ch. 2: pioneering philosophers of mind

Question 1

Rene Descartes (1595)

Answer 1

French philosopher and mathematician

promoted an interactive dualism between a material body and an immaterial mind (soul): different entities with interactions

Question 2

Descartes first rule for acquiring knowledge

Answer 2

never accept anything as true unless it it is so clear/distinct in the mind that there is no reason to doubt

Question 3

Descartes simple natures

Answer 3

the only two properties of physical phenomena that could not be further analyzed or doubted: extension (space occupied by a body) and motion

Question 4

mechanistic physiology: animal spirits

Answer 4

Descartes’ term for the clear, yellowish liquid that resides in the brains ventricles (now known as cerebrospinal fluid)

flow of fluid impacts how quickly we respond to situations

Question 5

mechanistic physiology: reflex

Answer 5

sequence in which a specific stimulus from the external world automatically elicits and specific response

Question 6

interactive dualism

Answer 6

Descartes’ conception of body and mind as two separate entities that interact and influence each other

Question 7

descartes: pineal gland

Answer 7

sensations from the body were reunified in the pineal gland for presentation to the soul

Question 8

descartes: passions

Answer 8

the conscious experiences of the commotions of the animal spirits as sensed in the pineal gland

conscious aware of feelings like love, anger, fear, desire

Question 9

1600s: princess Elizabeth of Bohemia…

Answer 9

conducted an extensive correspondence with Descartes

Descartes letters to Elizabeth on how a material body could interact wit an immaterial mind became the basis of his treatise on the Passions of the Soul

Question 10

who was John Locke?

Answer 10

an english philosopher, physician, and contemporary of Gottfried Leibniz

published an Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Question 11

what was Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding about?

Answer 11

argued that the mind was a blank state at birth and we gain knowledge from experience (empiricism)

criticisms: are we born with instincts like fear or do we learn them?

Question 12

what are the two kinds of experiences presented by Locke?

Answer 12

sensations of objects in the external world

reflections of the mind’s own operations

Question 13

combination of the two experiences of Locke (sensations and reflections) led to:

Answer 13

simple ideas: ideas based on earliest sensations and reflections in infants

complex ideas: ideas produced when simple ideas are combined by the mind

Question 14

William Molyneux challenged Locke by…

Locke challenged it by…

Answer 14

questioning whether a congenitally blind person, suddenly granted sight, would be able to visually distinguish a cube from a sphere

Locke responded in the negative

Question 15

Locke’s intuitive knowledge

Answer 15

immediate and irresistible perceptions, such as the different between black and white

Question 16

Locke’s demonstrative knowledge

Answer 16

knowledge attained by stepwise logical deduction (gain knowledge from what is modeled to us)

Question 17

Locke’s sensitive knowledge

Answer 17

aspects of knowledge that depend on the particular patterns of sensory experiences one happens to have with objects in the world

Question 18

who was Gottfried Leibniz

Answer 18

German philosopher and contemporary of John Locke

proposed a system for understanding the world as composed of dynamic units called monads

Question 19

what are Monads (Leibniz)

Answer 19

ultimate, dynamic units of reality

contains energies and forces of purposive and lawful changes with some capacity for awareness of its activity

arranged into a hierarchy of 4 classes

Question 20

bare monads

Answer 20

units that possess only a faint level of awareness; when collected together in large quantities, they make up material objects

Question 21

sentient monads

Answer 21

units capable of sensation, perception, and memory

when part of a physical body, they comprise the souls of living yet still being nonhuman organisms

Question 22

rational monads

Answer 22

units that are part of the conscious soul/mind

capable of apperception: how we register/process ideas ; allows us to make sense of ideas

Question 23

Supreme monads

Answer 23

unit at the top of Leibniz’s hierarchy that controls and contains everything else in the universe; equated with God

Question 24

Sophie the Countess Palatine

Answer 24

youngest sister of Descartes’s intellectual friend Elizabeth of Bohemia

friend and supporter of Leibniz

Question 25

Sophie Charlotte

Answer 25

daughter of Sophie the Countess Palatine

friend and supporter of Leibniz

Question 26

Leibniz counter argument to Locke

Answer 26

Leibniz was impressed with the idea but did NOT agree that the mind was a blank slate.

Rather it is like a veined slab of marble that can be more easily sculpted in some areas more than others