Exam 1 Flashcards
Zeitgeist
Intellectual climate of the times (also the existing social, economic, and political factors)
Personalistic theory
View that progress and change in scientific history are attributable to the ideas of unique individuals
Naturalistic theory
Times make the person or makes possible the recognition for their ideas (Ex: Simultaneous discoveries)
Mechanism (& its time period)
Doctrine that natural processes are mechanically determined and capable of explanation by the laws of physics and chemistry (17th –>19thc)
Mechanism methods (3)
Observation, experimentation, and measurement
The clockwork universe
clock: “Mother of machines”/ Clocks made punctuality and orderliness very important, thus life became more predictable
Determinism
Belief that every act is determined or caused by past events
Reductionism
Doctrines that explains phenomena on one level (Ex: complex ideas) in terms of phenomena on another level (Ex: simple ideas)
Automata (& its pop century)
Popularized the notion that beings were just another kind of machine/ Pop. in EU during the 17th c.
People as machines (inspired by what 2 ideas/explain)
Clocks & automata/ Idea that human functioning and behavior were gov. by mechanical laws and thus could be measured experimentally & quantitatively
Empiricism
Pursuit of knowledge through obersvation and experimentation
___ (person) symbolized the transition the era of mod. psy
Descarte
Descarte on the mind and body problem
The question of the distinction between mental and physical qualities
D: Mind and body are ___ entities, mind ____ body and ___ ___
different, influences, vice versa
D: bc the ___ is composed of matter, it must possess those characteristics common to all matter
body
Reflex action theory and its theorist
Descarte: Idea that an external object (stimulus) can bring about an involuntary resp. (reflexes)
Innate ideas & its theorist
Descarte: Arise from the mind or consciousness/ independent of sensory experiences of external stimuli
Note worthy contributions from Descarte (5)
Mechanistic conception of the body/ theory of reflexes/ mind-body interaction/ localization of mental functions in the brain/ doctrine of innate ideas
Who’s essay marked the beginning of British empiricism?
John Locke’s understanding human behavior
Locke’s key ideas (7)
mind blank slate, sensation ideas, reflection,simple ideas, theory of association, primary and secondary qualities
Locke’s mind as blank slate
no innate ideas, instead, in terms of learning and habit experience
Sensation ideas
Derived from direct sensory input from physical objects (operate on the mind and the mind operates on the sensations, reflecting on them to form ideas)
Reflection
Based on impressions already experienced through the senses/ sensations are the forerunner/ in reflecting, we combine sensations and combine them to form abstractions and other high level ideas AKA reductionism
Simple ideas
Arise from both sensation and reflection and are received passively by the mind/ cannot be analyzed or reduced/ can be combined to form complex ideas