Chapter 5 Empiricism

Question 1

Locke and most empiricists were materialists and physical monists
TorF

Answer 1

F.
Most were cartesian dualists.

For Locke on the mind/body: it was enough to say that “somehow” something physical caused something mental

Question 2

Locke was opposed to Descartes innate ideas and the idea of the mind possessing any innate faculties
TorF

Answer 2

F.
Innate ideas no- those come from sensations.

Innate operations (faculties), no. He was down with that.

Bit of an active mind with “reflections”. Once ideas are in the mind they are subject to mental operations

Question 3

T or F
Locke had a hedonistic idea of motivation, like hobbes

Answer 3

T
Seek pleasure, avoid pain

Question 4

Explain primary and 2ndary qualities as used by boyle and locke

Answer 4

The greeks used it to describe primary as “actually existing” and 2ndary as subjective.

For locke and boyle “quality” was its ability to produce an idea.
Primary qualities give ideas that actually correspond to the real world.

Color, sound, temp, taste
Paradox of basins shows this

Idea: some of pur psychological experiences correspond to the real world. Some do not

Question 5

T or F
For locke we get ideas from sensations. Then, association organizes those thoughts. He was an associationist.

Answer 5

F.
Associationism was used just to explain faulty beliefs
We perform mental operations on ideas. Active mind.

Question 6

P.128 lockes thoughts eduxation and society

Question 7

For berkeley: why did he come up with his theory of everything?

What explains stability?

Answer 7

Moral decay and loss of religiosity. To refute materialiam he refuted matter….dumb

Reality is stable b/c god is stable. When he decides not to be we get a miracle!

Question 8

How does berkeley think we identify a ball?

Answer 8

Senses give us distinct stimulus. We associate them together with contiguity.

Question 9

For berkley and locke, what happens if a man born blind is given sight?

Answer 9

Not able to determine a triangle from a square. He has no learned associations.

Berkley said they also wouldnt be able to see distance: cues for distance (big or small in visual field, tactile cues from moving toward or away)

Question 10

Describe descartes geometric theory of vision and berkley’s empirical thepry of perception

P.131 bottom left

Question 11

Explain significance of berkleys ideas?

Answer 11

• provided a model for how complex perceptions could be an amalgam of sense info. (Sight, hearing, touch)

Question 12

Describe Hume’s entire theory of mental phenomena

Answer 12

It all starts from impressions! (empiricism)

Impressions—simple ideas—imagination (rearranges) and/or CCR
(Ideas consistently experienced together creates the belief that one will follow the other)

BUT

CCR. Hume gave himself (too) much credit for using using association to explain how we all come to similar conclusions re. reality. If it was up to imagination we would all have different ideas of reality, but laws of association makes it so we associate things together in a way that we experience them in the real world.

• The contents of the mind come from experience (empiricism)
• Agreed with Berkley. We do not perceive physical world directly. (didnt go as far as berkley tho)

Impressions: strong perceptions
ideas: weak perceptions

Stole locke’s idea: simple and complex ideas. Impressions become simple ideas, which can be arranged by the imagination.

Ideas that are experience together consistently create the belief that one follows the other. These beliefs constitute our view of reality. Imagination can make a blue banana, but we never see one.

Question 13

What does Hume mean when he says that “Custom, then, is the great guide of human life.” ?

Answer 13

Cause and effect is a subjective experience, a custom or belief.

• We can’t truly be sure that B will always follow A. It is just a consistency we observe.
• this assumption is necessary to live effective lives.

Question 14

Hume’s observations necessary for cause and effect

Answer 14

1. The cause and effect must be contiguous in space and time.
2. The cause must be prior to the effect.
3. There must be a constant union betwixt the cause and effect. It is chiefly this quality that constitutes the relation.
4. The same cause always produces the same ef- fect, and the same effect never arises but from the same cause. (Flew, 1962, p. 216)

Question 15

What has traditionally been used to explain the “unity of experience” that we have across different situations?

Explain Hume’s take on this

Answer 15

The concept of mind or self.

• Hume rejected mind. Mind is just the perceptions we are having at the moment.

Question 16

jT or F
Hume had a hedonistic view of human behavior

Explain Hume’s concept of human behavior. Was it deterministic?

Answer 16

T
Character/passions determines behavior. (ie. consistent reactions across situations)

• Deterministic: Associations formed through experienced between passions vs ideas/impressions
• It isn’t ideas or impressions that cause behavior, but passions. But still, deterministic: determined by these laws

Question 17

Who wanted to do for moral philosophy what newton did for natural philosophy? What method was used that was distinctly “anti-newtonian”?

Describe his idea of experimentation

Answer 17

Hume
- experimentation, observation

Method: favored bacons induction over deduction

• observe how experiences are related to eachother and behavior.

Question 18

What 2 things did James mill think accounted for the variation in strengths of association?
Which was most important?
Describe the factors in one of the things

Answer 18

Vividness and frequency (p.141):
Frequency was most important
1. Sensations more vivid than ideas
2. pain/pleasure associated sensations/ideas more vivid
3. Recent more vivid