1. Motivation Flashcards
How did Davidson (“Actions, Reasons and Causes”, 1980 break down reasons/intentions?
Into beliefs and ‘pro-attitudes’ –psychological/affective states, desires, feelings of obligation.
What is normativity in philosophy?
The fact of being to do with values, appropriateness, justifiability, etc.
What is the difference between implicit and explicit norms?
Implicit –how to behave in a movie theatre, dress for a wedding
Explicit – rules and laws
Is having a belief and a pro-attitude sufficient for having a reason? (argues Risjord, 2005)
No. Reasons depend on social context, Risjord argues. E.g., Illongot headhunters – pro-attitude = want wife; belief = need to take head to get wife. However, this would count as a reason only in the social context of that tribe. The individual would not hold that reason as valid, nor would others accept it outside of that context.
Erotetic?
Pertaining to questions or questioning.
In erotetic theory, what do Why questions ask?
Why P (topic) rather than Q (foil)?
In erotetic theory, how is the desired answer to a Why question specified?
With relevance criteria –which identifies the set of possible answers.
“Why did the space shuttle Challenger explode?” What is the topic, foil, and ambiguity here, in terms of erotetic theory?
The topic is the explosion of the shuttle.
The foil is the shuttle landing safely.
Ambiguity –the relevance criterion is not specified. Answer could be the efficient cause – e.g., heat melting the airframe
Or it could be a structural condition –e.g., the airframe was no made out of sufficiently robust material
Ceteris paribus
All other things being equal.
Autopoiesis
The term “autopoiesis” (from Greek αὐτo- (auto-), meaning “self”, and ποίησις (poiesis), meaning “creation, production”) refers to a system capable of reproducing and maintaining itself.
Two criticisms of drive theory made by cognitivists, following Robert White’s 1959 paper ‘Motivation Reconsidered’?
- Experimental evidence that organisms appear to still engage in activity even when a drive is satisfied.
- Drive theory excludes the role of cognition in behaviour.
A fortiori
Argumentum a fortiori (Latin: “from a/the stronger [thing]”) is a form of argumentation which draws upon existing confidence in a proposition to argue in favour of a second proposition that is held to be implicit in the first.
In what way does the cognitive theory commit the error of dualism?
It assumes that minds freely choose goals, and then tells the body to pursue these goals. Thus creating a dualism between the free mental and the determined physical. The basic problem is: there must be something driving the choosing.
According to Maze, consciousness is…
Consciousness is “a relationship in which one awareness is the object of another within the same mental life” (Maze 1983, p. 91).
According to Maze, an unconscious mental act is…
An unconscious mental act is one which the cognising subject has not come to know via a subsequent mental act.
Maze’s theory of consciousness correctly identifies unconscious mentality as both logically and temporally ________, relative to conscious mentality.
Maze’s theory of consciousness correctly identifies unconscious mentality as both logically and temporally primary, relative to conscious mentality.
What is Freud’s pleasure principle?
The pleasure principle is the driving force of the id that seeks immediate gratification of all needs, wants, and urges. In other words, the pleasure principle strives to fulfill our most basic and primitive urges, including hunger, thirst, anger, and sex. When these needs are not met, the result is a state of anxiety or tension.
What is Freud’s reality principle?
The reality principle compels people to defer gratification when necessary due to the obstacles of reality. The reality principle is governed by the ego, which controls the instant-gratification mentality of the id.
How has the relationship between the pleasure principle and the reality principle been misunderstood?
The reality principle does not replace or oppose the pleasure principle; it works in the service of the pleasure principle. That is to say, the organism is motivated to know the truth about the environment because such knowledge can maximise its pleasure.
Everything that is involved in the operation of the ______ principle (reason, cognition, perception of reality, exploration of the world, etc.) represents the adjustment to the environment of an organism that is always driven by the ______ principle.
Everything that is involved in the operation of the reality principle (reason, cognition, perception of reality, exploration of the world, etc.) represents the adjustment to the environment of an organism that is always driven by the pleasure principle.
What is the problem of seeking stimulation– e.g., sky-diving – for a drive theory?
Orthodox drive theory claims that behaviour is directed towards drive satisfaction, whereas stimulating activities do they opposite –they appear to ramp up the drives.
Why is the problem of locating the somatic source of the primary drives ‘insurmountable’? (Newbery)
- First you’d need a scanner that can monitor all biochemical processes and correlate them with behaviour.
- Hard to distinguish between a drive that is satiated and a drive that is inoperative. (Don’t buy this whole argument).
- If a biochemical change regularly brings about two behaviours –e.g., eating and sex –how would you know which behaviour was basic to the drive?
What’s the difference between a need and a drive?
Drives are engines of behaviour involving motor outputs. Needs are requirements for survival –what a drive might GET. “Drives are the motivational structures which have evolved, via connection with the organism’s perceptual and cognitive apparatus, to allow the organism to satisfy its basic needs (i.e., to procure supplies needed for life).”
Akrasia?
The state of mind in which someone acts against their better judgement.
