Final Exam Study Guide

The format of the exam will be the same as that of the last exam.

A good way to prepare is to organize the material by the issues, seeing what each philosopher said about them, and especially what arguments (if any) they gave.

The categories listed here and the listings of philosophers falling into them are not meant to be exhaustive.

Metaphysics

• The First Principle
  • Various elements (Thales, Anaximenes, Heraclitus)
  • The infinite (Anaximander)
  • Number (Pythagoreans)
  • The Forms (Plato)
  • The essence (Aristotle)
  • The One (Plotinus)
  • Atoms and the void (Epicurus)
  • Divine reason (Stoics)
• The Status of the Physical World
  • Illusory (Parmenides)
  • A lower grade of being (Pythagoreans, Plato, Plotinus)
  • Reality (Milesians, Heraclitus, Sophists, Aristotle, Epicurus, Stoics)
• Form and Matter
  • Matter is an imitation of and shares in form (Plato, Plotinus)
  • Form and matter are co-ordinate (Aristotle)
• Substance
  • What is not in anything else (Aristotle)
  • The subject of properties (Aristotle)
  • The object of the study of metaphysics (Aristotle)
• The Elements, Fire, Air, Earth, Water
  • Some element is primary (Thales, Anaximenes, Heraclitus)
  • Elements are composed of opposites hot/cold, wet/dry (Aristotle)
  • Arise from regular geometrical solids (Pythagoreans)
  • Indestructible atoms are more basic objects (Epicurus)
• God or the Gods
  • God(s) exist within the physical world (Thales, Epicurus)
  • God is the infinite (Anaximander)
  • God is air (Anaximenes)
  • Gods(s) exist apart from the physical world (Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus)
  • God is the soul of the world (Stoics, Plotinus)
  • The activity of God is self-contemplation (Aristotle, Plotinus)
  • The gods have no interest in the affairs of humans (Epicurus)
• Change
  • Impossible (Parmenides, Zeno)
  • Due to the exchange of opposites (Heraclitus, Plato)
  • Due to four kinds of cause (Aristotle)
  • Due to spiritual activity (Thales, Stoics, Plotinus)
  • Due to motion of atoms (Epicurus)
• Motion
  • Eternal (Anaximander, Epicurus)
• The Universe
  • Is periodically destroyed (Anaximander, Heraclitus, Stoics)
  • Is perishable but will not perish (Pythaogreans)
  • Is eternal (Aristotle, Epicurus)
  • Is uncreated (Heraclitus)
• The Void
  • Exists (Pythagoreans, Epicurus)
  • Does not exist (Parmenides, Aristotle)
• Fate
  • Divine reason controls us (Heraclitus, Stoics)
  • Fate should not be resented (Stoics)
  • The future is open (Aristotle)
  • Luck and chance are not causes, but due to coincidence (Aristotle)

Psychology

• The Nature of the Soul
  • Material (Anaximander, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Epicurus)
  • Separately existing and immaterial (Plato)
  • Form of the body (Aristotle)
• Death
  • The soul is immortal (Pythagoreans, Socrates, Plato, Stoics)
  • The soul dissolves at death (Epicurus)
  • Death should not be feared (Socrates, Epicurus)
• Components of the Soul
  • Vegetative, appetitive, rational (Aristotle)
  • Perceptive, reasoning, intellective (Plotinus)
  • The rational part is the leading part (Stoics)

Logic

• Truth
  • Relative to the individual (Protagoras)
  • Absolute (Plato, Aristotle)
• Knowledge
  • Only of one's own ignorance (Socrates)
  • None of what goes beyond appearances (Skeptics)
  • Only of separately existing forms, through recollection (Plato)
  • Through grasping the universal in intuition and demonstration (Aristotle)
  • The body hinders knowledge (Socrates, Plato, Plotinus)
  • The body makes knowledge possible (Aristotle, Epicurus)
  • Moves from what is better known (Aristotle)

Ethics

• The Best Life
  • A life of virtue (Socrates, Aristotle, Stoics)
  • Intellectual life (Socrates, Aristotle, Stoics, Plotinus)
  • A life in conformity with nature (Stoics)
• The Origin of Virtue
  • A gift of the gods (Plato)
  • Habit acquired by doing what virtuous people do (Aristotle)
  • Reasoning (Epicurus, Stoics)
  • Speech (Gorgias)
• The Nature of Virtue
  • Excellence of the soul (Socrates, Aristotle)
  • Conformity to the form of the good (Plato)
  • Carrying out function in the best way (Aristotle)
  • Living according to nature (Stoics)
  • Pleasure (Epicurus)
• The State
  • Laws should be obeyed because of mutual agreement (Socrates)
  • Main role is promotion of virtue (Aristotle)
  • Justice exists only by convention (Epicurus)

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