Reading...
Play button
Play button
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
6 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
- 3rd side (hint)
|
Epicurean attack on teleology:
|
Influenced by atomistic system.
Atomists: Infinite void (empty space extending infinitely in all directions) and atoms (tiny particles which are physically indivisible). Atoms stick together in various ways to form physical objects around us, also form huge whirls, which form worlds. Result: |
Result: every way in which atoms could combine was realized somewhere at some time.
System is deterministic but chaotic, so that we can speak of things coming into existence by chance, including organisms, with no purposeful design (at this point there may have been some reliance on Empedocle's natural selection). |
|
|
Result: every way in which atoms could combine was realized somewhere at some time.
System is deterministic but chaotic, so that we can speak of things coming into existence by chance, including organisms, with no purposeful design (at this point there may have been some reliance on Empedocle's natural selection). |
X
|
|
|
|
Lecretius:
|
Emphasized that function follows form. Features of organisms came before the functions they ended up performing, and thus could not have been formed "for the sake of" anything.
Differs between nature and artifact. |
X
|
|
|
The Stoics' world belief:
|
The world had been designed to help rational beings.
|
X
|
|
|
Lecretius aim at the Stoics:
|
Evident that the world is not especially well suited to human life. Humans have to toil to continue existence in it.
The random confluence of atoms has thrown us into a world not particularly accommodating to us. Additionally, the Epicureans thought it demeaned the gods to think of them as at all concerned with humans. |
X
|
|
|
The Stoic emphasis on teleology:
|
Believed in a designing fire - the logos. Designs the universe in such a way that it is well suited to humans.
The rational design means everything is rationally intelligible and deterministic. Teleology emerges at various levels. |
X
|
