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;
41 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
Mythology Characteristics:
|
Contain images "bigger than life"
Written from an emotional, rather than rational basis=appeal to over emotions |
|
|
Mythology Purposes:
|
Explain the unexplainable-origins, natural phenomena
Teach/instruct about power of gods Give us insight into our place in the universe Empower us Express universal human emotions Entertainment |
|
|
Examples of Mythology:
|
Atlantis fear of being forgotten/search for the unknown
Religion=mythology |
|
|
Homeric Themes:
|
-loyality to family
-civic pride loyality -gender roles -KLEOS-Honor/Glory in reputation(especially in death)=legacy of greatness (AKLEOS=to die in shame) -Achieve excellence(physical, intellectual, moral)=Humanism -Mercy:compassion(to suffer with) -Strength in humility (as opposed to Hubris) -Love requires humility -Hubris: arrogant pride(tragic flaw) -Fate: do we have control over what happens to us? +Gods care about people and are involved |
|
|
Humanism (classical Humanism=greek)
|
-reaching one's highest potential
+intellectual: birth of philosophy/rationalism +Moral +physical:respect/celebrate the human form=Olympics |
|
|
Carpe diem
|
"seize the day"=life is short, don't waste it
|
|
|
Human's place in the world
|
reason puts us over animals and nature, but live in harmony with nature(we can be humbled by it)
|
|
|
Potential
|
All is in our grasp except we can't escape death
|
|
|
Do we have free will?
|
Free will exsists but we must accept fate
|
|
|
The nature of humans
|
Human nature is good because when we live up to our potential we are happy
|
|
|
Beware of what?
|
Although people should strive for glory, honor, and a legacy, beware of hubris
|
|
|
Should we give up?
|
Even when we fail, we will always rise above
|
|
|
What is a hero's journey?
|
Heros need to take a journey to reach their full potential, or face consquences
|
|
|
Birth of Philosophy
|
Pre-socratic philosophies develop the notation of the rationalism
-the world can be explained through human logic and reason without the need for supernatural causes |
|
|
Thales of Miletus:
|
-earliest known thinker to attempt to give rational explanations for natural/physical phenomena
-His ideas are considered the beginning of both philosophy and science -His study of the heavens allowed him to predict the solar eclipse of 585 B.C. -His studies of geometery allowed him to measure the pyramids accurately -He was the first to search for the "first cause" of all physical phenomena |
|
|
Thales believed------was the basic element
|
water
|
|
|
atomism/reduction:
|
-Search for the most fundamental element.
-Breaking all things down to their most basic elements |
|
|
Basic 4 elements
|
earth, air, fire, water
|
|
|
Anaximander of Miletus:
|
-A student of Thales, he observed the world around him and created a rational cosmology
-Cosmology: theory of the origin and structure of the universe(and we are placed in it) -created a Anaximander(flat on top but curved at the horizon)earth with a sphere of fire around it (origin of sun, moon, stars)=make a full cylinderical circle around earth -created a map of the earth, similar to the recreated from his description -1st Greek to use a sundial to record the days of solstice and equator -believed humans came from animals -he defined all matter as being made of aperion |
|
|
aperion:
|
-an indefinite boundless "stuff".
-We can never directly experience aperion, only its manifestations |
|
|
Pythagoras:
|
-Believed that the universe was perfectly ordered on the basis of mathematics.
-All things could be expressed in numbers and so there was a harmony to all things. |
|
|
Hippocrates:
|
-he used reason to show that diease has a natural, not a supernatural cause
-belief that disease is of divine origin is a result of man's ignorance (lack of experience/knowledge) -disease first gained supernatural status when doctors, unable to treat it, used superstion to hide their ignorance -doctors later added incantations and purifications to hide their ignorance and secure their social positions -If certain natural treatments do cure or ease disease then the gods are no longer needed to explain them. -If the cure is natural, then the cause must be natural |
|
|
Thucydides:
|
-he analyzed men's actions and motives in his historical writings(History of the Peloponnesian Wars), avoiding myths and legends using reason to understand events
-history that comes orally through legend is suspect because individuals distort truth and tend to accept what they hear first in an uncritical way -historical truth requires evidence to support it and the ability to corrobate the evidence from a variety of different sources |
|
|
Critias:
|
-he tried to provide a rational explanation for the existence of religion
-first man behaved without limits according to animal instincts/passions -law was invented to control behavior -humans obeyed the law in public but continued to covertly break laws -religion was developed to control private behavior, creating gods who could not be escaped -fear of gods kept people in line -institutions were made to reinforce religion |
|
|
Greek Philosophical System:
|
These classical theories seek to either:
answer what is the good life explain how people shoud act |
|
|
Plato:
|
-he formulated a dual nature to the universe (Platonic Idealism or Platonic dualism)
-breaks the universe into 2 worlds -The World of Forms +ideals: real, stable, permanet -The World of Experience +illusory, transitory, unimportant -senses limits us so we can't get to the world of Forms, we were in the world of forms before birth -the only way to approximate forms is by seperation of senses through abstract reason -believed that we only have access to the World of Experience -illustrated his model of the universe in the "allegory of the cave" -only way of geeting goodness is doiing absolute good through knowledge (contemplate the abstract form of good) -early Christian faith (heaven and earth) shows that God must exsist because we can think it because of Plato's philosophy that was a foundation of the start of their belief -no relative, which means there is absoulte good, evil, love -he concluded that the only way to achieve true knowledge of the Forms is through reason and contemplation. The forms reside in our memories from birth; we forget them and must use reason to recover the lost knowledge -no relative, which means there is absoulte good, evil, love -he concluded that the only way to achieve true knowledge of the Forms is through reason and contemplation -The forms reside in our memories from birth +we forget them and must use reason to recover the lost knowledge |
|
|
Plato's Cave:
|
used the cave allegory to explain what humans see. We see only the imperfections (or shadow) of the form of all things, is the reason why we are limited by our sense
|
|
|
The two questions philosophy tries to answer:
|
What's the good life?
How should we act? |
|
|
T/F: Plato would say what's good for the gander, is good for everyone
|
True
|
|
|
T/F: Plato believed that democracy was the best form of government
|
False: democray = don't get to think
|
|
|
Plato's Theory:
|
-if we know what the good life is, we will naturally act in such a way as to acheive it: basis of his theory
-Given: evil is due to the lack of knowledge +in order to avoid acting wickedly we must discover what is right by contemplation of Forms -Given: there is one and only 1 good life for all +Goodness exists independently of a mankidnd and can be discovered if people are trained properly by being carefully schooled in various disciplines + (math, philosophy, rhetoric-devloping an argument): will develop virtuous habits of behavior and help develop one's mental power through studying -Knowledge=virtue -Given:intellectual training enables one to know the nature of the good life -People who can instruct are those who: +Those who have knowledge of the good and who accordingly act virtuously +Those who are especially gifted will develop their mental powers and undergo rigorous intellectual training that will do more for them to develop virtuous habits -The reason why these people should teach is because they must be the rulers of the ideal society -A certain course of action is right or wrong absolutely and independently of anyone's opinion, just as the statement "this is a slide" is either right or wrong independently of anybody's opinion -ideal state/ideal man: King/reason Solider/coourage Worker/appetite |
|
|
Philosopher King:
|
-These rulers would understand the nature of the good life
+This would guarantee their acting "rightly" or morally, hence, would ensure their being good rules -If a person aquires knowledge, he never would act eviliy +So:use reason to bring knowledge, which will then offer virtue =Happiness comes from goodness |
|
|
Aristotelian Empiricism:
|
formulated the notion that the natural world is the real world and can be explained wihtout reference to some realm beyond human experience
|
|
|
Aristotle:
|
-Proposed 3 fudamental characteristics of nature
+matter: stuff things are made of which is imperment (constantly changing) +form: people made from particles of other people +purpose: as form changes purpose changes -he invented syllogism, analyzed the political system -Teleology: +All objects consists of formed matter that is constantly moving or changing in a purposful way +All objects strive to achieve 2 goals: =Relative goal: achieve a form that is appropriate to the object(earth) =Ultimate goal: to become pure form without matter, which always has the potential to change, and cease to change -change will always continue for objects, unless they achieve pure form or suffer from some unnatural interference +The objects in the heavens come closest to pure form since they don't appear to change shape, brightness, or size, only their positon in the sky and even then their movements is nearly perfectly cirucular -his model of the universe shows that the Earth is in the center of the universe and everything moves in a fixed plane that is circular +the further you go out the more pure an object is because it loses its form +sphere of the Prime Mover doesn't move, but causes everything else to change |
|
|
Aritotle's Ethics:
|
-his moral philosophy was empirical based on observation the of people who claimed to be living "good" and "bad" lives
-Happiness: an activity of the soul in accord with perfect virtue +It isn't a goal or an end, but an activity -What Must we do to be Happy: +Golden Mean: to be found between that which too much and that which is too little =It will not be the same for every person and must be found through experimentation(not through reason alone) -Parthon was built as a golden mean -You will never find the absolute of an object or idea -Aristotle's ideas are both Relativistic and Empirical +All Virtues are of moderation: =Cowardice-Courage-Rashness =Prodigulity-Liberality-Frugality =Vanity-Pride-Humility -Aristotle's concept of absolute "goodness: is very different from Plato's |
|
|
Aristotle's The Politics:
|
-1st to make a study of comparative politics
+Concluded that the difference between good government and bad government was a matter of the degree to which ruleres were limited and held accountable by law (constituationalism) +Government Power must be limited by the rule of law -Rule by 1: +monarchy (lawful) +tyranny(unlawful) -Rule by a few: +aristocracy (lawful) +oligarchy(unlawful) -Rule by many: +polity(lawful) +democracy(unlawful) -He felt that the middle class would rule the best -Hellenistic Philosophy(Philosophies of consolation): +Thus named as a result of the deperate economic, political, and social conditions in Greece following the collapse of the empire of Alexander the Great to still live the good life even when your surroundings are falling apart("Helenistic" refers to Greece under the rule of Alexander) |
|
|
Epicurian Thought:
|
1st formulated by Democritus and expanded by Epicurus, poses that the universe is composed entirely of "atoms" moving through empty space
|
|
|
Epicurus:
|
-Atoms are permanent, unchanging, and uncreated, they occur in unlimited variety
+Democratus believed that the angles, shapes, and velocity of atoms were constant and therefore combinations were predictable and predetermined -Epicurus added an unpredictable motion to the atoms, removing the predictablity from the system -The system has 2 fundamental characteristics: +Materalistic: based entirely on the properites of atoms (shape, velocity, angles, ect.) +Mechanistic: events occur as a result of the positions of atoms at any given time or place =It's without inherent purpose -How to live in a mechanistic, materlistic universe with no purpose is to live moderatetly +Seek pleasure and avoid pain (excess leads to pain) +There is no purpose in life, so live for the day (carpe diem) |
|
|
Stoicism:
|
-Zeno developed purpose, the system is:
+Deterministic: All things occur according to some grand cosmic fatalism =Everything that happens serves this purpose and therefore must necessarily happen. Therefore, this idea lead to: ~plan: everything that happens must happen and one is powerless to change, control or influence events ~Optimism: The evil is rational and good and therefore should be accepted. Even evil can be accepted in this larger context -So (once again), how does one live according to this system of thought? +The only area in which you have control is in the mind: =Choose to accept the universe as it is; one is at peace with the world and can be happy =Choose to deny the universe as it is, one is at war with the world and therefore unhappy. =Stoics, resigned to the cosmic purpose, focused on living a life of duty and self-disciplined, minimizing passion and willing to endure fate's hardship |
|
|
Sophism:
|
-Formulated by Protagoras and Gorgias
+They viewed true knowledge as unattainable -Protagoras: "Man is the measure of all things." +Meaure matters according only to one's own needs and nature +Train for sucess +Learn what you come to learn -Gorgias: "Nothing exists and if it did, no one could know it and if they knew it, they couldn't communicate it." -We should be pragmatic: practical +Do what works and what will enable you to function effectively in the world |
|
|
Skepticism:
|
-Developed by Pyrrho
+Traveling as a solider in Alexander's army, he saw great diversity in people, cultures, opinons and ideas +He, therefore questioned the notion of truth: -All we can do is go by things as they appear to us =Appearance are deceptive and so never assume the truth of one explanation =Best way to live is to go with the flow and go with the customs of the circumstances in which one finds oneself (when in Rome...) -Pyrrho's student, Timo, supported this view with a more intellectual argument: +Every argument or proof proceeds from a premise which is not self-evident and therefore requires proof |
