Ancient Philosophy Final

Front 1

What are the charges against Socrates?

Back 1

Impiety, corrupting the youth, making the weaker argument the stronger, doing science, and teaching science

Front 2

Plato's Socrates denies being a teacher. Explain the way in which that seems false and explain what Socrates means by it.

Back 2

This seems false because people follow Socrates around and learn his ways. However, Socrates believes he is not a teacher because he does not impose any sort of knowledge or demand money from the people who willingly choose to follow him around. Instead, he asks questions helps people figure things out for themselves.

Front 3

Plato's Socrates said, "A good man can't be harmed." Explain the way in which that seems false and what Socrates means by it.

Back 3

This seems false because, in a physical sense, good people clearly can be harmed, especially considering Socrates was sentenced to death by drinking hemlock. Socrates, however, is referring to the soul of a person, and if that person maintains his or her beliefs, even when facing adversity, nothing is capable of harming that person's soul.

Front 4

Explain why Homer and Hesiod are NOT considered philosophers.

Back 4

Homer and Hesiod are not considered philosophers because they are primarily interested in telling stories (mythos) about the gods and have no desire to ask questions about them.

Front 5

Name and explain the ethical theory of the ancient Greek philosophers.

Back 5

Virtue-ethics: this theory suggests that the way one ought to live is by cultivating the human virtues (e.g. wisdom, courage, moderation, justice)

Front 6

Name the four periods of ancient philosophy in chronological order.

Back 6

Presocratic, Classical, Hellenistic, Neoplatonic

Front 7

Who said: "A human being is the measure of all things"?

Back 7

Protagoras

Front 8

Who said: "For the same thing is for thinking and being"?

Back 8

Parmenides (arche = being)

Front 9

Who said: "God is one, greatest among gods and men, not at all like the mortals in body or thought"?

Back 9

Xenophanes

Front 10

Who said: "It is not possible to step twice into the same river ... It scatters and again comes together, and approaches and recedes"?

Back 10

Heraclitus

Front 11

Who taught his students about the transmigration of the souls as well as about vegetariansim?

Back 11

Pythagoras

Front 12

Who said: "The unexamined life is not worth living"?

Back 12

Plato's Socrates

Front 13

True or false: In the apology, Socrates said that he would prefer to make the kind of defense that the jury was used to hearing, but he can't because he does not know how?

Back 13

False, Socrates knows how to make this kind of defense, but he does not make this kind of defense because he believes he has done nothing wrong, and has no reason to apologize to the jury.

Front 14

Define arche.

Back 14

Arche is the ruling principle of the universe that serves as the foundation for all things.

Front 15

Explain why Gorgias writes a defense of Helen.

Back 15

Gorgias writes a defense of Helen to prove that he can use his persuasiveness to convince that Helen, who is generally considered responsible for starting the Trojan war, was really innocent. Thus, he uses Helen to demonstrate his ability of making the weaker argument the stronger.

Front 16

Explain what "tacit consent" is.

Back 16

Tacit consent is the agreement to obeying the laws and customs of the place where you are a citizen. It is tacit because there isn't necessarily some outspoken agreement to obeying these rules. However, if you happen to disagree with these laws or customs, it is either your job to attempt to change them, or move to another place.

Front 17

True or false: Socrates thinks it is better to do something unjust than have something unjust done to you.

Back 17

False: while Socrates doesn't believe that it is good to suffer injustice, it is better than doing something unjust, as only doing something unjust will harm the soul.

Front 18

True or false: In "Why Study the Greeks?" Michael Shenefelt argues that superior genetics was the cause of the success of the Greek civilization.

Back 18

False: Shenefelt argues that the ease of transportation throughout Greece, especially by sea, was the cause of the success of the Greek civilization.

Front 19

True or false: Socrates thinks that if someone has done something unjust to you, then and only then do you have the right to do something unjust to that person.

Back 19

False: Socrates never thinks there is an appropriate time to do something unjust, as that harms the soul.

Front 20

In the Symposium, how does Socrates define eros?

Back 20

Socrates defines eros as the desire for something a person currently does not possess, or the desire to continue possessing something in the future.

Front 21

Describe Diotima's "ascent passage".

Back 21

Physical
Step 1: Appreciating the beauty in a physical body
Step 2: Appreciating the beauty in all physical bodies
Non-physical
Step 3: Appreciating the beauty in souls
Step 4: Appreciating the beauty in laws and customs
Step 5: Appreciating the beauty in knowledge itself
Actual form of beauty
Step 6: Appreciating beauty itself

Front 22

What single name does Socrates use for the general care of the soul in the Gorgias?

Back 22

Politics

Front 23

What are the two crafts that care for the soul? What are the two knacks?

Back 23

Legislation and justice, sophistry and oratory

Front 24

What are the two crafts that care for the body? What are the two knacks?

Back 24

Gymnastics and medicine, cosmetics and pastry baking

Front 25

According to Plato, what are the differences between forms and things?

Back 25

Forms: being, reality, originals, non-physical, unchanging, eternal, intelligible, objects of knowledge, causes of things

Things: becoming, exist but not truly real, images or copies of true reality, physical, constantly changing, temporal, sensible, objects of opinion/mere belief, participate in Forms

Front 26

According to Plato's Republic, what are the three aspects of the soul? What is the unique activity of each aspect? What is the virtue of each?

Back 26

Rational aspect: thinks things through, rules over other aspects, virtue: wisdom

Spirited aspect: gets angry when there is injustice, virtue: courage

Appetitive aspect: wants/desires things, virtue: moderation

Front 27

What aspect of the soul does Socrates think is the biggest, and which does he think is fit to guide the other aspects of the soul?

Back 27

Biggest: appetitive

Fit to rule: rational

Front 28

According to Plato's Republic, what is justice for an individual person?

Back 28

Justice is the combination of wisdom, courage, and moderation

Front 29

What is eudaimonism?

Back 29

Eudaimonism: the theory that living a happy life means living a virtuous life. Thus, in order to be happy, one must cultivate the human virtues.

Front 30

Explain the difference between a craft and a knack, according to Plato's Gorgias?

Back 30

A craft is something like medicine or justice that truly knows how to care for the body or soul, while a knack is something like pastry baking or oratory that only appears to know how to care for the body or soul, but ultimately harms it instead.

Front 31

Organize the following names into a list ordered chronologically from earliest to latest: Anaximander, Aristotle, Hesiod, Parmenides, Plato, Socrates, Thales.

Back 31

Hesiod, Thales, Anaximander, Parmenides, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle

Front 32

True or False: Aristotle thinks it is possible to establish a code of ethical rules.

Back 32

False: Aristotle believes that ethics are based on the character of a person and the cultivation of virtues over an entire lifetime.

Front 33

Aristotle thinks that virtue is a ____ .

Back 33

habit

Front 34

True or False: Aristotle thinks that someone should be considered virtuous even if he or she acted unknowingly.

Back 34

False: Aristotle believes that deliberately choosing to perform a specific behavior is an essential part of being virtuous.

Front 35

True or False: Aristotle thinks that not knowing that something is wrong qualifies an agent's action as involuntary and therefore pardonable.

Back 35

False: the person still made a deliberate choice to perform some behavior, making it voluntary.

Front 36

True or False: Aristotle thinks that someone should be considered virtuous even if he or she acted hesitantly.

Back 36

False: the person must deliberately choose to perform the behavior under consideration in order for it to be considered virtuous.

Front 37

True or False: Plato and Aristotle are both proponents of democracy.

Back 37

False: Aristotle was, but Plato believed that philosophers should be put in a position to rule

Front 38

Name the three types of friendship that Aristotle discusses.

Back 38

Virtue friendship, utility friendship, pleasure friendship.

Front 39

What is Aristotle's conception of God?

Back 39

Aristotle views God as an "unmoved mover", or the efficient cause of the universe, making god the first cause in the universe, allowing all other causes to exist.

Front 40

Define virtue and vice according to Aristotle.

Back 40

Virtue: some action or behavior that people intentionally cultivate that serves as a mean between two vices.

Vice: the excess or deficiency of a moderated, virtuous behavior.

Front 41

Carefully explain Aristotle's conception of "habituation".

Back 41

The first time someone tries to perform some virtuous or vicious behavior will be the hardest. From there, performing a virtue or a vice becomes gradually easier with repeated practice of that particular virtue or vice. Thus, when a person repeatedly performs a virtuous or vicious behavior, it will continue to gradually get easier to the point of becoming second nature to the person, where that virtue or vice has been "habituated".

Front 42

Carefully explain Aristotle's doctrine of the mean.

Back 42

For some particular action, there is an excess of that action (vice), a deficiency of that action (vice), and a moderation of that action (virtue).

Front 43

Name the "external goods" that Aristotle thought were necessary for a happy life.

Back 43

Good family, friend(s), long life, good education, self-sufficiency, having slaves, being a man, being Greek

Front 44

How do the cynics define virtue?

Back 44

Living in accord with nature

Front 45

What is Epicurus' recipe for happiness?

Back 45

Friendship, thought, freedom, basic needs

Front 46

How does Aristotle define continence and incontinence?

Back 46

Continence: following through with some rational decision, refraining from excess, but still would enjoy excess

Incontinence: not following through with some rational decision, not refraining from excess

Front 47

Name Aristotle's three political associations from smallest to largest.

Back 47

Family, village, polis

Front 48

What are the four schools of thought active during the Hellenistic period of ancient philosophy?

Back 48

Skepticism, Stoicism, Cynicism, Epicureanism