Philosophy Exam Study Notes

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

Metaphysics: 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 study of social values and political forms of government.

The law of non-contradiction: States that 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)