The Question of Reality- Unit 2

Reality & Metaphysics

MC Escher’s Waterfall– p. 54

What is reality?

What is ultimate?

What is really real?

Read pp. 55-56 (Introduction)

The Question of Reality

Red Pill Blue Pill

Matrix & the Cave

Chapter 3– The First Metaphysicians

• The Problem of the One and the Many– What is the ultimate reality (the One)?– How is everything else (the Many) related to

it?

Presocratics

• World’s first official philosophers• Sometimes called monists because they

sought to isolate one thing (usually one of the elements) as the basic stuff to which all reality could be reduced

• Their ancient efforts paved the way for the Scientific Method

• Their ideas were literally written in stone• Pronounciation p. 60

Thales624-546 BCE

• Water is the ultimate reality• Necessary for all living things• Is present in most things• Seems to be everywhere (especially for a

Greek)• There is a lot of it!• Can exist in different forms• Thought of as the 1st philosopher

Anaximander610-546 BCE

• “All elements are comprised of ‘apeiron’ or ‘the boundless’”

• All things are made of apeiron & return to apeiron

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apeiron_(cosmology)

Anaximenes585-528 BCE

• “Air is the root of all things”

• “The soul is composed of air”

• The breath is linked to the soul (e.g. “Bless You” air leaving the body = soul leaving the body)

Pythagoras571- 497 BCE

• Life is a numbers game• It can be explained

through mathematical theorems (e.g. movement of planets, music, physics)

• One of the first cult leaders killed followers who revealed his numerical secrets

Heraclitus536- 470 BCE

• Everything is composed of fire

• Also means everything is in flux

• “You can’t step into the same river twice.”

• “All things flow”• “The sun is new

everyday”• “We are and we are not”• “All we are is dust in the

wind, all we are is dust in the wiiiiii- iiiiiiiind….. Ahhhhhh ah ahhhhhh!!!”

DIW

Parmenides540 or 515-492 BCE

• Opposite of Heraclitus everything is stagnant

• “It is”

• The more things change, the more they stay the same

The Sophists

• Sophists are the ancient version of self- help gurus or motivational speakers.

• They were teachers & philosophers who charged money for their “wisdom”

Protagoras

• “The First Sophist”

• “Man is the measure of all things”

• Had an apathetic view of God

• Followed the “anything goes” principle

Gorgias

• “The Nihilist”• Nothing exists• If anything did exist,

you could not know about it

• If something existed and you knew about it, you could not communicate that awareness to others

Socrates

• Compared himself to a gadfly (annoying to Athenians)

• Wanted to find the TRUTH• Posed questions & then questioned the

response others gave him (Socratic Method)• Never wrote his ideas down (couldn’t read or

write)• We know about Socrates’s ideas through Plato’s

accounts• Accused of corrupting the youth• Was put on trial, convicted, and sentenced to

death

Plato

• Protégé of Socrates• Allegory of the Cave meant to illustrate how

people live with a veil over their eyes• Can people respond to the TRUTH or one who

has seen the TRUTH?• Theory of Forms perfect form of beauty,

perfect form of numbers, cure for cancer, etc.• The Republic Most famous work; describes

Plato’s perfect government system (philosophers rule– surprise, surprise)

Aristotle

• “Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth”

• “Friendship is one soul living in two bodies”

• He believed we have souls but they die with the body. Agree?

• Too little or too much of anything is bad• Avoid extremes• Balance = harmony

The Golden Mean

• The cause of things is not just what happens as a lead up to an event, it is also a goal being realized (or a sense of purpose). It is as if the outcome is already there ahead of time, pulling reality along with it.

• Also considered an attribute of beauty• Do you agree with this concept? Are there

religious beliefs that match up with this concept?• Teleology: the study of the purpose of things

PAGE 62

• Read the quotes in the green box on page 62

• You need a half sheet of paper to answer these questions:

• Which do you agree with the most and why? 5 sentence minimum explanation.

• Which one do you agree with the least & why (excluding Empedocles’s quote)? 5 sentence minimum explanation.