Introduction Flashcards
Plato’s philosophy
Our senses show us only shadows of reality. It is only through our reason that we can know the true forms that structure our world.
Theory of Forms
Perfect Ideas, or Forms, exist in a separate realm of pure Forms that can only be discovered by our Reason. Our souls are but fragments of an all- knowing “cosmos-soul” that had all knowledge : we can recover this knowledge with reason.
Aristotle’s philosophy
Our soul and our body are interdependent. Our soul is the functional organization of living matter.
Rationalism
Knowledge is primarily gained through reason and logical thought, independent of sensory experience.
- Plato
- Descartes
Descartes believed in the superiority of ______ reasoning over ______ reasoning
Deductive reasoning over inductive reasoning
Empiricism
Knowledge comes primarily from sensory experiences and observations of the world
*John Locke
*David Hume
*Aristotle
Inductive Reasoning
- Drawing general conclusions from specific observations or evidence.
- Conclusions are probable but not certain.
Titchener
Begin with complex, or even abstract ideas and decompose them into their simpler elements through introspection
Deductive Reasoning
- Drawing specific conclusions from general principles or premises.
- If the premises are true, the conclusion must be true.
Locke’s theory of ideas
Information from our senses enters our minds as simple ideas or sensations that can then be assembled to form complex ideas
Just noticeable difference (JND)
The smallest weight difference that someone can perceive
-> Another term for JND is the difference threshold
David Hume
Beliefs are caused by psychological « habits »
Weber fractions
JND between standard and comparison stimuli/ standard stimuli (1/40 for weight, differs for other stimuli)
Kant
A priori structures exist in our mind before we receive sensory experience, but they have no use without sensory awareness
- We may never really know the thing-in-itself (Noumenon)
- All we can know is the impression that the noumenon exerts on our senses (Phenomenon)
Discriminability
How easy it is to notice a small difference in terms
of physical intensity
Small Weber fraction means ___lower/higher discriminability
Higher (inverse correlation; the smaller the Weber fraction, the smaller difference can be detected meaning bigger discriminability)
Panpsychism
Everything is both mind and matter, it only depends on your perspective.
Fechner found that each JND is perceptually ______
Equivalent : The 1 gram difference between 40 and 41 grams is exactly as perceptually salient (feels the same) as the 10 gram difference between 410 and 400 grams. The JND is then a “perceptual atom”.
Fechner’s law
p = k x log(S/S0)
p in Fechner’s law
Subjective perception
S in Fechner’s law
Physical intensity of the stimulus (objectively measured)
S0 in Fechner’s law
Smallest intensity of the stimulus that can be perceived, or absolute threshold
k in Fechner’s law
Modality-specific factor controlling the steepness of the function depending on the sensory modality
Fechner law is a mathematical formula of ___/___ relationship
Mind/matter
