Intro - HackMD

# Intro **Philosophy** - is the love of wisdom. Studies that had strong empirical elements came to be considered science - a search for answers. But philosophy came to be understood more as a way of thinking about questions. #### Goals - Find truth - theoretical, reach knowledge - Find goodness \- practical, reach happiness #### Value - Satisfy our curiosity - Philosophizing is pleasurable - Philosophy is useful - Philosophy teaches you how to think **Philosophers use the information they have and with the use of:** - argument (provide an argument or several arguments supporting the solution) - methodical doubt (a systematic process of being skeptical about the truth of one's beliefs) - dialectic (present the solution and arguments for criticism by other philosophers, and help them judge their own) #### Branches of philosophy - **Epistemology** - questions about knowledge - **Metaphysics** - nature of reality - What is the nature of god, time, space, cause? - **Logic** - how to think and reason - **Practical/normative philosophy** - deals with questions with “should” Include Moral, Ethics, Political, Social disciplines - **Aesthetics** - deals with questions of beauty, taste, and art. # Plato (rationalist) ### Theory of forms Forms are abstract, perfect, unchanging concepts or ideals that transcend time and space; they exist in the Realm of Forms. Forms are “blueprints of perfection”. ![](https://i.imgur.com/T2ZxHTW.png) Theory of Forms = it seems there is no hope for us to cognize, we just get copies of things. ### Dualism ![](https://i.imgur.com/eUcuqaM.png) ### Doctrine of recollection The Platonic **doctrine of recollection** or anamnesis, is the idea that we are born possessing all knowledge and our realization of that knowledge is contingent on our discovery of it. ##### The Maieutic Method A person is engaged in a dialogue by a questioner until frustration caused by challenges to his ideas leads him to dissatisfaction with his settled convictions and makes him refine his views , eventually coming up with a solution to a problem or a better, more informed understanding of the situation (as in the example discussed) #### The Two Theses in the Theory **Epistemological thesis** (there is reason for anything) The epistemological thesis is about reason. Knowledge is knowledge of consequences. Thus, knowledge of the relation of cause/effects. For example, if you are a human being you know that being mortal is a consequence of being human. **Ontological thesis** (there are souls) The ontological thesis is about the existence of the soul and its relation to the body. The soul exists before entering a body and will continue to exist after leaving the body. Thus, There is a little form of perfection in us as well ### The divided line ![](https://i.imgur.com/dEwfyAM.png) ### Allegory of the cave (´。＿。｀) # Aristotle (something in the middle of empiricist and rationalist) ### Knowledge categories: (knowledge depends on its purpose) - **Episteme** (Theoretical) Related to scientific knowledge. Attributes: Universal, invariable, context-independent Examples: Theology, math, natural sciences - **Techne** (Productive) Techne = imperfect form of knowledge; a \"making\" action Attributes: Pragmatic, variable, context-dependent. Oriented toward production. Examples: Art, rhetoric, engineering - **Phronesis** (Practical) It means Practical wisdom. Attributes: Pragmatic, variable, context dependent. It is guided by moral dispositions. Oriented toward public good Examples: Ethic, politic, **Statements categories:** (find it in the lab questions) - **Assertoric** is a statement that asserts that something is the case w/o proof - **Problematic** is a statement indicating that something *could* be true - **Apodictic** is a statement that must be true or false ### Two misunderstandings 1. **Ancient and modern philosophy** "Ancient" philosophy is said to study being, whereas "Modern" philosophy is said to study knowledge. 2. **Aristotle is often opposed to Plato** While there are many opposite ideas, it is not really true ### The Aristotelian Theory of Knowledge Aristotle invented: syllogism, logic fallacies, principle of non contradiction, idea of “basic truth” (axiom) Aristotle agrees with Plato that knowledge is justified true belief and there are "forms". However, Aristotelian forms are not Platonic forms: They are ‘in rem’, in the substance (for Plato they are ‘ante re’ independent of physical particulars). In addition, **Aristotle** does not disregard the importance of sensory perception for getting knowledge! The senses allow us to get preliminary knowledge of particular substances – yet real knowledge = attained only through judgment of the particular form experienced Aristotle seems like an empiricist when he says that experience gives us access to basic truths. However, in his view knowledge goes from Sensations to the Commensurate Universal. Thus, Aristotle is not a fully fledged empiricist (he does not believe that perceptions are the foundations of knowledge) #### Substance theory Aristotle divides the world into two categories: **substances** and **accidents** - substances are the most fundamental. A **substance** is a dog, a rock, a planet, a particle and a computer. An **accident** is something like being white, standing up, kicking that ball or being hit by Tom. It is somewhat helpful to think of **substances** as nouns. **Accidents** refer to features of substances. ### Aristotle's Four Causes - **Material** \- the stuff out of which something is made - **Formal** \- the defining characteristics of (e.g., shape) the thing - **Final** \- the purpose of the thing - **Efficient** - the antecedent condition that brought the thing about. May be considered as agent that make object # Descartes (rationalist) **What Descartes tries to accomplish in Meditations on First Philosophy:** - Use method of doubt to rid himself of all beliefs that could be false - Arrive at some beliefs that could not possibly be false - Discover a criterion of knowledge to fend off sceptics - Prove that the mind is distinct from the body - Prove the existence of God **Goals of the Mediations:** - to establish a firm and unchanging foundation for the sciences ### First mediation #### **Sense argument** There are Perceptual errors and illusions, therefore we cannot trust our senses. #### Dream argument We gain experience during dreaming similarly to our everyday life and we cannot determine that experience is not a reality before we wake up. As we cannot trust experience during dreaming, our everyday experience should not be considered as reliable source of knowledge. #### Evil demon argument We cannot be sure that some statement or logic is true of false because some "Evil demon" can deceive us. It can be natural to us to think that 2+2 is four, but that creature can manipulate our thoughts so that we think it is true. ### Second mediation #### Cogito Argument - “I think, therefore I am” - Even if we assume that there is a deceiver, from the very fact that I am deceived it follows that I exist - Since I only can be certain of the existence of myself insofar as I am thinking, I have knowledge of my existence only as a thinking thing #### Substance (Cartesian) Dualism Two sorts of substances exist: - **mental** - **physical** They are completely separated and do not interact with one another. #### Wax argument Although, wax physical properties change when it is moved closer to a fire, it is still remain wax and our intellect "tell" us so. Therefore, the way we know objects in the external world is not through their perceptual properties. (But through reason and intellect). # Lockean Empiricism **The goals of Locke’s essay are:** - search out the bonds between opinion and knowledge - discover where our ideas come from - ascertain what it means to have these ideas and what an idea essentially is **Tabula rasa** - the concept that humans are born without innate knowledge. **The process of knowledge for Locke is twofold**. It starts out with observations made through our bodies (**sensations**). And then continues with the **reflection** on these sensations which structures and organizes the percept. ### Three degrees of knowledge - **Intuitive knowledge** - a flash, when we immediately grasp some ideas - **Demonstrative knowledge** where such an agreement or disagreement is understood by the mind only by means of some chain of connecting ideas - **Sensitive knowledge** is concerned with the existence of particular objects that we experience ### Descartes vs Locke **Different Angles:** - **Descartes** = importance of mathematical and abstract ideas - **Locke** = importance of experience and observation **Different perspectives:** - **Descartes** takes a first-person approach: his guiding question is: What can I know for certain? - **Locke** instead adopts a third person approach, drawing on third party observations. The main question Locke aims to answer is: What do human beings know? ![](https://i.imgur.com/6DBIiFm.png)