Chapter 5 (Empiricism, Sensationalism, Positivism)

Question 1

Empiricism

Answer 1

the belief that all knowledge is derived from experience, especially sensory experience

Question 2

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

Answer 2

believed that the primary motive in human behaviour is the seeking of pleasure and the avoidance of pain.

For Hobbes, the function of government is to satisfy as many human needs as possible and to prevent humans from fighting with each other.

Hobbes believed that all human activity, including mental activity, could be reduced to atoms in motion; therefore he was a materialist

sometimes called the founder of British empiricism

Question 3

John Locke (1632-1704)

Answer 3

an empiricist who denied the existence of innate ideas but who assumed many nativistically determined powers of the mind.

Locke distinguished between primary qualities, which cause sensations that correspond to actual attributes of physical bodies, and secondary qualities, which cause sensations that have no counterparts in the physical world.

The types of ideas postulated by Locke included those caused by sensory stimulation, those caused by reflection, simple ideas, and complex ideas, which were composites of simple ideas

Question 4

Idea

Answer 4

a mental event that lingers after impressions or sensations have ceased

Question 5

Sensation

Answer 5

the rudimentary mental experience that results from the stimulation of one or more sense receptors

Question 6

Reflection

Answer 6

according to Locke, the ability to use the powers of the mind to creatively rearrange ideas derived from sensory experience

Question 7

Simple Ideas

Answer 7

the mental remnants of sensations

Locke - Simple ideas, from sensation or reflection, constitute the atoms (corpuscles) of experience because they cannot be divided or analyzed further into other ideas

Question 8

Complex Ideas

Answer 8

configurations of simple ideas

Locke -Complex ideas are composites of simple ideas and therefore can be analyzed into their component parts (simple ideas)

Question 9

Quality

Answer 9

according to Locke, the aspect of a physical object that has the power to produce an idea

Question 10

Paradox of the Basins

Answer 10

Locke’s observation that warm water will feel either hot or cold depending on whether a hand is first placed in hot water or cold water. Because water cannot be hot and cold at the same time, temperature must be a secondary, not primary, quality

Question 11

Associationism

Answer 11

the belief that the laws of association provide the fundamental principles by which all mental phenomena can be explained

Question 12

George Berkeley (1685-1753)