Državna Matura Philosophy cheat sheet

Philosophy begins with thaumazein (wonder) and the shift from mythos to logos: explanation by argument rather than narrative authority.

Core branches: metaphysics (being), epistemology (knowledge), logic (valid inference), ethics (action), aesthetics (beauty/art), political philosophy (order), philosophy of religion.

Deductive argument: conclusion follows necessarily from premises; inductive argument: conclusion is probable; abductive: inference to the best explanation.

Validity concerns form only; soundness = valid form + all premises true. A valid argument with false premises can still be valid.

Common fallacies: ad hominem, straw man, false dilemma, circular reasoning (petitio principii), appeal to authority, post hoc ergo propter hoc, equivocation.

Periods: Ancient (Presocratics to Hellenism), Medieval (patristics, scholasticism), Modern (Renaissance to Kant), 19th–20th century (idealism, Marxism, existentialism, phenomenology, analytic, postmodern).

Primary sources outweigh summaries: read the argument's premises and conclusion before judging it; distinguish author's claim from interpreter's reading.

Concept analysis test: state necessary conditions, test with counterexamples, then revise the definition (Socratic elenchus pattern).

Presocratics sought an arche (first principle): Thales water, Anaximenes air, Heraclitus fire and flux (panta rhei), Parmenides being is unchanging, Democritus atoms and void.

Socrates wrote nothing; known through Plato and Xenophon. Socratic method: question, expose contradiction (elenchus), pursue definition of virtue; virtue is knowledge, no one errs willingly.

Plato: theory of Forms (ideas) separate from sensible things; allegory of the cave (appearance vs. reality); tripartite soul (reason, spirit, appetite); philosopher-rulers in the Republic.

Aristotle: forms in things (hylomorphism), four causes (material, formal, efficient, final), potentiality/actuality, virtue as habit (hexis) and the golden mean, eudaimonia through contemplation.

Hellenistic schools: Stoics (live according to nature/logos, apatheia), Epicureans (ataraxia through modest pleasures), Skeptics (epoché, suspension of judgment), Cynics (Diogenes: virtue suffices).

Plotinus and Neoplatonism: the One emanates nous and soul; matter as the lowest level; influence on later Christian thought.

Patristics: Augustine - faith seeking understanding, inner experience of God, problem of evil as privation, free will and grace.

Scholasticism: Thomas Aquinas harmonizes Aristotle and Christian doctrine; five ways to prove God; natural law as reason's participation in eternal law.

Rationalism: reason is the primary source of knowledge; innate ideas. Descartes: cogito ergo sum, methodical doubt, mind–body dualism, clear and distinct ideas.

Spinoza: one substance (God/Nature), determinism, geometric method; Leibniz: monads, pre-established harmony, principle of sufficient reason.

Empiricism: experience is the source of knowledge. Locke: tabula rasa, primary vs. secondary qualities; Berkeley: esse est percipi; Hume: impressions/ideas, causation as habit, skepticism about induction.

Hume's fork: relations of ideas (analytic, a priori) vs. matters of fact (synthetic, empirical); is–ought gap.

Kant's Copernican turn: knowledge requires both intuition and concepts; synthetic a priori judgments; phenomena vs. noumena; categorical imperative (universalizable maxim, treat persons as ends).

Social contract: Hobbes (state of nature as war, absolute sovereign), Locke (natural rights, consent, right of resistance), Rousseau (general will, popular sovereignty).

Enlightenment: reason as public tool (Kant's sapere aude); progress, toleration, critique of dogmatic authority.

German idealism after Kant: Fichte (the I posits itself), Schelling (identity of nature and spirit), Hegel (dialectic of thesis–antithesis–synthesis, absolute spirit, history as progress in freedom).

Marx: historical materialism, base/superstructure, alienation of labor, class struggle, surplus value; philosophy's task is to change the world, not only interpret it.

Kierkegaard: existence precedes essence, three stages (aesthetic, ethical, religious), leap of faith, subjective truth.

Nietzsche: will to power, revaluation of values, death of God, master/slave morality, eternal recurrence.

Existentialism and phenomenology: Husserl (epoché, intentionality, back to the things themselves), Heidegger (Dasein, being-in-the-world, authenticity), Sartre (existence precedes essence, radical freedom, bad faith).

Analytic philosophy: Frege and Russell (logic and language), Wittgenstein early (picture theory, limits of language) and late (language games, meaning as use), ordinary-language philosophy.

Postmodernism: Lyotard (incredulity toward metanarratives), Foucault (power/knowledge, discourse), Derrida (deconstruction, différance), Rorty (anti-foundationalism).

Epistemology: knowledge as justified true belief (tripartite analysis); Gettier cases refute sufficiency; responses: reliabilism, virtue epistemology, fallibilism.

Sources of knowledge: perception, reason, testimony, memory, introspection; skepticism challenges justification; foundationalism vs. coherentism vs. infinitism.

Metaphysics: ontology of being; realism vs. nominalism about universals; determinism vs. free will (compatibilism, libertarianism, hard determinism); personal identity (body, memory, continuity).

Ethics: consequentialism (outcomes, utilitarianism: greatest happiness), deontology (duty, Kant's categorical imperative), virtue ethics (character, eudaimonia); metaethics asks whether moral claims are true and how.

Aesthetics: beauty as objective property vs. subjective response; Kant's disinterested judgment and 'purposiveness without purpose'; art and expression, art and truth.

Philosophy of religion: classical theism's attributes (omnipotence, omniscience, omnibenevolence); proofs (ontological, cosmological, teleological); problem of evil; faith vs. reason.

Political philosophy: legitimacy, justice (Rawls: justice as fairness, veil of ignorance, difference principle), liberty (positive vs. negative), equality, authority and obligation.

Reconstruct the argument: identify conclusion, premises, hidden assumptions; test validity and check premise truth separately.

Distinguish descriptive (is) from normative (ought) claims; flag equivocation and shifts in meaning of key terms.

Interpretation rule: read in context (author, period, genre, audience); distinguish literal claim from rhetorical strategy; avoid anachronism.

Definition moves: genus + differentia, necessary and sufficient conditions, counterexample testing, conceptual distinction (e.g., analytic/synthetic, a priori/a posteriori).

Essay structure: introduction (problem, thesis, roadmap), body (argument with reasons and objections, textual evidence), conclusion (synthesis, limitations, significance).

Evaluation criteria: clarity of thesis, logical consistency, use of primary sources, addressed counterarguments, coherent terminology.

Common exam tasks: explain a quotation, compare two thinkers, assess an argument, apply a theory to a case - each requires a stated thesis and reasons, not mere summary.