L2 Philosophy and Experimental Psychology Flashcards
What is Artête?
Virtue.
Cannot be achieved by women and children, only warriors. It can only be achieved in battle specifically.
(Ancient Greeks, The Bronze Age)
What is the psyche?
The breath of life.
The psyche looked like the body when you died. Very important to be buried properly to live on in the afterlife.
What are the three smaller elements of the psyche?
The Mini Souls
Phrenes - lives in the diaphram - involved the rational solving of action.
Thumos - lives in the heart - involved in emotions.
Noos - lives in the head - responsible for perception and clear cognition of the world.
They are missing in the afterlife and this cripples the psyche.
What happened due to the rise of Sparta?
All men considered to be citizens
They were all allocated equal plots of land
They had open debates, which gave rise of the philosophy of science.
What was physis?
The basis of physics - addressing the fundamental nature of reality.
Led by Thales, they believed there was only one element, water, which took many forms.
Moved thinking away from the supernatural to the naturalistic explanations.
There is nothing supernatural - we can use observation to deduce the nature of the natural world.
What happened in the Classical Period?
Colonising the Mediterranean now but Athens is still the centre.
Rhetoric and persuasion becomes the goal for people - important to learn to speak correctly.
What was nomos?
Subjective reality (c.f. physis)
Led by the Sophis who were concerned with human nature and human living.
The appearance of things, not the reality. Believed different cultures see the world differently.
It might be made of water - but this is not how we experience it.
What were Aristotle’s four main contributions to psychology?
- Soul body relations
- Cognition
- Emotion
- Tabula Rasa
What was Aristotle’s contribution regarding ‘Soul Body Relations’?
They are dual aspects of the living organism.
The soul (psychology) and the body (biology) - the soul is an extension of the body. You cannot have one without the other.
It is in other animals and plants, however, rationality is only in humans.
What was Aristotle’s contribution regarding Cognition?
The five senses and the common sense for integration.
Focussed on imagination and memory. Believed memory to be a subtype of imagination that happened to be factual.
Memory techniques were important to his teachings.
Essentially, how cognitive psychology would work.
What was Aristotle’s contribution regarding Emotion?
There were three elements of emotion.
Somatic
Cognitive
Feeling
(update after listening to lecture)
What was Aristotle’s contribution regarding Tabula Rasa?
Our minds are like tablets.
Thoughts are like words appearing on a tablet. If it’s wiped clean, you can’t think.
John Locke later adapts this to the human mind being a blank slate at birth.
What about Descartes’ background/personality led to his theories?
Dislike of uncertainties - which led to I think, therefore I am. As in, if I am thinking, I am here.
Belief in god - which likely influenced dualism. This is because the mind body divide did not threaten the soul.
No need for body - the body is not necessary for the mind (c.f. Aristotle). The mind is a thinking, conscious substance.
[clarify his point re: the pineal gland from audio]
What was Descartes’ Dualism?
The mind and body exist independently and somehow interact. That is, The Ghost in the Machine.
This pleased the church because it didn’t threaten the soul and therefore didn’t threaten religion.
It therefore dominates and is taught in schools.
What were the alternatives to Dualism?
Monism (several types)
Materialism - everything comes from the physical, material changes in the brain. It’s all neurons.
Mentalism - the only thing that exists is the mind.
Identity - mental processes are the same thing as physical changes; you’re calling the same thing by a different name.
