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Transcript
An introduction to philosophy http://www.italian-renaissance-art.com/Raphael-Vatican.html What is philosophy? • Love of wisdom (Greek) • The critical investigation of essential principles through the use of logical argument rather than experiment • You don’t necessarily need any knowledge • You can do it in an armchair • As it involves thinking, • A lecture is a terrible way of teaching it! Major branches • Metaphysics: what exists? This includes Ontology – the study of being • Epistemology: what do we know? How do we know? • Ethics: what is right? (Lecture 13) • Aesthetics: what is beautiful? What is art? (Lecture 21) • Logic: the study of argument (mathematics?) • Political philosophy Philosophy of … • • • • • • Language Law History Science Mind Religion Philosophy was practised … • • • • • • • • • Pretty much everywhere! Clear philosophical traditions present in: India The Islamic world Normally we make a distinction between philosophy and religious thought (should we?) For non-religious philosophy: Ancient China Ancient Greece The Ancient Greek World http://plato-dialogues.org The first philosopher • • • • • • Thales 624-546 BCE Lived in Ionia - modern day Turkey His most famous idea Everything is water Why is this an important idea? An attempt to explain the world with no reference to religion • Also the beginning of science The Pre-Socratics • Philosophers in the early Greek world (including the South of Italy) • Pre-Socratic = They lived before Socrates! • Up to the middle of the 5th century BCE • Provided a series of explanations of the world • Do many things exist? • Is everything really just one substance or principle? • What is this unchanging thing? • Is change real or an illusion? • Combined philosophy with what we would think of as science and elements of religion Two Pre-Socratic philosophers Heraclitus Parmenides • • c. 535 – c. 475 B.C. • • Also Ionian • • Change is central principle of the world: • • All things change and • nothing remains still … • No man steps into the • same river twice • For it is not the same • river and he is not the • same man • The world is an ever- • living fire Early 5th century BCE Lived in South Italy His philosophy: Reality is one “Being is uncreated and imperishable, whole, unique, unwavering and complete.” All things must be eternal Change is impossible Our senses, which register change … …mislead us http://farm9.staticflickr www.newbanner.co Zeno’s paradoxes • • • • • • • • • • • • Zeno of Elea Elea is in South Italy 490-430 BCE Follower of Parmenides Movement is an illusion A race between Achilles and a tortoise Who wins? Achilles is faster But the tortoise has a head start When Achilles reaches where the tortoise started The tortoise has moved on And so on • “the quickest runner can never overtake the slowest, since the pursuer must first reach the point whence the pursued started, so that the slower must always hold a lead.” • It is logically impossible for Achilles to win the race • Implying motion is an illusion bp.blogspot.com www.animalrightshistory. Two more Pre-Socratics Empedocles • • • • • • • 490-430 BCE Sicilian Four “roots” (=elements) Air, earth, fire and water Two “powers” of change: Love and strife Love brings the elements together • Strife pulls them apart • Also a believer in reincarnation Democritus • 460-370 BCE • Lived in Greece • Reality is made up of a series of indivisible and tiny building blocks • = Atoms Socrates • 469 – 399 BCE • Athenian philosopher • (also stonecutter and soldier) • A different approach and concerns from the others • Spent his time questioning the Athenians • He was found guilty of corrupting the youth of Athens and of not believing in the gods of the state • He was sentenced to death • He could easily have escaped – he chose to drink cyanide Images: http://www.gotterdammerung.org; www.bc.edu/bc_org • The Oracle: • “No human is wiser than Socrates” • Socrates “I know one thing: that I know nothing” • He asked other Athenians who seemed to know more • He concluded that selfaware ignorance … • is wiser than thinking that you know anything • You make people wiser by showing them that they are wrong • The Socratic method The Socratic method • = Elenchus • The student makes an assertion/definition • “courage means …” • “virtue consists of …” • The teacher asks questions to encourage the student to draw conclusions from the original assertion • Which the student does not agree with • The student realises that he does not actually agree with his own assertion • Reformulates and starts again • In the end the student ends up in a state of puzzlement • “aporia” • = “productive discomfort” • This is wiser than the original state • The student has learnt how little he knows • “The unexamined life is not worth living” The Socratic method • Useful for philosophy • Used in US law schools • Does not need powerpoint slides! • In a way this lecture is not really teaching philosophy • More than most academic subjects • Philosophy is a thought process rather than a type of knowledge • However, knowledge of facts • Especially of the ideas that have been put forward by past philosophers • Is always useful How do we know what Socrates thought? • He didn’t write anything • We know about him from his contemporaries • Especially Plato • 428-348 BCE • Plato’s philosophy is mainly written as dialogues • Socrates is the main character of many • His viewpoint is presumably Plato’s • The early dialogues probably do reflect Socrates’ own views • However, we can’t assume: • That Plato’s “Socrates” expresses Socrates’ views • That “Socrates” necessarily expresses Plato’s views Plato’s dialogues • About 35 • Are among the most readable of philosophical works • Can be seen as dramatic and literary as well as philosophical • They lend themselves to literary analysis • Adjective: Platonic Plato’s philosophy • Influential in ancient times and in modern Europe • (In the Middle Ages, Aristotle was much more important) • “The safest general characterisation of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato." (Alfred North Whitehead, Process and Reality, 1929) Example of the Socratic method: the Laches (Discussion from the second half) • What is bravery? • Answer 1 (Laches): To be brave is to stand and fight the enemy • What about people who run and fight? • Can’t you be brave in politics? • Answer 2 (Laches): bravery is endurance of the soul • What about people who endure foolishly? • Answer 3 (Laches): well, it’s only wise endurance • What about people who fight when circumstances are against them? Aren’t they braver? • Answer 3 (Nicias): Bravery is a special kind of knowledge • Knowledge of the grounds of hope and fear • But in order to know this you need to know all evil and good, past and future • So this is a definition of virtue, not of courage • Definition of courage? • We don’t have one Plato’s Republic • Not an example of the Socratic method • Begins with an attempt to define justice • Describes an ideal community • All things are held in common • Three classes: rulers, soldiers, producers • The family is destroyed • Children are educated together • • • • • Who should rule? Philosophers! “Philosopher-kings” Why? Only philosophers know what is truly good • The analogy of the cave is intended to show us why The allegory of the cave • Book VII of the Republic • Most people see the world like … • Prisoners tied up in a cave who see • Shadows thrown on the wall from • Objects carried in front of a fire behind them • They have not seen the real world • They believe the shadows are the real world http://withfriendship.com • The philosopher is like someone who has been freed • And comes back to tell the others that their “reality” is not true The allegory of the cave • • • • • • • The world that we think of as “real” Is not the real world The real world is something unchanging Change is therefore unreal Plato is agreeing with Parmenides How do we have access to the real? Philosophy – which therefore can be seen as approaching mysticism • What is the nature of reality? Metaphysics • How do we know the nature of reality? Epistemology The theory of the forms • • • • • • • • • • • • Phaedo 109-111 Two equal sticks No two sticks are ever equal – we haven’t experienced equality So how do we know how to recognise equality? Once we lived in a state of purity with the real things The Forms The Form of Equality The Form of Beauty The Form of Whiteness So we can recognise them now Material objects participate in the forms We recognise good things because they share in the form of goodness The Meno • • • • • • A slave boy is shown to possess geometric knowledge How is this possible? We existed in a previous existence The soul exists before the body The body prevents the soul from seeing properly Detaching the soul from the body is the aim of philosophy • Those who apply themselves to philosophy in the proper way are doing no more nor less than to prepare themselves for the moment of dying and the state of death Phaedo in The Trial and Execution of Socrates Platonism • • • • • • • • • • • • • Adjective Platonist These beliefs set out as a system Reality is not how we perceive it True reality exists in the perfect realm of the Forms Only the soul, detached from the body, can see Mystical elements added by Plotinus Neoplatonism Influential on Eastern Orthodox Christianity The ascetic tradition And on Jewish mysticism And on Islamic philosophy And on Western literary traditions For example … William Wordsworth, Intimations of Immortality (1804) lines 59-69 Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The soul that rises with us, our life’s star Hath had elsewhere its setting And cometh from afar: Not in entire forgetfulness And not in utter nakedness But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home: Heaven lies about us in our infancy! Shades of the prison-house begin to close Upon the growing boy … Things to notice about the cave … • Plato is still interested in the same questions as the Pre-Socratic philosophers • Philosophy here can be interpreted to be quasi-religious in its meaning • Plato uses ideas from one area of philosophy to illuminate another Is Plato a Platonist? • = Does he set out the basics for a metaphysical, mystical system? • (This is the way that I am interpreting it) • Or is it merely an attempt to answer questions in metaphysics and epistemology? • Many philosophers would suggest the second • E.g. Peter Stanford: History of Philosophy without any Gaps (http://www.historyofphilosophy.net/plato-caveallegory-republic) Questions to ask about the Cave • • • • • • We are given these ideas in dialogue How do we know what Plato really thought? Is this what Socrates really taught? (Probably not) Is “Socrates” necessarily Plato’s mouthpiece? Do these passages use the Socratic method? How valid is it to join all these ideas together into a system? • Note the context of the cave – are we happy that these ideas are used in a political context? • The cave is an analogy – that is, not an argument but an illustration of a point. How valid is this? Questions about the theory of forms • Do we need the idea of “a perfect form of equality” to explain how we understand what equality is? • What are these forms? How many of them are there? • How do material objects participate in the forms? • How can there be a form of whiteness without something that is white? Or a form of equality without things that are equal? • Is the form of the good good itself? If so, don’t we need another form to explain it? • What proof is there that we are in a situation like the cave? www.tripod.com How do we know that our reality is real? • If we suppose that the information given by our senses is (largely) a lie … • How can we check it? • All the information about the world we have comes through our senses http://cdn.mhpbooks.com Descartes • 1596-1650 • “I will suppose... that some evil demon of the utmost power and cunning has employed all his energies to deceive me." • The Evil Demon • He provides all the information to our senses • Including the illusion that there are other minds • How do we know that this is not the case? • We don’t! • Descartes argues that the only thing we can be sure of is our own existence: • Cogito ergo sum • “I think therefore I am” • But it is possible to believe nothing exists except your own mind • =Radical solipsism • The position is irrefutable • And indefensible! A modern version of the evil demon • • • • NB Not solipsist Other minds exist The Matrix (1999) The real world is a simulation run by computer • We exist, but are in pods • How do we know that the Matrix is not true? • We don’t http://www.cyberpunkreview The Matrix also offers a choice … • http://www.youtube.co m/watch?v=zE7PKRjrid4 • (Red pill) • The truth • The difficult path • (Blue pill) • The comfortable path • The continuation of the lie • Socrates: • “the unexamined life is not worth living” • Some surveys indicate • That many would prefer the blue pill • http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.155233-Poll-The-RedPill-or-the-Blue-Pill?page=2 The difference here between Descartes and Plato • Both use the idea that reality is not what we experience • Plato is (perhaps?) arguing for scepticism about reality: • = Reality is different from the way we experience it • Descartes’ evil demon idea is not sceptical in the same way • He does not put forward the idea seriously; it is a thought experiment • It is encouraging philosophical scepticism about reality: • There are some things that we cannot know for certain • What is the Matrix doing? The Cave The parable of the cave • Plato here seems to have abandoned the Socratic method • The conclusions reached can be read as being extremely close to those of religion • The form of the parable makes it close to being a literary text By contrast … • • • • • • • • Much 20 century British philosophy is Analytic philosophy Regards philosophical analysis As being mainly about language Extremely dry! “The object of philosophy is the logical clarification of thoughts ... A philosophical work consists essentially of elucidations.” Wittgenstein, Tractatus LogicoPhilosophicus 4.112 = What do we mean when we say …? Plato can also be seen as the origin of this strand of philosophy Conclusion • Philosophy is more of an approach • It involves the application of reason to problems implicit in human existence and society • The precise approach varies across the world and times • The problems are often fundamental • And are often treated in art/literature/film just as much as in philosophy Essay questions • 11. Philosophy How far is the parable of the cave a description of a metaphysical reality? • 12. Philosophy • In The Matrix, should we take the blue pill or the red pill? • 11. A hard question! • = Is the cave suggesting a world out there that only philosophers have access to • OR • Is it just answering questions as to how we know what we mean by “good”? • 12. NB This is not a question about the Matrix • Basically it is asking about Socrates’ “the unexamined life” is not worth living • You can however use the Matrix to illustrate your points