1. What are main philosophical problems and disciplines?
Philosophical p rob lems evolved over centuries, from ancient Greek questions about the origin and
nature of cosmos, validity of sensual impressions, possibility to obtain certain knowledge; over
eternal questions about beauty, art, science, politics, values; to contemporary issues, such as finding
a new basis for common values, new basis for social identification, mind-body problem, freedom of
the will in the era of highly developed science, distinguishing good from bad information, intellectual
property, collective decision-making and collective rationality, what exactly is a human person when
its every aspect can be manipulated at will, humans and environment and global justice.
Main philosophical discip lines are: ethics, logic, aesthetics (is beauty objective or subjective),
philosophy of science, political philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology (nature and grounds of
knowledge and its limits and validity) and the history of philosophy.
2. What is theory?
Theory is a contemplative and rational type of generalizing thinking, or the results of such thinking.
The Greek theoria (θεωρία – contemplation, speculation, a looking at, things looked at), t heorein
(θεωρεῖν – to consider, speculate, look at), and t heoro s (θεωρός – spectator) are derived from t hea
(θέα – a view) and horan (ὁρᾶν – to see). In Aristotle's terminology, theory is contrasted with praxis
or practice (πρᾶξις – doing, which is opposed to theory), because pure theory involves no doing apart
from itself.
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3. What are myth, logos, polytheism, anthropomorphism, monotheism, dogma, theocracy,
mimesis, catharsis
myth (μῦθος, mythos – tale, story) is a traditional story, especially one concerning the early
history of people or explaining a natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving
supernatural beings or events.
logos (λόγος, logos – word, reason or plan; from λέγω, lego – I say) in Greek philosophy reffered
to the reason implicit in the cosmos, ordering it and giving it form and meaning. It became a
technical term in philosophy beginning with Heraclitus, who used it for a principle of order and
knowledge. Aristotle applied the term to refer to “reasoned discourse” or “the argument” in the
field of rhetoric. Logos is the reason behind the argument.
polytheism (πολύ, poly – many) and (θεός, theos – god) is the belief in or worship of more than
one god.
anthrop omorphi sm (ἄνθρωπος, ánthrōpos – human) and (μορφή, morphē – form). is the
attribution of human characteristics or behaviour to a god, animal, or object.
monothei sm (μόνος, monos – single) and (θεός, theós – god) is the doctrine or belief that there
is only one God.
dogma (δόγμα, dogma – that which one thinks is true). In formal sense used to refer to an official
system of principles or tenets of a church. In a less formal sense to refer to positions such as those
of a philosopher, philosophical school. In a pejorative sense referring to enforced decisions, such
as those of aggressive political interests or authorities. More generally it is applied to some strong
belief that the ones adhering to it are not willing to rationally discuss.
theocracy (θεοκρατία, theokratίa – the rule of god) from (θεός, theós – god) and (κρατεῖν,
krateĩn – to rule) is a system of government under the control of a state-sponsored religion.
mi me sis (μίμησις, mīmēsis – immitation; μιμεῖσθαι, mīmeisthai – to imitate; μῖμος, mimos –
imitator, actor) is the view that art only represents reality. Plato and Aristotle spoke of mimesis
as the re-presentation of nature. According to Plato, all artistic creation is a form of imitation: that
which really exists (in the “world of ideas”) is a type created by God; the concrete things man
perceives in his existence are shadowy representations of this ideal type and art is the shadowy
representation of the concrete things. Art is the shadow of the shadow.
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catharsis (κάθαρσις, kátharsis – purification, cleansing) is the purification of emotions –
especially pity and fear – through art. It is a metaphor originally used by Aristotle in the Poetics,
desribing the effects of tragedy on the mind of a spectator.
4. What are the main problems of Pre-Socratic philosophy?
Pre-Socratics were primarily concerned with cosmology, ontology and mathemati cs. Unlike
“non-philosophers” they rejected mythological explanations in favor of reasoned discourse.
5. Explain Theogony and Cosmogony and write the genealogy of the first generation of
Greek gods in Hesiod’s Theogony.
In Greek mythology, the primordial deities, called the Protogonoi (Πρωτογόνος, Protogónos
– first-born), are the first gods and goddesses born from primordial Ch aos. 1
According to Hesiod, Chaos was the first thing to exist, but next (possibly out of Chaos) came the
five primordial deities: Gaia, Tartaru s, Eros, Erebu s and Nyx.
Chaos (Χάος, from χάος, kháos – yawning or gap) is a divine primordial condition, the origin of the
gods and all things, that appeared like a bottomless depth. But what, if anything, was located on either
side of this chasm is unclear. “In truth at first Chaos came to be”2
Gaia (Γαῖα, Gaĩa, a poetical form of Γῆ, Gē – land or earth) or Gaea is the personification of the
Earth. She is the ancestral mother of all life: the primal Mother Earth goddess. “but next wide-bosomed
Earth (Gaia), the ever-sure foundation of all3 the deathless ones who hold the peaks of snowy
Olympus”4
Tartaru s (Τάρταρος, Tártaros – probably a word of imaginative origin, suggestive of something
frightful) was the third of the primordial deities, following after Chaos and Gaia and preceding Eros.
Hesiod asserts that a bronze anvil falling from heaven would fall nine days before it reached the earth.
The anvil would take nine more days to fall from earth to Tartarus. Later in Greek it was almost
synonymous with Hades. “and dim Tartarus in the depth of the wide-pathed Earth”5
Eros (Ἔρως, Eros – desire), is one of the primordial gods involved in the coming into being of the
cosmos (in the earliest sources – the cosmogonies, the earliest philosophers, and texts referring to the
mystery religions); but in later sources, Eros is represented as the son of Aphrodite. “and Eros (Love),
fairest among the deathless gods, who unnerves the limbs and overcomes the mind and wise counsels
of all gods and all men within them.”6
Erebu s (Ἔρεβος, Erebos – deep darkness, shadow), was born from Chaos and was often conceived
as a personification of darkness. “From Chaos came forth Erebus and black Night”7
1
In other sources these primordial deities were born from Chr on os and Anank e .
Hesiod. The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Theogony. Cambridge,
MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D104
3
Earth, in the cosmology of Hesiod, is a disk surrounded by the river Oceanus and floating upon a waste of waters. It is
called the foundation of all, because not only trees, men, and animals, but even the hills and seas are supported by it.
4
Hesiod. The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Theogony. Cambridge,
MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.
5
idem
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idem
7
idem
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Nyx (Νύξ, Núx – night) was a shadowy figure, who stood at or near the beginning of creation and
mothered some other personified deities. “but of Night were born Aether8 and Day, whom she
conceived and bore from union in love with Erebus.”9
6. What is the relation between chaos and cosmos?
Chaos refers to the formless or void state preceding the creation of the universe or cosmos. Chaos
is the initial “gap” and cosmos represents orderly universe.
7. Describe different conceptions of arche in Milesian school.
Philosophers of the Milesian school are reffered to as cosmologi sts and physicali sts since they
tried to explain the nature of the matter. Aristotle called them physi ologoi, meaning “those who
discoursed on nature”. Most cosmologists thought that, although matter could change from one form
to another, all matter had something in common which did not change.
In Thales’ (Θαλῆς, Thalēs 624 – 546) oppinion the world originated from water.
Anaximander (Ἀναξίμανδρος, Anaxίmandros 610 – 546) argued that the substratum or arche could
not be water or any of the classical elements but was instead something “unlimited” or “indefinite”
(in Greek, the apeiron). He noticed that the world seems to consist of opposites (hot and cold). A
thing can become its opposite (a hot thing cold). Therefore, they cannot truly be opposites but rather
must both be manifestations of some underlying unity that is neither. This underlying unity
(substratum, arche) could not be any of the classical elements, since they were one extreme or
another. This endless, unlimited mass (apeiron), is subject to neither old age nor decay; it perpetually
yields fresh materials from which everything we can perceive is derived.
Anaximenes (Ἀναξιμένης, Anaximénes 585 – 528) asserted that air was this primary substance of
which all other things are made. When air condenses it becomes visible, as mist and then rain and
other forms of precipitation. As the condensed air cools Anaximenes supposed that it went on to form
earth and ultimately stones. In contrast, water evaporates into air, which ignites and produces flame
when further rarefied. In early Greek literature, air is associated with the soul (the breath of life) and
Anaximenes may have thought of air as capable of directing its own development, as the soul controls
the body. Accordingly, he ascribed to air divine attributes. Anaximenes was the first recorded thinker
who provided a theory of change and supported it with observation.
8. Explain Anaximander’s fragment:
„А оно из чега ствари настају у то и пропадају, плаћајући једна другој казну у одмазду за своју
неправичност по реду времена.”
Whence things have their origin,
Thence also their destruction happens,
According to necessity;
For they give to each other justice and recompense
For their injustice
In conformity with the ordinance of Time.
9. Describe Anaximenes’ air.
Mobile, unlimited and concrete.
10. Објасни Хераклитове фрагменте:
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Aether is the bright, untainted upper atmosphere, as distinguished from Aer, the lower atmosphere of the earth.
Hesiod. The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Theogony. Cambridge,
MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.
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- Овај свет, исти за све, нису уредили ни људи ни богови, него је увек био, јесте и биће вечно
жива ватра, која се с мером пали и с мером гаси. (This universe, which is the same for all, has not
been made by any god or man, but it always has been, is, and will be an ever-living fire, kindling
itself by regular measures and going out by regular measures.)
- Не можеш два пута ући у исту реку. (You could not step twice into the same river.)
- Карактер је човекова судбина. (Character is destiny.)
Contrary to the Milesian school, who would have one stable element at the root of all, Heraclitus
taught that “everything flows” or “everything is in flux,” the closest element to this flux being fire. He
also extended the teaching that seeming opposites in fact are manifestations of a common substrate.
11. Describe Tetractys.
The first four numbers symbolize the musica universalis and the Cosmos as:
a) (1) Unity – Monad – zero dimensions – a point
b) (2) Dyad – Power – Limit/Unlimited (peras/apeiron) – one dimension – a line
c) (3) Harmony – Triad – two dimensions – a plane – triangle
d) (4) Kosmos – Tetrad – three dimensions – a tetrahedron
The first four rows add up to ten, which was unity of a higher order – The Dekad
Tetractys also symbolizes the four elements.
12. Изложи алегорију о пећини и објасни шта она симболизује.
13. Who was Pyrrho of Elis?
Pyrrho (Πύρρων Pyrrōn 360 – 270) is the first Greek skeptic philosopher. He taught we should be
without views, saying about every single one that it no more is than it is not, or it both is and is not,
or it neither is nor is not. We should avoid apodictic propositions and use problematic instead.
Therefore, we should start our sentences with “it seems” or “probably…” In this way we obtain
ataraxia (ἀταραξία - not perturbed), or the equanimity, characterized by ongoing freedom from
distress and worry. (The ancient Greek author Sextus Empiricus gave this definition: “ataraxia is an
untroubled and tranquil condition of the soul.”)
14. Describe Parmenides’ views of reality.
Parmenid es of Elea (Παρμενίδης ὁ Ἐλεάτης, late sixth or early fifth century BC) argued that
“What-is” necessarily exists. “What-is-not” is unconcievable. “What-is” or Being or One is:
a) Whole and indivisible – a thing which is cannot be more or less.
b) Motionless and unchanging – as movement requires something else in which it would
move.
c) Eternal – a thing cannot disappear, just as something cannot originate from nothing. “Whatis” could not have “come into being” because “nothing comes from nothing”. Existence is
necessarily eternal. Being, by definition implies eternality.
In support of this, Parmenides’ pupil Zeno of Elea attempted to prove that the concept of motion was
absurd and as such motion did not exist. He also attacked the subsequent development of pluralism,
arguing that it was incompatible with Being. His arguments are known as Zeno’s paradoxes.
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15. What is tautology, postulate, axiom and apagogic argument?
Tautology is a statement that is true by necessity or by virtue of its logical form.
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Axioms and postulates serve as a basis for deducing other truths. Axioms are self-evident
assumptions, which are common to all branches of science, while postulates are related to the
particular science.
Apagogical argu ment is a method of argument in which the proposition to be established is
emphasized through the disproving of its contradiction. Also: reductio ad absurdum; proof by
contradiction; indirect proof.
16. What is ontological pluralism and what ancient philosophers represented it?
Pluralism is a “doctrine of multiplicity”, often used in opposition to monism (“doctrine of unity”) and
dualism (“doctrine of duality”). In ontology, pluralism refers to different ways, kinds, or modes of
being.
17. Explain Empedocles’ theory of elements.
Emp edocles (Ἐμπεδοκλῆς, Empedoklēs 490 – 430) established fou r element s which make all
the structures in the world – fire, air, water, earth. The four elements are simple, eternal, and
unalterable. Change is the consequence of their mixture and separation. The four elements are brought
into union and parted from one another by two divine powers, Love and St rife.
18. What is the meaning of Anaxagoras’: “The seed of everything is in everything else.”
According to Anaxagoras (Ἀναξαγόρας, Anaxagoras 510 – 428) all things have existed from the
beginning, but originally they existed in infinitesimally small fragments of themselves and endless in
number. All things existed in this mass, but in a confused and indistinguishable form.
The work of arrangement, was the work of Mind or Reason (νοῦς, noũs). Mind is also unlimited as
the chaotic mass, but it stood pure and independent, a thing of finer texture, alike in all its
manifestations and everywhere the same. Its first appearance, and the only manifestation of it which
Anaxagoras describes, is Motion. It gave distinctness and reality to the aggregates of like parts.
The original intermixture of things is never wholly overcome. Each thing contains in itself parts of
other things or heterogeneous elements.
19. Is matter infinitely divisible, according to Democritus?
Democritu s (Δημόκριτος, Dēmókritos 460 – 370) held that everything is composed of “atoms”,
which are physically, but not geometrically, ind ivisib le ; that between atoms, there lies empty
space; that atoms are indestructible, and have always been and always will be in motion; that there is
an infinite number of atoms and of kinds of atoms, which differ in shape and size.
20. What kinds of motion are there in Aristotle’s philosophy?
Aristot le (Ἀριστοτέλης, Aristotélēs 384–322) speaks about motion and change in quality, in
quantity and in p lace.
21. What is theodicy?
Theodicy refferes to attempts to answer the question why a good God permits the manifestation of
evil.
22. What is metaphysics and how Aristotle defines it?
Aristotle refers to metaphysics as “first philosophy”, as well as “the theologic science.”
23. Explain Aristotle’s theory of causes.
Aristotle suggested that the reason for anything coming about can be attributed to four different types
of simultaneously active causal factors:
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Material cause describes the material out of which something is composed.
The formal cause is its form, i.e., the arrangement of that matter.
The effici ent cause identifies all sorts of agents, nonliving or living, acting as the sources of
change or movement or rest.
The final cau se or teleos is the purpose or function that something is supposed to serve.
24. What is hylomorphism?
Hylomorphism is the doctrine that physical objects result from the combination of matter and
form.
25. What is unmoved mover?
The unmoved mover or prime mover (Latin: primum movens) is Aristotle’s concept of a primary
cause; cause of all causes; final cause or “mover” of all the motion in the universe.