PHILOSOPHY FOR BEGINNERS BY

MARIANNE TALBOT
Lecture 1: A Romp Through the History of Philosophy from the PreSocratics to the Present Day
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Vocabulary
Percept: something that is perceived by the senses
Concept: something that somebody has thought up or that somebody might be able
to imagine
Anamnesis: soul exists before we were born
Mat section of metaphysics which means a list of things that exist

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GENERAL HISTORY
First philosophers were first scientists because they tried to explain things
that were natural and didnt look to gods or other supernatural beings.
Democritus (460-370 BC):
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wrote over 60 books and used to life at everyones stupidity. But we only
have fragments of his work today. Lots of work by his detractors is available.
He said nothing comes from nothing, everything just exists. Reality consists
in a number of tiny indivisible particles atoms.
How do we explain change given that nothing comes into and out of
existence? You have things that are there and they come together to form
other things. Atoms comes together to form other things and its a natural
explanation. Atoms cant change and therefore are indivisible.

Plato
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Socratess pupil
Socrates never wrote anything
Plato is easy to read and wrote a dialogue
Plato asked, how do we form concepts and understand words?

As a child when you looked at red and learned what red is you were
just remembering a form from before you were born. Just
remembering what you already know from before birth

Aristotle
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Platos pupil
His peers considered him easy to read and understand but we only have his
lecture notes and those are not easy to read
Aristotle said something that was easier than Platos theory
As humans we get attributes of things around us and put them together to
form new things even things that dont exist, like unicorns
He said things have commonalities or properties
o We know what the concept of unicorn is even though have never seen
form but weve put together forms we already know
Is this how we get the concept of god? Take attributes of things around us
and put them together in one being.

Generally, whats the difference between animals and man?

Its the concept of percept and concept. Percept is a continued from
perception and concepts we can think about the way the world might be and what
the world is.

The Rationalist
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They believe many concepts are innate or were bon with them
Our mind is already stocked
More related to what Plato thought
Descartes, Leibniz and Spinoza are famous rationalists
Concept of reasonwhat does this mean?

The Empiricism
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All our concepts come from experience and were born with a blank slate,
Tabula Rosa
Locke, Barkly and Hume are famous empiricismists
Causation comes from experience eg. One billiard ball hitting another one
Causal relation has events and one event happens before another and there
is a necessary connection between the two events. If the first hadnt
happened then the second wouldnt happen.
Hume said that causation is an idea or expectation that we as humans have
formed
What does it mean about the ball hitting?

ETHICS AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Utilitarian
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Only concerned with consequence

Right action is that that produces the greatest happiness for the greatest
number of people
Eg. Killing someone in self-defense would mean youre thinking like a
utilitarian
Eg. Turning of oxygen and killing 4 sailors to save the rest of the crew

What is happiness?
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Subjective experience based on feeling

Beliefs that cause happiness and also a feeling

Deontologist
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Only concerned with intentions

The right action is in accord with morals

What about not drinking? Is it right because of moral laws?

So science is religiously wrong! Because it finds explanation outside of god or
supernatural

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein

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Early
o Words get meaning by study of objects, words linked with objects
o Words have meaning and linked with objects and so objects exist
Late
o Words are linked with meaning

Completely lost by the end of the lecture.

What does it mean that cannot get outside of experience?
Youre experiences are caused by something you dont know? Eg a daemon is
controlling you.

Lecture 2: The Philosophical Method Logic and Argument

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