The Rookie Philosopher

Armchair philosopher exploring life's big questions with Google's help.

[the-rookie-philosopher]

Aristotle

1. What is Aristotle's theory? Aristotle was convinced that philosophical knowledge cannot be obtained solely through pure thought. Unlike his teacher Plato, he placed great importance on observation.

2. What is Aristotle's vision? In Aristotle's view, all things can be understood through reason. This aligns with Socrates' idea of knowing universally applicable truths regarding goodness and virtue. Fourteen of his works are compiled in his Metaphysics, which focuses on investigations of "being," also known as ontology.

3. What is the 'good' according to Aristotle? A person is 'good' when they use their innate qualities. They can only be happy if they employ all their abilities in the pursuit of virtue. According to Aristotle, wisdom is the highest form of virtue. This brings us back to the question of how we can recognize that thing we call virtue.

4. What is happiness according to Aristotle? You always try to seek out pleasure, that which feels good. According to Aristotle, you become happy by doing good, and in that, you can’t really go wrong. If you do something morally wrong, in his view, you never do it accidentally. You consciously act against your feelings and reasoning.

5. What is the good life according to Aristotle? According to Aristotle, human happiness is the highest good that every person strives for and that every political community is aimed at—the good life.

[the-rookie-philosopher]

Karl Jaspers

1. What is Karl Jaspers' philosophy? Karl Jaspers was a German existential philosopher and psychologist. Unlike science, Jaspers considered philosophy to be a subjective interpretation of Being, which—although prophetically inspired—attempted to establish values and life principles as universally valid.

2. What was Karl Jaspers quote? Our reality alone allows the thinker's questions to become comprehensible. My own being can be judged by the depths I reach in making these historical origins my own. Philosophic meditation is an accomplishment by which I attain Being and my own self, not impartial thinking which studies a subject with indifference.

3. Did Karl Jaspers believe in God? Although he rejected explicit religious doctrines, including the idea of a personal God, Jaspers influenced contemporary theology through his philosophy of transcendence and the limits of human experience.

4. What is the encompassing Karl Jaspers? This is what Jaspers calls the Encompassing (das Umgreifende). Everything which becomes an object because of the subject, becomes one by leaving the Encompassing and it relates thus to the subject, but also to other objects. In the fissure of the subject and object we move thus towards the Encompassing.

5. Why do we need to philosophize according to Karl Jaspers? Karl Jaspers saw the need to philosophize because of experience. Jaspers believed that man is often confronted by experiences which challenge his ideas and frameworks. Jaspers called experiences limit situations, and these are often accompanied by feelings of helplessness, anxiety, or dread.

[the-rookie-philosopher]

Hannah Arendt

1. What does Hannah Arendt stand for? Hannah Arendt is a twentieth-century political philosopher. She is best known for her analysis of totalitarian societies and her report on the Eichmann trial, in which she coined the term 'the banality of evil.' Power, evil, and politics are central concepts in the work of Hannah Arendt. 2. What is Hannah Arendt's theory? Arendt argues that the Western philosophical tradition has devalued the world of human action, which is concerned with appearances (the vita activa), and has subordinated it to the life of contemplation, which deals with essences and the eternal (the vita contemplativa).

3. What was Hannah Arendt primarily known for? Hannah Arendt established her reputation as a significant political thinker with her book The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), which also addresses 19th-century anti-Semitism, imperialism, and racism. Arendt saw the rise of totalitarianism as a result of the disintegration of the traditional nation-state.

4. What does Arendt say about the human condition? We are here not only to learn how to live, but also to live well. Arendt’s personal story and her life’s work affirm an important truth: the human condition is defined by both the greatness and the misery of humanity, and narratives help us understand the beauty and tragedy of the human experience.

5. What is thinking according to Hannah Arendt? Thoughtlessness: At the end of her life, Hannah Arendt focuses on human mental processes. In The Life of the Mind, she delves deeper into the themes of thinking, willing, and judging. In the aftermath of the Eichmann trial, it is particularly the theme of 'thinking' that preoccupies her.

[the-rookie-philosopher]

John Locke

1. What was John Locke best known for? John Locke was an English philosopher and political theorist who was born in 1632 in Wrington, Somerset, England, and died in 1704 in High Laver, Essex. He is recognized as the founder of British empiricism and the author of the first systematic exposition and defense of political liberalism. 2. What is John Locke's main theory? In politics, Locke is best known as a proponent of limited government. He uses a theory of natural rights to argue that governments have obligations to their citizens, have only limited powers over their citizens, and can ultimately be overthrown by citizens under certain circumstances. 3. Why is John Locke called the father of liberalism? John Locke is considered the father of liberalism because he helped establish key principles that continue to shape modern democratic societies. His emphasis on individual freedom and limited government has informed debates around civil liberties, economic policy, and social welfare for centuries.

4. What were John Locke's 4 main ideas? Often credited as a founder of modern “liberal” thought, Locke pioneered the ideas of natural law, social contract, religious toleration, and the right to revolution that proved essential to both the American Revolution and the U.S. Constitution that followed.

5. What was John Locke's conclusion? It is concluded that Locke fashioned a standard system of philosophy, comprising logic, physics, and ethics. Locke's logic was a system of logical empiricism from which he drew skeptical conclusions concerning the possibility of a science of nature. Unlike Hobbes, he lacked the daring to embrace materialism