SOPHIES READING GUIDE 1. EXPLAIN WHAT IS MEANT BY at some point something must have come from nothing..

1ST Cause 2. WHERE DOES SOPHIE LIVE...ADDRESS?? 3 Clover Close 3. WHAT ARE THE THREE BIG QUESTIONS? A. Who Am I? B. Where does the world come from? C. Could anything come from nothing? 4. WHO IS HILDE MLLER KNAG? The story 5. WHAT IS NEEDED BESIDES FOOD? Philosophymore than bread alone But when these basic needs have been satisfiedwill there still be something that everybody needs? Philosophers think so. They believe that man cannot live by bread alone. Of course everyone needs food. And everyone needs love and care. But there is something elseapart from thatwhich everyone needs, and that is to figure out who we are and why we are here. In Alberto's introductory letter to Sophie, he tells her what the aim of philosophy is and why it is central to our lives. Throughout the book, Gaarder repeatedly addresses the importance of philosophy and its relevance to our everyday lives. This is where Alberto first states that idea. Basically, once we have satisfied our basic needs we have further needs that must be metthe needs of our mind. We are thinking creatures, and we can ponder the universe, and if we do not do so, it is a tragedy. It is not simply good for us to ask important philosophical questions; rather, it is necessary for us to do so because otherwise our lives to a large extent will have been in vain. The only way that we can find meaning in life is through philosophizing, and it is important to have meaning. Some who do not philosophize may think that they have found meaning but in reality they have simply accepted meaning handed down to them from someone or some tradition. But these are things that each person must work out, and that is why it is so critical that we all engage in philosophical thinking. What is Philosophy? It was Pythagoras [circa 530 BC] who first coined the term philosopher. Once, whilst at the Olympic Games, Pythagoras was asked by Leon, Prince of Phlius, to describe himself. Pythagoras answered "I am a philosopher" but Leon, never having heard this term before was perplexed and asked him to explain himself. To this Pythagoras replied:

Life, Prince Leon, may well be compared with these public Games for in the vast crowd assembled here some are attracted by the acquisition of gain; others are led on by the hopes and ambitions of fame and glory. But among them there are a few who have come to observe and understand all that passes here. It is the same with life. Some are influenced by the love of wealth while others are blindly led on by the mad fever for power and domination, but the finest type of man gives himself up to discovering the meaning and purpose of life itself. He seeks to uncover the secrets of nature. This is the man I call a philosopher for although no man is completely wise in all respects, he can love wisdom as the key to nature's secrets. The word Philosophy literally means love of wisdom. In common parlance a person is a philosopher if they are prone to reflect on things, offering opinions on a wide gamut of issues from the nature of politics to the meaning of life. Are such people wise? Hardly! Do they love wisdom? Not as much as the drink that instills within them a confidence that they possess it. Still, the academic sense of philosophy is continuous with common usage. Philosophy, in the academic sense, does begin with reflection on the nature of things, although such reflection is normally more productive when one is sober! For example, most people at some time in their lives wonder whether God exists. If they don't then they may well be bemused by the fact that many people are convinced that some sort of divine being or unseen force oversees their lives, ultimately controlling everything that happens. This idea, that there is something behind or beyond what our senses reveal to us about the world is a typically philosophical idea. Today, people who think this way are inclined to believe that this something is, if not God, then some soul or force or entity as such; one's own or others' or a more diffuse and inclusive well of spiritual energy that individuals are somehow able to tap into (Nature, Gaia, etc.). Pythagoras, on the other hand, and Plato following him, thought that it was numbers that lay beyond the world of the sense. Numbers gave structure to the world our senses revealed to us. You dont have to have any interest in religion or the legion forms of spirituality on offer today to be interested in philosophy, however. Today, there is a concerted effort being made by scientists to understand the mind and, in particular, consciousness. Neuroscientists, psychologists, linguists, computer scientists, biologists, chemists, engineers, mathematicians and physicists are all in on the act with philosophers. The problem can be put quite bluntly: how can that small lump of gray matter that is your brain possibly give rise to the richness of your conscious experience? Why should electrochemical changes in your brain and central nervous system result in a searing pain in your hand when you touch a hot stove? Why do you feel anything at all? This is once again a distinctively philosophical question and it is being asked today by all sorts of people, many of who are very skeptical that anything exists beyond the material world. Another area of inquiry to which philosophers have increasingly turned their attention in recent years is political philosophy. Amongst other things, political philosophers ask questions about the nature of justice, the constitution of the good society and the proper relationship between the individual and the state. In essence, they challenge us to consider the kind of society in which we should live. In many ways young children are the most natural philosophers. Their parents and adult careers teach them various things about the world and life and their natural response is to inquire why they should believe these things. Why should I do what is right? I dont want to! is not always just a defiant and

unthinking response. Children who say this very often really do want to know the basis for an adult's claim that lying or theft is wrong. What makes these things wrong, if they are? Do you know? If you have ever thought about any of the questions above, you are already a philosopher. 6.-8. WHAT ARE SOME PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONS? How was the world created? Is there a will? What is life? Varies with each person Basically there are not many philosophical questions to ask. We have already asked some of the most important ones. But history presents us with many different answers to each question. So it is easier to ask philosophical questions than to answer them. In the first letter that Alberto sends to Sophie, he explains that philosophy is very simple. There are not all that many philosophical questions for us to ask. The point, then, is not simply asking the questions but rather coming up with some sort of a solution for them. And that solution will not be easy. People have been trying to answer some of the questions for thousands of years and we can take into consideration what they already said, but in the end the answer must satisfy us personally. Also the role of historical context becomes important. Freedom in ancient Athens meant something different from what it means now simply because slavery was an accepted part of life back then. There are aspects of every historical period that by current standards are judged wrong, and this means that we too will someday be looked upon as unjust or immoral in certain ways. Philosophy moves with human history. 9. WHATS NEEDED TO BE IN THIS STUDY (TO BE PHILOSOPHERS)? Wonder 10. WHY IS THOMAS SO DIFFERENT FROM HIS MOM? He has no set notions. 11. WHAT ARE MYTHS? Tales to answer how, but not realnothing but ideas 12. WHO ARE HESIOD AND HOMER? Myth writers 13. XENOPHANES? 1st to believe in nurture vs. nature law 14. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL? Laws! Supernatural is something above nature. 15. nothing can come from nothing? Nothing lostsomething must always be

16. WHAT IS THE BASIC SUBSTANCE? Underlying laws of naturethe source 17. CAN IT CHANGE? Constantlywhat is it that changes? The basic substance??? All three believe in a single basic substance, yet how does it change into other things? 18. THALES? Basic substance: water Born 624 BC Thales of Miletus Founder of the Milesian school of philosophy, Thales was adjudged by Aristotle to be the first real scientist since he sought for the ultimate physical substance. He took this to be water and believed that the Earth floated on water like a raft. He referred to water as the arche-, the principle underlying all of reality or Being. This idea was to become very important for the Pre-Socratic philosophers who devoted much of their energies to disputes about the arche-. Although our knowledge of most of his philosophical doctrines is sketchy, based on hearsay, his 'first scientist' accolade seems justified. In 585 BC he correctly predicted a solar eclipse and he is reputed to have been responsible for the introduction of geometry to the Greek world. More generally, though, he was the first 'natural philosopher', the first (Western) thinker to clearly break with supernatural and mythopoeia explanations of the world in an effort to explain natural phenomena in natural terms. This did not mean that he rejected the notion of divine beings. To the contrary, he held that magnets possessed a soul and that, indeed, all things were similarly full of gods a version of a theological view known as panpsychism. 19. ANAXIMANDER? We are one of infinite worlds created by something not created! c 610 BC c. 546 BC Anaximander of Miletus A student of Thales, much more is known about his philosophical and scientific achievements than of those of his teacher's. Demurring from his teacher about the arche-, Anaximander held this to be what he called the apeiron: that which is limitless, boundless and eternal. It is very difficult to know precisely what he intended by this term whether he simply meant some substance that had no determinate features or something that was either spatially or temporally unbounded. The apeiron was to subsequently play a crucial role in virtually all Greek theories of the origin of the Universe (cosmologies), especially in Plato's cosmology as formulated by him in The Timaeus. Anaximander was a meticulous astronomer, producing maps of the heavens (as well as of earth). Around 520 BC he proposed that Earth was a cylinder, a disk that had separated from the apeiron to be surrounded by rings of fire enclosed in air. The Sun, stars and Moon were then explained as jets of fire in the holes of the surrounding air. He even postulated an evolutionary process to account for the variety of animal life.

20. ANAXIMENES? Air (vapor) water comes from? 21. WHO ARE THE ELEATICS? How does change happen 22. PARMENIDES? Everything that exists has always existednothing changessenses are unreliablesenses say yes, yet reason says no! Born c. 515 BC Parmenides Parmenides was perhaps the most influential of all the Pre-Socratic philosophers. What we know of his views stems largely from a poem he wrote called On Nature in which a goddess reveals to him that what exists must of necessity exist. This led him to deny the reality of all change. The real world, then, is impassable, imperishable and indivisible. Parmenides called this The One. This thesis is known as Monism. How to explain the fact that the world appears to change though? Parmenides argued that two equally illusory forms Light and Dark generated the illusion of change. The world accessible to the senses the world of Appearance was an illusion; the Real world was accessible only to the intellect. This striking rejection of the world manifest to our senses in favor of what pure Reason revealed to us about it was to dog philosophy evermore. It is the infamous Appearance/Reality distinction. Accompanying it was a story about how we could know Reality through the contemplative Intellect that came to be known as Rationalism. Parmenides was the single most powerful influence on Plato. 23. DEFINE RATIONALISM. Believes reason is source of all knowledge 24. WHAT IS THE FLOW? Heraclitusconstant changesenses goodoppositesnothing is constant! (Without bad, there is no good) 25. LOGOS? (Reason) a will (guide) all have it? Yet why do people act differently?poor choices 26. DEFINE THE FOUR BASIC ELEMENTS. Empedocles a combination of Earth, Air, Fire, and Windso all things a different combination of 4 things. The combinations change, but the roots dont. 27. WHAT ARE THE TWO BASIC FORCES? Love (binds) strife (separates) 28. ANAXAGORAS? 1st to come up with infinite parts

29. EXPLAIN LEGOS. Parts and lots of combinationinfinitively 30. WHO IS DEMOCRITUS? Atoms were eternal and unchangingno soul, only materialistic 31. DISTINGUISH ATOMS AND THE VOID. Materials only Atoms: parts Void: absence of parts 32. WHAT IS FATE? a marionette master or free will? 33. KNOW THYSELF...EXPLAIN. Truth is mine (within) 34. WHAT ABOUT HERODOTUS AND THUCYDIDES? Law of history1st historians 35. WHAT IS HIPPOCRATES DOING IN THIS BOOK? Strong body by mans rules of good health Pre SocraticWhat is the ultimate universe? 1. Thales-624 BC- Miletus a. 1st real scientist b. Looking for ultimate substance (water) (arche) c. Believed in natural laws 2. Anaximander 610 BC- Miletus a. Student of Thales b. Some limitless, boundless, eternal something c. Evolution 3. Pythagoras 580 BC- Samos a. Math brotherhood b. Reincarnation c. A2 + B2 = C2 maybe his followers d. Music is harmonious ratios 1/2, , 1/8 e. #s ultimate substance c. 580 BC c. 495 BC Pythagoras Born in Samos, Pythagoras emigrated to Croton in Southern Italy, around 530 BC where he founded an ascetic religious sect, the Brotherhood, dedicated to the pursuit of scientific knowledge, particularly mathematics.

Their most important religious doctrine was that the soul was immortal and condemned to a cycle of birth and rebirth because of a fall from grace. Their exclusiveness and detachment from ordinary society led to their distrust amongst the populace there and to their meetinghouses being burnt down. Pythagoras was forced into exile and died at Metapontum. It is not known how many of the Pythagoreans' discoveries can be attributed to Pythagoras himself. His followers most probably discovered even the famous theorem that bears his name. One of the Pythagoreans' most profound discoveries was that musical harmony was determined by simple arithmetical ratios underlying the musical scale. This encouraged them to hope that all phenomena could be explained in terms of harmonia, number. This is part of the meaning of the gnomic claim attributed to Pythagoras All is number. The Pythagoreans love of mathematics led them to venerate certain numbers and geometric forms. The Earth was deemed to be a sphere and the planets were held to move in circles on the grounds that circles and spheres were perfect geometric forms. 4. Parmenides 515 BC a. Nothing changes monism b. Real world is impossible, imperishable, indivisible c. Sensed world is changeable because senses change d. But real, ultimate world only accessible to reason which never changes e. Sense vs. intellectrationalism 5. Heraclites 500 BC a. Nothing stop staticchange the only b. Earth, Air, Fire (ultimate substance), Water c. War of opposites (K. Marx) dialect d. Logosunderlying laws of universe Flourished c. 500 BC Heraclitus Heraclitus stands at the opposite end of the spectrum to Parmenides on the issue of change. Where Parmenides held that nothing changes, Heraclitus believed that everything did. Little is known of his views outside of what later commentators have attributed to him the one book he produced is now lost. Influenced by the Milesian school of Thales and Anaximander, Heraclitus posited a series of cyclical transformations of the four basic elements Earth, Air, Water and Fire. The arche-, he thought, was Fire. His most famous doctrine was that natural changes were produced by the war or strife between opposite contraries such as heat and coldness, life and death. Indeed, he went further and claimed that each contrary required the existence of the other, and that without such contraries, the cosmos would not exist. A strong mystical element pervades his thought. He criticized his predecessors for not listening to the Logos, the ordering principle underlying the cosmos the Logos taught us that all things are one, even opposites are in some deeper sense one. It is difficult to know what this latter idea amounts to but there is no denying its influence in Eastern and other mystical thought. 6. Anaxagoras 500 BC Athens a. Infinite parts rearrange able into infinite objects c. 500 BC 428 BC Anaxagoras

Anaxagoras was the first Pre-Socratic philosopher to teach in Athens. Heavily influenced by Parmenides, he held that nothing really comes into being or passes away every object that we experience has a certain portion of each of the elements, of which there are indefinitely many. Anaxagoras took not only the most abundant physical substances such as earth, water, air etc. to be elements but also flesh, blood, bone along with the properties ordinary material objects have such as heat, texture, color etc. The appearances of material objects are determined by whatever elements are most predominant in the mixture of elements that compose them. Nothing emerges in the world that was not already in the cosmos somewhere in some proportion with other elements. Conjecturing that the Sun was a large hot body many times larger than the Peloponnese that shed its light on both the Earth and Moon, Anaxagoras was the first ancient astronomer to give the correct explanation for solar and lunar eclipses. 7. Empedocles 493 BC a. No change b. rizomatarootselements only rearrange to seem to change (appearance) c. 493 BC c. 433 BC Empedocles Most famous for his theory that there were but four genuine elements out of which everything else was compounded earth, water, air and fire. These he called rizomata (roots). Empedocles account of the elements was taken to be definitive by Plato and Aristotle and through them persisted as such right through the Middle Ages up until the birth of modern science. Like Parmenides, Empedocles rejected the reality of change. The appearance of change, phenomenal change, was explained by his rizomata. When these mix together in set proportions, compounds such as blood or milk or bone are created. The elements themselves are caused to mix or separate by two opposing forces Love and Strife. Love joins them together; Strife drives them apart. As with many of the Pre-Socratics, he proposed an elaborate account of the origin of the cosmos, a cosmogony. His was a cyclical cosmogony in which the four elements combine to form a Sphere that is thoroughly permeated by Love. Strife then proceeds to shatter the homogeneity of the Sphere into a cosmos with all the elements earth, air, water and fire separated into distinct cosmic masses. At a certain stage in the cycle, living things are formed from heterogeneous mixtures of these elements. Empedocles was a highly astute scientist. His most important scientific discovery was that Air was a separate substance. He demonstrated this by putting a bucket upside down in water and showing that the water did not rush into the bucket, as it ought to if there were literally nothing, a vacuum, in it. He was aware of the existence of centrifugal forces, demonstrating their action by whirling around a cup of water on a string. He also knew from his observations that there was sex in plants and even proposed a rather fantastic evolutionary theory, complete with a story about survival of the fittest! He knew that the moon shone by reflected light even though he mistakenly believed that the Sun also did. He knew that solar eclipses are a result of the interposition of the Moon between Sun and Earth. He claimed that light takes time to travel but moves so quickly that we cannot observe it. He founded the Italian school of medicine, which had a great influence on both Plato and Aristotle. 8. Zeno of Elea 490 BC a. Paradoxes: to prove reality couldnt change or be divisible b. Tedios and Achilles c. Senses deceive us d. Racetrack way e. Arrow motion is impossible

Born c. 490 BC? Zeno of Elea Zeno of Elea was a pupil of Parmenides who produced some ingenious arguments to show that it was an illusion to think that Reality was divisible into parts or subject to change. These arguments came to be known as Zeno's Paradoxes. Here is one: Achilles, the fastest athlete of his time is pitted against Zenos pet tortoise Tedios to test Zeno's boast that Achilles can never catch Tedios if he gives him even the smallest of starts. Achilles can run ten times faster than Tedios. So it is agreed that they will race over 100 meters and that Tedios will be given 10 meters start. The race begins and Achilles covers the 10 meters separating him from the tortoise in a blinding second. Tedios meanwhile has barely managed to plod one meter. Still he is ahead if only by one meter and if not for long. Achilles makes up the meter separating him from the tortoise in 0.1 second. In that time, Tedios has traveled just 0.1 meters. Fractionally behind the tortoise, it takes Achilles only 0.01 seconds to span the gap separating him from Tedios. Yet in that time Tedios has plodded forward 0.01 meters, still ahead if too close to call! In this manner, Achilles will never succeed in overtaking the tortoise! Yet our senses attest that he will do so with ease. Clearly, then, our senses deceive us and motion is an illusion! A paradox related to this is the Racetrack Paradox which essays to show that a runner can never reach the end of a race since to do so she would have to traverse the point halfway between the start and the finish, but to traverse that point, shed have to traverse the point midway between the start and the halfway point and so on. The Arrow Paradox also attempts to persuade us that motion is impossible. An arrow in flight occupies a portion of space equal to itself at any one moment or instant of time. But since motion takes an interval of time, the arrow cannot be moving at an instant. Thus every instant the arrow is not moving thus means that the arrow does not move at all. So motion is impossible. Zeno also propounded other arguments showing that objects are both limited and unlimited in number, are both like and unlike each other, are one and many, large and small. The aim seems to have been to show that all attempts to divide Reality into any sort of plurality fail. Sophie's World is a Novel about the History of Philosophy. I. The Initial Questions (Chapters 1&2): 1. Who are you? 2. Where does the world come from? 3. What is Philosophy? a. What sort of things or concerns would interest us all? b. How is the philosopher like a child? c. What is the meaning of the analogy of pulling the white rabbit out of a hat? i, We want to know how the trick works. ii. The image of the rabbit fur is similar to the image of the allegory of the cave. d. The faculty of wonder: i. Babies have it. ii. Grownups lose it. iii. Philosophers try to keep it. 4. Why is Lego the most ingenious toy in the world? 5. But when these basic needs have been satisfiedwill there still be something that everybody needs? Philosophers think so. They believe that man cannot live by bread alone. Of course,

everyone needs food. And everyone needs love and care. But there is something elseapart from thatwhich everyone needs, and that is to figure out who we are and why we are here. In Alberto's introductory letter to Sophie, he tells her what the aim of philosophy is and why it is central to our lives. Throughout the book, Gaarder repeatedly addresses the importance of philosophy and its relevance to our everyday lives. This is where Alberto first states that idea. Once we have satisfied our basic needs we have further needs that must be metthe needs of our mind. We are thinking creatures, we can ponder the universe, and if we do not do so, it is a tragedy. It is not simply good for us to ask important philosophical questions; rather, it is necessary for us to do so because otherwise our lives largely will have been in vain. The only way that we can find meaning in life is through philosophizing, and it is important to have meaning. Some who do not philosophize may think that they have found meaning but in reality, they have simply accepted meaning handed down to them from someone or some tradition. Nevertheless, these are things that each person must work out, and that is why it is so critical that we all engage in philosophical thinking. 6. Basically there are not many philosophical questions to ask. We have already asked some of the most important ones. But history presents us with many different answers to each question. So it is easier to ask philosophical questions than to answer them. In the first letter that Alberto sends to Sophie, he explains that philosophy is very simple. There are not very many philosophical questions for us to ask. The point, then, is not simply asking the questions but rather coming up with some sort of a solution for them. And that solution will not be easy. People have been trying to answer some of the questions for thousands of years and we can take into consideration what they already said, but in the end the answer must satisfy us personally. Also the role of historical context becomes important. Freedom in ancient Athens meant something different from what it means now simply because slavery was an accepted part of life back then. There are aspects of every historical period that by current standards are judged wrong, and this means that we too will someday be looked upon as unjust or immoral in certain ways. Philosophy moves with human history. II. The Myths (Chapter #3): 1. Myth versus religious explanations. a. Homer b. Hesiod 2. Xenophanes: a. The gods is too much like humans. There were as egotistical and treacherous as us. b. Men create the gods in their own image, not vice versa. 3. The transition between the mythological and philosophic. a. Change of thought orientation from mythic to that of experience and reason. b. Change in orientation from supernatural to natural explanations. III. The Pre-Socratic Philosophers (Chapter 4&5): 1. The Milesians: a. Thales i. The most basic substance or principle was water. ii. It is one substance undergoing change.

b. Anaximander: i. The source of all is Apeiron, the boundless. ii. The apeiron is not limited like a specific substance such as water. c. Anaximenes: i. Reverts to a specific substance, Air or Vapor. ii. It is the one substance that underlies change. 2. EleaticsParmenides: a. He did not say there is no change, only that change cannot be comprehended by intellect. Rather, the realm of change is the realm of doxa, of opinion. b. Further, the concept of nothingness is contradictory. c. And change, properly understood is going from and to nothing. d. What ever is, is. Whatever is, is not. 3. EphesusHeraclitus: a. Everything changes. You cannot step in the same river twice. b. Are God and Logos used interchangeably to mean reason? c. Be carefulLogos (God) is not a thing or any part of the natural world. Rather it is a principle of order. (Much like number is for Pythagoras.) d. Is its true for Heraclitus that our perceptions are reliable? 4. Pluralists: a. Empedocles: (A compromise.) i. He wants to preserve Parmenides permanence but still allow Heraclitus change. ii. Proposes multiple Parmenidean Ones. iii. So, Parmenides is right that nothing changes, but there is more than one element. Each has the Parmenidean character of the One. iv. There are four elements: Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. v. The forces in nature to affect change or mixing is Love (Eros) and Strife (Chaos), attraction and repulsion. vi. He also thus distinguished between substance and force. b. Anaxagoras. i. Four elements are not enough. ii. He calls then seeds, which may be analogous to the modern concept of DNA. (In one cell there is something of all.) iii. Order is a forceNous, which is mind/intellect. c. Democritus: i. The Atom: a = un- or not and tom = cut-able. (That which cannot be further reduced.) ii. There are manyinfinite in number. iii. They are each Parmenidean ones. (Eternal, indivisible, immutable.) iv. They are various in that they are not all alike. v. They are analogous to Lego blocks. vi. There is also the void. Is this simply empty space? It is nothingness and if not, how not? vii. He was a materialistthere is no force or immaterial soul, only cause and effect. Is the random? viii. The soul (psyche) is only very fine atoms. (For us, like the concept of brain activities.) They are hooked together in life, but come apart in death. ix. There is no immortal soul, for these atoms separate and fly off at death.

5. The end of Greek natural philosophy. They have dealt with the problems of the one and the many and with permanence and change. IV. Fate (Moira) (Chapter #6) 1. First Questions. a. Do you believe in fate? b. Is sickness the punishment of the gods? c. What forces govern the course of History? 2. Whatever happens is predestined. (Astrology, superstitions, etc.) 3. Pythia of Delphithe priestess of Apollo. 4. Know Thyself. Do not think you are more than you really are, that is, mortal and finite. 5. We find many vestiges in our actions and our language. (Influenza) 6. The naturalist direction leads to Science. a. HippocratesHealth was the natural condition and sickness was nature getting out of whack. b. Herodotus and Thucydidesnatural explanations for the course of history. READING GUIDE #2 Searching for the form of virtue c. 470 BC 399 BC Socrates Unlike the Pre-Socratics, Socrates central concern was how to live virtuously rather than the nature of the Universe. This is reflected in his famous claim The unexamined life is not worth living. Socrates engaged in public debate people who professed opinions about the nature of courage or of right conduct. Often these debates took place in the market place. Socrates foes were the Sophists who apparently earned their living by teaching people how to argue. The Sophists epitomized everything Socrates opposed they charged substantial fees for their services, where Socrates would accept no payment. They claimed to possess knowledge and to be able to communicate it to others, where Socrates only claimed to seek knowledge and, ironically, to possess no knowledge. Their express aim was to win arguments, not discover the truth and they often did so, according to Plato, by intellectual trickery. In short, they were the lawyers of their day. A highly influential figure here was Gorgias who apparently held that language was incapable of getting at the truth but could certainly be used by the skillful orator to persuade or to deceive his hearers. Another very influential Sophist, Protagoras, was famous for his claim that Man is the measure of all things, of those that are, that they are, and of those that are not, that they are not. What then did Socrates offer as an alternative to the Sophists' rhetoric? His method is often referred to as the method of Elenchus, which is the Greek word for refutation. The Elenchus proceeds thus: 1. Socrates first asks his interlocutor to supply a definition of a moral quality like courage or justice, maintaining that without a definition of the quality, we cannot possibly have any real knowledge of it. 2. By a definition he means a description of a single attribute, which is shared by all people who we think of as courageous or just. Merely listing people who happen to be courageous or just is inadequate, he claims. We want to know what it is about them that makes them brave or just.

3. Socrates then proceeds to convince his interlocutors that they are committed to other beliefs that are inconsistent with the definition just adduced. So, for example, in the dialogue Laches, Socrates demonstrates that Laches own definition of courage as endurance conflicts with other beliefs that Laches holds. 4. On the basis of this inconsistency between the definition and their own further beliefs, the definition has to be rejected, Socrates argues. The upshot of the elenchic method is not purely negative, according to Socrates. Something has been achieved even if in the process a state of perplexity or aporia has been induced in the unfortunate interlocutor the pretense of knowledge has been replaced by an awareness of ignorance. But this, Socrates thought, was necessary for genuine knowledge of virtue. Eventually brought to trial for introducing strange gods and corrupting the youth of Athens, Socrates famously refused to flee from Athens and thus break the law, as he could have done, choosing instead to take his own life by drinking hemlock, thereby fulfilling the sentence of execution passed on him. Plato's dialogues Crito and Phaedo recount the circumstances of Socrates death and the latter's bravery in facing it. SOCRATES (how to live a good life) -PLATO 36. EXPLAIN SOCRATES TEACHING STYLE. Not to teach, but to seek knowledgeQuestions!the truth will emerge A philosopher knows that in reality he knows very little. That is why he constantly strives to achieve true insight. Socrates was one of these rare people. He knew that he knew nothing about life and the world. And now comes the important part: it troubled him that he knew so little. One of the most important philosophical truths is the one that Socrates was famous for. Alberto tells Sophie about it early on in their correspondence. Socrates started from the fact that he knew nothing. Descartes likewise built up the first great modern system by systematically doubting all of his knowledge. In both cases there is a striking conclusion. Socrates does know something, and that is that he knows nothing. The statement is paradoxical, but also very powerful. It allowed him to use his ignorance as a tool. If one knows nothing then one can ask questions about anything. Not knowing anything is the first step on the path to philosophical wisdom, and Gaarder continually warns us against assuming knowledge of anything. Descartes doubted everything, and finally the one thing he knew was that he doubted. From that doubt he went on to create a grand philosophy. The point is that in order to actually learn something it is better to strip ourselves of what we think we know or what others have told us. Certain knowledge of our ignorance is preferable to uncertain knowledge. Above all else, Gaarder wants us to think about what we know and believe. 37. WHO IS HERMES? Messenger/dog 38. WHO WERE THE SOPHISTS?

Man and societySkeptics- clamed to teach knowledge 39. HOW ARE EDUCATION AND DEMOCRACY RELATED? Without education one cant chose wellto rule themselves 40. ARE THERE ABSOLUTE NORMS? Yes-an answer for all questions is you look social norms nope (reason) 41. WHAT IS SOCRATIC IRONY? Acting dumb to have others find the truth themselves 42. HOW IS SOCRATES LIKE CHRIST? His writing, his parables challenged social norms, both lost their lives 43. WHAT DID SOCRATES SAY ABOUT RIGHT INSIGHT AND RIGHT ACTIONS? When we do wrong we do so because we dont know right 44. WHAT IS A COOKIE? A form (ideas) Forms (modes of reality- God=highest form) =a synthesis of Heraclites (everything in appearance is in flux) and Parmenides (Forms behind reality are a blueprintnever changes) 45. EXPLAIN PLATOS MATERIAL WORLD? Examples of formsdoesnt last 46. HOW IS THAT DIFFERENT FROM THE WORLD OF IDEAS (FORMS)? Bodyflows=unreal form=soul=reason c. 429 BC 347 BC Plato Plato, together with his equally illustrious pupil Aristotle, is the most famous and influential of all Ancient philosophers. Unlike most of the other Ancients, his writings are extensive and have survived to the present. They consist of a series of Dialogues, which are conventionally divided into three broad groups: the Early, Middle and Late. The Early Dialogues present Socrates pursuing his questions about virtue. Socrates typically wishes to know What is V? where V stands for some virtue such as courage or love or justice. Socrates is not interested in producing mere examples of courage or justice; he wishes to know what all such examples have in common what makes certain actions courageous, other actions just? The common property that all instances of some virtue such as courage or justice or virtue share is called the Form of that virtue. The Middle Dialogues proceed to develop the theory of Forms but do so without the Socratic method of elenchus. In fact, these dialogues are not dialogues at all. It is in the Theory of Forms that Plato's deep debts to Parmenides, Heraclitus and Pythagoras are most clearly evident. His theory is to a large extent a synthesis of their ideas. Yet whilst Heraclitus maintained that everything changes, Parmenides held that nothing did! So how could any synthesis of their views possibly be coherent? Plato avoids conflict between these two contradictory views by applying them to different domains. Heraclituss theory is true of the world of

Appearances; the physical world revealed through our senses there everything is in a state of flux. Parmenides view, on the other hand, describes a world behind the world that is presented to our senses a world of numbers, shapes and geometric figures that form the invisible patterns on which the objects we see are designed. In this invisible world there are designs and blueprints not just for physical objects but also quite literally for anything one can think of! There is a Form of Beauty, a blueprint by which every beautiful thing in the world is made beautiful; there is a Form of Justice by means of which every just act is made just; there is a Form of Man and a Form of Woman, Forms of animals, plants, inanimate objects, even artifacts like beds and jugs have their own distinctive Forms in Plato's abstract heaven. The highest Form of all is the Form of the Good. It is this world which for Plato is the real world. It is a world that is not revealed to the senses and it is only of this world that one can have genuine knowledge. This knowledge is to be acquired through the intellect, by means of philosophy. 47. DEFINE PLATOS REALITY? Its reasonsenses are only reflections of it 48. WHAT IS THE CAVE? Shadows of forms, our senses only see shadows of the real world 49. OUTLINE THE PARTS OF THE BODY? Soul existed before body! Head: reason; chest: will; abdomen: appetite 50. HOW IS THE STATE RELATED? The state is harmonious if everyone knowing their place 51. WHAT HAPPENED IN THE MIRROR? Wink! 52. WHAT DO YOU THINK THE ROWBOAT MEANS? Lost in the void V. Socrates (Chapter 7&8): 1. First Questions and statements. a. Is there such a think as natural modesty? b. Wisest is she who knows that she does not know. c. True insight comes from within. d. He who knows what is right will do right. 2. The Sophists. a. Rhetoricsaying things in a convincing manner. b. They taught for money. c. They were skeptical about most everythingboth philosophic and scientific reasoning. d. ProtagorasMan is the measure of all things. What does this really mean? e. Is modesty natural or is it something that is socially induced? They said it, and many other virtues were simply social convention. f. Regards the question of the gods, they would have to be considered to be agnostic. g. They were considered seditious for their casting doubt on the views of society and culture, especially in Athens.

h. Socrates objective was to counter this wave of relativism, a wave that was considered destructive of culture, society, and even human nature. 3. Socrates the man. a. He wrote nothing. b. He lived in Athens. c. Plato, his pupil, tells us most of what we know of him. d. Our portrait of him by Plato is what is the basis for the inspiration he has provided the Western world. 4. The dialectic of the midwife. a. He does not give birth to ideas, but instead he helps the learner to give birth to the ideas that he already has. b. What is Socratic irony? c. His job was that of a gadfly. 5. Jesus and Socrates were alike in some ways. What were some of these ways? 6. Socrates the philosopher. a. A lover of wisdom = a philosopher. A possessor of wisdom = a sophist. b. He did not teach for money. Why? c. What is the real difference between a sophist and a philosopher? i. Sophist: Schoolmaster, a self-opinionated know-it-all. (The Rush Limbaughs of the world.) ii. A real philosopher (direct opposite of a sophist): He/she knows that he/she really knows very little. He/she strives to know. 1) The wisest is she who knows she does not know. 2) Why is giving answers less threatening than asking questions? d. The two possibilities that are on opposite sides of the philosopher. He is the joker that is in between. i. We fool ourselves and others by pretending that we know. (The dead certain.) ii. We close our eyes to the issues and abandon all. (The totally indifferent.) iii. These make up the mass of mankind. e. The Socratic Questits origin. i. Chairophonhe visited the oracle of Delphi (Pythia.), friend of Socrates ii. Socrates is the wisest man in the world. iii. Socrates response was something like thats crazy. iv. But, the Oracle, Socrates found, was right. f. A solid foundation for knowledge must be based on reason. This is one thing that Socrates did not question. g. The inner voice. i. Conscience. ii. He who knows what is good [right] will do what is good [right]. iii. To do wrong is to not know any better. iv. Learning is, thus, most important. v. Using reason is how learning progresses, not just by following the tradition of ones society or culture. vi. To be happy is ones ultimate goalthat is, Eudamonia. [Good spiritedness or good psyche or good soul.] (It is not possible to be happy if your continue to do what you know is wrong.) vii. Socrates' philosophy, as it is represented in Plato's early dialogues, contains two related claims about eudaimonia. The first is the strong interdependence

of eudaimonia, virtue (aret), and knowledge (epistem): virtue is a sort of knowledge, perhaps 'knowledge of good and evil', and it is this knowledge that is required to reach the ultimate good, eudaimonia being the prime candidate for this ultimate good. The second, sometimes called "psychological eudaimonism" or "Socratic intellectualism", is the claim that the ultimate good, eudaimonia, is what all human desires and actions aim at. 7. A philosopher knows that in reality he knows very little. That is why he constantly strives to achieve true insight. Socrates was one of these rare people. He knew that he knew nothing about life and the world. And now comes the important part: it troubled him that he knew so little. One of the most important philosophical truths is the one that Socrates was famous for. Alberto tells Sophie about it early on in their correspondence. Socrates started from the fact that he knew nothing. Descartes likewise built up the first great modern system by systematically doubting all of his knowledge. In both cases, there is a striking conclusion. Socrates does know something, and that is that he knows nothing. The statement is paradoxical, but also very powerful. It allowed him to use his ignorance as a tool. If one knows nothing then one can ask questions about anything. Not knowing anything is the first step on the path to philosophical wisdom, and Gaarder continually warns us against assuming knowledge of anything. Descartes doubted everything, and finally the one thing he knew was that he doubted. From that doubt, he went on to create a grand philosophy. The point is that in order to actually learn something it is better to strip ourselves of what we think we know or what others have told us. Certain knowledge of our ignorance is preferable to uncertain knowledge. Above all else, Gaarder wants us to think about what we know and believe. VI. Plato (Chapter 9): 1. Concerned with the problem of the one and the many, the eternal and the temporal (finite) the immutable and the changeable. 2. Concerned that right and wrong are not relative. 3. Avoid topical subjects and concentrate on eternal subjects. 4. The immutable and the eternal is not a physical substance, but is about patterns, patterns that are spiritual and abstract, that is, immortal. a. They are needed, as things could not be what they are by chance, as with materialists/Democritus. b. What here is the significance of the Lego blocks? c. What is the meaning of the comparison of the Gingerbread men/cookies and the cookie mold? d. What is the world behind the natural world? It is the world of ideas, namely the forms. 5. True Knowledge. a. The philosopher tries to grasp something that is immutable and eternal. Why? b. What is in the process of change, no knowledge, only opinion (doxa) the opinables. [That which we have opinions about.] c. The object of reason must be eternal and universal, because reason itself is eternal and universal. d. Mathematics was an image of true knowledge.

e. Our concepts of what we can perceive through the senses are inexact. But, our conceptions of rational will be exact. 6. The immortal soul. a. Dualism? Soma and psyche. b. Pre-existence of the psyche. i. Doctrine of recollection. ii. It is able to recognize the forms. 7. The Cave. a. A prisoner frees himself. How? b. He makes it out of the Cave. With help or by himself? With help. Divine inspiration. c. He goes back down to help his former fellows. They dont believe him, and they even kill him. 8. The philosophic polis. (a meritocracy.) a. It mirrors the human body. i. The head (Brain) ii. The chest (heart) iii. The abdomen (digestive track) b. The human psyche. i. Reason. ii. Will (spirit/emotion.) iii. Appetite (physical needs for food, sex, shelter.) c. Associated virtues. i. Wisdom ii. Courage. iii. Temperance. d. All three must function as a harmonious unity to produce virtue in each area. e. The State proper. i. Rulers. ii. Guardians. iii. Common populous. f. A more realizable statea constitutional state or polis. (Laws)

GUIDE #3: ARISTOTLE TO ROME 53. WHAT IS THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PLATO AND ARISTOTLE? Plato unity, universals and general social real to discover the truths Horse idea is eternal Horses flow Forms#1 Senses reflect the higher forms Nothing in the natural world exists Aristotle things are matter imbued with form Nature realforms dont really exist nothings real, but experience, the things contain the form giving it structure individual the particular diversity Last great natural philosopher 1st European biologist

Nothing is prior to the forms God is the highest Form Deductive: general to specific examples Premises

Agrees that forms are eternal, yet sees Forms as being created after seeing many horses Only concepts or generalities Forms are reflections of reality and Natural observations Nature is the real world Nothing exists in consciousness that has not been 1st realized by senses YET!!! Innate faculties of reason, ability to categorize Ideas are not innate Reason is empty before senses Inductive: specific examples to general conclusions

54. WHAT IS ARISTOTLES SUBSTANCE (perceptions) V PLATOS FORM? (reason) things are matter imbued with form Form is a category not a reality 55. WHATS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ACTUAL AND POTENTIAL? 384 BC 322 BC Aristotle Where Plato emphasized the unity underlying things, Aristotle stressed their diversity. Aristotle was the champion of the particular and the individual where Plato advocated the universal and the general. He disputed Platos theory of Forms and proposed an alternative in which forms inhere within those objects they serve to structure rather than within a transcendental realm quite removed from the real world. To explain why individual things were as they were, Aristotle posited individual essences that made them that way. Objects consisted of matter imbued with form. Aristotles explanations for why events occurred in the way that they did were teleological or purposive: things happened in the way they did because it was best for them to do so. So the iron filing moves toward the magnet because it has sympathy for the magnet, it is best for the iron to be in that state. The natural state for terrestrial objects was rest, Aristotle held. In contrast, the natural state for celestial objects was circular motion. Thus he held, following Pythagoras, that the planets moved in circular orbits around Earth. The Sun also circled Earth he thought. Scientific explanation dealt with the ultimate causes of things, Aristotle believed. To that end, he discerned four different sorts of first principles or ultimate causes: 1. The cause of a thing's essence, which makes it the thing it is. This he terms the Formal cause. 2. The cause of a thing's material make-up that which accounts for the stuff out of which it is made. This he terms the Material cause. 3. The cause of change or motion. This he terms the Efficient cause. 4. The Final cause or good at which the thing aims.

Modern science only needs to recognize the third sort of cause, efficient causes. Before any scientific explanation can proceed, though, things must be sorted into their appropriate Categories, Aristotle believed. As to any individual thing we can ask to its: 1. Substance 2. Quantity 3. Quality 4. Relatives 5. Place 6. Time 7. Position 8. The things it has 9. The things it does 10. The things that affect it. These ten Categories were used to sort different things, distinguishing one thing from another. They provided a Metaphysical taxonomy that underlay Aristotle's insistence that there are as many different types of Being (ways of existing) as there are Categories. Take Socrates as an example. The primary substance of the famous philosopher is just Socrates, the individual person. Of this primary substance, Socrates, secondary substances in the form of the species and the genus to which Socrates belongs, can be predicated. Thus Socrates belongs to the Human Species and the Genus of Animal. So both human and animal can be predicated of the primary substance Socrates. Aristotle is also famous for his logical theory, being the first thinker to try to systematize human reasoning in the form of what he dubbed Syllogisms. His theory turned on the recognition of four main forms of categorical statements very thing which is F is G, No thing which is F is G, Some thing which is F is G, Not every F is G. He gave names to some of the correct or valid Syllogisms involving these categorical statements. Thus one particularly important valid Syllogism was called Barbara and in Aristotle's view represented the common form for scientific explanations: Every thing which is F is G Every thing which is G is H Every thing which is F is H As well as his interest in science, Aristotle is noted for his profound writings on moral theory and human psychology. The Greeks thought of the soul as the source of life. In Aristotles terminology the soul (psyche) was the form of a body with the potentiality for life. Aristotle regarded it as a complex of cognitive faculties that he sketched in his treatise On the Soul. In moral theory Aristotle rejects Platos idea of a transcendent Form of the Good as something, which is completely irrelevant to human affairs. Human choice and action are aimed at the good, to be sure. But there is no presumption that there is any absolute good. Rather the good that is aimed at is simply that which is good for human beings, that which promotes human flourishing. So the end or telos of human action is happiness (eudaimonia). It is that which is the final good for humans. Virtues, however laudable

in their own right, are sought also for the sake of eudaimonia. One acquires moral virtue (ethike arete), he thought, by acquiring a stable disposition (hexis). The person of practical wisdom (phronesis) is one who reliably chooses actions that lie between extremes. Such actions will lie in a mean relative to the abilities and the projects of the agent. This is the origin of the popular notion of the golden mean. 56. ID THE FOUR BASIC CAUSES. Material, efficient, formal, final (purpose) 57. OUTLINE NATURES SCALE. Man on top 58. WHAT IS HAPPINESS? A good full life well-lived 59. AFTER ARISTOTLE, THERE WERE MANY RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS...WHAT DID THEY HAVE IN COMMON? Salutation! And serenity 60. WHO ARE THE CYNICS? Material things useless, true happiness is nothingness, no attachments (life sucks) 61. STOICS? Nothing is free; accept all of lifeXeno 62. EPICUREANS? Pleasure 63. WHAT IS NEOPLATOISM???????????????????? A combination of Eastern and Western thought 64. DEFINE MYSTICISM.......COMPARE EASTERN (to stop being an individual and uniting with the cosmic force) TO WESTERN. (to become a unique individual and uniting with a personal god) 65. EXPLAIN SARVERPALLIS QUOTE. 66. WHO IS THIS CHRIST? A redeemernot a military messiahsalvation is for all 67. WHAT DO THE INDO-EUROPEANS ADD THE PHILOSOPHY? 68. WHO ARE THE SEMITES? Jewish background 69. HOW IS CHRIST DIFFERENT? not a military messiah

70. WHO IS SAUL/PAUL? Founder of Christianity 71. WHY IS HISTORY NEEDED? To fulfill gods plan! Struggle for good vs. evilhistory is linear and is part of the plan VII. Aristotle (Chapter 11). 1. He was a nature lover. He was the first great biologist. 2. Aristotle, unlike Plato, wanted to look at the world of the senses, of biology, etc. 3. Innate Ideas: a. Plato: the idea of chicken came before both the chicken and the egg. b. Aristotle, the horse itself exists before the idea or the form of horse. c. The form horse is what it common to all horses. It does not come before as existing prior to horses. Body and form are not separable. d. There are not innate ideaswe have the power of reason by which we can know the forms, but our reason is empty until we have sensed something. 4. What is a form of a thing? a. Form versus substance. i. SubstanceWhat a thing is made of. ii. Forma things specific characteristics. iii. Substancecontains the potentiality to realize a specific form. iv. Change then is a transformation of a substance from potential to actual. v. A things form will limit what it can potentially be. 5. The Final cause: a. It is based on the Why question. b. It assigns a life task to the things in nature, a purpose. c. This is opposite of how we understand cause. Is it an anthropomorphic fallacy? d. There is purpose in nature. This is science versus religion, pure causality versus Gods purpose. e. If purpose in nature is Gods Cause, then it is not natures cause of purpose. 6. Logic: a. It is the process of sorting the things in nature into categories and subcategories. b. There is a hierarchy of categories. c. There are laws of validity that govern our conclusions and proofs, that is, to clarify the relations between classes of things. 7. Living versus non living: a. Non-living means no potential for change. (Here change will always be the result of external forces.) b. Living: has the potentiality for change, and this potential is within. c. Humans versus other animals/things. The specific difference is reason. 8. The first mover. It is the unmoved mover. 9. Ethics: Happiness or Eudamonia. a. There are three levels of happiness that correspond with Platos three parts of the psyche. i. Appetitive happiness: Pleasure ii. Emotional happiness: Freedom. iii. Philosophic happiness: Thought/the thinker. iv. Complete happiness: When all these are present, but in harmony.

v. The golden mean: The harmonious mean between extremes. 10. Politics: Man is by nature a political animal. a. Individuals cannot live in isolation and still be human. b. We need fellowship to exist. c. The state is the basis for this. d. The Good constitutions. i. Monarchy Negative degenerationTyranny ii. Aristocracy Negative degenerationOligarchy iii. Polity Negative degenerationMob Rule 11. Women: Had a negative view from our perspective. a. Women are passive while men are active. b. Women are substance while men are form. c. What does this show? i. He was in experienced with women. ii. Comes out as a male orientation. iii. Affected much of Western tradition, especially what comes out of the church. 12. Humans are the only creatures who can categorize things. 13. [More questions from directions:] a. Make a list of things we can know. Make a list of the things we can believe. b. Indicate some of the factors contributing to a philosophy of life. c. What is meant by conscience? Do you think conscience is the same for everyone? d. What is meant by priority of value? VIII. Hellenism (Chapter 12): Greek culture and philosophy was the dominant influence throughout the western world. 1. Syncretism. 2. The transition to issues of salvation from death, to immortality. 3. No long was philosophy done for its own sake, from wonder, but now for ulterior purposes. 4. Athens remained the center of philosophy. 5. Alexandria (Egypt) became the center of science, the sciences of mathematics, astronomy, biology and medicine. 6. The concern became mainly with ethics, that is, the search for the nature of happiness. a. The Cynics. They emphasized frugality. (Antisthenes, Diogenes.) We should not be concerned with health, suffering, or even death. Nor, should we be concerned with the welfare of others. b. The Stoics. They believed in one basic nature, a logos. That is, natural law that applies to all things. There is not dualism of spirit and matter. The basic concerns for the philosopher were social. (Zeno from Cyprus, Emperor Marcus Aurelius, and Cicero. Cicero formed the concept of humanism.) If everything follows the laws of nature, one must learn to accept ones destiny. There are no accidents, only necessity. So, dont complain. c. Epicureans. The highest good is Pleasure, the greatest evil is pain. [Stoics, endure pain; Epicureans, avoid pain.] Aristippus and Epicurus. i. Epicurus combined pleasure ethics with the atomic theory of Democritus. ii. Seek the most long-term pleasure, not the short term. iii. They showed little or no interest in politics or the community. iv. Later it became live for the moment. d. Neoplatonism. Plotinus of Alexandria.

i. Alexandria: the meeting of Greek philosophy and oriental mysticism. ii. Soul and body, light and dark, real and unreal. The One against Nothing symbolized as light (One) and darkness (Nothing.) e. Mysticism. It is the expression of merging, not of separation between God and man and world. IX. Two Cultures (Chapter 14): the Semites and the Indo-Europeans. 1. Indo-Europeans: Culture and language. a. Related languages often lead to related ideas. b. Polytheism: Many gods. c. Sight is the most important sense. d. Leads to philosophic reflection. 2. Semites: Different culture, different language. a. Leads to Monotheism. b. A linear view of history. c. The most important sense was hearing. To read aloud or recite. d. No pictorial representations of sculptures of the gods (God.) e. God and creation are separate by distance. 3. Israel: GenesisAdam and Eve symbolized as the guilty victim. 4. Jesus: The contrast. a. Socrates showed the danger of appealing to peoples reason. b. Jesus showed the danger of demanding unconditional love and forgiveness. i. He symbolized the suffering servant. ii. How far is this from the guilty victim? 5. Paul: The immortality of the soul. a. This is not a Hebrew idea. It is a Greek idea. b. He comes to Athens to convert the Greeks. c. We have a meeting of two cultures with two different thought forms, a visual and an aural. READING GUIDE #4-THE MIDDLE AGES (DARKNESS??) 1. WERE THE MIDDLE AGES...DARK? A rest! More so than a stop 2. WHAT IS THE ONE ESSENTIAL QUESTION OF THE MIDDLE AGES? How to reconcile 3. ST. AUGUSTINE? Christianized Plato 4. WHAT IS EVIL? Absence of good 5. WHATS PREDESTINATION? Gods plan, man must play his part

6. WHAT IS THE CITY OF GOD? The other reality on top of this world 7. WHY DOES GOD NEED HISTORY? To destroy evil 8. WHO IS ST. THOMAS AQUINAS? 1225-1274 a reconciler of Aristotle and Bible 9. WHAT ARE THE TWO TRUTHS? Faith, reason 10. ADD GOD TO ARISTOTLES SCALE OF NATURE. ManangelsGod 11. WHO ARE SOPHIA wisdom, HILDEGARD 1st real woman philosopher, AND ALBERTO THE GREAT? Middle Age philosopher 12. WHAT ARE THE THREE GREAT INVENTIONS? Compass, firearms, printing press 13. WHAT IS REBORN IN THE RENAISSANCE? The positive individualincluding personal religious experience 14. WHAT IS EMPIRICISM? Observation 15. GALILEO? Telescopemoon/sun not perfect 16. COPERNICUS? Sun centered 17. KEPLER? Ellipses and observations 18. HOW DID ISAAC NEWTON CHANGE THE WORLD? Gravity, universal laws, mathematics, every object attracts every other carpe diem memento mori (seize the day, tomorrow you die) 19. WHAT IS THE REFORMATION? LUTHER Grace of God, no way for a person to get to heaven by themselves or need of a church to intercede 20. WHAT IS BAROQUE? Political decay of a united Europe: richer, emotional Scientific vs mystical 21. SHAKESPEARE??

Common life, leading Baroque writer, Theater invented in Baroque opera 22. CONTRAST IDEALISM AND MATERIALISM. What is, is at bottom spiritual Hobbes- all life is particles of matter, even the soul 23. WHATS DETERMINISM? Everything that happens is pre-determined, see pre-destination X. The Middle Ages (Chapter 15): 1. The middle ages lasted for ten hours. What does this mean? 2. In 529 AD: The Christian Church closed Platos Academy in Athens. Now there was only the Church as the source of education. 3. Medieval Philosophy. a. The contrast between faith and reason: Is the first enough, or can we add the second also. b. St Augustine: He Christianizes Plato. i. Influences and opposition. a) Manichean: Dualism of opposites, especially good versus evil. b) Neoplatonism: Existence is divine in nature. ii. Plato and Christianity: Platos ideas/forms are ideas in the divine mind of God. iii. God and world are separate, but man is a spiritual being none the less. Man is both body and soul. iv. Predestination: What does this imply? v. But, man is still responsible for his actions. (The guilty victim.) vi. The City of God: It is the only route to salvation. It is the Church. vii. He promotes the idea of progress in history. This is based on the linear conception of history. It is a progress from Adam to the Eschaton. (It is analogous to a humans progress from childhood to old age. c. St. Thomas Aquinas. i. He Christianizes Aristotle. ii. There is not real conflict between faith and reason. iii. He sought to prove the existence of God using the philosophy of Aristotle. iv. He distinguished between theology of faith and Natural Theology. v. He saw that there are progressive degrees of existence, from plants to animals to man; from man to angles to God. a) Animalsbodyno reason. b) Humansbodyreason. c) Anglesno bodyreason. d) Godhas one single coherent vision of allthe eternal now. d. Hildegaard of Bingen: 11-12th century female preacher and naturalist. Promoted the female side of GodSophiawas revealed to her in a vision. XI. The Renaissance (Chapter 16): Europe comes of age. It is a rebirth. 1. This is the rich cultural development that begins in the late 14th Century, starting in northern Italy. 2. Humanism: A formation process involved with becoming human. 3. The preconditions of this rebirth. a. The compass

b. Firearms c. The printing pressIncunabulum. The cradle. i. Allowed the dissemination of new ideas. ii. It broke the power of the Church as the sole disseminator of knowledge. d. The telescope: A new basis for astronomy. e. A money economy develops. 4. New Ideas: a. New view of mankindbelief in man and his worth, not man as sinful by nature. b. People are really unique individuals. c. A loss of restraintfreedom to develop, ot seek limitless possibilities: to even go beyond the Greek ideal of harmony and moderation. d. A new view of nature: A pantheistic view. Nature is divine. (Bruno.) e. Scientific method develops: both empirical investigation and systematic experimentation. [Galileo Galilei: Mathematics is the structure, the hidden pattern of the world. f. Intervention in nature leading to control of it. This can be seen as both good and evil. g. Copernicus: He overthrew the earth-centered universe. Replaced it with helio-centrism. h. Galileos observations: i. The moon has craters and mountains. ii. Jupiter has moons. iii. Discovers the law of inertia. i. Newton: i. Does not just speak about inertia, but about gravitation. (The Law. Force increases with size/mass and decreased with distance.) It is universal. ii. The law of planetary orbitsthere are two forces at work at the same time. XII. The Reformation (Chapter 16): 1. New religiosity marks a new relationship with God. 2. No longer church based (like the City of God) but is now person based. 3. Intersession by the Church and its priests are no longer needed in order to obtain Gods forgiveness. 4. The scripture alone. Return to the source of Christianity. Just like the Renaissance humanists, who wanted to return to the ancient sources. 5. Luther translated the bible into German. This founded the German written language. 6. But, Luther was not positive about man like the humanists. The fall of man gave us a totally depraved, sinful human. Salvation is only through grace, not reason and knowledge. XIII. The Baroque (Chapter 17): It is the art of irregularity. The 17th Century. 1. Life is a theater. The period gave birth to the modern theater. 2. Shakespeare: occupied with the brevity of life. 3. Carpe diem. (Seize the day.), momento mori. (Remember you must die.) 4. Idealism and materialism both held sway. 5. Laplachypothesis. Proposed extreme mechanism, where everything that happens is predetermined. This is determinism. READING GUIDE#5: DESCARTES-SPINOZA

1. WHAT IS DESCARTES CALLED? Founder of modern philosophy! Truth is only that which is certainly received Geometry (Cartesian) 2. WHAT IS SKEPTICISM? Doubt all knowledge (AT LEAST IN PRINCIPLE) 3. WHAT WAS DESCARTES MAIN CONCERN? What is certain knowledge and what is soul/mind and body ONLY TRUTH IS THAT HE DOUBTED TRUTH 4. HOW SHOULD ONE STUDY PROBLEMS? Simplify to smaller ones 5. WHAT IS COGITO, ERGO SUM? Only truth is that he doubtedI think, therefore I must be! 6. WHATS THE PERFECT ENTITY? God- the idea of perfect entity makes it real 7. WHAT ARE THE TWO PARTS OF REALITY? (DUALISM) Thought (mind)-conscious (cant be divided) Extension (matter) space no contact with each other, arent related 8. ACCORDING TO SPINOZA: WHAT IS THE PERSPECTIVE OF ETERNITY? God is the worldview ones life as a part of all natural existence and where as action fits that eternity 9. WHAT IS GOD? THE WORLD? And vice versa 10. WHAT IS SUBSTANCE? God- the world is one (monist)all life is the substance 11. WHAT IS A THINGS NATURE? Already in it! 12. EXPLAIN THE STONE AGE BOY. Nature! 13. EXPLAIN THE TWO TREES. Environment determines success! Ethics= living a good lifeAristotle! Through rules (laws) of nature! Passions and emotions interfere with happiness

XIV. Descartes (Chapter 18): the father of Modern Philosophy. 1. Distrust of passed down knowledge. Distrust of the senses. 2. A system builder: The main concern was with what we can know that is certain. He was also concerned with the relation of mind and body. 3. He did not, like Socrates with the sophists, accept the skepticism of the time. 4. The new natural sciences seemed to provide a paradigm for certainty. Descartes wanted to find an exact method for philosophic reflection. 5. Problem of body versus soul: How can that which is spiritual affect something that is material? a. Nature of Mattera mechanistic view. b. Nature of the Soulspiritual, non-material. 6. What does it mean to perceive something clearly and distinctly? 7. The philosophic method will be to go from the simple to the complex. This is the image of mathematics and geometry. 8. He was looking for that one certain point (axiom) upon which to hang his philosophy, namely, What can we know for certain? a. But, how start. b. We can first eliminate whatever we know that is not certain. To eliminate everything that can be doubted. 9. He doubted everythinga kind of zero point. But, the doubting, though, was certain. When he was doubting, he was thinking. So, Cogito ergo sum. 10. Now, what else did he feel he knew for certain? He also had the idea of a perfect entity in his mind. But this could not have come from his own imperfect being. Therefore, the idea had to come from the perfect being, and that was God. 11. A perfect entity would not be perfect if it did not exist. Therefore God exists. This is an innate idea. 12. An external reality exists also. I can be understood by means of reason, that is by its mathematical and geometrical properties. 13. But, the outer reality is fundamentally different from the inner, thought reality. They are two substances. a. Thought/mind: Purely conscious, it occupies no space and is thus not divisible. b. Matter/extension: It takes up space and can always be subdivided, but it has no consciousness. c. Both are independent of each other. d. This is dualism. 14. Man is dualistic. Only man combines both substances. 15. Interaction? Is there a special link? The pineal gland? Can this work? XV. Spinoza (Chapter 19): 1. What is the Historic-critical interpretation of the Bible? 2. God and Nature are onePantheism. God is not outside the world, He is in it, He is it. 3. He rejects dualism, two substances. All can be reduced to one single reality, which he calls substance. 4. Sub specie aeternitatusto see everything from the perspective of eternity.

READING GUIDE #6: LOCKE THRU THE EMPIRICISTS

1. WHAT IS EMPIRICISM? 2. WHAT DID LOCKE SAY ABOUT IDEAS? 3. WHAT ARE THE QUALITIES OF THINGS? 4. WHAT ARE HUMES PERCEPTIONS? 5. EXPLAIN HUMES STATEMENT ABOUT COMPLEX IDEAS? 6. WHO ARE YOU----HUMES VERSION? 7. WHAT IS THE I? 8. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DROP A STONE? 9. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DESCRIPTIVE AND NORMATIVE SENTENCES? 10. WHAT DOES BERKELEY SAY ABOUT THINGS WE PERCEIVE? 11. DO THINGS REALLY EXIST? 12. WHAT IS THE MIND OF GOD? 13. WHO FEELS FOR SOPHIE? 14. WHAT ABOUT SOPHIE, DOES SHE EXIST?

READING GUIDE#7: KANT! 1. HOW DO ALBERTO AND SOPHIE THINK? 2. WHAT IS THE RESULT OF THE THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE? 3. DO ALBERTO AND SOPHIE REALLY EXIST? 4. WHAT ARE THE SEVEN BASIC POINTS IN THE ENLIGHTENMENT? 5. WHAT IS DEISM? 6. WHAT IS THE #1 IDEA OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION? 7. WHO IS OLYMPE DE GOUGES? 8. THE RATIONALISTS SAID KNOWLEDGE WAS WHAT? 9. WHAT ABOUT THE EMPIRICISTS? 10. WHAT DID KANT SAY? 11. WHAT IS TIME AND SPACE? 12. EXPLAIN das Dang an Sich. 13. SUM UP KANTS DEFINITION OF KNOWLEDGE. 14. IF REASON DOES NOT WORK...WHAT DOES? 15. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HAVE A SIMPLE MIND? 16. EXPLAIN THE CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE. 17. WHAT IS FREE WILL? 18. WHAT IS ROMANTICISM? 19. WHAT IS THE WORLD SPIRIT? 20. WHAT IS ROMANTIC IRONY?

READING GUIDE#8: HEGEL AND KIERKEGAARD 1. IS HISTORY PROGRESSIVE? 2. WHAT IS THE DIALECTIC? 3. WHY SHOULD EVERYBODY THINK NEGATIVELY? 4. WHY A HORSESHOE?? 5. ACCORDING TO VINJE: WHAT ARE THE TWO TYPES OF TRUTH?? 6. ACCORDING TO HEGEL, WHAT FORMS THE INDIVIDUAL? 7. WHAT ARE THE TWO PARTS OF THE WORLD SPIRIT? 8. WHAT KINDS OF TRUTH SHOULD WE LOOK FOR, ACCORDING TO KIERKEGAARD? 9. HOW LONG ARE WE HERE? 10. WHAT ARE THE THREE STAGES OF LIFES WAY?

READING GUIDE#9: MARX AND DARWIN 1. WHO DO THE MATCH GIRL AND THE BUSINESSMAN REPRESENT? 2. WHAT INFLUENCES OUR WAY OF THINKING? 3. WHAT ARE THE THREE LEVELS OF PRODUCTION? 4. HOW DO MAN AND NATURE INTERACT? 5. WHAT IS ALIENATION? 6. EXPLOITATION? 7. WHAT IS NATURALISM? 8. EXPLAIN NATURAL SELECTION. 9. WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL SELECTION? 10. SUMMARIZE DARWINS THEORY OF EVOLUTION...A FEW SENTENCES. 11. WHAT ARE DARWINS TWO BOOKS? 12. WHY HAS MEDICINE BEEN BAD? 13. DOES EVOLUTION HAVE A DIRECTION? 14. OUTLINE A BRIEF HISTORY OF LIFE.

READING GUIDE #10: FREUD 1. WHAT IS PSYCHOANALYSIS? 2. DEFINE THE THREE PARTS OF PERSONALITY. 3. WHAT IS THE UNCONSCIOUS? 4. HOW IS THAT DIFFERENT FROM PRECONSCIOUS? 5. WHAT ARE DREAMS? 6. WHAT IS SURREAL? 7. WHAT IS INSPIRATION? 8. WHAT ABOUT THAT CENTIPEDE?

READING GUIDE #11: OUR OWN TIME 1. COULD THE BINDER CONTENTS CHANGE? 2. WHAT IS EXISTENTIALISM? 3. WHAT IS THE LIFE FORCE? 4. WHO IS JEAN-PAUL SARTRE? 5. WHAT DOES SARTRE SAY ABOUT EXISTENCE? 6. EXPLAIN EXISTENCE TAKES PRIORITY OVER ESSENCE. 7. HOW DOES MAN CREATE HIMSELF? 8. HOW DOES LIFE HAVE MEANING? 9. WHO IS SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR? 10. WHAT IS THE THEATRE OF THE ABSURD? 11. WHAT DOES SARTRE SAY ABOUT THE BIG QUESTIONS? 12. WHAT IS ECOPHILOSOHPY? 13. WHY IS NEW AGE HUMBUG? 14. HOW IS PORNOGRAPHY LIKE MODERN SELF-HELP PHILOSOPHY? 15. YET WHY DOES IT SELL? 16. HOW CAN SOPHIE BUY SOPHIES WORLD?

READING GUIDE #12: THE END 1. HOW COULD THEY ESCAPE (SNEAK OUT OF THE BOOK)? 2. HOW CAN ...THINGS HAPPEN MORE QUICKLY... THAN ALBERTO THOUGHT? 3. WHERE DID SOPHIE AND ALBERTO GO? 4. HOW DOES HILDE TURN THE TABLES ON HER DAD? 5. HOW DID HILDE PLACE HER DAD IN CHAINS? 6. WHATS REAL SOPHIE/ALBERTO OR THE FOREST? 7. HOW DO HILDE AND SOPHIE MEET? 8. WHY IS HILDE LUCKY AND UNLUCKY? 9. EXPLAIN THE BIG BANG. 10. WHAT ABOUT THE STONE?