Chapter 2 Flashcards

1
Q

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

a method for obtaining knowledge

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2
Q

The hydraulically operated mechanical statues at St. Germain were important to Descartes because

A

they suggested the idea that animal bodies could be understood mechanistically as automata.

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3
Q

Descartes’s mathematical invention, which integrated algebra and geometry, is called

A

analytic geometry.

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4
Q

The first rule of Descartes’s method, providing the equivalent of the geometric axioms, was to

A

doubt everything.

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5
Q

The only “simple natures” Descartes discerned when he applied his method to the analysis of the physical world were the concepts of

A

extension and motion.

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6
Q

According to Descartes’s physics, the entire physical universe is made up of

A

invisible particles of “fire,” invisible particles of “air,” and visible particles of material “earth.”

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7
Q

In the Treatise of Man, Descartes provided mechanistic explanations for all the following functions EXCEPT

A

reason

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8
Q

In Descartes’s theory of the reflex mechanism, stimuli are transmitted to the brain by means of __________, and responses are initiated by __________.

A

tugs and pulls on filaments through nerves; the flow of animal spirits through the nerves and into the muscles

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9
Q

Descartes accounted mechanistically for emotional influences on behavior by postulating

A

currents and “commotions” in the reservoir of animal spirits.

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10
Q

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.

A

sleep and dreaming

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11
Q

When Descartes found he could doubt everything except the reality of his doubting itself, he gained immediate reassurance of the

A

reality of his rational mind.

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12
Q

Descartes believed that concepts such as “unity,” “infinity,” or “perfection,” which cannot be represented by single sensory impressions, were which of the following?

A

innate ideas of the rational soul

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13
Q

Descartes believed that the

A

body and mind interact and mutually influence each other, with neither always dominating.

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14
Q

Descartes believed that animals were

A

mechanical automata, lacking consciousness.

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15
Q

Where did Descartes localize the most important interactions between the body and the soul?

A

in the pineal gland

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16
Q

According to Descartes’s theory of visual perception, the

A

mind’s conscious perception is a nearly perfect replica of the real observed object.

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17
Q

Descartes hypothesized that when the pineal gland is moved by eddies and currents in the cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds it,

A

the soul becomes conscious of a passion.

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18
Q

Since Descartes’s time, research has shown that

A

his theory of bodily mechanism was wrong in details but highly productive in its general implications.

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19
Q

According to Galileo, the characteristics of material particles—shape, quantity, and motion—were called

A

primary qualities.

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20
Q

Galileo defined secondary qualities as

A

qualities that do not reside inherently in matter but arise only after the primary qualities impinge on the human senses.

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21
Q

Legend has it that Descartes did much of his best thinking

A

in bed

22
Q

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

A

how the immaterial mind and the material body interacted.

23
Q

Descartes’s Treatise on the Passions of the Soul (1649) was highly influenced by his correspondence with

A

Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia.

24
Q

Descartes believed that the passions were the

A

conscious experiences of the body’s emotions.

25
Q

When Gottfried Leibniz first read John Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding, what was his reaction?

A

He was impressed but felt that Locke’s empiricism went too far.

26
Q

Locke’s and Leibniz’s careers were alike in that both of them were

A

dependent on wealthy patrons.

27
Q

Who was an early scientist who initiated the practice of bringing together groups of investigators for scientific discussions?

A

Robert Boyle

28
Q

Locke’s initial purpose in writing his Essay Concerning Human Understanding was to discover

A

what kind of correct knowledge the human mind was and was not capable of acquiring.

29
Q

Locke withheld publication of Two Treatises of Government and Essay Concerning Human Understanding for many years primarily because

A

he felt it would be politically dangerous to publish them.

30
Q

Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding asserted that the mind is

A

furnished with all of its ideas from experience.

31
Q

Locke’s Simple Ideas were defined as

A

one’s idea based on elementary sensation such as redness or coldness

32
Q

Locke’s Complex Ideas were defined as

A

ideas produced when simple ideas are combined by the mind in varying combinations.

33
Q

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?

A

intuitive knowledge

34
Q

Locke suggested a __________ as a metaphor for the human mind at birth.

A

tabula rasa or blank slate

35
Q

For Locke, the largest amount of human knowledge was of which type?

A

sensitive

36
Q

For Locke, the primary qualities of objects

A

truly exist within the objects themselves.

37
Q

In Locke’s terminology, sensory impressions such as sounds, colors, temperatures, tastes, and odors are called

A

secondary qualities.

38
Q

Locke’s version of the Social Contract Theory differed from that of his predecessor Hobbes in which way?

A

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.

39
Q

All of the following are considered members of the “British associationist” tradition of mental philosophy EXCEPT

A

Richard Busby.

40
Q

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 __________.

A

William Molyneux; no he could not

41
Q

Which two important mathematical discoveries were made by Leibniz as a young man in Paris?

A

binary arithmetic and the infinitesimal calculus

42
Q

Leibniz met and was impressed by the philosopher__________, whose pantheism held that__________.

A

Spinoza; God is the entire universe

43
Q

Which of the following is least consistent with Leibniz’s conception of the universe?

A

It is composed of material particles in motion and their interaction with each other.

44
Q

Which of the following is NOT part of Leibniz’s definition of monads?

A

They are infinitely divisible into ever smaller parts.

45
Q

Leibniz’s sentient monads are presumably dominant in __________, while rational monads reside in __________.

A

animals; human beings

46
Q

Leibniz defined apperception as the

A

process by which perceptions are accompanied by self-awareness and interpreted in terms of underlying laws and principles.

47
Q

Leibniz referred to the rules of arithmetic, the geometrical axioms, and the rules of logic as examples of what he called

A

necessary truths.

48
Q

In Leibniz’s New Essays on Human Understanding he likened his own position to that of __________ and Locke’s position to that of __________.

A

Plato; Aristotle

49
Q

Leibniz agreed with Locke that “There is nothing in the intellect that was not first in the senses,” with the exception of what?

A

the mind itself

50
Q

Leibniz proposed all of the following features of “minute perceptions” EXCEPT

A

they are experienced only by animals and humans.

51
Q

Which of the following was one of Leibniz’s favorite metaphors for the human mind at birth?

A

a veined slab of marble