Philosophy Exam Review

Comes from Greek words love and wisdom. Involves commitment to an open minded search for truth.

explores the nature of reality, 'asking what is real?', 'what is the meaning of life?'

The study of knowledge and what justifies beliefs asking, 'what does it mean to know' and can humans know what the world really is?

Involves the study of right and wrong, exploring questions about good and evil, moral duties. 'What obligations do people have towards one another?'

The study of art and beauty, and the standards for judging artistic value. 'What is beauty?'

The law of non-contradiction: Something cannot be said to be and not to be at the same time in the same respect. Ex: the statement 'Tom exists' is true it cannot be true and false, Tom cannot exist and not exist at the same time. The Law of excluded middle: Something is either true or false. There is no middle ground where something is sort of true or sort of false. The law of identity: The law states that something is what it is. Ex: Tom is Tom, Sasha is Sasha

Inductive: based on observations and evidence leading to conclusions that's are probable, but not certain, EVIDENCE MUST BE RELIABLE. Deductive: reasoning is judged off validity, truth and soundness Validity: its form must be correct, conclusion follows form of premise. Truth: for an conclusion to be true, premise must be true. Soundness: argument is valid and premise is true.

Ad Hominem: person making the argument rather than argument. Straw man: misrepresenting or exaggerating someone's argument to make it easier to attack. Logic appeal to ignorance: asserting a claim is true because it hasn't been proven false. False dilemma: presenting two options as the only possibilities when others exist. Slippery slope: a minor action will lead to significant and often negative consequence without evidence. Circular reasoning: the arguments conclusion is assumed in the premise. Hasty generalization: broad generalization based on small sample size. False cause: assuming that because one event followed another, it is caused by the first. Appeal to authority: asserting a claim is true because any authority figure believes it. Bandwagon Fallacy: Arguing that's something is true or good because it is popular. Appeal to emotion: manipulating emotion rather than presenting an argument.

The post modernist's response: Challenged traditional ideas about truth, knowledge, reality, objectivity, rationality and progress. Feminist response: historically science was predominantly led by men, women were discovered by pursuing scientific careers. Scientific realist response: realists maintain that objects of scientific study and theorizing exist independently of the minds of scientists themselves

It is nearly impossible to prove a theory is impossible.

fake science

NOMA principle: 'areas of authority and teaching'. Anthropic principle: shows how the views of science and religion may be reconciling. Gaia hypothesis: helping to reconcile science and religion.

Substance theory (Descartes): The self is a determinate and unitary thing (persist over time). It is not all material it is also mental. The self supports changing experiences but does not itself change. The bundle Theory(Hume): The view that you are nothing more than a loosely unified confederation of interests, motivations, beliefs, sensations, and emotions. Genuine personal identity over time is a fiction and an act of the imagination; we identify persons over time out of custom. The Narrative theory: Self is shaped by narrative with individuals making sense of their experiences through story telling. They are both the central character and author of their own narrative. No endings, story is always changing. The Project theory (Satre): The self is thought as an event in time rather than as a thing. The self is always under active construction, the self is not given to people ready and made

Materials solutions: reality is mad of matter. Identity theorists: All mental states are identical to brain states. Eliminatavists materialists approach: The way we usually talk about thoughts and feelings I wrong and our understanding of the mind will change as we learn more about how our brains work. Functionalists solutions: Mental states can be made real through technology, with the right hard ware and soft ware. Dualists solution: The human mind exists independently of the body, but still interacts with it.. Subjectivists solution Mental states and consciousness are fundamentally subjective experiences. Monists solution: reality is composed of one type of thing

Theism: belief in a god or gods. Deism: A supreme being created the universe but does not interfere with its workings. polytheism: Belief in many gods. Monotheism: belief in one God. Pantheism: God is the universe and the universe is God) god is found in all things. Panentheism: God is in everything all things are found in god

Hard determinism: The view that the will of an individual is not free and is instead determined by factors beyond his of her control and/or responsibility and free will is just an illusion.. soft determinism: belief that human behavior is the result of choices and decisions made within a context of situational constraints and opportunities. Theories of freedoms: The will is perfectly isolated from all external causes

Confucius: believed that true wisdom come from recognizing our own ignorance. Plato: He argued that we are born with knowledge and it doesn't come from the senses. We 'recall' knowledge rather than learn it from the world. Aristotle: He thought knowledge comes from what we observe with our senses, and reasoning builds on that.. Descartes: Sought for absolute certainty and concluded 'I think therefore I am'. This means that the act of thinking proves one's existence. Locke: Believed the mind starts as a blank slate and knowledge comes from experience. Kant: Our mind actively shapes how we understand the world

Direct Knowledge: Acquired through experience by perceiving something through the senses and does not depend on anything else. Indirect Knowledge: Obtained by using reason to connect pieces of direct knowledge, making it reliant on experience. Most human knowledge is indirect and is not always reliable. Competence: Involves skills which can be demonstrated but NOT easily explained (e.g how to swim). Propositional: Involves factual information that can be conveyed in words (e.g. knowing Canadian swimmer Alex Bauman won gold medals in 1984)

What do rationalists believe? Rationalists believe that rational thought (I.e reason) is a much more reliable source of knowledge than the senses. What do empiricists believe? Believe that people acquire knowledge only as the mind experiences the world through the senses

Plato: believed in two worlds: the imperfect material world and the perfect world of forms. Material world is always changing and can never be known. True knowledge comes from reasoning about theses forms. Rene Descartes: believed ideas are instead and doubted the senses as a reliable source of knowledge. Knowledge cannot garuntee anything. He concluded the only certainty in his doubt is 'I think therefore I am'. Noam Chamskey: argued there are things we are just born knowing. Humans have language ability. Young children can create sentences they've never heard. Language errors

Aristotle: both matter and essence are present in physical objects, unlike Plato who separated them into two worlds. He thought abstract ideas (e.g justice) were based on sense, reasoning and experience, not innate knowledge. Thomas Aquinas: rejected Plato's idea of two worlds, views human beings as the union of soul and body. He believed in sense m, perception and reason to understand the world. John Locke: believe all are born with a blank slate and the mind gains knowledge through the 5 senses. David Hume: similar to LOCKE. He suggested that we don't directly perceive cause and effect, instead we expect connections based on past experience

Common sense realism: What you see is what exists. Critics argue it overlooks phenomena's such as hallucinations. Representative theory of perception: Locke believed that objects exist independently but also as mental representations in the mind - sensations trigger mental representations of objects. Subjective idealism: Berkley asserted that only ideas created by sensations are certain knowledge, reality consists solely of mental ideas. Phenomanism: Humans cannot perceive objects as they truly exist, but only as they appear

Art should mimic reality and reflect truth and beauty. He feared realistic arts potential to distract from intellectual pursuits.

Art is judged for its own sake, not by moral standards. He valued art as independent creative expressions.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Shifted focus from object to observes mind

Taste has universal principles, but individual judgement is shaped by bias and experience. Leads to different opinions on what makes good art

Art is judged on how it engages imagination, independent of content. Influenced formalism: emphasizes basic elements of art, over meaning

Art is a step to human thought evolving into philosophy

Art goes beyond just copying life: it transforms life by providing people a positive and powerful world view

Art is only meaningful when engaged with by an audience, otherwise it is just a product

Believe that knowledge comes from reason and innate ideas. We possess an inherent under of perfect forms and experiences only trigger recollections of these forms. Art should be about expressing these perfect forms. This is demonstrated through abstract art, because the world of forms are seen as abstract ideas

Knowledge comes from sensory experience, the mind is like a blank slate at birth. Experiences become concepts by impressing themselves and creating an idea. Art is the reflection of the real world. Seen in depictions of people, places and things

phemenology: Husserl believed there is equal importance to the role of reason and experience.. The analysis of art is a conscious activity. Idealism: Plato believes that true reality only exists in the world of forms. Reality is created in the mind, beauty is subjective 'in the eye of the beholder'. Existentialism: It is impossible to know anything in the real world, therefore we can only make authentic choices. Art is meaningless and lacks purpose, however art expresses one's authentic self

Hume: Judgements about beauty are based on feelings not facts. 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder'. A true critic has good sense, an open mind and a discriminating imagination. Kant: People have a natural aptitude for making aesthetic judgement. People should focus on an objects formal qualities like harmony, not its usefulness.. Hegles: Beloved that nature cannot be aesthetically beautiful. Real beauty comes from human thoughts and can only be made in human made things

Moses Introduced the Ten Commandments, a foundational moral code in Christianity.. Confucius Emphasized the Golden Rule. Aristotle Introduced the 'Golden Mean,' advocating balance between extremes in behavior.. Jesus Taught love, forgiveness, and compassion as central to ethical living. Aquinas Argued that moral good comes from following God's will. Kant Proposed that moral actions should be universal, based on reason rather than religion.. Carol Gilligan (20th century) Developed 'ethics of care,' stressing empathy and relationships, offering a gendered perspective on morality.. Kwame Gyekye Highlighted African community centered ethics, prioritizing collective well being over individual desires.

Buddhists answer: Buddhism teaches that life is suffering, which arises from desire. The ultimate goal is to achieve nirvana, a state of enlightenment where desire is eliminated, and one lives in harmony with themselves and nature.. Confucianists: Confucianists prioritize societal (instead of individual) harmony through traditional roles and rituals.. Confucianists think of people not as individuals but as part of the whole. Taoists: Taoism emphasizes living in harmony with nature and the rhythms of the universe.. Hendoists: Hedonists, followers of hedonism, believe the good life is centered on pleasure which leads to happiness. Stoics: Stoics believe that the good life involves living happily but happiness is achieved through wisdom

the Golden Mean: proposes that virtuous behavior lies in finding a middle ground between extremes

moral choices must be judged, not by their consequences, but by the good will of the person making the choice. He introduced the categorical imperative which dictates that actions should be based on principles that can be universally applied (with NO exceptions)

for people to think for themselves and develop their own philosophical positions based on well-reasoned arguments. attempt to answer fundamental questions about life