Final CPhil.

• Plato's Cave


  The fire-cast shadows of real things that the residents see
• What can be known according to Plato

  Mathematical truth can be better known than physical reality, perceived through the senses
• The state and the soul are isomorphic (of the same form)


  The ideal state is impossible, while the ideal soul is not
• Reason for the impossibility of the ideal state

  Practical impossibilities based on the niceties of the reproduction and succor of the citizens of the state that do not apply to the faculties of the soul
• Degree of precision in arguments

  The degree of precision that the subject matter admits of
• Why the life of wealth is not the best practically achievable human life

  • Wealth is not a final end
  • Wealth is not a sufficient end
  • Wealth is desirable only as a means
• Sufficient end


  An end that does not require anything else to be complete
• Function of a thing, X, according to Aristotle's Functional Theory of the Good


  It is the activity that things of X's type alone can do
• All virtues are moral virtues
• Aristotle's Doctrine of the Mean does not imply that when it comes to adultery, it is possible to be too faithful to one's spouse
• Aristotle did write in dialogue form, but every copy of his dialogues were destroyed when the Library of Alexandria burned
• Intellectual virtues


  Unlike moral virtues, are not directly involved in mediating the rational nature of humans with their animal nature
• Objects of choice according to Aristotle

  • The Pleasant
  • The Advantageous
  • The Noble
• Importance of Courage according to Aristotle

  Courage is the virtue that governs the fear of pain and death, which are among the chief motivations of a human being's animal nature
• Importance of Temperance according to Aristotle


  Temperance is the virtue that governs the desire for (bodily) pleasures, which are among the chief motivations of a human being's animal nature
• What human beings must do with their animal nature according to Aristotle

  Their reason must tame it
• Example of "Necessity is the mother of virtue"


  • An effort to make bad music choices impossible or extremely difficult, by making sure that only good music choices are available
• Apparent Catch-22 of Aristotle's ethical system

  To become virtuous, one must avoid vice, but doing that requires one to be virtuous
• Difference between a limited and an unlimited good


  For example, food is good, but too much food is unhealthy. In contrast, it is not possible to get to much of an unlimited good, like rational contemplation
• Example of prolepsis


  • Moses's description of Abraham as swearing by the name of Yahweh, when Moses himself records that he, Moses, was the first person to know Yahweh's name
• Proving the existence (or non-existence) of God

  By an argument similar to the argument for the Pythagorean Theorem or the existence of the number one. It is to be proved prior to scientific endeavors or any
• Sam Harris is not one of the Four Horsemen of Atheism
• Theists


  • Plato
• Example of a formal cause


  • Someone asks why Professor Henry Higgins is a bachelor, and the answer is that it is because he is a man who never got married
• Causes considered by Aristotle

  • Efficient Causes
  • Final Causes
  • Material Causes
• Essential feature of Professor Brant

  He is a thinking being
• Accidental feature of Professor Brant

  He is wearing a maroon shirt, but he could have easily worn a blue shirt instead
• Motion according to Aristotle and Thomas


  It refers to the movement, or change, from potentiality to actuality
• The Way of Water is not one of Thomas's five ways of proving the existence of God
• Critical idea involved in the first of Thomas's five ways

  It is impossible to complete an infinite
• What must exist according to Thomas if there are to be any contingent beings

  A necessary being
• What the Problem of Evil is supposed to prove

  That God does not exist
• Features of God essential to the presentation of the Problem of Evil

  • His Omnipotence
  • His Omniscience
  • His Perfect Goodness
• Main difficulty of the free will defense according to Brant


  If God's made Adam free, knowing he would fall into sin, there is no reason to suppose that He could not instead have made Bob, knowing he would not fall into sin
• Solution to the Problem of Evil according to Brant

  Trans-world Depravity
• Possible world


  A set containing every proposition or its denial, but not both, and which implies no contradiction
• There are infinitely many possible worlds
• What is God according to the degree of independence that the existence of a thing has on contingent circumstances


  A being the existence of which does not depend on any contingent circumstance
• Why existence is not a property that can be added to the concept of a thing


  We always add existence to the concept of anything we conceive of. It is a separate question whether the thing, so conceived, does exist
• What degree of precision should we expect in arguments about a subject? (Quiz 16)

  The degree of precision that the subject matter admits of