Midterm Review Notes PDF

MIDTERM REVIEW Think about metaphysics/psychology and how it forms their ethics What is the goal of life? What is the path to that goal? What are the obstacles to the goal? Bhagavad Gita What the world looks like: World is full of appearances and different things, everyone is unique What's real: u...

MIDTERM REVIEW Think about metaphysics/psychology and how it forms their ethics What is the goal of life? What is the path to that goal? What are the obstacles to the goal? Bhagavad Gita What the world looks like: World is full of appearances and different things, everyone is unique What's real: unchanging thing/reality: Atman or the self. We are identical to God/brahman. We are atman and atman is brahman Metaphysics/Psychology: what we really are is Atman, we are the same as everyone else. Things that seem to be us like our body , our thoughts, our feelings and emotions are no more me than something like my shoes or hair (just appearance). We are identical to god and everything else, but we are NOT AWARE OF IT. Goal: let go of everything that's illusory about you and fully realize what you really are (self realization) and come to God. we want to reach nirvana (liberation) Example analogy: if you are dreaming (nightmare) in your own room, then the goal is for you to come back to the peace and quiet of your own room. You need to wake up. Obstacle: attachment to 3 gunas and the fruits of our action, we shouldn’t cling to things or we shouldn’t be averse to things. We shouldn't care about getting hurt or not getting money or doing bad on our midterm, we are overly attached to stuff. and samsara 3 gunas 1) Tamas - boredom, confusion 2) Rajas - 3) Sattvas PATH: yoga, action, doing your duty/dharma you can help detach from things and break out of samsara. Dharma, logos, dao (we must act a certain way) MOKSHA IS USED IN HINDUISM Moksha and nirvana are interchangeable There might be a question where you need to use the gunas in your answer, but not necessarily define it Buddha Metaphysics: unchanging and changing reality What is the unchanging reality? There is no unchanging self Difference between gita and buddha: in the gita there is self and in buddhism there is no self. There is nothing beneath our appearances and illusion. Analogy: hurricane it looks like there are a lot of things moving around but when it dies down it dissipates to nothing. Goal: What is Nirvana? Is it the unchanging reality? (idk and wouldn’t be on the midterm) WE WANT TO REACH NIRVANA AND TO GET LIBERATION FROM SAMSARA Gita: Analogy about the dreamer where you've woken up in your bed. Buddha: But when you wake up you're not there anymore and there is no you that’s awakened. Path: 4 noble truths (WILL NOT HAVE TO MEMORIZE EIGHTFOLD PATH) 1) As long as you are alive you will suffer 2) Suffering is in your own mind a) Main causes of suffering is greed, aversion, ignorance/confusion b) Everything is in our head c) The main confusion is that we think that we are important and our things are important to us, when we realize that this is not true, then you will reach the goal 3) Wisdom yoga, meditation yoga, mindfulness yoga. Virtue meditation and wisdom (8 steps) a) Virtue doing the right things b) Meditation and wisdom is understanding the metaphysics so we can reach the goal Obstacles: thinking that we are real and everything is of importance to us. greed, aversion, ignorance/confusion Buddha sat underneath a tree and realized the truth. Once we recognize there is no self then we have reached the goal. Buddha achieved nirvana while living but he never rebirthed WHEN YOU ACHIEVE NIRVANA THAT IS THE EXTINCTION OF THE SELF Confucious Metaphysics: There is a higher good from this world. The world we live in is not the live all and end all. Heaven is organized by the Dao. We somehow have Dao given to us by the earthly Dao Psychology: we are a RELATIONAL SELF. We are nothing above and beyond our connections to other people. Goal: Follow the Dao, do your duty and what you’re supposed to do. Cultivate ren (virtue, benevolence) There isn’t some afterlife goal (there is no reward for doing well in the world) doing well in this world is the goal. WHAT IS A GOOD LIFE? We must cultivate ren by doing rituals. (ritual propriety) but we do it for the sake of cultivating our good character and following the dao not for just doing rituals Filial piety: our relationships to other people are very important and our most important relationship is to our parents. We should be obedient in not just our actions but in our heart and our mind. We should be benevolent to people. By doing this we are following the dao. The dao is the same for each person but the way how it looks will be different depending on your role in the world (example you a re a king or you have many siblings or many friends) LIVING WELL IN THIS WORLD IS THE GOAL. The highest goal is basically the goal The path is the goal basically Path: Obstacles: Plato Metaphysics: like the Gita, there is an unchanging reality and the world that we live in is not so changing and permanent similar to his cave allegory What does plato think the meaning of life is? To do philosophy, to contemplate the forms. Philosophy is the journey out of the cave. Contemplating the forms: absorbing and understanding and having knowledge for knowledge's sake (theoretical knowledge) not exactly using the knowledge just knowing it. In some versions you can achieve this only when you die or when you live (not gonna be on the test) Cave allegory: What keeps us in the cave? The chains that are fastened to our souls by feasting on luxury and pleasures. Similar to the gita in how we are clinging to things and it is like the Buddha how we are clinging to the illusory sense of you. The appetitive part and spirited part wanting honor and awards How would we get out of the cave? Being a just person and a virtuous person 3 parts of the soul 1) Rational a) The best part of the soul and it is what we really are 2) Appetitive a) Bodily pleasures 3) Spirited a) Honor and rewards The lower parts of you are preventing you from reaching the goal Goal: letting go of your appetitive attachments. Path: practice non attachment and do lots of contemplation Obstacle: An unhealthy soul. What does it mean for our soul to be unhealthy? Each part is not doing their own job. The miserable tyrant (book 9) the most unhealthy soul. The appetitive part is ruling the soul in the miserable tyrant. It is like the soul is in a civil war between the appetitive and the spirited part. The rational part is the enslaved human. The appetitive part is still unsatisfactory because it is insatiable and is stressed. No amount of clinging will get us what we want and there is no satisfaction gained by indulging in your desires. JUSTICE (the most important virtue) is for every part of the soul to do their own role Will we be tested on the gyges ring? - We should know about the idea - People in the cave are looking at shadows of injustice which make them think that we have to give up on pleasure and life is hard Aristotle Metaphysics: There is a god. God contemplates all the time. He is a thinker. There is something in us that is god-like (nous) we are understanding and have theoretical knowledge/ rational part of the soul (plato). We should become as much like God as possible. That’s not the ultimate answer though: the more general answer is to do EXCELLENT RATIONAL ACTIVITY Analogy: for a chalk to write on the board Distinctive about humans: rationality. Our highest good/eudaimonia is doing excellent rational activity. We need virtue to do it well. Our function is to do ERA. The goal is to understand. Practical rational activity is the second best: for others to do business…like leaders have to go back down to the cave to rule their kingdom. Plato and aristotle are contradictory: Humans have one function and it is to do ERA, IF YOU DO anything else then you are not a real human. Goal: to achieve eudaimonia by doing excellent rational activity. THE GOAL IS EXCELLENT RATIONAL ACTIVITY: the very best kind is contemplation. The virtue that helps you contemplate well is wisdom. Practical rational activity: you’re thinking about what to do and this is the second best eudaimonia. Working with and helping other people and you’re using your reasoning to make the world a better place instead of wisdom or math. Function argument: we are most of all our nous. We are intellects and we have other things ourselves too. Friendship: we are a political animal. The good life for us is to have the virtue of being a good friend and doing our excellent rational activity with other people. If we cannot achieve ERA/theoretical rational activity then we can still reach eudaimonia by practicing practical RA and have friends and rule kingdoms Path: Eudaimonia is an activity. It is a life. It is technically also the path. It is the same as living or doing well. Obstacles Epicurus Metaphysics: the Gods: they don't mess with you. They are not providential and they do not have a plan for you. Unlike the christian or the muslim god. Psychology: most important part about the soul: What happens when we die? The soul dies. Everything is made out of atoms and there is no afterlife because the soul kinda just disappears Goal: pleasure. We should have a life that is overall pleasure. A Hedonist is someone who believes pleasure is the best and we only chase after our desires. Epicurus says that that’s not the life we are living. We are very virtuous and we should know the natural and necessary desires. What is the best pleasure? The feeling of no pain. Path: Don’t stress out about getting all sorts of types of pleasure. If we are in pain we are not gonna improve our life by getting diff varieties of pleasure. Pain is the true enemy. (we sometimes believe that a little bit of pain is good to make us learn our lesson) Epicurus does not believe that and we should only get pain if it prevents us from feeling pain in the future. We should go to the dentist to prevent cavities but we shouldn't go because they are giving us money. Which pleasures are worth it? Will pleasure cost me more pleasure than pain? We must fulfill our natural and necessary desires Natural but unnecessary desires - Like wanting a fruit Unnatural and unnecessary desires - False beliefs - They are more trouble than you need to do - It is based on confusion. You just need to let go of this desire. We should not be fearful of God and death. God doesn't care about us so we shouldn't care about him. Death is not good or bad because it is the end of sensation, it is nothingness. Analogy: seeing a kid scared of getting a haircut. There is nothing to be scared of getting a haircut Obstacles: Stoics Metaphysics: there is a ruling physics in the world: the logos and the nature of the world. Goal: to live in agreement with the logos Path: we should recognize the pattern of the logos. For example: we see that young animals and humans tend to try to self preserve. The logos is the mind of the universe and our minds are a part of this. What is it? To go for preferred indifferent and dispreferred indifferent. Don't do things that go against nature like (not killing someone) Preferred indifferents and dispreferred indifferents. indifference is not up to us. Virtue (following nature) is up to us. Virtue is the only thing that’s really good and it will eventually lead us to happiness. If we are not wise then we will think it's good to preserve ourselves and not destroy ourselves. We should be healthy and wealthy and avoid the opposite. But if you are a stoic then you realize that they are not important but rather be in accordance with nature. These things that you want are like the P I AND DP I. It is similar to the Gita by following our dharma or confucius and dao. We should care about making the right decisions and having the right reactions but we should not care much about them. Obstacles Ecclesiastes Metaphysics Goal: THERE IS NO GOAL, all is vanity and life is meaningless. You might as well enjoy yourself because you might die afterwards. All of it is just under the sun. The goal is to come to God which is similar to the gospels and the quran. We should be with god and be like him and worship him Path Obstacles The questions are like what's the goal according to ____ (not ecclesiastes) and put it in as many ways as you can To come to god is the goal of the quran and the gospels Gospels- to be like god and enter eternal life and kingdom of heaven Quran- past the test and serve god