I have covered all units using various arguments from different philosophers and their apporaches. It is colour coded on some pages to reduce confusion. See the tags to see tpoics. OCR exam board A level.
,Ancient Philosophy: Plato Cave analogy
• A student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle. • The Cave: The psychical world of experience w
• Wrote 20 books and used analogies to explain life born, live and die.
and how it works. • Prisoner: Normal people who experience the wo
• Idealist- believes in order and harmony, morality they experience as reality.
and self denial. • Shadows: Things that we see in the world throu
• Believes in the immortality of the soul and virtues senses.
of reality. • The puppets/forms: Ideas we recognise in thing
• Used dialogues instead of writing it down. truth and beauty.
• Plato could answer Socrates questions e.g. what is• The jagged path: The journey of philosophers f
virtue and how can we know this? ignorance to knowledge.
• Believed that philosophers were an elite group who• The sun: Philosophical truth, knowledge and fo
could only find true knowledge or form of good. • Prisoners reaction: Is what the philosophers sh
Theory of forms when they have new knowledge.
• Forms are objects of knowledge. Form of good
• The material world is changing, the real world is • Cannot be clearly explained and allows you to
unchanged. other forms as it gives things purpose.
• We live In a world of senses. • Humans must pursue good, they do this with
• One form can change to make other forms as they philosophical thinking.
all have the same first form. • The forms we perceive do not come from our
• The world is split into intelligible and visible. from intelligence.
• Only people who question things can understand • Examples of forms of good are: justice, truth,
the truth behind the illusion. and beauty.
• Philosophers can think indifferent from their • The sun is at the top of the hierarchy of forms
senses. • Sun analogy- it gives light so we can see obje
• “An unexamined life is a life not worth living.” without it things in the material world would d
, Aristotle Four Causes
• Key question is: What is Material cause: 2. The efficient cause:
being? The raw material something is How does it happen?
• His book is called
madeuses
of. The thing that made it.
metaphysics.
The materials don’t describe the Uses
• This includes: question of
being, becoming, existence object. resources to make something
and reality.
• Nature is cause and purpose. 3. The formal cause: 4. The final cause:
• He believed the physical world Shape/characteristics of somethi What is it for?
is a key to knowledge. ng. What is the purpose/telos?
• The senses are a gateway to Helps identify object. Most important cause. The pu
intelligence. Then we ca put it it significance.
• He is an empiricist an plato his into categories. Telos means end, a means to
teacher is a rationalist. If an object fills its purpose th
• Fascinated by the nature of it is good.
things and why they exist.
Prime mover
• You never step in the same river twice.
• The prime mover is telos and is not subject to change.
• The prime mover cannot be physical and is made of spiritual energy.
• It attracts movers and inspires them. It is unaware of the world.
• First of substances but is not the efficient cause or creator. It’s the final cause and gives purpo
• The prime mover avoids the traditional problem of evil.
• Its impassive so it doesn’t feel emotion as that would cause change.
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