transcend:

Transcend: separate from physical order but exists. Soul transcends.

Aristotle's unmoved mover:

Unmoved mover: something must explain change in motion. Highest sort of reality. Not a transcendent, not anthropomorphic, not personal God we find in the Judeo Christian tradition. As impersonal what is gravity. Operates as the final cost; the source of teleology in the universe. We are driven to be like the unmoved mover; all things in nature or moved by their innate love of God. Unmoved mover must be the highest sort of reality. Everything else is full of potentiality that has not yet been realized. Unmoved mover must be engaged in the most valuable sort of activity: THOUGHT; cannot think about the particulars of the Changing world, but instead think about an object that is on divided and eternal: being itself! No "creation "in time: since this explanation implies an eternal activity, then there was never a time when there was not a world of things in process How the unmoved mover causes motion by the power of attraction, not by force EXAMPLE the beloved causes motion in the lover Unmoved mover equals form, world equal substance Unmoved mover = final cause In the way that the form of the adult is in the child, directing the motion of change toward a final end. By being a final cause, the unmoved mover there by becomes an efficient cause of the world; though the power of attraction, it inspires things to strive toward their natural ends Unmoved mover = is not a = first mover, creator, thinker, purposeful being, willing being, potential being, conscious being unmoved mover = the reason for or the principle of motion

Aristotle: virtue is a state of character:

Virtue is a state of character. A morally good person: performs morally right actions, and has developed a habit or disposition to do what is right. This is the sphere of our motives, desires, likes and dislikes. Who is concerned with choice: actions that produce more overt you are not good in the same sense is those flowing from it; the virtuous agent must: have knowledge, choose the acts, for their sake's, and acts must proceed from a firm and unwavering character. Not as the child who was told not to lie, and the child obeys without a real knowledge or freedom; "a state concerned with choice, that decides in a mean, the mean relative to us, which is defined by reference to reason...".

Aristotle: purpose of human life:

We do not give ourselves a purpose, it is given to us by nature in makes up the essence of our humanity. Purpose of human life is found in a sort of performance or activity that exhibits excellent; happiness it is not a passive state we achieve, but it characterizes what we do, and how we do it. Ex: winning one game does not make an athlete a champion, one noble act or happy moment does not make a persons life excellent. Life must be lived according to a certain plan or strategy that is furnished by reason. The good life involves both thinking and doing. Rational beings that have desires; you must rationally judge what are the right to principles to follow (actual virtue: excellence of intelligence), and your appetites, feelings, and emotions must be disciplined to follow those rules (moral virtue: excellence of character). Good life must not neglect either of these. Oh good is defined in terms of function; special function of the thing, doing that special function well will make the thing well. Example: knowing what a good knife it would require a prior knowledge of what the knives purposes; purpose/function of a knife is cutting. A good knife would be one that cuts well. Virtue of a good knife is sharpness. What is the function of man? Performing this function well will be good for the person; that function is: what ever is highest and most distinctive part of its existence. Aristotle's ethics will be founded upon the universal characteristics of human nature. Human nature is universal and constant.

Plato's injustice/unhappiness in the soul:

When people try to evade the limits and measures required by the parts and function of soul. When there is general this order: confusion of appearance with reality. Occurring when Passion override reason. And this is a result of ignorance. Unhappiness caused by moral evil. Moral evil caused by ignorance. Ignorance occurs when appetites overcome reason: making it think that apparently goods are true goods; therefore, reason loses its rightful place. Wickedness is the cancer of soul. An unjust soul is a slave to desires.

Aristotle-universal principles and relative applications:

Where to entails finding the mean relative to us. Universal and objective principles have relative applications for different people and within different circumstances. Seeing that the principles governing action or simply a matter of subjective opinion. Example: poor giving one dollar shows virtue, wealthy person give me one dollar shows vice. Toys is determined by prudence; is relative to each person. Calculation of the right times, the right objects, the right people, the right name, the right way, etc. Relative means relative to the situation as well as to the constitution of the agent. Determination is prudential, not arithmetical; my perception, not a reason. Health is a universal principles/objective value, but when applied, it must be practical a fitting/appropriate for the individual. Example: a ballerina and a sumo wrestler we both need to aim at health, but the quantity that would constitute hope for each of them will be different. However, some acts have no mean: murder, envy, adultery, theft, cruelty.

Plato's Allegory of the Cave:

shadows projected by Photos of objects and the steep and rugged passage out of the cave to the upper world. If this particular prisoner follows this route, he will encounter the world of real objects and the sun. These levels correspond to the modes of awareness and levels of reality on the divided line. The man who escaped the cave was Socrates. Meaning of allegory: most of us do well in the darkness of the cave; blurred world of shadows; we need education; we need to turn away from appearances to reality. There are two worlds for Plato: world of cave and the bright world of light. We have intellectual blindness caused by deceptive world of change and appetite.

Aristotle: language and logic:

•Language, thought, reality: structures of language, thought, and reality are the same. Otherwise we won't be able to speak about the world. Words-thoughts/ideas- things. •Logic is related to language: logic is the analysis of language, the process of reasoning, and the way language and reasoning are related to reality. • close relation between logic and metaphysics: thinking connected with the way things are. Thinking is always about: some specific individual thing- namely a SUBSTANCE. But a thing never simply exists: it exists SOMEHOW and has a reason WHY. There is a sequence that leads to science: This is what Aristotle wants to underscore. The sequence: 1. The existence of things and their processes. 2. Our thinking about things and their behavior. 3. The transformation of our thought about things into words.