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Epistemology - Theory of Knowledge (Ancient Philosophical Influences) -…

- - - - Matter
        
        Material cause - what something is made of
        e.g. table is made of wood
      - Form
        
        Formal cause - what defining characteristic a thing has, usually form, shape or colour
        e.g. table has four legs and a surface
      - Source
        
        Efficient cause - what brings the being into existence, who made it and how it was made
        *Potentiality to actuality
        e.g. a carpenter made the table
      - End
        
        Final cause (telos: end/purpose) - why it is there, reason for its existence, purpose
        e.g. table is for writing on/placing things
        
        Influenced the teleological argument, saying that everything has a purpose
      - Aetion
        
        "reason" or "explanation" that includes "origin"
    - - Potentiality
        
        Possibility of achieving something or becoming something (what something could be)
        
        e.g. an acorn has the potential to become an oak tree
        (represents an unrealised but possible state)
      - Actuality
        
        When potential is achieved; it reached its full form or function; fully become what it is meant to be
        
        Actuality is the fulfillment or realisation of potentiality
        
        e.g. an oak tree is the actualised form of the acorn
        (represents the achieved, fully developed state)
      - Aristotle's view in change is the movement from potentiality to actuality, driven by final cause (telos), the purpose or goal something is working towards
      - Aristotle saw time as a measure of change/motion (time existing only because there is movement from one state to another
        
        Time (in a sense) is a byproduct of process transition from potential to actual
        
        Time is irreversible as actuality represents fulfillment of potentiality (irreversible progression that reflects the dynamic flow of time
    - - Material cause - fundamental elements/"prime matter" that make up all things
        (Combination of earth, water, air, fire: seen as material basis of the universe)
      - Formal cause - structure and organisation of the cosmos, nature of things (e.g. orbiting planets and rotating stars)
      - Efficient cause - Movement of celestial spheres maintains changes in the planet’s atmosphere, which maintains the processes of change on the earth.
        (Prime Mover/Unmoved Mover is not the efficient cause as it is not physical, he also believed that the universe was eternal)
      - Final cause - Prime Mover is responsible for the everlasting motion and change of the universe.
        Things in the universe are moving towards the Prime Mover (pure actuality); therefore, sustains the pattern of change from actuality to potentiality in our universe. Things move towards their telos (purpose).
    - - Prime Mover
        
        Endless chain of cause and effect (each moving thing is caused by a moving thing)
        
        Cause of universe must be God - the Prime Mover/Unmoved Mover
        
        Cause which actualises the potential in everything else
        
        Cause without being affected
        
        Being with no potential but "pure actuality" (no potential to change or to be acted upon)
        
        First of all substances
        
        Cause movement and change in all other things, but not in a physical way (because it doesn't affect the prime mover itself)
        
        cause change and motion by attracting other things towards itself
    - - Necessary, existing independently - doesn't depend on anything else, no potential, pure actuality, no capacity for change
      - Eternal
      - Perfect - highest form of good, pure actuality implies God must contain everything that ought to be there, therefore perfect
      - Immaterial, beyond space and time - not acted upon, no physical activity, purely spiritual, pure thought
      - Transcendent - beyond physical universe
      - Attraction - metaphysically draw everything towards itself (from potential to actual)
      - Telos - it is the final cause of the universe, therefore being the ultimate reason/purpose for everything else
- - - - Theory of Forms
        
        Realm of Forms
        
        An eternal, objective, unchanging realm that contains perfect essence of things
        
        Accessed through a priori logical and intellectual reasoning
        
        Exists independently from the object world
        
        "One Over Many" argument
        
        There must be a single ideal Form that defines every type/group of similar objects
        
        Objects in the physical world are all examples of "particulars" (e.g. tree/table)
        
        They share common qualities that make them identifiable
        
        Because they may vary in shape, size, material (but share and fit into the same category of the "Form of XXX"
    - - Analogy of the Cave
        
        Imagine some prisoners (us) in a cave (reality) who are chained to a wall (Our minds in a state of ignorance)
        
        Can only look in one direction at a wall which appear shadows of real objects moving behind the prisoners
        
        Shadows are all the prisoners have ever known
        
        One day, a prisoner escapes (a philosopher) and is temporarily blinded by the sun (form of the Good), then sees the real world (realm of Forms)
        
        He returns to the cave to explain the truth to the other prisoners, but they didn't understand him and killed him
        
        Plato suggests that experience and senses are mere shadows of the real and that's why observations are purely opinion, not knowledge
        
        Only a priori reasoning involving understanding the forms can give us knowledge
      - The sun in the cave analogy
      - Illuminates us to see the world of forms
      - Highest form
      - Understanding the form of the good makes it impossible for you to do wrong (rule as a "philosopher king")
      - Below the form of the good are higher abstract forms e.g. justice and beauty (aspects of goodness)
    - - Knowledge