Philosophy: St. Augustine to Descartes

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Questions and Answers

What does St. Augustine believe about the source of happiness?

  • Happiness can be found in one's achievements.
  • Happiness is a result of fulfilling societal expectations.
  • Happiness comes from individual success and autonomy.
  • Happiness is achieved through divine love and connection to God. (correct)

How does St. Augustine's view of creation differ from Plato's?

  • Augustine believes the world was created from existing materials.
  • Plato believes in a creator who is dependent on the world.
  • Plato asserts the world was created ex nihilo by a supreme being.
  • Augustine teaches that God created the world out of nothing. (correct)

What did Augustine identify as the reason for human suffering?

  • The inability to achieve personal goals.
  • Disordered love and misprioritization. (correct)
  • Poor relationships with other people.
  • A lack of physical resources.

What characterizes St. Thomas Aquinas's view of human nature?

<p>Humans are composed of body and spirit, unified by the soul. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

According to Augustine, how can love be disordered?

<p>By valuing lesser things more than love for God. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What aspect of humanity does Aquinas focus on to explain understanding and life?

<p>The soul and its capacities. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How does St. Augustine describe God's nature in relation to humans?

<p>God is independent and complete, while humans are dependent and incomplete. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What does Augustine believe humans must do to achieve happiness?

<p>Love and connect with God. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary attribute that distinguishes humans as rational creatures?

<p>The capacity for logical thought (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

According to Aquinas, what are the two ends or goals of human existence?

<p>Natural and supernatural ends (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What famous statement is attributed to Rene Descartes?

<p>Cogito, ergo sum (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What does Descartes use as a basis to doubt the existence of the world?

<p>The experience of pain in dreams (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What ultimately proves the existence of the Self, according to Descartes?

<p>The act of doubting or thinking (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the significance of the supernatural end in Aquinas's philosophy?

<p>It pertains to ultimate fulfillment in God. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What reasoning leads Descartes to doubt the existence of God?

<p>Dreaming could involve an illusion of God. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following reflects Descartes' belief about the relationship between thought and existence?

<p>To think is to doubt. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What does Kant believe is necessary for knowledge to exist?

<p>Sensation and memory united by the SELF (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

According to Gilbert Ryle, what is mind-body dualism considered to be?

<p>Unsound and contradictory (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

How does Ryle define the self?

<p>As observable behavior (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What term does Ryle use to describe the logical error in discussing the self?

<p>Category mistake (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the alternative phrase Ryle uses to emphasize self-existence compared to Descartes?

<p>I act, therefore I am (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the main criticism Ryle has against traditional views of the self?

<p>They ignore observable behaviors. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What does Ryle claim about how we perceive the thoughts of others?

<p>It comes from observing their behavior. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What philosophical approach does Ryle advocate for regarding mental events?

<p>Logical behaviorism (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

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Study Notes

St. Augustine

  • Augustine’s philosophy emphasizes spiritual grounding and a belief in the Supreme Being.
  • The world was created by God out of nothing, unlike Plato’s belief that the Demiurge combined the Forms and the receptacle.
  • Humans are incomplete and seek happiness, which they can only find through God.
  • Happiness is achieved through love, but disordered love can lead to unhappiness and suffering.

St. Thomas Aquinas

  • Aquinas Christianized Aristotle’s philosophy.
  • The human person is a composite of body and soul.
  • The soul is responsible for life, sensation, intellect, and will.
  • The intellect is the greatest human ability, and contemplation of God is possible.
  • Humans have two ends: natural (preserving life, procreation, truth-seeking) and supernatural (ultimate end in God).

Rene Descartes

  • A rationalist who believed reason is the basis of knowledge and the self.
  • Famous for the dictum "Cogito ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am), which was derived through methodic doubt.
  • Descartes doubted the existence of the world and God because of the possibility of dreaming.
  • The self exists because doubting requires thinking, and thinking requires a thinker.
  • The self unifies sense experience and imposes categories of the mind.

Gilbert Ryle

  • Gilbert Ryle was a 20th-century analytic philosopher who criticized Descartes' mind-body dualism.
  • He argued that the self is not a separate entity but a way of referring to behavior.
  • Proposed logical behaviorism, where mental events are translated into observable behavior.
  • His motto, "I act, therefore I am," contrasts with Descartes' "I think, therefore I am."

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