Philosophy

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Epistemology

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branch of philosophy which studies the nature and scope of knowledge.

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the Brain in the Vat

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You are told to imagine the possibility that at this very moment you are actually a brain hooked up to a sophisticated computer program that can perfectly simulate experiences of the outside world. Here is the skeptical argument. If you cannot now be sure that you are not a brain in a vat, then you cannot rule out the possibility that all of your beliefs about the external world are false. Or, to put it in terms of knowledge claims, we can construct the following skeptical argument. Let “P” stand for any belief or claim about the external world, say, that snow is white.
If I know that P, then I know that I am not a brain in a vat

I do not know that I am not a brain in a vat

Thus, I do not know that P.

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Cartesianism

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if our rational faculties were designed b God, then we can rely on them to work properly. Therefore we think things carefully and clearly, and we can trust the results.

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Cogito

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the thinking part of my brain. "I think therefore I am" (ergo sum)(i exist)

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idealism

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all that exists is through the senses. - I know that i exist because I have sense of experience of you..so how can i knwo that a planet exists if youve never been there before?)

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phenomenalism

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for an object to exist, it is a bundle of perceptions that all people interpret of that object.

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naive realism

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the philosophical doctrine that physical object continue to exist when not perceived

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the natural theory

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there is a natural world, independently of my knowledge of it. We do not create our own reality and in the process of science, but learn to understand the world.

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axiology

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"Value theory" is a label for issues about, well, values. It includes ethics, which is concerned with moral and ethical values, and aesthetics, which is concerned with artistic value.

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thrasymachus's challenge

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Trasymachus challenged socrates to prove that ethics has an objective basis (observable phenomena).

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three arguments against objectivity in ethics

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1. Arguement from disagreement:ethics is just a matter of opinion
2.lack of proof:no one can prove who is right and who is wrong.
3.)metaphysical arguemtn: values exist as objects

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the ring of Gyges

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gyges had a ring where if he twisted on his finger, he would become invisible. the king said his wife was beautiful, so he told gyges to see her naked. why should any of us care about morality? if it benefits us?

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the divine command theory of morality

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god has set out the rules we must obey, therefore he will reward those who keep his commandments and punish those who do not.

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the problem of pluralism

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religion and the problem of pluralism and God and Karma.

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the free rider problem

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a free rider is someone who benefits from a cooperative arrangement without making a contribution to it.

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utilitarianism

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each of us should do what produce the greatest possible outcome affected by that action. make life comfortable and happy as possible.

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the problem of excessive impartiality

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this is a problem because everyone counts equally even strangers in foreign countries.

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confucious

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This chinese man was a well-known leader in philosophy and he also made many wise phrases and theories about the law, life, and the government. Philosophy is a kind of a system of ideas and thoughts that talk about the human's behavior, the rules that you should follow to make a successful life, and about the government.

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mencious

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Mencius, like Confucius and Mo Tzu before him, concerned himself entirely with political theory and political practice; he spent his life bouncing from one feudal court to another trying to find some ruler who would follow his teachings.

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ren

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human heartedness, benevolence

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dao

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the way, a road, path

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de

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virtue/power, strength, virtuosity

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yin

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Yin represents the female or passive force

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yang

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masculinity and the positive

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wewei

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you should act without results in mind

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ziran

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natural, spontaneous, self-so "it is what it is"

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commodity

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exchange value and use value

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fetishism

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The worship and respect for certain (typically inanimate) objects for being considered to have special, feelable powers.

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capitalism

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a set of ideas about the economic benefits and importance of "free markets" -

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communism

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An economic theory which stresses that the control of the means of producing economic goods in a society should reside in the hands of those who invest their labor for production.

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colonialism

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forced change in which one culture, society, or nation dominates another.