PHIL 201 – Introduction to PhilosophyNicole Zeger

METAPHYSICS

What is Metaphysics?

•The study of the most fundamental principles of the nature of things.

•Comprehensive view of the universe.

•Considers the nature of Reality.

•Cosmology – how ‘real’ things have come into being

•Ontology – the study of ‘what is’ or ‘being’.

What is truly Real?

•Materialism• Physical objects are all that exist

•Idealism• Mind or Spirit are all that exist

•Dualism• Also known as the ‘Mind-Body Theory’• Two different kinds of things exist: Mind and Body• Cannot be reduced into each other – completely separate• How do they communicate with each other?

Three Theories

Dualism

Early Metaphysics - Materialism•T

hales• Water is the ultimate reality• It exists in all things• Also argued that magnets have souls?

•Anaximander• Everything made of apeiron (basic

‘stuff’)• Cannot see apeiron, can only know it

through its manifestations•A

naximenes• Everything made up of air

•Heraclitus• Everything made up of fire• It is all-consuming and always

changing•D

emocritus• Everything made of Atoms

Early Metaphysics – Ancient Immaterialism

•Immaterialism later known as Idealism

•Pythagoras• Ultimate reality is numbers

•Parmenides• Our everyday world is unreal

• Reality is unchanging and unknown to us

•Heraclitus• Reality is change, but with

unifying Logos

Plato•F

orms•W

orld of Becoming•W

orld of Being•T

ried to reconcile Materialism and Immaterialism

•Allegory of the Cave

Image: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/11/uncertainty-for-mere-mortals/

Aristotle•T

erm ‘Metaphysics’ came from Aristotle•H

e didn’t use it – it was derived from an early description of his set of essays, titled “First Philosophy”.

•“First Philosophy” came after ‘Physics’ in an edition of his works – hence “Meta-Physics”.

•Rejected Plato’s Forms

•Everyday reality is Reality

•Difference between Reality and Appearances

•Substances are Ultimate Reality – the building blocks of all things

•Forms of things are in the things themselves.

•We may be familiar with a thing but that does not mean we completely understand it.• We know people, but we may not know what it

means to be human.

Image: http://msbarruseng9.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/platos-allegory-of-the-cave/

Idealism•O

nly the mind (or spirit) is real or

•What is real is dependent on the mind

•Bodies are a collection of ideas

•The only things we can know are those that we have experienced

•We know through experience (which is mind, not body)

Image: http://www.forgetthebox.net/mag/flag-day-reflections.php

Berkeley•S

ubjective Idealism• “To be is to be perceived”• An empiricist in terms of epistemology•We only know things in relationship to our experiences•We know there is a ‘Mind’ because an ‘Idea’ presupposes a Mind•No world outside our knowledge (or God’s knowledge)

Image: http://www.unc.edu/~megw/TheoriesofPerception.html

Kant, Schopenhauer, and Hegel

THE GERMAN IDEALISTS

Kant•E

verything we know is based on experience

•Reality is organized through Categories

•We cannot understand our experience outside our mental categories

•Categories based on universal principles (so we can communicate with each other)

•Categories are rational

•World of Nature and World of Action/Belief are both rational

Image: http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=1924401&imageID=ps_prn_cd23_330&total=1&e=w&k=0&print=small

Schopenhauer

•Agreed with Kant that there are two worlds and

•We can only know through experience

•But, argued that both realms/worlds were IRRATIONAL

•The Will in us was all that is real•Will is a violent force operating outside of us•Goal is to escape from the• power of the Will

Image: http://www.schopenhauer.net/

Hegel•O

nly Spirit is real•F

ocused on spirit instead of mind, experience or will

•Still Idealism, as the Spirit is not material

•Spirit• Cosmic, universal Mind• Full of constant internal conflict• Almost a cosmic consciousness• Always trying to understand itself• Teleological• Always moving

Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_idealism

Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz

DUALISM

Descartes •Sometimes considered a pluralist

•Mind and Body both exist as substances

•They are distinct substances and therefore

•They cannot communicate with one another

•Also considered God a separate substance from Mind and Body

•Never solved the problem of interaction between the substances of Mind and Body

Image: http://www.artnetherlands.com/artgallery.htm

Can Dualism work?•D

escartes offered a more pragmatic understanding – that both mind and body are real

•Interaction – only remaining options:

1.Mind and Body are not two different substances; they are parts of the same substance (Spinoza)

2.Mind and body are separate substances, but they do not interact (Leibniz)

Image: http://paradigm-shift-21st-century.nl/the-mind-body-problem.html

Spinoza•M

ind and body are different aspects of the same substance

•“Attributes”

•Monism• Only one substance in the universe

• God is the only substance

• We are all one – part of the same substance

• No individuality; no freedom

• We are all part of God

•In many ways, not a Dualist• But not an idealist or materialist either

• Mind and body are both real (dualism)

• Part of a single unity (monism)

• Many things are real, as they are all part of God (pluralism)Image:

http://ha-historion.blogspot.com/2009/12/curious-case-of-benedict-spinoza.html

Leibniz

•Pluralist – there are many substances (monads, not physical substances)

•Substances cannot interact

•Monads• Simple substance, like a mind• Do not interact• They only appear to do these things

•We do not see each other or the world as it is• We only perceive reality – pre-established harmony

set up by God•N

ot really a dualist either• Not a materialist or an idealist – although closer to

idealism

Image: http://en.nkfu.com/gottfried-leibniz-quotes/

ReferencesSolomon, R.C. & Higgins, K.M. (2010). The Big Questions: A

short introduction to philosophy (8th ed.). Belmont, CA:

Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Retrieved from

https://mycampus.aiu-online.com/pages/MainFrame.aspx

?ContentFrame=/Home/Pages/Default.aspx.

Wolff, R. P. (2012). About Philosophy (11th ed.). Upper Saddle

River, NJ: Pearson.

Images

•http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/11/uncertainty-for-mere-mortals/•http://msbarruseng9.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/platos-allegory-of-the•-cave•http://www.forgetthebox.net/mag/flag-day-reflections.php•http://www.unc.edu/~megw/TheoriesofPerception.html•http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=1924401&imageID=ps_prn_cd23_330&total=1&e=w&k=0&print=small•http://www.schopenhauer.net

Images (cont.)

•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_idealism•http://www.artnetherlands.com/artgallery.htm•http://paradigm-shift-21st-century.nl/the-mind-body-problem.html•http://ha-historion.blogspot.com/2009/12/curious-case-of-benedict-spinoza.html•http://en.nkfu.com/gottfried-leibniz-quotes/