Sophie's World

Class Notes:-Aristotle has a great influence in history because he tutored Alexander the Great- Logic, was first nailed down the rules and how it works and science - thinking about the way you think(metacognition) - What are the best ways to organize our thoughts to get the best solutions - organize the thoughts- Science is statements about the how and why of things - Aristotle - For science to work (his goal) he has to create a system of logic and of precise language -logic is the study of symbols and words are the symbols that point to everything else - how can we use the symbols is an organized way - A system for analyzing thoughts as we come to reliable conclusions - generalizations is all white female americans like pumpkin spice lattes so kayla likes them - generalizations you take something broad and make it specific - sets up the idea of the categories- when you think of something you cannot just think of a plain thing you think of all the details - there are all kinds of information that are attached to every thought- Characteristics> if we take these away and there would not be an actual thing - He wanted to filter out the necessary and the accents- He sorted out organizational levels in nature, ( genies, species, and what not) - as working out the true nature of things he is trying to look at them how they and how they work - Aristotle creates a Syllogism (three statements, the first two leading to a conclusion of the last one) - create a bank of reliable principles using Syllogism, he called them archeas - Physics= physical world- moved into metaphysics (beyond the physical)_ everything has a cause there is nothing that there is not some cause for because there was a cause for that. - Everything has a purpose. There must be causes and purposes in the metaphysical(wisdom) as well - Ethics_ What causes the good life?-Politics_ what causes a good state? - there is a parallel between the physical and metaphysical life - Behind everything there is order. - what is Man's purpose what is the end of Man- Ultimately man happy- use of reason to find the abided contentment= the good life- if you want to fulfill your end you have to understand everything that leads up to that. - Instrumental ends= intermerial goal.... intrinsic end= the one final end of achieving the good life, abided contentment - for us to have the good life, through reason we will justify, wisdom courage and temperament and all the balance of all the virtues. -Virtues are the reasonable balance between two extremes or the golden mean.Aristotle's Categories- 8 categories-- Quantity, Quality, Relation, Place, Date (time), Action, Passivity (passive action), Possession- all these things are incidental, they are not key characteristics. Difference between Plato and Aristotle - Plato is with the theory of ideas, and Aristotle is more concrete and logic - Aristotle tries to understand the universe through the science and such - Plato believed that things that changed were not real, Aristotle believed that the senses were real and reliable Aristotle- used senses- writings like encyclopedia -scientific terminology-study of science -refuted Platos theory of ideasNo Innate ideas-The theory of ideas turned upside down. -the "idea" or "form" makes up the horses characteristics= what we call species - What is common to all horses -the real and the form are inseparable as the body and the soul. -We perceive with our senses -things in human soul are were purely reflections of natural objects-Nothing exists in consciousness that has not first been experienced by the senses. -thoughts and ideas comes from what we have seen or heard, But we also have an innate power of REASON - annate faculty of organizing all sensory impressions into categories and classes- reason is mans most distinguishing characteristic The form of a thing is its specific characteristics- substance= what things are made of, form= its characteristics- concerned with changes in NATURE - every change in nature is a transformation of substances from potential to the actual -the form of a thing then says something about its potentiality as well as limitation - also true for inanimate objectsThe final Cause- there were different types of cause in nature - Why? what was the purpose - "material cause" the actual thing (the cloud) - "efficient cause" what happens (moisture cools) - "formal cause" is the form ( nature of water is to fall to the earth) - "final cause" It rained BECAUSE the plants and animals needed water to grow. -PURPOSE Logic-when we discern things we classify them in various groups and categories - Everything in nature belongs to different categories and subcategories - We classify everything -meticulous organizer set out to clarify our concepts - demonstrated a number of laws that governed conclusions and proofs that were valid. - correlation between substance and form Nature's Scale - natural world divided into two categories- non loving things, no potentiality for change,can only change through external influence - Living things have the potentiality for change. -Living things two categories - plants - Creatures -animals - Humans - When divides the natural phenomena into various categories, criterion is the object's characteristics, or more specifically what it can do, or what it does. - all living things have the ability to absorb nourishment to grow and propagate. - all living CREATURES have the ability to perceive the world around them and move about-top of the scale is man, lives the whole life of nature - Man has the ability to think rationally - God started all the movement in the natural world - God is at the top of natures scale (first mover or god) - itself at rest, but the formal cause of the movement of all natural things Ethics -Man's form has a soul. rational part, plant-like part and animal part-Achieving the good life, man can only achieve happiness by using all his abilities and capabilities - Three forms of happiness, first=happiness is a life of pleasure and enjoyment, second= life as a free and responsible citizen, third= a life as a thinker and philosopher.- All three must be fulfilled at the same time for man to find happiness and fulfillment - rejected all forms of imbalance - Golden mean= must be neither cowardly or rash, but courageous. neither miserly nor extravagant but liberalPolitics- the undesirability of cultivating extremes is also expressed in the view of society. - man by nature is a political animal, without a society around us we are not real people -three good forms of constitution, first= monarchy>kingship, second= aristocracy> larger or smaller set of rulers, third= polity> democracy Views on Women-women are incomplete in some way-unfinished man - child inherits only male characteristics - man= form, woman= substance Hellenism- 300 years- Greek- refers to the period of time and the Greek- dominated culture that prevailed in the Hellenistic kingdoms of Macedonia, Syria, and Egypt religion philosophy and science- Hellenism characterized by the fact that the borders between the various countries were erased. - All the cultures used to worship the national God, but now the different cultures all came together and share religious, philosophical, and scientific ideas. - syncretism= fusion of the creeds, new religions formations arose to that could draw on the gods and the beliefs of many of the old nations. -new religious formations stated that mankind could attain salvation from death. - philosophy was moving in the direction of salvation and serenity - the boundaries between philosophy and religion were gradually erased.- Hellenistic science was influenced by a blend of the knowledge of different cultures. The Cynics-what a whole lot of things I do not need - founded by antisthenes - True happiness is not found in external advantages such as material luxury, political power or good health., true happiness lies in not being dependent on such random and fleeting things. - Happiness is within everyones reach, once attained never lost - Diogenes had everything he desired - People did not need to be concerned with their own health, suffering and death should not concern them - cynical or cynicism have come to mean a snaring disbelief in human sincerity, and they imply insensitively to other people's suffering. - barrel philosophers The stoics- founder zeno - roman culture - everyone was part of the same common sense or "logo" - there exists a universal rightness, natural law - denied any conflict between spirit and matter - monism, one nature - encouraged greek culture and philosophy in Rome - humanism= cicero, view that has the individual as its central focus - all natural process such as sickness and death follow unbreakable law of nature - nothing happens accidentally , everything happens through necessity - all external events are unimportant The Epicureans- the aim of life was to attain the highest possible sensory enjoyment. the highest good is pleasure the greatest evil is pain - way of life to avoid pain in all forms -Epicureans founded school, followers called Epicureans, developed the pleasure ethic combined with atom theory - garden philosophers- pleasurable results in an action must always be weighed against its possible side effects- pleasurable results n the short term must be weighed against the possibility of a greater lore lasting or more intense pleasure in the long term - Pleasure does not always mean sensual pleasure - good life= overcome the fear of death - as long as we are here death does not exist and when it does come we no longer exist, soul atom theory - The gods are not to be feared, death is not to be worried about, good is easy to attain, the fearful is easy to endure - little or no interest in politics and the community - live in the moment , now a days epicurean is negative for someone who lives only for pleasureNeoplasms- -