Philosophy is made up of 2 words: philos and sophia meaning what?

Love and wisdom

Philosophy = the love of wisdom

Dr. Yoder: The pursuit of the truth using human reason...

What is general revelation?

   On-going, constant communication of God's truth through the medium of creation/nature

Ps. 19; Rom. 1

Francis Bacon: "Book of God's works"

John Calvin: sensus divinitatus - innate sense we all have of the existence of God.

What is specific revelation?

A one-time, individual act of God which reveals a specific message to a particular person or at a particular time.

Ex: Incarnation of Jesus, Bible, dreams/visions,

gift of the Law to Moses

Francis Bacon: Book of God's Word

What is Fideism and what philosopher believed in it?

Fideism: faith; reason is always opposed to faith

Tertullian - "What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem?...With our faith, we desire no further belief." 

What are Augustine and Calvin's thoughts on philosophy?

Augustine: "All truth is God's truth"

Philosophy can stir up a desire to know wisdom (God) more deeply

Genuine truth always belongs to God

Calvin: Spirit of God as sole fountain of truth

What is C.S. Lewis's thoughts on philosophy?

"Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy must be answered."

First great philosopher; model philosopher

Socrates

Background of Socrates

Born in Athens in 470 BC

Father was a stonemason and he may have been as well; courageous soldier

classic metaphysician, searched after truth, great teacher, philosophical hero

Wrote no books, questioned people in agora (marketplace)

Considered ugly but loved by his disciples (Plato)

Forced to drink poisonous hemlock and die at age 70

What is the Socratic method?

"a form of inquiry and debate between individuals with opposing viewpoints based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas"  (Wikipedia)

a  way of identifying and elminating possibilities that lead to contradictions

Ex:  What is truth?

Who did Socrates question and why?

Rich, powerful - politicians, poets, craftsmen who could not answer his questions even though they were considered wise

A god claimed that Socrates was the wisest in the land, which he denied but went to question those who were considered wise and found that they weren't less wise than he was.  They called themselves wise when they were not and so became angry at Socrate's questions

“This man among you, mortals, is wisest who, like Socrates understands that his wisdom is worthless” (Socrates' Apology 27)

What is metaphysics?

Sub-discipline of philosophy that considers the true nature of things/reality

What were the charges against Socrates?

1) Disbelieving in the gods (formal)

2) Corrupting the young men (formal)

3) Making the weak argument stronger (informal) 

Miletus, Anytus brought charges against him

Who were the Sophists and what did they believe?

Sophists - tutors that taught the young aristocratic men and trained people in rhetoric (art of speaking)

Believed:        They prized persuasion over truth / caters to emotions

Technically the ability to make the weaker argument stronger

Socrates was concerned about the difference between true philosophy (truth) and Sophistry (art of persuasion)

What did Socrates believe about reality?

True reality exists in the Realm of the Forms.  The Forms are the eternal, unchanging and perfect patterns and examples of the changeable things of this world.  

All things in this world change except Truth, which is not in this world

The things of this world are real, but only shadows.

What did Socrates believe about unversals?

Knowledge consists of knowledge of universals as true knowledge only comes from the Forms

Particulars: opinion; individually existing things in this world

Universals: essential characteristics that are common among a set of these and make it what it is (found only in the Forms)   ex: universal 'penness' of pens

 Socrates' beliefs about the soul:

 Our souls are immortal and originally come from the Realm of the Forms

The soul is the true person; body extraneous

Just souls return to the perfect realm, while unjust souls are given to another body

Philosophy is the practice of going beyond this world (death) because philosophy and death separate the soul from the body   --- death frees us from bodily evils

Socrates' beliefs about recollection:

Since our souls are eternal and have inhabited other bodies, true knowledge is possible and learned because it is innate in a person.  

Learning is recollection of the things the Sould remembers from the Realm of the Forms

Socrates' motto:

 "... the unexamined life is not worth living for men [people]…”

   The unphilosophical life (one where there is no search for truth or reason/knowledge) is not worth living! 

o   Socrates seems to be focusing on consistency – living a life consistently wrestling with questions about the deep issues (meaning of life, etc.)

What Socrates and Heraclitus agreed on:

Socrates wrestling with: Does the truth change or stay the same?  If the truth doesn’t change and the world changes, how can there be truth in the world?

Heraclitus: “You can’t step into the same river twice.” – there is constant change (in flux) and in one moment of time the river is different from the moment before

So, the Realm of the Forms holds the unchanging patterns of the changing copies on earth

Socrates is like what?

Torpedo fish: (Meno) Socrates makes us numb, which is necessary for true learning

Midwife: (Socrates) He helps the individual bring out the knowledge already inside of him

Gadfly: (Socrates) God's gift to Athens

How is Socrates similar to Jesus?

Both:

Had disciples who wrote books about them

Angered some powerful people and popular with the masses

Tried and executed, became martyrs

Spoke out for the truth

Disdain for death

Asked questions and known to be great teachers

Socrates and the Analogy of the Cave:

Representations:

The cave is our world and is a prison

The prisoners chained represent all mankind

The world above is the Realm of the Forms

-          Socrates believes that our bodies are prisons like the world is a prison and our true self is our soul and the soul comes from somewhere else.

Plato's life:

(428-347 BC) Disciple of Socrates, Teacher of Aristotle

Devoted himself to philosophy after Socrates' death; wrote many of Socrates' dialogues in books 

Founded the Academy in Athens

Most famous book is the Republic; others include Apology, Meno, Phaedo, Crito...

What is Transcendental Philosophy?

Any philosophy that emphasizes the intuitive and spiritual  (higher, greater than this world) above the empirical and material

Philosophers: Socrates, Plato

Background on Rene Descartes:

1596-1650; Frenchman, born in La Haye

One of the heroes in French history

Father – government official; mother died when he was young

Sent to a boarding school (La Flesche)–one of the best Jesuit schools

Health – not the greatest; persuaded the priests to let him stay in bed a little longer

A bit of a loner; liked to think/reflect and write in the morning

Had the means to pursue knowledge; trained as a lawyer but not interested; became a soldier because he wanted to see the world; also a key figure in history of science and math

Finally settled in Holland – more freedom to say and think what he wanted

"Father of Modern Philosophy"

Rene Descartes

Descartes' books:

Discourse on the Method

 Meditations on the First Philosophy (main phil. work)

The World – never published except posthumously because of what the church might think

Descartes' beliefs about Dualism:

Cartesian Dualism: 

Mind-Body interaction - 2 kinds of substance:

Body/Physical Substances - part of the external world

(has extension - ability to be sensed)

Mind/Mental Substances - thinking thing that exists (has no extension)

A person is dualism - entity of mind (thought) and body (extension)

Mind acts kind of like the pilot of the ship - body

Descartes on Rationalism:

  Descartes is concerned with certainty of knowledge

 Rationalism: approach to epistemology which emphasizes the rational capacities of the mind, which they considered the source of truth about reality

 The best way to know truth is through innate ideas inside the mind, which arise naturally from our souls

What are the three possible avenues of knowledge/truth from Discourse on the Method?

1) The study of letters: formal education - no consensus

2) "Great Book of the World": experience - no consensus

3) Truth within oneself: innate ideas within oneself - leads to Rationalism

Descartes on propositions:

The innate ideas we possess must have clarity and distinctiveness to establish the truth of a proposition

Clear: that which is present and apparent to an attentive mind

Distinct: that which is precise and different from all other objects that it contains nothing within itself which is not clear

What is Descartes' Project of Doubt?

Doubting everything to see if there is something certain:

1) Sensations - info. received through our senses

Problem: senses can be deceived

2) Reasonings- logical arguments and results of reasoning abilities

Problem: People often make mistakes

3) All could be a dream- Could be under control of a malicious demon or evil genius that makes everything we know wrong 

Descartes' conclusion:  cogito ergo sum

Doubting (thinking) can only be done by an existing individual.  Therefore, because he doubts, he exists.

"I think therefore I am"  

Therefore the mind exists

Descartes' last 2 conclusions:

God exists / the external world exists

Skepticism: I have an idea in my mind about God, but is it clear and distinct?

1) Since I am able to doubt, it is clear that I am not perfect.

2) The idea of a perfect being exists in my mind.

3) The idea of a perfect being cannot come from myself (superior can't come from the inferior)

4) The idea of a perfect being cannot come from nowhere

5) The idea must have been placed in my mind by the most perfect being. (Calvin's sensus divinitas - God planted the idea of Himself in our minds)

6) There must be a perfect God, who is not a deceiver (natural theology)

Therefore: God exists; the external world exists

Descartes' belief: Foundationalism

He makes foundational thoughts/knowledge (3 foundations) and then builds on them

He believes all knowledge rests on these 3 most obvious truths:

1) I think, therefore I am

2) God exists

3) The external world exists

John Locke's Background:

One of the great philosophers of modern era

1632-1704; Englishman, graduated from Oxford Univ.

Interested in medicine, politics, and science; but not math

Interested in theology (Anglican), but didn't believe in the Trinity

He did very little actual experimentation but remained interested in 'natural philosophy' (science) all his life

One of the fathers of modern democracy

John Locke

Political philosopher - championed personal rights and toleration

John Locke's books:

Two treatises on Government

An Essay concerning Toleration

The Reasonableness of Christianity

Some Thoughts on Education

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding - challenged Descartes' ideas and Cartesian Dualism/rationalism

What is empericism?

Empericism: The best way to know truth is through experience and sensations

It is not learned through innate ideas; opposite of Rationalism

This theory proposed by Locke

Locke's thoughts about Empiricism

Locke believed our minds are a 'blank slate/white sheet' or 'tabula rosa' as others have called it.  

The mind comes into being with no ideas in it and through sensations, the mind develops ideas.  The sensations convey our perceptions and the mind processes them as ideas.

We can reflect on our mental operations, which gives rise to reflections

No other way to have knowledge except based on sensation and experience. - clears way for scientific method

Anselm of Canterbury's Background:

1033-1109; born in Aosta, Italy

Did not get along with his father, and when father passed away, he left home

Traveled around the world and in search of knowledge (wanted to be a scholar)

Went to a monastery in France (Bec) – The abbot’s name is Lonfranc, who had a reputation for being one of the most knowledgeable 

Became Archbishop of Canterbury against his will when Lonfranc died 

Anselm's books:

  Most books destroyed except theological treatises 

Monologion: show existence of God through complicated arguments

Proslogion: Simpler arguments for God's existence

logion = speech, words

Cur Deus Homos - Why the God-man?

What is natural theology?

 What we can learn about God through general revelation or special revelation

Concerned about: Is there a God and what is he like?

What is an ontological argument?

ontos = to be (Greek) 

argument for the existence of God

What is epistemology?

episteme - knowledge

The study of knowledge

Explain Anselm's beliefs/principles:

"that then which nothing greater can be thought..." - God contains all the perfections to an infinite degree

"faith seeking understanding" - "I believe in order to understand" (Philosophy is the handmaiden of Theology)

Anselm's ontological argument:

1) Concept of God defined (ttw): God is the greatest possible being

2) Concept of God denied: "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" (Ps. 14)

3) 2 kinds of existence: things existing in our minds/imaginations and in reality/fact (the fool denies this idea in reality)

4) Real existence is better - painter

5) Concept of God means/demands God truly exists b/c if God was only an idea, He would not be perfect and so must exist in reality

What are necessary and contigent beings?

Necessary Beings: that being whose nonexistence is impossible

Contingent Beings: that being whose nonexistence is possible (subject to corruption)

Great Chain of Being: ascending order - rocks, plants, animals, heaven, angels = contigent beings; God = eternal, necessary being

What is Guanilo's objection to ttw?

Objection focuses on notion that something that exists in the mind must somehow exist in fact

Can imagine a perfect island, but that doesn't mean it exists

Anselm's reply: ttw is the greatest being; perfect island can't be this kind of thing (it is a contingent being); God is the only necessary thing

What is the God of philosopher's objection to Anselm's argument?

What god does it prove?

Anselm uses the rest of Proslogion to show the qualities of ttw to be that of the God of the Bible

Background of Aristotle:

384-322 BC; grew u[ in Macedonia as an aristocrat in the upper classes

went to the Academy at 17 years of age – studied for 20 years

Began to have different ideas from Plato

Plato died after 20 years and Aristotle thought that he would become the

    next leader, but didn’t.  He returned to Macedonia and became the tutor for Alexander the Great

           Aristotle also made a school in Athens – Lyceum.  When there was pressure against philosophy, he left and then said, “I am leaving so that Athens doesn’t sin again against philosophy” (referring to putting Socrates to death)

Background of Aristotle continued:

Interested in all kinds of things; but not interested in Theology and not so interested in Math 

Aristotle kind of the first Scientist, but also mixed metaphysics with observations…

Aristotle's Books: 

Organon - 5 Books of Logic

Metaphysics, Physics

De Anima

Nicomachean Ethics

Eudemian ethics

On the Soul

Science books

Differences between Plato and Aristotle

Plato - transcendentalist / Aristotle - imanentist - truth is part of this world, the universal of things is found in them

Aristotle - Mankind's purpose: to know

"All humans by nature desire to know"

Plato - good writer / Aristotle - not a good writer

Aristotle's belief on logic:

Logic = 'first science' - necessary for any kind of thinking / proper way to make arguments

First principles (principle of non-contradiction - opposite statements can't be true)  

2 kinds of arguments:

1) demonstration - involves a specific form of argument (syllogism) in which if premises are true, then the conclusion must follow

2) inductive - can't provide absolutely conclusive proof of the truth of the conclusion, but sufficient evidence

Ex: generalizations and analogies

What is a substance?

Substance: an individual, existing thing (a particular)

Purpose: We don't know what something is until we know why it is

What is essence?

Essence: the indispensable element of a thing which is the core of the answer to the question, "What is it?" (very nature)

lies at the heart of the definition of something

Accidents - dispensible aspects; not a part of the essence

Purpose: Everything has a purpose (telos); a key metaphysical step is discovering the purpose and essence of a thing

What are form and matter?

Matter: the physical stuff that makes up a thing

Form: what is imposed on the matter to make a thing what it is; related to the essence or definition of a thing but not identical

Form: what is imposed on matter; essence: contains the universal of the substance

Form is that which animates it (like the soul)

What are potency and actuality?

Nature has purpose; 2 modes of existence:

Potential: things in motion -change (matter)

Actuality: when things are at rest (form)

Four causes according to Aristotle:

1) Material cause: that out of which a think is made (mater)

2) Formal cause: the shape or pattern of the thing (form)

3) Efficient cause: the source of the change from rest to something new (who makes the change?)

4) Final cause: the purpose or telos of a thing (why? - beauty)

Unmoved Mover moves things as a Final Cause b/c it is pure actuality

Aristotle's belief on souls / 3 kinds:

3 kinds of souls: lowest - plants - vegitative / animals - motive / humans -= rational (think and behave rationally)

Soul is the form

Souls are mortal; when matter breaks down (body dies), the sould disappears