Lecture Notes on Philosophy

Introduction to Philosophy

• Philosophy covers thousands of years of thought, but can be summarized.
• Essential questions:
  • What is philosophy?
  • What are the main problems of philosophy?

Core Concepts of Philosophy

• What do we know?
• Inquisitivity: Asking deep and profound questions.
• Epistemology: Understanding how we know what we know.
• Ethics: Consideration of what we ought to do (though less focus in this course).
• Metaphysics: Inquiry into what exists and the mind-world connection.

The Connection Between Mind and Reality

• Philosophy fundamentally connects thoughts to reality.
• Example of thought process:
  • Viewing a triangle and questioning the correspondence between thought and reality.
• Skepticism: Challenges about knowledge and communication concerning concepts.

Controversial Concepts Example

• God: Different interpretations can lead to disagreement.
• Justice: Similar ambiguities as with concepts like God in philosophical dialogues.

Socratic Method

• Early dialogues challenge ambiguities in definitions (e.g., in Plato's works).
• Debates focus on ensuring definitions foster mutual understanding.

Plato’s Theory of Forms

• Introduces the concept of Forms (e.g., the form of triangularity):
  • Thought connects to universal properties.
  • Provides a way to understand truth and knowledge.
• Criticism: Raises issues of how forms can exist, how they are known, and the nature of concrete instances.

Challenges to Plato’s Ideas

• Skepticism remains prevalent:
  • Forms must be mind-independent but questions arise on their knowability.
  • Problematic reliance on memory and concepts tied to Forms.

Transition to Idealism

• Philosophers like Descartes and Kant grapple with mean independence.
• Kant's Challenges:
  • Questioned how the mind interacts with external reality.
  • Proposed that consciousness shapes experiences.

Concepts of Causation and Perception

• Kant suggests two types of objects:
  • Noumena: The thing-in-itself (unknown and unknowable).
  • Phenomena: The appearances, what we perceive.
• Challenges understanding how two minds perceive the same reality.

Conclusion and Implications for Future Philosophers

• Frege and others began to critique earlier ideas on idealism.
• Philosophical debate extends into constructions of societal concepts (e.g., law, value).
• Questions raised:
  • Are laws and morals inherently relative?
  • How can individuals know they share concepts such as “causation”?
• Future discussions must address the implications of shared perception and the nature of socio-cultural constructs in philosophy.

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Key Terms

• Epistemology
• Metaphysics
• Skepticism
• Forms
• Noumena/Pheomena
• Idealism
• Causation
• Relativism