Exam 1 Study Guide

Question 1

historicism vs presentism

Answer 1

historicism is the study of the past for its own sake

presentism is interpreting and evaluating historical events in terms of contemporary knowledge and standards

Question 2

zeitgeist approach

Answer 2

the defining spirit or mood of a particular period of history as shown by the ideas and beliefs of the time

Question 3

the great-person approach to historiography

Answer 3

empathizes the works of individuals such as Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Darwin, or Freud.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1841-1981) embraced the great-person approach to history, saying that history “resolves itself very easily into the biography of a few stout and earnest persons.”

Question 4

historical development approach

Answer 4

showing how various individuals or events contributed to changes in an idea or connect through the years

for example, one could focus on how the idea of mental illness has changed throughout history

Question 5

historiography

Answer 5

the study of the proper way to record history.

there are often no final answers to the questions this topic raises

Question 6

what is the problem with viewing psychology as a science that started in the late 19th century in Germany?

Answer 6

1) it ignores the vast philosophical heritage that molded psychology into the tump of science that it eventually became
2) it omits important aspects of psychology that arose outside the realm of science

Question 7

what is science? what are two major components of science?

Answer 7

science is the systematic attempt to rationally categorize or explain empirical observation. Popper described it as a way to rigorously test solutions to problems, while Kuhn emphasized the importance of paradigms that guide the research activities of science.

empirical observation

theory

Question 8

rationalism

Answer 8

the theory that reason rather than experience is the foundation of certainty in knowledge.

Question 9

empiricism

Answer 9

maintains that the source of knowledge is always based on sensory observation

Question 10

what are the two main functions of scientific theory?

Answer 10

it organizes empirical observations

it acts as a guide for future observations

Question 11

scientific law

Answer 11

a constantly observed relationship between two or more classes of empirical events. for example, when x occurs, y also tends to occur. by stressing the lawfulness, science is proclaiming an interest in the general case rather than the particular case.

Question 12

correlational laws

Answer 12

describe how classes of events vary together in some systematic way

for example, exercise tends to correlate positively with health. with such information, only prediction is possible. that is, if we know a person’s level of exercise, we could predict his or her health, and vice versa

Question 13

causal laws

Answer 13

specify how events are causally related

for example, if we knew the causes of a disease, we could predict and control that disease - as preventing the causes of a disease from occurring prevents the disease from occurring

Question 14

determinism

Answer 14

the assumption that what is being studied can be understood in terms of causal laws

the determinist assumes that everything that occurs is a function of a finite number of causes that, if these causes were known, an event could be predicted with complete accuracy

however, knowing all causes of an event is not necessary; the determinist simply assumes that they exist and that as more causes are known, predictions become more accurate

Question 15

what, according to Popper, drives scientific progress?

Answer 15

a theory’s incorrect predictions, not its correct ones

in real scientific life theories typically contribute not by being right but by being wrong. in other words, scientific advance in theory as well as experiments tends to be built upon the successive corrections of many errors, both small and large. thus the popular notion that theory must be right to be useful is incorrect

Question 16

paradigm

Answer 16

the entire collection of beliefs, values, techniques, and so on shared by the members of a given scientific community

can have multiple theories under a paradigm (they were more general)

the paradigm can act like blinders

Question 17

what do paradigms guide?

Answer 17

all of the researcher’s activities, both theoretical and methodological

Question 18

preparadigmatic stage

Answer 18

a time in which a number of competing viewpoints exist

during this period, a discipline is characterized by a number of rival camps or schools, a situation contrary to unification and that results in, essentially, random fact gathering. such circumstances continue to exist until one school succeeds in defeating its competitors and becomes a paradigm

the normal science generated by a paradigm continues until the paradigm is displaced by a new one, which int turn will generate its own normal science

Question 19

paradigmatic stage

Answer 19

puzzle solving activity called normal science occurs

psychology is a multi-paradigmatic science

Question 20

revolutionary stage

Answer 20

a paradigm is replaced by another paradigm

Question 21

what is the difference between the Popperian view and the Kuhnian view?

Answer 21

Kuhn’s assessment of science stresses subjective and sociological factors, whereas Popper’s assessment stresses logic and creativity

Popper believed that there are truths about the physical world that science can approximate. In other words, Popper accepted the correspondence theory of truth. Kuhn, on the other hand, rejected this theory, saying instead that the paradigm accepted by a group of scientists creates the “reality” they explore

Question 22

what characterizes a scientific discipline?

Answer 22

1) determinism (everything occurs for known or knowable reasons
2) empiricism vs rationalism (experience and observation vs. thought and logic)
3) the search for scientific laws (correlational laws that allow us to predict events or causal laws that allow us to predict and control events)
4) relies on public observation (publicly verifiable knowledge, replication, replication)

Question 23

according to popper, what is the best status of a theory?

Answer 23

not yet disconfirmed

Question 24

risky predictions

Answer 24

According to Popper, predictions that run a real risk of being incorrect. Theories that do not make risky predictions or that explain phenomena after they have already occurred are, according to Popper, not scientific.

Question 25

socrates (470-399 BCE)

Answer 25

determinist, nativist, rationalist

known only through the writings of his student Plato

responded to the skepticism created by the sophists

disagreed with the sophists contention that there is no discernible truth beyond individual opinion. socrates believed that by examining a number of individual manifestations of a concept, the general concept itself could be defined clearly and precisely

proposed that truth can be discovered though reason and logic

the socratic method of teaching is questioning

Question 26

ontology

Answer 26

the metaphysics dealing with the study of being

Question 27

epistemology

Answer 27

the branch of philosophy that deals with the theory of knowledge. it is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion

Question 28

the essence

Answer 28

universally accepted definition of a concept

Question 29

plato (427-347 BC)

Answer 29

dualist, nativist, determinist with forms being causes

first a disciple of socrates, came under the influence of pythagoreans

postulated the existence of an abstract world of forms or ideas that, when manifested in matter, make up the objects in the empirical world. People should have as many forms, or ideal mental representations of entities, as possible to lead each individual to a more introspective place, and therefore, a better world

the only true knowledge is that of the forms, a knowledge that can be gained only by reflecting on the innate contents of the soul. sensory experience interferes with the attainment of knowledge and should be avoided

Question 30

theory of forms

Answer 30

plato’s contention that ultimate reality consists of abstract ideas or forms that correspond to all objects in the empirical world. knowledge of these abstractions is innate and can be attained only through introspection

everyone should have as many forms in their head as possible to lead them to the best possible outcomes in life. It’s important to make everything you do in line with what you think the form is of that thing. a stone mason, in outlining his new work, would have a form sitting in front of him, or an ideal version of what this was supposed to look like, to guide his work

people living in line with forms are those that will live the most virtuous lives

Question 31

aristotle (384-322 BC)

Answer 31

believed sensory experience to be the basis of all knowledge

although the five senses and the common sense provided only the information from which knowledge could be derived

aristotle also believed that everting in nature had within it an entelechy (purpose) that determined its potential

rejects plato’s notion of forms to embrace tabula rasa (the blank slate)

we gain knowledge only through empirical observation

distinguished between terrestrial and celestial (earthly vs. heavenly)

Question 32

nativism

Answer 32

the idea that mental capacities and mental structures are innate rather than acquired by learning

Question 33

reminiscence theory of knowledge (Plato)

Answer 33

the rational soul originally existed among the forms - and it retains that knowledge

sensory information contaminates knowledge of true reality

Question 34

what are the causes of knowledge? (according to Aristotle)

Answer 34

material cause: what a thing is made of

formal cause: the form of a thing

efficient cause: force that makes something happen, or that transforms a thing

final cause: reason or purpose for a thing to exist

Question 35

dualists

Answer 35

believes that there are physical events and mental events. Once it is assumed that both a physical and a mental realm exist, the question becomes how the two are related.

Question 36

vitalism

Answer 36

endorsed by Aristotle - the thought that living things are fundamentally different from nonliving things

Question 37

laws of association: contiguity (Aristotle)

Answer 37

think of one thing, tend to think of other things experienced at the same time

Question 38

laws of association: frequency (Aristotle)

Answer 38

the more time something is experienced, the easier it is to recall

Question 39

laws of association: similarity (Aristotle)

Answer 39

think of one thing, I also tend to think of similar things

Question 40

laws of association: contrasts (Aristotle)

Answer 40

think of one thing, I also tend to think of opposite things

Question 41

reminiscence theory of knowledge

Answer 41

plato’s belief that knowledge is attained by remembering the experiences the soul had when it dwelled among the forms before entering the body

Question 42

plato’s legacy

Answer 42

plato created a dualism that divided the human into a body, which was material and imperfect, and a mind (soul), which contained pure knowledge

Question 43

sophists

Answer 43

a specific kind of philosopher-teacher in ancient Greece

who believed that “truth” was what people thought it to be, and were inherently skeptical of their being any formal or universal truths. To convince others that something is true, one needs effective communication skills, and it was those skills that the sophists taught

Question 44

empiricism

Answer 44

maintains that the source of knowledge is always based on sensory observation

Question 45

Aristotle’s ladder of nature

Answer 45

Bottom (inanimate matter) -> plants (higher and lower) -> mammals, reptiles, fish, and insects -> human (top)

Question 46

early christian faith

Answer 46

not a single system, but was a doctrine that departed significantly from the teachings of Jesus

immediate physical world is without value; important knowledge is provided by revelation/divine authority

Question 47

cynicism

Answer 47

antisthenes and diogenes - don’t believe in anything

the belief that the best life is one lived close to nature and away from the rules and regulations of society

valued virtue above all else - for the Cynics, the purpose of life is to live in virtue, in agreement with nature

Question 48

hedonism

Answer 48

Hedonism is a school of thought that argues that the pursuit of pleasure and intrinsic goods are the primary or most important goals of human life. A hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure. However upon finally gaining said pleasure, happiness may remain stationary

Question 49

stoicism

Answer 49

accepted by aristocracy and slaves because it was useful in everyday life

Zeno of Citium (335-263) - founder of stoicism. believed that the world was ruled by a divine plan and that everything in nature, including humans, was there for a reason

be content with your role, be happy in your work - your joy comes from participating in the master plan

taught perfect indifference to everything external

if you couldn’t get behind the fact that there was a master plan behind all of your suffering and all of your pleasure, then suicide was a good option, according to the stoics

Question 50

epicureanism (anti-determinism)

Answer 50

founded by epicurus in Athens

the good life is now - there is no afterlife

long-term happiness comes from the absence of pain, avoidance of extremes

one should strive for a simple, uncomplicated existence

The school rejected determinism and advocated hedonism (pleasure as the highest good), but of a restrained kind: mental pleasure was regarded more highly than physical, and the ultimate pleasure was held to be freedom from anxiety and mental pain, especially that arising from needless fear of death and of the gods.

Question 51

neoplatonism

Answer 51

philo (25 BCE - 50 CE) plotinus (204 - 270 CE), hypatia (370 - 415 CE)

mystical version of Plato’s ideas

replaced forms with divine explanations
god is the source of all truth and knowledge
mind/body dualism: the soul is immortal, the body is sinful
salvation through repentance and faith

Question 52

St. Augustine (354-430)

Answer 52

Bishop from Hippo, Northern Africa - augustinian pessimism

thought human life could not be perfected

came up with the idea of original sin. proposed that all humans are wicked and are all representations of Adam’s sins

we cannot properly love because we are undermined by egoism and pride

we shouldn’t rage because of our sins. We should just accept them

After having demonstrated the validity of inner, subjective experience, said that one can know God through introspection as well as through the revealed truth of the scripture. Augustine also wrote extensively on human free will

thought curiosity was a dangerous vice

synthesizes many systems in christianity

Question 53

jesus (6 BC - 30 AD)

Answer 53

a simple, sensitive man who St. Paul and others claimed was the Messiah. those who believe Jesus to be the son of God are called christians

alas, none who formalized Jesus’ teachings ever met him, so little of Jesus’s original intent survived the various attempts to formalize his ideas

Question 54

St Paul (10-64)

Answer 54

founded the christian church by claiming that Jesus was the son of god. paul placed the soul or spirit in the highest position among the human faculties, the body in the lowest, and the mind in a position somewhere in between

aligned with Plato in his thinking that true knowledge can be attained only by escaping from the influence of sensory information and transformed it into battle between the soul, which contains the spark of God

his influence pretty much shuts down all inquiry and the spurt of science and growth from the ancient greeks and romans ends with his assertions of Jesus being the son of god

Question 55

What were augustines confessions?

Answer 55

he was instrumental in shifting the locus of control of human behavior from the outside (the city of man) to the inside (the city of god). this point was in contrast to roman beliefs, which taught that everyone is in charge of their own destiny and that virtue could lead you to fame, which was desirable

for him, the acceptance of free will made personal responsibility meaningful. because individuals are personally responsible for their actions, it is possible to praise or blame them, and people can feel good or bad about themselves depending on what choices they make

Question 56

did the Christian appeal have wide range?

Answer 56

yes. to people suffering from hunger, plague, and war, a religion that focused on a more perfect, nonphysical world was comforting. to slaves and others with low status, a feeling of justice came from knowing that all humans were created in God’s image.

Question 57

when did the church wield the most power?

Answer 57

during the middle ages. the question of what was true had already been answered, and there was no need to look elsewhere. people were either believers or heretics, and heretics were often dealt with harshly. The church owned tons of property, and the priest controlled the behavior, feelings, and thoughts of the citizens

Question 58

islamic and jewish influences

Answer 58

the dark ages are, of course, dark only with reference to the Western world, and during this same time, Islam became more powerful. Muhammad was born in Mecca in 570, and in middle age, believers say he received a revelation from God instructing him to preach

within 100 years after the prophet’s death, Islam extended over an area larger than that of the Roman Empire at its peak

Question 59

scholasticism

Answer 59

the system of theology and philosophy taught in medieval European universities, based on Aristotelian logic and the writings of the early Church Fathers and having a strong emphasis on tradition and dogma.

narrow-minded insistence on traditional doctrine

Question 60

existing world view - the middle ages

Answer 60

absolute authority of the church - christian dogma emphasizes faith over reason

conflicts are resolved by appealing to authority (the bible and Aristotle)

augustine was influential - action proceeds from free will (reflects stoic ideas)

reasons and observations become subordinate to faith and emotion

Question 61

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

Answer 61

epitomized scholasticism. he sought to Christianize the works of aristotle and to show that both faith and reason lead to the truth of god’s existence

challenged the world view - showed that it was possible to argue with church dogma

made study of natural work and rational argument more acceptable

Question 62

William Occam (1285-1349) (nominalist)

Answer 62

denied the connection of the realists that what we experience are but manifestations of abstract principles. instead, he sided with the nominalists who said that so-called abstract principles, or universals, were nothing more than verbal labels that we use to describe classes of experiences.

for Occam, reality is what we experience directly

there is no need to assume a “higher” reality beyond our senses

occam’s razor: explanations are best to the extent they are as simple as possible (parsimonious), and when two theories are in competition, we should prefer the less complex

Question 63

peter Abelard (1079-1142)

Answer 63

one of the first western philosopher-theologians to emphasize the works of Aristotle

offered a third alternative - conceptualism

only individual things and their particular features exist

categories of things have similarities (concepts)

denies reality of universals as separate entities

Question 64

realism (similar to Platonic forms)

Answer 64

the belief that abstract universals (essences) exist and that empirical events are only manifestations of those universals

Question 65

nominalism (similar to Aristotlelian viewpoint)

Answer 65

the belief that so-called universals are nothing more than verbal labels or mental habits that are used to denote classes of experiences

Question 66

conceptualism

Answer 66

abelard’s proposed solution to the realism-nominalism debate. abelard argued that concepts do not have independent existence (realism), but that, being abstractions, they are more than mere names (nominalism).

the theory that universals can be said to exist, but only as concepts in the mind.

Question 67

the middle ages (400 - 1400)

Answer 67

the sack of rome by the visigoths marks the beginning of the middle ages, which saw very little, if any, progress made in science, philosophy, and literature

mattes began to improve around 782, when the palatine school was organized.

Question 68

constantine (272-337)

Answer 68

Roman Emperor whose Edict of Milan in 313 made Christianity a tolerated religion within the Roman Empire. Under Constantine’s leadership, widely diverse Christian writings and beliefs were formalized, thus facilitating the widespread acceptance of Christianity

evidence was provided that Constantine actually had no vision but invented it to inspire his troops

Question 69

the renaissance (1450 - 1600)

Answer 69

discovery of new lands, rise of humanism

important for the advancement of science

Question 70

protestant reformation

Answer 70

challenges the authority of the church by martin luther who nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church in wittenburg, Germany

Question 71

elements of humanism: individualism

Answer 71

emphasis on human potential

Question 72

elements of humanism: personal religion

Answer 72

reduced role of the church in religion

Question 73

elements of humanism: intense interest in the past

Answer 73

scholars study original works, exposed to many new ideas

Question 74

elements of humanism: anti-aristotelianism

Answer 74

aristotle’s authority is questioned

Question 75

what is martin luther’s emphasis?

Answer 75

luther insisted on an intensely personal religion in which each person is answerable only to God, a religion that disemphasized ritual and church hierarchy

he thought the church had drifted far from the teachings of Jesus and the Bible, which preached the glory of the simple life, devoid of luxury and privilege.

protestantism denied the authority of the pope and insisted that every individual had the right to interpret the bible for himself or herself

Question 76

Copernicus (1473 - 1543)

Answer 76

Built on theories presented by Ptolemy (2nd century AD), a Greco-Egyptian. The Ptolemaic system included the beliefs that the heavenly bodies, including the earth, were spherical in shape and that the sun, moon, and planets travel around the earth in orbits that are circular and uniform

His published work, De Revolutionibus, successfully argued that the earth revolved around the sun (heliocentric theory). This questioned the traditional place of humankind in the universe (represents a profoundly different worldview

His theory cast the known astrological facts into a simpler, more harmonious mathematical order

Question 77

Johannes Kepler (1571 - 1630)

Answer 77

First studied to become a Lutheran minister but, unable to accept the entirety of Lutheran doctrine, switched to study math and astronomy

Believed that the true reality was the mathematical harmony that existed beyond the world of appearance

believed in deduction (general to specific)

Discovered that the paths of the planets around the sun were elliptical rather than circular

He observed that the velocities of the planets vary inversely with their distance from the sun

Most important contribution to science was his insistence that all mathematical deductions be verified b empirical observation

Question 78

Galileo Galilei (1564 -1642)

Answer 78

Like Copernicus and Kepler, Galileo saw his task as explaining the true mathematical reality that existed beyond the world of appearances

Used his modified version of the telescope to discover the mountains of the moon, sunspots, and the fact that the Milky Way is made up of many stars not visible to the naked eye

believed in deduction (general to specific)

For Galileo, discovering a physical law was like discovering a Platonic form. Observation may suggest that a lawful relationship may exist, and an experiment is performed to either confirm or disconfirm the possibility

Once a law is discovered, further experimentation is mot necessary; mathematical deduction is used to precisely describe all possible manifestations of the law

Made sharp distinctions between objective reality (reality that exists independent of anyone’s perception of it) and subjective reality (measure of purely psychological experiences)

Didn’t believe in psychology as a real science because of its attempt to measure secondary qualities

Question 79

Isaac Newotn (1642 - 1727)

Answer 79

synthesizes galileo, Kepler, and copernicus and invented calculus

predicated his beliefs around deism (god created the earth, but has no impact on its development or events)

viewed the universe as a machine

the material world is based on natural laws (no exceptions and they are absolute)

believed in deduction (general to specific)

Question 80

Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)

Answer 80

believed science should only function on observations

no theories, hypotheses, or deductions

his approach to science was called positivism, which was that science should only study what can be directly observed

4 sources of errors:

cave - personal biases
the tribe - human nature/perception
marketplace - meanings of words
theatre - allegiance to a particular point of view

Question 81

Rene Descartes (1596 - 1650) “i think, therefore I am”

Answer 81

viewed the study of psychology through a strictly mechanistic lens

thoughts all natural events could be described using algebra and geometry (invented analytical geometry)

Innate ideas: ideals placed in our head by God

method of inquiry was introspection:

intuition: when an unbiased, curious mind arrives at a clear idea
deduction: once a valid idea is intuited, several other valid ideas can be reduced by that idea
* this restored the value for purely subjective thinking that Galileo destroyed

believed in intersections: the idea that the mind and body are separate, but work together in mind/body dualism

Question 82

empiricism

Answer 82

philosophical position that the senses provide the primary data for knowledge - reason is secondary to that

Question 83

Thomas Hobbes (1588 - 1679) (British empiricism and materialism/monist)

Answer 83

father of British empiricism

humans are physical matter, or matter in motion, forces that work in nature also work on us

everything is matter in motion (physical body = physical motion, mental life = physical motion)

physical monist/materialist

rejected innate ideas and free will (embraced determinism)

hedonic human nature (everything we do is self-serving)

Question 84

John Locke (1632 - 1704) (dualist and political philosopher)

Answer 84

political philosopher - the voice of enlightenment

sole appropriate government is by authorized of the governed

“Essay concerning human understanding” there is nothing in the mind that was not first in the sense

rejected innate ideas

understanding ourselves is basic to investigation in all fields, including science

thought is non-material in nature (dualist)

simple ideas (a passive response from sensations) to complex ideas (an activity of the mind upon reflection)

Question 85

what two qualities did John Locke come up with?

Answer 85

primary and secondary qualities

primary quality: create ideas that correspond to actual physical attributes of the object

secondary quality: create ideas that do not correspond to anything in the physical world

Question 86

george berkeley (1685 - 1753) (theism and pantheism)

Answer 86

rejects physical matter - it exists only when it is perceived

went as far as to cast down all of science by saying that everything was made up of God

Question 87

sensationalism

Answer 87

mostly french philosophers and scholars

found Descartes’ idea of innate knowledge objectionable

Sensationalism, in epistemology and psychology, a form of Empiricism that limits experience as a source of knowledge to sensation or sense perceptions. Sensationalism is a consequence of the notion of the mind as a tabula rasa, or “clean slate.”

Question 88

La Mettrie 1748 (sensationalist)

Answer 88

wrote “A man a machine”

humans have a greater intelligence than animals simply because they have larger brains

when he was sick with a fever, he came to believe that the mind and body are more intimately related than Descartes beloved with his dualism

hedonism: humans are motivated to seek pleasure and avoid pain

Question 89

Condillac 1714 (epistemologist and philosopher)

Answer 89

epistemologist and french philosopher

analogy of the statue

imagine a statue with just a sense of smell (passive mind, accumulate experience and store it in memory)

eventually compare and contrast, which produces abstract ideas

Question 90

positivism

Answer 90

a philosophical system that holds that every rationally justifiable assertion can be scientifically verified or is capable of logical or mathematical proof, and that therefore rejects metaphysics and theism.

if something exists, it exists in some quantity and can be measured

if it can’t be detected, then it doesn’t exist

Question 91

comte

Answer 91

positivist - observable knowledge will generate a science

scientism - belief that science can solve all human problems

Question 92

dualism

Answer 92

One who believes that a person consists of two separate entities: a mind, which accounts for one’s mental experiences and rationality, and a body, which functions according to the same biological and mechanical principles as do the bodies of nonhuman animals.

Question 93

Baruch Spinoza (1632 - 1677)

Answer 93

often gave up positions for his scholarly integrity

excommunicated

believed god is everywhere and in everything - all nature is God (pantheism: a doctrine which identifies God with the universe, or regards the universe as a manifestation of God)

if God is nature, then nature is lawful

we can study God by studying nature

there is no such thing as free will - we are ignorant of the causes of events, this makes us think we have free will

Question 94

how did Spinoza feel about emotions and passions?

Answer 94

emotions have a specific referent

passions have no specific referent - can be dangerous and must be controlled through reason

Question 95

Gottfriend Leibniz (1646 - 1716)

Answer 95

invented calculus at the same time as Newton

tried to find a place somewhere between Descartes extreme dualism and Spinoza’s extreme monism

monads: living, conscious arms make up all things

supreme monad is god

conscious perception comes from a number of unconscious perceptions

law of continuity: there are no gaps in nature, all differences in the natural world are characterized by very small gradations

suggested the threshold of awareness (limen) - proved that just because we aren’t aware of things doesn’t mean they aren’t there

there is no such thing as free will - we are ignorant to the causes of events, which makes us feel like we have free will

the closest we can get to freedom is to understand as many causes as possible (psychological determinism)

Question 96

psychological parallelism

Answer 96

monads do not interact with one another - they work through preestablished harmony

Question 97

thomas reid (171 - 1796)

Answer 97

Scottish rationalist

commonsense philosophy - treat things as if they exist and the world exists as it appears

first to differentiate between sensation and perception

faculty psychology interested in individual differences and the field of phrenology

Question 98

immanuel kant (1724 - 1804)

Answer 98

pure concepts in the mind that act on sensory information

we come equipped with causality, time, space, quantity, and existence categories

agreed with Hume that we can never know the world directly and certainly

phenomenological experience: interaction between sensations and categories of thought

phenomenon: our experience, subjective reality
noumena: true physical reality

Question 99

how did Kant influence psychology?

Answer 99

defined psychology as introspective analysis of the mind, didn’t think it could be science

defined anthropology as the study of human behavior - how psychology is defined today

many of his ideas regarding innate abilities continue to be discussed

Question 100

empiricism and rationalism

Answer 100

sense experience, passive mind, hedonism, rejection of nativism, mechanism

rationalism - the world and humans cannot be explained through just sensory information use reason (intuition, analysis, argument, education)

Question 101

romanticism (emotional self-awareness is the key to bettering yourself) and existentialism

Answer 101

Romanticism is a philosophical movement during the Age of Enlightenment which emphasizes emotional self-awareness as a necessary pre-condition to improving society and bettering the human condition

To be an existing human being means to be free. In contrast with most everything else in the world, a human being is not determined by ‘laws of nature.’ The human being has a unique freedom to determine his or her own behavior.

emotions over reason

intuition over logic

pursuit of a good life over science and technology

behavior stems from basic nature of humans

Question 102

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 - 1778) (father of romanticism)

Answer 102

father of romanticism

natural impulses are the best guide for behavior - people can and should use their own natural impulses as a guide to good living

science, religion, reason corrupt humans

the general will: According to Rousseau, the innate tendency to live harmoniously with one’s fellow humans.

Question 103

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (romanticism)

Answer 103

humans are torn by the stressed of opposing forces (love and hate, life and death, good and evil)

we should live passionately and strive for personal growth

Question 104

Soren Kierkegaard (1813 - 1855) (romanticism)

Answer 104

emotional, non-traditional love of God

personal religion

emphasized subjectivity is truth, not objectivity

Question 105

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900) (romanticism)

Answer 105

two basic personality forces: dionysian (irrational side) and Apollonian (rational side)

the best life reflects a balance of these two forces

God is dead - science has left us without morality or purpose

will to power - meaning, knowledge must be discovered from within ourselves, exerting willful mastery over our destiny

we should attempt to become more than we are

Question 106

supermen or higher men

Answer 106

they are the most successful at mastering their destiny

form ideal blend between Apollonian and Dionysian personality forms

best suited to lead

Question 107

descartes as a psychologist

Answer 107

Mind/Body Dualism

Mind: Free will, consciousness, thought
Body: Mechanistic, spatial, a machine

Interaction between body and mind

Pineal gland as the site of interaction

But how? — he never really answered that

Wrestle with relation between mind and body

Reflexes - Something external excites one of the senses, Excites nerves, transmits excitation to brain - Brain “reflects” excitation to muscles, causing movement

Question 108

monism

Answer 108

opposite of dualism

a theory or doctrine that denies the existence of a distinction or duality in some sphere, such as that between matter and mind, or God and the world.

Question 109

materialism (type of monism)

Answer 109

literally referring to “matter”

Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds that matter is the fundamental substance in nature, and that all things, including mental aspects and consciousness, are results of matter interacting.

Question 110

french sensationalism

Answer 110

rejected descartes’ dualism and rationalism

rejected British armchair introspection

Human behavior explained by mechanical
laws; humans as machines – materialism (humans are matter in motion just like everything else in the universe)

no ideas are innate - all knowledge comes through experience

the doctrine that human knowledge is confined to or founded on the realities or appearances presented to the senses.

Question 111

theism

Answer 111

belief in the existence of a god or gods, especially belief in one god as creator of the universe, intervening in it and sustaining a personal relation to his creatures.

Question 112

what was liebniz’s contribution?

Answer 112

suggested an active creative mind

opened the door to psychology as a science

Question 113

skepticism

Answer 113

Pyhrro - a lot in common with the Sophists

the theory that certain knowledge is impossible

no argument is wrong or right, and humans cannot arrive at any kind of certain knowledge

Question 114

what did the British empiricists and the French sensationalists have in common?

Answer 114

The British empiricists and the French sensationalists had in common the belief that all knowledge comes from experience; that is, that there are no innate ideas. All knowledge, they said, even moral knowledge, was derived from experience. If the denial of innate moral principles did not place the empiricists and the sensationalists in direct opposition to religion, it certainly placed them in direct opposition to religious dogma.

Question 115

romanticism

Answer 115

Some philosophers began to argue that humans consist of more than an intellect and ideas derived from experience. Humans, they said, also possess a wide variety of emotions, intuitions, and instincts. Those philosophers emphasizing the importance of these irrational components of human nature were called romantics. They believed that rational thought had often led humans astray in their search for valid information and that empiricism reduced people to unfeeling machines. According to the romantics, the best way to find out what humans are really like is to study the total person, not just his or her rational powers or empirically determined ideas.

Question 116

existentialism

Answer 116

The philosophy that examines the meaning in life and stresses the freedom that humans have to choose their own destiny. Like romanticism, existentialism stresses subjective experience and the uniqueness of each individual.