Basics of Philosophy
What is philosophy?
What is the systematic study and rational inquiry into fundamental questions about existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language?
Plato was a student of who?
Who is Socrates?
Plants only possess this basic kind of soul.
What is the nutritive soul?
Hobbes believed all human actions are driven by this psychological theory that we ultimately act in our own self-interest above everything else.
What is psychological egoism?
What are the six branches of philosophy, and what do they each investigate?
What is:
Ethics: theory of morality
Metaphysics: study of structure of reality
Epistemology: theory of knowledge
Aesthetics: study of art and beauty
Logic: formal study of correct reasoning/argumentation
Political phil: explores fundamental questions about justice, rights, and how we've organized ourselves into governments/societies
According to the cave allegory, most people live their lives mistaking shadows for this.
What is reality (or truth)?
A living being can posses the rational soul without possessing the nutritive soul, according to Aristotle. True or false?
False.
What is the state of nature according to Hobbes?
a hypothetical law-less society in which people are exclusively out for themselves, driven by egoism
- also known as the "state of war"
- there is no power that connects human beings in this state, i.e., nothing forcing humans to cooperate with one another
- chaos can always potentially unfold in this state since there are no legal consequences that prevent people from acting dangerously
If metaphysics asks, "What is real?" then this branch asks, "How do we know what is real, or if we're not all living in a simulation?"
For Plato, the soul is the seat of one's consciousness, emotion, desire, and decision-making. What is the "tripartite soul" comprised of, and which part should ideally govern the person?
What are appetitive, spirited, and rational parts?
The capacity for motion with respect to locomotion and perception belongs to which type of soul?
What is the perceptive (sensitive) soul?
According to Hobbes, what is like a great artificial man, or a mechanical body, constructed to control and coordinate the motions of individuals?
What is a well-designed state?
This question, central to Socrates, asks for a general principle guiding the whole of human life, not just an immediate decision.
What is "How ought one to live?"
What is the elenchus?
What is a technique of philosophical inquiry involving a structured exchange of questions and answers to expose contradictions and flawed reasoning in a person's beliefs? Also known as "The Socratic Method"
- method of refutation; process of arguing to prove an opponent's thesis is false by showing it leads to a contradiction
- purpose: to uncover ignorance by revealing contradictions
Aristotle's approach that all living things are composites of form and matter is called this.
What is hylomorphism?
What is a social contract?
What is a mutual agreement among individuals to give up certain freedoms and submit to a common authority in order to escape the dangers of the state of nature and live in peace?
What does "The unexamined life is not worth living" mean?
What is:
Socrates argues that life lacks meaning and value without self-reflection, questioning, and the pursuit of wisdom. He considers our capacity to reason and examine our beliefs, actions, and character as distinctly human and thus purposeful for living well.
What is the theme of the Ring of Gyges story in Plato's Republic?
What is: this thought experiment serves to question whether justice is inherently valuable, or if it is merely a social construct designed to avoid suffering or punishment.
What is the soul, according to Aristotle?
What is the form of a natural body which has life in potentiality?
- an actuality of a natural body which has life in potentiality
- the first actuality of a natural body which has life in potentiality
- the "first actuality" that animates the body
What compels rational, self-interested people to seek peace and security above all else, and move out of the state of nature by establishing social contracts?
What is the continual fear and danger of violent death?