PHIL1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Theism, Agnosticism, Thrasymachus
Philosophy 1001 September 29th 2016
Sophists and Socrates
The Milesians, Eleatics and Atomists were all concerned with Ontological questions, questions
having to do with the nature of the world.
Ontology= branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being
-Materialism: belief that the world is ultimately made up of matter
-Idealism: belief that the world is ultimately composed of mind/spirit
“Senses are unreliable and therefore we cant say they are a source of knowledge”
Brain and the Vat
Metaphysics
The branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract
concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space.
Introduction of Sophistry
Generated an attitude of skepticism about the ability of human reason to discover the truth
about nature.
Skepticism:
view that we fail to know anything. More generally it refers to a family of views, each of which denies
that some term of positive epistemic appraisal applies to our beliefs.
Skeptical- Philosophy
Incorrigible- not going to be proven wrong (Sophistry)
Dogmatic-
Sophists
Skepticism itself became the subject of serious concern
Asking whether it was possible to discover any universal truth (P.28)
“Opposite of universal truth is relativism”
“Universal truth be based on what should be not what is”
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Document Summary
The milesians, eleatics and atomists were all concerned with ontological questions, questions having to do with the nature of the world. Ontology= branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being. Materialism: belief that the world is ultimately made up of matter. Idealism: belief that the world is ultimately composed of mind/spirit. Senses are unreliable and therefore we cant say they are a source of knowledge . The branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space. Generated an attitude of skepticism about the ability of human reason to discover the truth about nature. Skepticism: view that we fail to know anything. More generally it refers to a family of views, each of which denies that some term of positive epistemic appraisal applies to our beliefs. Incorrigible- not going to be proven wrong (sophistry) Skepticism itself became the subject of serious concern.
