Chapter 2 Flashcards
The ideas that young Descartes had at Ulm, which transformed his life and really started him on his vocation as a philosopher and scientist, were primarily about
a method for obtaining knowledge
The hydraulically operated mechanical statues at St. Germain were important to Descartes because
they suggested the idea that animal bodies could be understood mechanistically as automata.
Descartes’s mathematical invention, which integrated algebra and geometry, is called
analytic geometry.
The first rule of Descartes’s method, providing the equivalent of the geometric axioms, was to
doubt everything.
The only “simple natures” Descartes discerned when he applied his method to the analysis of the physical world were the concepts of
extension and motion.
According to Descartes’s physics, the entire physical universe is made up of
invisible particles of “fire,” invisible particles of “air,” and visible particles of material “earth.”
In the Treatise of Man, Descartes provided mechanistic explanations for all the following functions EXCEPT
reason
In Descartes’s theory of the reflex mechanism, stimuli are transmitted to the brain by means of __________, and responses are initiated by __________.
tugs and pulls on filaments through nerves; the flow of animal spirits through the nerves and into the muscles
Descartes accounted mechanistically for emotional influences on behavior by postulating
currents and “commotions” in the reservoir of animal spirits.
Descartes hypothesized that the state of __________ occurs when the brain is relatively emptied of animal spirits, so that its nerve fibers are slack and only infrequently capable of transmitting stimulation.
sleep and dreaming
When Descartes found he could doubt everything except the reality of his doubting itself, he gained immediate reassurance of the
reality of his rational mind.
Descartes believed that concepts such as “unity,” “infinity,” or “perfection,” which cannot be represented by single sensory impressions, were which of the following?
innate ideas of the rational soul
Descartes believed that the
body and mind interact and mutually influence each other, with neither always dominating.
Descartes believed that animals were
mechanical automata, lacking consciousness.
Where did Descartes localize the most important interactions between the body and the soul?
in the pineal gland
According to Descartes’s theory of visual perception, the
mind’s conscious perception is a nearly perfect replica of the real observed object.
Descartes hypothesized that when the pineal gland is moved by eddies and currents in the cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds it,
the soul becomes conscious of a passion.
Since Descartes’s time, research has shown that
his theory of bodily mechanism was wrong in details but highly productive in its general implications.
According to Galileo, the characteristics of material particles—shape, quantity, and motion—were called
primary qualities.
Galileo defined secondary qualities as
qualities that do not reside inherently in matter but arise only after the primary qualities impinge on the human senses.
Legend has it that Descartes did much of his best thinking
in bed
Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia had an important intellectual friendship with Descartes and, while she was highly impressed by Descartes’s writings, she disagreed with him on
how the immaterial mind and the material body interacted.
Descartes’s Treatise on the Passions of the Soul (1649) was highly influenced by his correspondence with
Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia.
Descartes believed that the passions were the
conscious experiences of the body’s emotions.
When Gottfried Leibniz first read John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding, what was his reaction?
He was impressed but felt that Locke’s empiricism went too far.
Locke’s and Leibniz’s careers were alike in that both of them were
dependent on wealthy patrons.
Who was an early scientist who initiated the practice of bringing together groups of investigators for scientific discussions?
Robert Boyle
Locke’s initial purpose in writing his Essay Concerning Human Understanding was to discover
what kind of correct knowledge the human mind was and was not capable of acquiring.
Locke withheld publication of Two Treatises of Government and Essay Concerning Human Understanding for many years primarily because
he felt it would be politically dangerous to publish them.
Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding asserted that the mind is
furnished with all of its ideas from experience.
Locke’s Simple Ideas were defined as
one’s idea based on elementary sensation such as redness or coldness
Locke’s Complex Ideas were defined as
ideas produced when simple ideas are combined by the mind in varying combinations.
When we recognize the difference (disagreement) between things, for example differentiating something black from something white, Locke would say we are using what type of knowledge?
intuitive knowledge
Locke suggested a __________ as a metaphor for the human mind at birth.
tabula rasa or blank slate
For Locke, the largest amount of human knowledge was of which type?
sensitive
For Locke, the primary qualities of objects
truly exist within the objects themselves.
In Locke’s terminology, sensory impressions such as sounds, colors, temperatures, tastes, and odors are called
secondary qualities.
Locke’s version of the Social Contract Theory differed from that of his predecessor Hobbes in which way?
Locke’s version assumed the contract was a more rational choice by the governed, who could break the contract under conditions of severe governmental abuse.
All of the following are considered members of the “British associationist” tradition of mental philosophy EXCEPT
Richard Busby.
The hypothetical question of whether a man who was blind from birth but suddenly granted the gift of sight would immediately be able to distinguish a sphere from a cube without touching them was posed to Locke by__________, whose answer was __________.
William Molyneux; no he could not
Which two important mathematical discoveries were made by Leibniz as a young man in Paris?
binary arithmetic and the infinitesimal calculus
Leibniz met and was impressed by the philosopher__________, whose pantheism held that__________.
Spinoza; God is the entire universe
Which of the following is least consistent with Leibniz’s conception of the universe?
It is composed of material particles in motion and their interaction with each other.
Which of the following is NOT part of Leibniz’s definition of monads?
They are infinitely divisible into ever smaller parts.
Leibniz’s sentient monads are presumably dominant in __________, while rational monads reside in __________.
animals; human beings
Leibniz defined apperception as the
process by which perceptions are accompanied by self-awareness and interpreted in terms of underlying laws and principles.
Leibniz referred to the rules of arithmetic, the geometrical axioms, and the rules of logic as examples of what he called
necessary truths.
In Leibniz’s New Essays on Human Understanding he likened his own position to that of __________ and Locke’s position to that of __________.
Plato; Aristotle
Leibniz agreed with Locke that “There is nothing in the intellect that was not first in the senses,” with the exception of what?
the mind itself
Leibniz proposed all of the following features of “minute perceptions” EXCEPT
they are experienced only by animals and humans.
Which of the following was one of Leibniz’s favorite metaphors for the human mind at birth?
a veined slab of marble
