Key Concepts in Philosophy: From Anaximander to Hegel
Anaximander’s Apeiron
Who maintained that the origin of all was the Apeiron, the unknown? Anaximander. What was his opinion about prayer? He believed that everything was created and had to be other than what was created, and could not be as normal as water.
Anaximenes and the Arche of Air
Who believed that the principle, the arche, of all was air? Anaximenes.
Nous: Ordering Intelligence
What is Nous and what is its function? Nous is an ordering intelligence, not creative like the God Xuo, who created from scratch. For the Greeks, matter is eternal, and Nous only orders.
Atoms: Eternal and Unchanging
What are atoms? Atoms are eternal and unchanging entities. They are fixed and solid, different from each other, and they move in space invisibly.
Plato’s World of Ideas
What is the world of ideas? It is the world of truth (episteme), where science and knowledge can be found safely, and where the characteristics of ideas can be discovered.
The World of the Senses
What is the world of the senses? It is the world of change, of opinion (doxa), insecurity. It is imperfect, compound, dependent, and the particular world of appearance.
Plato vs. Aristotle
What is the difference between Plato and Aristotle? Plato was interested in the World of Ideas, and Aristotle was interested in the processes of nature. While both Plato and Aristotle used intelligence, Aristotle also used the senses. Plato was a poet and creator of myths, and Aristotle wrote with the accuracy of an encyclopedia.
Changes in Nature
What are the changes in nature? They are the passing from potentiality to actuality.
Syncretism
What is syncretism? It is when religions obtain gods and ideas from ancient nations.
Manichaeism
What is Manichaeism? It is a doctrine of salvation, based on a philosophical view where the world is divided into good and evil, light and dark, spirit and matter.
Idealism
What is Idealism? It is a philosophy that posits a spiritual aspect to nature.
Materialism
What is Materialism? It is a philosophy that reduces all the processes of nature to physical quantities.
Determinism
What is Determinism? It is an attitude that says that everything that happens has already been decided even before it happens.
Locke’s Rejection of False Knowledge
What knowledge did Locke regard as false and therefore must be rejected? Knowledge that cannot be derived from simple sensations.
Hume’s Critical Method
Hume’s critical method is based on the following question: What impression is this concept based on? If we have not had an impression, we could never have formed a conception.
Berkeley’s Doubts About the Physical World
Why does Berkeley doubt that the physical world is a reality? He says we do not perceive matter, and all one sees is what really exists.
Seven Points of the French Enlightenment
What are the seven points of the French Enlightenment, according to Albert (Sofia’s friend)?
- Rebellion against authorities
- Rationalism
- The idea of “enlightenment”
- Cultural optimism
- Return to nature
- Humanized Christianity
- Human rights
Matter and Form of Knowledge
What are the matter and form of knowledge? Matter consists of external conditions that we cannot predict. Form consists of internal conditions that always follow a causal law and enable us to know things and have experiences.
Hegel’s View of Truth
What did Hegel say about truth? He said that there is no truth above or beyond human reason. How is this different from Kant? Kant said that there was truth, but part of it was unreachable.
Hegel: Philosophy as the Highest Form of Reason
Why is Hegel’s philosophy the highest form of reason? Because the universal spirit reflects on its own activity in history.