historic movements Flashcards
rationalism
•definition: truth is based on thinking, not on the information from the senses; humans have an innate knowledge that can be recovered through deductive reasoning. Furthermore, knowledge is obtained by means of reasoning. Opposes to Empiricism •year: •major players: _socrates _plato _descartes
empiricism
•definition: knowledge is obtained by means of perceptual experiences, usually involves the idea of associations between ideas to combine the the individual perceptions, also emphasis on inductive reasoning. Opposes to Rationalism •year: 1600 •major players: _(precursor) Bacon _Locke (father) _Berkeley _Hume
scientific revolution
•definition: series of events that marked the emergence of modern science during the early modern period, when developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology (including human anatomy) and chemistry transformed the views of society about nature.
changes:
_demographic changes
_no pressure from church or authority
_new inventions (clock, compass, telescope, printing
_existence of universities
_enrichment from Greek/Arab civilizations
it lasted because
_absence of disaster
_no religious pressure
_more universities established learned societies
•year: 1543 (copernicus publication) •major players: _bruno _copernicus _galileo _kepler
mind-body problem
•definition: issue on how the mind is related to the brain, three main views
1. dualism (mind and brain are two independent entities)
2. materialism (mind is a by-product of the biological workings of the brain)
3. functionalism (mind is realized in the brain, but the info can be copied to another machine with the same structure
•year: 1600
•major players:
_descartes
dualism & monism
•definition: _dualism: mind is immaterial and completely independent of the body (Descartes) •year: 1600 •major players: descartes (dualism)
experimental psychology
•definition: the branch of psychology concerned with the scientific investigation of the responses of individuals to stimuli in controlled situations
Needs:
_empiricism
_testability
_determinism (assumption that any state of an object or event is determined by prior states)
_parsimony (the search for simplicity)
_Operational definition (Tolman & Hull -
implies that a concept be defined in terms of concrete, observable procedures. Experimental psychologists attempt to define currently unobservable phenomena, such as mental events, by connecting them to observations by chains of reasoning)
•year: 1800
•major players:
_Wundt
_Fechner
_Weber
_Würzburg School
_Peirce
enlightenment
- definition: autonomous thinking and observation became advocated as the primary sources of knowledge, rather than reliance on authority
- year: 1700
evolution theory
•definition: Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes that are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction _misconceptions -no direction in genetic changes -organisms get better or stronger •year: 1800 •major players: _Darwin _Galton
eugenics
•definition: social philosophy claiming that the fate of a nation can be improved by selective breeding of the inhabitants.
It can be positive/negative
positive: favouring could take the form of facilitating the reproduction of some—those with desirable traits
negative:it could take the form of inhibiting the reproduction of others—those with undesirable traits.
•year: 1883
•major players:
_influenced by Darwin’s ideas
_Galton
behaviorism
•definition: movement in psychology arguing that observable behaviors are the most important aspect of human functioning to be understood, denies to various extents the relevance of information processing going on in the mind, particularly strong in the USA in the first half of 1900 •year: 1913 (behaviorist manifesto) •major players: _influenced by Pavlov _Watson (father) _Hull _Skinner _Tolman
introspection
- definition: Introspection is the examination of one’s own conscious thoughts and feelings. In psychology, the process of introspection relies exclusively on observation of one’s mental state
- major players:
support: _Titchnener _Freud _Wundt _Wolff _James
against:
_Comte
_Kant
inductive reasoning
•definition: form of reasoning in which one starts from observations and tries to reach general conclusions on the basis of convergences in the observations; is needed in science to turn observed phenomena into scientific laws, but does not guarantee that the conclusions are true
_conclusion drawn from a series of convergent observations
_conclusions are not necessarily true
_used to:
1.generalize from a limited number of observations to a general conclusion
2. to detect correlations between events
3.to make causal inferences
4. to bring order to our many expreiences by noticing SIMILARITIES and CORRELATIONS between events in daily life
5. work out explanations for observed phenomena in science
•important for:
empiricism
•major players:
_bacon
_Locke
_Berkeley
_Hume
_Kant
deductive reasoning
•definition: form of reasoning in which one starts from a number of indisputable premises from which new, true conclusions can be drawn if the rules of logic are followed
_used in science to formulate hypotheses on the basis of existing theories , so that theories can be tested
_syllogisms (aristotle)
•important for:
_rationalism: humans have an innate knowledge that can be recovered through deductive reasoning - reality can be known by reasoning from innate knowledge (plato and descartes)
•major players:
_plato
_aristotle
_descartes
_Galilei & Newton convince audience that new way of scientific thinking is close to traditional deductive reasoning
Ancient Egypt contributions
Geometry (archimedes - greek) & calendar
Ancient Mesopotamia contributions
Math & astronomy (Ptolemy- roman - agrees with aristotle)
Ancient Greece contributions
Philosophy
Dark Ages
name given in the Renaissance to the middle Ages, to refer to the lack of independent and scientific thinking in that age
Renaissance
•definition: cultural movement based on a rediscovery and imitation of the classical Greek
_growing interest in behavioral consequences of brain injury and in reflexes
and roman civilizations
•year: 1300-1600
•major players:
_influenced by Galton
biases in history writing
_centered too much on people
_matthew effect (give more credit to well-known scientists than they deserve
_hindsight bias - assume they know more than they actually did
_ethnocentrisim
_zeitgeist - time was right for a certain discovery - discovery didn’t originate from a single genius but from a much wider development leading to the discovery
_history review are summaries of summaries
geocentric vs heliocentric universe
geocentric _aristotle _ptolemy - criticises movement of Aristotelian stars - adds epicycles heliocentric _bruno _copericus _galilei (telescope)
experimental history
Method introduced by Bacon in which the natural philosopher extracts the truth from nature by active manipulation and examining the consequences of intervention
industrial revolution
- definition: socioeconomic and cultural changes caused by the invention of machines; involved, among other things, the replacement of labor of peasants and craftsmen by mass production in factories and the resulting massive relocation from the countryside to the towns
- year: 1800
- major players:
positivism
•definition: view that authentic knowledge can only be obtained by means of the scientific method; saw religion and philosophy as inferior forms of explanation
•year: 1800
•major players:
_Comte
romantic movement
- definition: movement that reacted against the mechanistic world view and the emphasis of reason preached by Enlightenment; it saw the universe as a changing organism and stressed everything that deviated from rationalism: the individual, the irrational, the imaginative, the emotional, the natural and the transcendental.
- year: 1700-1800
- major players:
individualisation
•definition: trend in society towards looser social relations and greater focus by individuals on themselves than on the groups they belong to why? _increased complexity of society _increased control by the state _individuality promoted by Christianity _mirrors, books and letters •year: 1900-2000 •major players:
idealism
view within philosophy that human knowledge is a construction of the mind and does not necessarily correspond to an outside world, the truth of knowledge depends on the coherence with the rest of the knowledge in the social group. Opposes to realism •year: 1700 •major players: _Berkeley _Hume _Kant
realism
view within philosophy that human knowledge tries to reveal real properties of the outside world, the truth of knowledge is determined by the correspondence of the knowledge with the real world. Opposes to Idealism
•year: 1800
•major players:
_hobbes
functionalism
•definition: approach in early american psychoogy research, that examined the practical functions of the human mind inspired by the evolutionary theory
•year: 1800-1900
•major players:
_James
structuralism
•definition: approach to psychology, consisting of trying to discover the structure of the human mind by means of introspection •year: 1800-1900 •major players: _Titchener _Lacan
Gestalt psychology
•definition: group of psychologists who argued that the human mind could not be understood by breaking down the experiences into their constituent elements, perception is more than the sensation of stimuli, it involves organisation
•year: 1800-1900
•major players:
_Titchener
Phrenology, Mesmerism & Spiritualism
•definition:
_mesmerism: Mesmerism is the act of non-verbally using a trance-like state and shifting the energy field within a client. Cure patients by restoring their animal magnetism
_Spiritualism: spirits of the dead could be contacted by mediums
•year: 1800-1900
•major players:
_Gall
_Mesmer
Scepticism
•definition: philosophical view that does not deny the existence of a physical reality, but denies that humans can have reliable knowledge of it
•year: 300 BC
•major players:
_Pyrrho
logical positivism
•definition: philosophical movement claiming that philosophy should stop thinking about metaphysics, and instead try to understand the essence of the scientific approach
_central tenet was the verification principle - a proposition is meaningful only if it can be verified as true or false - with respect to science states that a proposition is scientific only if it can be verified trough objective, value-free observation
_full of objections (e.g. doesn’t solve induction problem, scientific theories vary, verifiable observations do not guarantee a correct understanding)
•year: 1929 manifesto
•major players:
_vienna circle
pragmatism
•description: view within philosophy that human knowledge is information about how to cope with the world; the truth of knowledge depends on the success one has in engaging with the world
•year: end of 1800
•major players:
_Peirce, James & Dewey (fathers)
humanistic psychology
•description: opposed to behaviorism and psychoanalysis - stressed that people are human, inherently positive, endowed with free will and living within a socio-cultural context
•year: 1900
•major players:
_Maslow
Psychoanalysis major players
_Freud _Erikson _Lacan _Adler _Breuer
essential differences between aristotle - galileo & descartes
Aristotle: The world is as we perceive it. There is no gap
between appearance and reality. What you observe is
what there is.
Galileo, Descartes: There is an immense gap between
reality and appearance. Reality hides behind the
appearances.
how can we know hidden world (galileo, descartes, bacon)
Galileo and Descartes: by abstract mathematical
thinking = mathematical (or classical) sciences Bacon: by forcing nature to reveal her secrets by
torturing her and putting her on the rack of the
experiment = experimental (or Baconian) sciences Both Platonian: our perception is a mere reflection of
the true nature of things Important: reject both physics and method of Aristotle
galileo insights
Galileo created a domain that: Is independent of human beings Exists objectively Can be analysed in smaller invisible elements Obeys deterministic laws Is fit for the mathematical approach
scientific revolution & psychology
New way of explaining: Mechanism
Formerly universe = “giant living organism striving
towards a goal”, now “huge machine working according to pure mechanical principles”
If physics only deals with matter, how will we account for subjective experience?
Color, smell, taste, pain…
Galileo: These are not part of the natural science, as they are subjective
Physics does not deal with the subjective
descartes problems
Epistemological problem: Why should we believe modern science and reject Aristotle? Mind body (= ontological) problem: What to do with the heterogeneous residual category of subjective experience of color, odor, taste etc.?
matter & mind for descartes
Matter = Extension in space Infinitely divisible Res extensa Mechanism Laws of nature Determinism Mind: Not extended in space Not divisible (Unity) Res cogitans Reason and language Not determined (free will)
consciousness levels
Any conscious state has three aspects/ levels: FUNCTIONAL State of information processing that allows subsequent behavior/ processing PHYSICAL “Stuff’ the state is made of, e.g. Neural firing, electrical impulses PHENOMENAL What the state feels like, ‘What it is like to be’ in that state
MONISM VS DUALISM
Monism: it’s all just the same (ontological) ‘stuff’
Dualism: phenomenal is non-physical (ontological) ‘stuff’
INTERACTION IN THE BRAIN
Where and how can brain interact with body?
Descartes: pineal gland (small singular
structure on bottom of brain)
Mind steers particles there to influence body
Direction not yet vectorized (no magnitude
yet)
So, no energy needed to change direction of
particles
Mind metaphorically as ping-pong bat When later direction was vectorized this stimulated parallelism
PROBLEM OF INTERACTION IN M-B PROBLEM
Implications: Mind-body problem: no energetic
interactionism
If mind influences matter, we should have a surplus of
energy in the body
No case of such ‘creation’ of energy
Deadly for interactionist dualism a la Descartes
Boost for materialism (often crude forms), but also
stimulates parallelist’ solutions to mind-body problem
Occasionalism & Parallelism
Reaction to interactionism
Gottfried Leibniz - 1646-1716
Parallelism of mind and matter Pre-established harmony
God created two chains of events occurring
simultaneously
Simile of the two clocks No interaction, still always give exactly same time
Became more popular as interactionism became
implausible
In 19th century Wilhelm Wundt, Founder of
experimental psychology
Idealism
Early representative Bishop Berkeley, 17th century Combines theory of knowledge and notion of body mind problem Esse est percipi Experience is all there is We have no access to a world behind sensations We still would only have sensations Whole world is mental
Materialism
Old style
Radical inheritance of Descartes
Materialism and atheism
Problem of being an atheist
One substance only
Definition of perfect substance forbids that there are 2
But what is this one substance? Panpsychism or materialism?
main ideas on M-B interaction
Materialism (or what we now call neuroscience)
Dualism: Cartesian dualism (Brain and mental
states are different substances) and Property
dualism (There are no different substances but
different properties)
Neutral monism (Ernst Mach, William James,
Bertrand Russel, David Chalmers…)
Mysterianism: We do not understand relation and
we never will
