Consciousness Invented Flashcards
When did Rene Descartes live?
1596-1650.
What was Rene Descartes famous as?
A physicist, physiologist, mathematician (Cartesian coordinates) and philosopher.
What was Descartes’ best philosophical idea?
Hyperbolic doubt - can doubt but cannot doubt that he exists Must have basic characteristics of thinking - thinking thing is distinct from body
What were Descartes’ beliefs regarding religion?
He rejected religious authority in the quest of scientific and philosophical knowledge, like the humanists, but he was a devout Catholic
How did Bacon and Descartes disagree on the development of knowledge?
Bacon suggested that induction (something happens and will therefore continue to happen) was an appropriate method for science, but Descartes insisted on a deductive approach.
For Descartes, what three abilities constitute human reason?
Intuition - understand simple nature of a subject Deduction - process of inferring relationships between simple natures Enumeration - review process when errors are made due to misremembering
What is the wax argument?
Used by Descartes to show that knowledge is not always derived from the senses How do we know that solid and melted wax are the same substance?
What is substance dualism?
Proposed by Descartes Mind and body are two distinct substances If two things are distinct and made of different substnaces they can exist separstely - therefore mind and body can exist separately
What are the essential attributes of mental substance and physical substance?
Mental = thought Physical = extension (occupation of physical space)
What is the problem of interaction?
How do the mind and body interact is they exist separately?
What is the ghost in the machone criticism of Descartes?
Descartes belived that thee body and mind are so intimate that they cannot be separated - this is one of God’s miracles
What did Descartes say was unique to humans?
Only humans have dual spirit/body nature
What did Descartes say about animals?
Have bodies but not souls - they are biological automata which behave according to their biological makeup
What did Descartes say about knowledge?
Ideas that appear clear and certain must be innate - cannot be derived from experience
When was John Locke alive?
1632-1704
What was John Locke?
A British empiricist
What important work did Locke write and what does it discuss?
Essay concerning human understanding 1690 Theorises about concepts such as the self and their epistemological basis Four books
What was the first of Locke’s books and what did it state?
Against Innate Ideas That something is innate is a hypothesis which requires empirical support
What were Locke’s arguments against innate ideas?
If propositions are innate, they should be immediately perceived - children and ‘idiots’ do not show evidence of this If propositions are innate, we should all acquire and agree on them - shouldn’t be subjective
What did Locke say about the suggection that innate ideas are dispostional?
Dispositional accounts lack adequate criterion for distinguishing innate propositions from those that the mind derives from experience
What does Locke say about the content of the mind?
Content of mind is acquired through experience - humans are autonomous rational subjects
What does Locke say about faculties?
Knowledge is acquired by faculties (i.e. cognitive functions) are innate
Where did Locke believe that knowledge could come from?
Sensory experience or reflection/introspection
What does Locke discuss in book 2?
Empiricism and the Tabula Rasa
What is the idea of the tabula rasa?
Mind is a blank sheet until experience allows knowledge to be constructed
What do our faculties do?
Receive and manipulate the content we acquire
What different methods does the mind use to combine simple ideas?
Combination Relating - bring ideas together to view them but dont combine them Generalisation - producing ideas by abstraction
What does Locke discuss in book 4?
What can we know
How does Locke define knowledge?
‘The perception of the connexion and agreement or disgreement and repugnancy of any of our ideas’
What can we know according to Locke?
Own existence, existence of God and truths of morality and mathematics
What does Locke say about our knowledge of external. material objects?
It is probabilstic and limited to our sensory experience of these objects Probabilistic meaning that evidence exists allowing us to judge whether something is true or false without being certain
When was Liebniz alive?
1646-1716
Which fields did Liebniz make contributions to?
Engineering, mathematics, physics, linguistics, history, politics, philosophy
What were Liebniz’s views on materialism and dualism?
Denied that there is only a choice between matrialism and dualism - rejected both
What is pre-established harmony?
No interactions between different substances - everthing is regulated by pre-established harmony giving an appearance of causality
What does Liebniz say about causation?
a state of a substance has as a real cause, some previous state of that same substance Each substance is programmed that its states are carried out in conformity with all state of every other substance
When was Thomas Hobbes alive?
1588-1679
What is Hobbes considered the founder of?
Modern political philosophy
What did Hobbes think about nominalism/
Has extreme nominalist view - universals are convenient names for remembered sense experiences
When can one make formal scientific deductions according to Hobbes?
Once terms are clearly defined and used rightly Make deduction about humans like statements made about geometry
What did Hobbes belive about nature?
Made of small particles in motion - everything is corporeal of material This makes Hobbes a substance monist
What is substance monism?
Only one type of substance exists although many different things can be made from this substance
What does Hobbes say about free will?
Hobbes is a determinist and belived that free will is an illusion
What were Hobbes’ views on morality?
Nothing is intrinsically right or wrong - perceived as good or bad depending on context Therefore, morality is an illusion
What were Hobbes’ two universal laws about human nature?
First: Fundamental desire of infinite appetite which pushes us to actions that can fulfill ths desire Second: Fear of death pushes us to use reason to avoid pain and seek pleasure to maintain survival and well-being
What do Hobbes’ universal laws give rise to?
The state of nature
What is the state of nature?
Individuals avoid others having power over them to preserve their survival – the optimum solution is to cooperate But others are unpredictable and it is difficult to spot those who are irrational The only solution is to be in a permanent state of preventative war
What was Hobbes’ main concern?
The problem of social and political order - how can people live together in peace and avoid danger and fear of conflict?
How does Hobbes suggect is the solution to the problem of social and political order?
Humans need to promise to each other that they will fulfil their social contracts in a way that can be enforced Thus civil society is born and a sovereign is chosen to represent people and enforce the adherence to contracts between them
According to Herbert (1989), what are Hobbes’ societal relations/social contracts designed to cancel out?
Cancel three motives that cause conflict - Competition – desire for personal gain - Diffidence – fear for safety - Glory – desire for reputation
When was Benedict De Spinoza alive?
1632-1677
Who was Spinoza?
An excommunicated Jew, reviled by Jews and Christians (his work cause much offense)
What doctrines did Spinoza believe in?
Substance monism - Spinoza’a substance is God Determinism - necessity of divine nature
Which belief did Spinoza say is a mistake?
Belief that we have free will We believe we are free because we are conscious of our actions To assume that will exists which is independent of external causal determinants is to remove it from nature which is ridiculous
What did Spinoza say about living according to reason?
Living according to our reason, our inclination to facilitate cooperation and our desire for social harmony will be expressed in the social world in which we exist
