A New History of Western Philosophy (Kenny)

16 flashcards · Philosophy · by charlie42

1. Food item prohibited by Pythagoreans (religious community Pythagoras funded)

   Fava beans

2. What's metempsychosis?

   Belief in transmigration of souls. Pythagoreans believed that when you die your soul can migrate into another animal. Hence prohibition on eating meat.

3. Younger contemporary of Anaximander at Miletus

   Anaximenes

4. What example did Anaximenes use to explain his theory about rarification and compression of air?

5. What was the ultimate element according to Anaximenes?

   Air

6. Three philosophers of Milesian school

   Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes

7. Xenophanes is the first philosopher of what?

   Religion

8. True thing Xenophanes believed about the sun

   The sun is not the only sun; indeed there are infinitely many.

9. False thing Xenophanes believed about the sun

   The sun comes into existence each day from a congregation of tiny sparks (little pieces of fire)

10. What Xenophanes say about the knowledge about the gods?

    That we will never know it fully, but as science progresses we might know more

11. What does Xenophanes say about Homer's gods?

    They're created in our image: Actually there is one god that is unlike humans (and is a sphere)

12. Which thought of Heraclitus was the most influential?

    That everything is always changing

13. Early Milesians -> cosmology Xenophanes -> religion Parmenides -> ?

    Ontology

14. How to pronounce Parmenides?

    [ pahr-men-i-deez ]

15. What does the Being mean in Parmenides writing?

    The things that are being. It's a participle, as in ‘the dying should not be neglected’ Participles and adjectives with articles ('the rich') were very common in ancient Greek

16. What does to be mean in Parmenides writing?

    1) To exist. As in: ‘The Tower of London is, and the Crystal Palace is not’. It would sound very natural in ancient Greek. 2) To be that of which any sentence containing ‘is’ is true (‘Achilles is a hero’)