Capstone Midterm Flashcards
What is historiography?
The study of how historians analyze, study and write about history.
What is presentism?
Looking at events in history through a modern perspective, implementing modern values and concepts.
What are the main three “theories” about History’s direction and patterns?
Chaos theory: History has no universal meaning, and is just a play of the incontingent and unforeseen. The meanings of history are imposed by us.
Linear-progressive hypothesis: Each generation builds upon discoveries made in the previous generation. Progress in human knowledge and society in general.
Cyclical hypothesis: History repeats itself.
Nativism vs Empiricism: how do they view how perception works?
Nativism: Some of what we know is instinctive and natural, from birth.
Empiricism: Knowledge is developed from experience.
What are the three main models of science?
From Karl Popper, Thomas Kuhn, and Paul Feyeraband?
Karl Popper - Science is inductive in nature. Theories cannot be 100% confirmed, only disconfirmed. Theories must be falsifiable.
Thomas Kuhn - Scientific paradigms (accepted beliefs) are made when there is enough consensus from researchers. This is consensus until the paradigm has shifted: “Scientific revolution”
Paul Feyeraband - Anything that gets results should be considered science. There isn’t one scientific method. “Anarchistic.”
What is the study of what the purpose of an object is? It is a debate between if things have an intrinsic or extrinsic purpose.
Teleology
Causality is important in philosophy and psychology. What are Aristotle’s four causes?
Efficient cause - What immediately sets the object in motion.
Material cause - The physical “possibility” of the cause to have the effect.
Final cause - The “end” or “purpose” of the event that occurred.
Formal cause - “How it was done,” or the “style” that the event occurred in.
Who suggested that cause isn’t necessarily real, and that it is impossible to derive all of the causes of a specific event?
David Hume
What evidence did the Libet experiment provide for determinism?
The cerebral cortex became active with a “readiness potential” 350 ms before the participant reported awareness of their decision.
Where did Egyptians believe the “soul” or “core” of the human lied?
The heart. We nowadays see it as the brain.
Who was the first to classify mental disorders and what were they? There were 2.
Hippocrates; paranoia and epilepsy.
Aristotle says facts were experienced by _____?
Senses
Aristotle was a big proponent of free will. What did he talk about that backs this up?
Individual differences, habit formation, freedom of choice, seeking to do moral things and not just pleasurable
Who was the perverse deviant that was ahead of his time regarding psychology, discussing concepts such as dreams, memories, habit, and grief?
Aurelius Augustine
Who was responsible for bridging the gap between the medieval era and renaissance, and also between faith and reason?
Thomas Aquinas
Who was responsible for the geocentric model of the universe?
Ptolemy
What theory did Copernicus from the Renaissance study? His book was banned.
Heliocentric theory
Who during the renaissance rejected the moralistic approach to life? What type of influence on humans was he interested in?
Machiavelli, social influence
What did Juan Luis Vives support regarding education that wasn’t too popular?
He supported giving education to women and poor people.
What philosophy did Montaigne subscribe to and what does he believe about the value of humans?
Skepticism; he thinks that humans are no more important than animals, and that we are too trusting of faith and even our own senses.
What’s an inconsistency of human action Montaigne points out?
We have many desires but they constantly change. Another is, we act differently in different situations / roles.
What is epistemology?
How we know what we know.
What did Francis Bacon place emphasis on regarding obtaining knowledge?
Scientific methods. Empiricism.
Francis Bacon’s four Idols are what he saw as the most common mistakes that lead us astray from obtaining knowledge. What are they?
Tribe - Weaknesses in human nature. Such as being satisfied with simple, easy to understand answers.
Cave - Preferred explanations for scientific phenomena; essentially bias. Wanting to prove something right or wrong instead of the truth.
Marketplace - People thinking the mere naming of something explains it; descriptors don’t capture the truth.
Theatre - People accepting authority without challenging it. Accepting the paradigm uncritically.
