Chapter 2 - Descartes, Locke, and Leibniz

Question 1

Rene Descartes

Answer 1

• rationalist in his method of acquiring knowledge
• dualist about the mind and the body
• described the human body and the mind as 2 interactives but distinctly different entities

Question 2

analytic geometry (Descartes)

Answer 2

a discipline that integrates geometry with algebra
- allowed any point in space to be described by numerical distances from other lines or points in its vicinity

Question 3

methodological doubt (Descartes)

Answer 3

a systematic way of questioning beliefs in order to establish a foundation of certain knowledge

Question 4

cogito ergo sum

Answer 4

i think, therefore i am

Question 5

which 2 properties could be used to explain all physical phenomena

Answer 5

• extension (the space occupied by an object)
• motion (movement of the object in space)
• are true outside of us, the appearances of the world

Question 6

which qualities did Galileo Galilei introduce

Answer 6

• primary qualities (form, quantity, motion)
• secondary qualities (sight, sound, smell, sensation)
• how we personally and subjectively experience the world (reference to Plato and his idealism)

Question 7

moving particles (Descartes)

Answer 7

Descartes thought the world was made up of particles of fire, air, and earth that fill everything

Question 8

mechanistic physiology (Descartes)

Answer 8

• Descartes saw the body as a moving machine
• believed that no soul was needed (contrary to Aristotle)

Question 9

what fluid did Descartes believe nerves were filled with, and how did it function

Answer 9

• animal spirits (cerebrospinal fluid)
• the animal spirit was set in motion when the body collides with an external object/stimulus resulting in a reflex

Question 10

unconditioned reflex

Answer 10

involuntary responses in the organ that senses the stimulus

Question 11

acquired reflex

Answer 11

based on experience and learning such as driving a car or playing an instrument (after a while they become automatic)

Question 12

how could animal spirits explain passions or emotions

Answer 12

• when one is angry the fluids are very active, and the stimulus might trigger a violent response
• when one is sad, the fluids are calm, thus the small reaction and calm response

Question 13

Descartes conclusion

Answer 13

the body and the mind are 2 different things
- a rational soul with innate ideas (God, infinity, substance) because the rational soul is characterized with thinking
- the ideas in my mind are independent of the outside world

Question 14

what question did Elizabeth of Bohemia raise, and what was Descartes explanation

Answer 14

she wanted to know how the interaction between the body and the mind is happening
- Descartes stated the interaction takes place in the pineal gland, however no complete answer was able to be given

Question 15

John Locke

Answer 15

an english empiricist philosopher inspired by Descartes
- believed that we can learn from the outside in a mechanistic/automatic way
- no soul with innate ideas was necessary for knowledge (rejecting the idea of interactive dualism and the rational soul)

Question 16

tabula rasa (Locke)

Answer 16

Locke’s most famous work, the inexperienced human mind is a blank sheet
- only way the blank sheet can be arranged is through experience, the basis for all knowledge

Question 17

the 2 possible kinds of experiences (according to Locke)

Answer 17

• sensations of the object in the external world
• reflections (combination of the sensations) of the mind’s operations
• together these experiences form ideas in the mind which can be recalled (memories)

Question 18

the Molyneux problem (concept of simple and complex ideas)

Answer 18

a man is blind from birth but learns to distinguish a cube and ball with his sense of touch, if he was gained the ability to see, would he be able to distinguish between the cube and ball with only sight?
- no, because the man has not made the association with the look/feel of a cube or ball

Question 19

Locke’s 3 categories of knowledge

Answer 19

intuitive knowledge
- grasping the world without need of proof or explanation (understanding that black is different from white)

demonstrative knowledge
- reasoned knowledge with clear, distinct ideas, and logical proofs

sensitive/sensory knowledge
- knowledge gained through direct sensory experience

Question 20

sensory knowledge

Answer 20

according to Locke, the most common and most disturbed form of knowledge
- due to people depending on their senses (one’s experience of the world could be incomplete)

Question 21

association of ideas (Locke)

Answer 21

the combination of different ideas
- some ideas have a natural connection with each other, others are associated with each other purely by chance

Question 22

how ideas become associated with each other

Answer 22

contiguity
- the simultaneous experience of 2 or more ideas or when they co-occur at the same time, and we then start associating them

similarity
- things that resemble each other

became known as the law of association by contiguity and the law of association by similarity

Question 23

social contract (Locke)

Answer 23

the relationship between the authority of the state and the individual

Question 24

what did John Mill argue regarding people and their environment

Answer 24

if one’s own thoughts and actions are merely the consequences of interactions, education is very important, and a person’s personality will be the result of the interactions one has with one’s environment
- people are the product of their environment

Question 25

pantheism (Leibniz/Spinoza)

Answer 25

God is not an independent being who governs the entire universe, but God himself is the entire universe
- taught to Leibniz by Spinoza

Question 26

what did Leibniz believe after having met Spinoza and van Leeuwenhoek

Answer 26

he believed that everything consists of living things and that the mind is active when constructing knowledge about the world

Question 27

monadism

Answer 27

a philosophical concept suggesting that reality is made up of “monads” each containing the essence of the entire universe

Question 28

4 categories of monads (Leibniz)

Answer 28

1. supreme monad
   - equated with God
   - contains perception, apperception, and deeper consciousness, which governs everything that happens in the universe
2. rational monad
   - combination of sentient monads to become one’s soul or mind
   - able to use apperception (an ideas is not only registered by also further interpreted/active thinking about an idea)
3. sentient monad
   - perception and a kind of consciousness
   - perception is automatic, no thinking is necessary
4. simple/bare monad
   - only have the concept of consciousness (perception)
   - combined, these monads form the basis for physical bodies and material objects

Question 29

minute observations (Leibniz)

Answer 29

attributed by Leibniz to bare monads
- experiencing things unconsciously

Question 30

necessary truths

Answer 30

statements or propositions that are true by virtue of their own nature and do not depend on empirical evidence or contingent facts
- 2+2=4
- pythagorean theorem