2: Descartes, Locke and Leibnitz Flashcards
Who came up with the idea of primary and secondary qualities?
Galileo
What are primary qualities described by Galileo?
The quality of an object that excists in the physical world such as it’s true weight
What are secondary qualities described by Galileo?
Qualities we perceive an object to have such as it’s colour
It can be altered in different states of consciousness
What ideas did Descartes come up with?
4 principles
Simple natures
Mechanistic physiology
Innate ideas
Did Descartes believe in nature or nurture?
Nature
What were Descartes’ 4 principles?
Skepticism: Critical of authority and thought everything was uncertain
Mechanism: The body is mechanical
Dualism: The mind and soul are different entities
Nativism: We’re born with a sense of the soul
What was Descartes’ principle of skepticism?
Critical of authority and thought everything was uncertain
What was Descartes’ principle of Mechanism?
The body is mechanical
What was Descartes’ principle of Dualism?
The mind and soul are different entities
What was Descartes’ principle of nativism?
We’re born with a sense of the soul
What was Descartes’ idea of simple natures?
These are the fundamental physical properties of an object that can’t be analysed and are beyond doubt
What is the idea of mechanistic physiology described by Descartes?
Sensation occurs when sensory organs tug at filaments inside nerves
This causes animal spirits to flow into effectors and cause movement
According to mechanistic theory, how are emotions caused?
Commotions in the flow of animal spirits such as anger where spirits flow with force
What are innate ideas?
Ideas we’re born with but can’t experiance such as infinity and perfection
What was the purpose of the Royal Society of London?
To conduct experiments and establish facts beyond doubt
Like Descartes, they were skeptical of everything
What books did Locke write?
Two treatises of government (1689)
Philosophy of mind - An essay concerning human understanding (1689)
What were Locke’s major ideas?
Nurture - We’re born as a blank slate
Our senses can be fooled so we can make errors with secondry qualities
Kinds of knowledge
What was Locke’s book, treatises of government, about?
Political work disgussing democracy or royal rule containing a blueprint for democratic nation states
What are the modern applications of treatises of government by Locke?
Is now the basis for UN human rights
Influenced the US declaration of independence
What was Locke’s book, philosophy of mind, about?
We’re born as a blank slate with the ability to perceive simple sensory ideas
We combine simple ideas to form more complex ones such as an object having several properties at once to be something specific
Ideas become associated if they are similar or experianced together
How did Locke and Descartes disagree?
Descartes was on the nature side of the debate and argued that we have innate ideas. Locke thought everything was learnt - nurture
What two kinds of experiances did Locke highlight?
Sensations: Of objects in the external world
Reflections: Of the mind’s own operations
What is a sensation experiance according to Locke?
Experiancing objects in the external world
What is a reflection experiance according to Locke?
The internal experiance in our minds such as thinking about something unlinked to the environment
What are the kinds of knowledge according to Locke?
Intuitive knowledge: Immediate and certain such as recognising the difference between two objects
Demonstrative knowledge: Reasoning that leads us to a conclusion that’s not obvious
Sensitive knowledge: Created by the patterns of sensory input we experience.
What is intuitive knowledge?
Perceptions that are immediate and certain such as recognising the difference between two objects
What is demonstrative knowledge?
Reasoning that leads us to a conclusion that’s not obvious from our intuitive knowledge
What is sensitive knowledge?
Created by the patterns of sensory input we experience.
What associations of ideas are outlined by Locke?
Natural associations: Relationships defined by scientific laws (Such as things sharing similar characteristics)
Accidental associations: Caused by culture instead of nature
Only natural associations are true knowledge
What were the major ideas of Leibnitz?
Infinitesmal
Monads
Innate knowledge
What is infinitesimal described by Leibnitz?
The mind has some native properties as we have concepts of things even if they’re abstract such as perception
What did Leibnitz write in his book new essays concerning human understanding?
Human consciousness is on a continum from apperception to perception
There are necessary truths such as logic and geometry
We’re born with Innate knowledge
What are the different kinds of monads outlined by Leibnitz?
Bare monads: Like sleeping bodies, not living
Sentient monads: Capable of consciousness, perception and memory (Animals)
Rational monads: Capable of rational analysis - only humans have this
Supreme monad: Mind of God
Who came up with the idea of monads?
Leibnitz
What is a bare monad?
Something that is not living
What is a sentient monad?
Something capable of consciousness, perception and memory (Animals)
What is a rational monad?
Something capable of rational analysis (Only humans)
What is a supreme monad?
The mind of God
Nature/Nurture debate
Nature: Decartes and Leibnitz
Nurture: Locke
