PHL 301 1st EditionExam # 1 Study Guide Lectures: 2 - 10Lecture 2The Socratic (dialectic) Method is the predominant method of western philosophy.o Socrates was the first philosopher to progress to sustained arguments.o “To be virtuous, you must know what virtue is.” o “The unexamined life is not worth living.” o “The greatest thing a man can do is converse about virtue daily.” o Socrates asks a question, and his conversational partner respondso He claims that their answer is either too broad, too narrow, or unclearo They redefine ito Often ends it “We don’t know”Philosophy has 3 partso Metaphysicso What is in the worldo What is real or apparento What am I?o Is my mind projecting the world?o Epistemology: Theory of Knowledgeo What is knowledge?o Can I have it? Where do I get it?o Can I know anything independent of experience? (Rationalists versus Empiricists)o Ethics: Pursuit of good judgment about action o Begins in wondero Reflectiono Critical examinationLecture 3 What is a good person?o Modern Ethics says “Someone who does good things,” but what is “good?”o Weakness of Will: Suppose someone claimed to have good intentions but did not act on them. Are they still good? What is courage? o Section 3.1.1o “Courage is the knowledge of that which inspires fear or confidence.” –Socrateso Unity of virtues, a theory often asserted by Socrateso Hope and fear are directed toward the futureo Good judgment should apply to wisdom about the past, present, and futureo Knowledge of hope and fear is then just knowledge of good and evil, which is all of virtue in generalo Each individual virtue is synonymous with all of virtue as a whole.Lecture 4 Socrates does not believe in weakness of willo If someone does something that he claims to know is wrong, he didn’t really ever know that it was wrongo Leads to the idea that virtue is essentially knowledge because one who knows of good andevil must have virtuePlato does believe in weakness of willo Phenomenological character: Experiencing something versus theorizing ito Plato’s three parts of the soulo Rational (reason)o Appetitive (desire)o Spirited (emotion)o Chariot Metaphoro Reason is the charioteero Desire and emotion are the two horses pulling the charioto Desire is a little bit harder to tame than emotion, but both sometimes disagree with reason, or disagree with each othero Without emotion and desire, reason cannot go anywhere, just like a charioteer cannot take his chariot anywhere if there are no horseso The whole thing must be balanced, but reason should always be in controlo Virtue is how to balance the three partso Any two parts can be in disagreement Lecture 5 Universals ParticularsMultiple instances do exist All of these objects exists only once and cannot be recreatedo Redo Loveo Friendshipo Waro Buildingo Tigero This grain of sando Archduke Franz Ferdinando The Eiffel towero That beach ballBeliefso Realists believe in universal objects and believe that they are independent of the mind. o Conceptualists also believe in them, but consider them to be dependent on the mind. o Nominalists do not believe in universal instances whatsoever. o Plato says that universalso Are necessary for knowledgeo Help us to make universal generalizationso Help us understand why things happeno Plato’s spectrum – People begin at number 1 and progress throughout their life by studying philosophy1. Visible, unenlightened, perceptions of shadowso Cave allegory: People are born watching a screen and never knowing anything else2. Visible, unenlightened, objects of perceptiono People are turned away from the screen and can see the real world and form opinions3. Intelligible, enlightened, understandingo This section is largely constituted of understanding math forms4. Intelligible, enlightened, reasono Abstract Forms5. Good, or Godo Realists added this at the very end of the spectrumo Parmenideso Change is impossibleo Sophistso “Man is the measure of all things.”o Truth is relative to individualso One person can think it is hot outside while another thinks it is cold, and they areboth right from a Sophist perspectiveo Heraclituso “You can not step into the same river twice,”o Objects do not persist through changeo A candle is not the same candle before and after it melts. First, it is a solid candle.Then, it is a liquid candle.o Skepticso There is truth, but we do not have access to it.o Humans cannot communicate with each other because they will not interpret each others’ words correctlyLecture 6Plato’s view on knowledgeoKnowledge is “warranted true belief”Where does warrant come from?oInternalismo A kind of mental state that knowledge isoExternalismo A belief connects that mental state to the worldPlato’s problem with axioms and FoundationalismoFoundationalism: A because B, and B because C, and C because D, where D is a “given” or an “axiom”oPlato says this means knowledge rests on axioms, which we do not know, we just assumeoEither everything is cyclical, or the chain has no endoWe do not actually know anythingResponses to Plato’s problemoClassical foundationalismo Given things justify themselveso A because B because C because Co Cogito, Ergo Sum: “I think, I am.” -DescartesoDirect realismo Sensations can justify knowledge without being knowledge themselveso Example: If you see that the sky is blue, you have no further way of proving that it is blue. You just have the feeling that it is.oCoherentismoAll knowledge is dependent on other parts of knowledge through a web rather than a pyramido Knowledge has no foundation and no axioms Lecture 7Academic skepticismo“All I know is that I know nothing.” –SocratesoGives recommendations based upon skepticism, which isn’t “true” extreme skepticism because how could one give recommendations if he claims to not know anything?Pyrrhonian skepticismo“I don’t know anything, not even whether or not I know anything.”oThe Pyrrhonian skeptic realizes he can’t make any claims at alloDoes not give recommendationsoTries to refute other thinkers’ claims, and views this as trying to cure themZhuangzi oObjective and subjective are interdependentoUnity of variabilityoThings are perceived differently by different beings at different timesoProblem of criterion– there can be no neutral judge of what is true, so knowledge is impossibleoDreamingoZhuangzi dreams he was a butterfly and then wakes up and says “I do notknow whether I was a man