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PSYC 403 > Lecture 3 > Flashcards

Lecture 3 Flashcards

1
Q

Who is the best example of a dual-aspect monist?

A

Baruch Spinoza! (there is only one substance in the universe, but that substance can have more than one aspect)

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2
Q

Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) was a(n) (empiricist/rationalist)

A

rationalist!

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3
Q

Spinoza’s book, ______, resembles a math book

A

Ethica
- starts w definitions, very organized and logical

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4
Q

Spinoza’s theory starts from the idea that God is ______

A

INFINITE – there is only one substance; nature is divine

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4
Q

Spinoza: If God is infinite, there can’t be a distinction between God and _____.

A

his creation (the material universe)

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4
Q

What is Pantheism?

A

the belief that the physical universe is equivalent to God and that there is no division between a Creator and the substance of its creation

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4
Q

Explain how Spinoza is a dual-aspect monist

A
  • God and material universe is one thing that has 2 aspects
  • aspects are God/nature (mental/physical)
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5
Q

Which two thinkers discussed in class were Pantheists?

A

Spinoza and Fechner

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6
Q

According to Spinoza, all things can be described along 2 axes: ______ (_____ and _____) and _______ (_____ and _____).

A

Attributes (Thought and Extension/matter)
Mode (Finite and Infinite)

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7
Q

How would Spinoza categorize human thoughts in terms of Attributes and Mode?

A

Attribute: Thought
Mode: Finite

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8
Q

How would Spinoza categorize human bodies in terms of Attributes and Mode?

A

Attribute: Extension (matter)
Mode: Finite

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9
Q

How would Spinoza categorize God in terms of Attributes and Mode?

A

Attribute: Thought
Mode: Infinite

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10
Q

How would Spinoza categorize Nature (universe) in terms of Attributes and Mode?

A

Attribute: Extension (matter)
Mode: Infinite

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11
Q

Why did Dr. Roy show a slide filled with small pictures of his face?

A
  • each picture is finite mode of thoughts; we are all looking at Dr. Roy and thinking ab him
  • imagine we are trying to connect all of these individual minds into a larger one
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12
Q

What did Spinoza say about emotions? How is this different from Descartes’ passions?

A
  • emotion is something happening in our body
  • there is a mental and physical aspect!!
  • feeling of an emotion is the corresponding change in consciousness associated w the bodily change
  • different from passions in which mind is passive
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13
Q

What is determinism?

A
  • there is no free will
  • if everything is one thing, nothing can cause another thing
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14
Q

According to Spinoza, liberty comes when we gain clarity about the ________ that are determining our _______, and accept the _____ that are _______ us.

A

Causal forces that are determining our circumstances; causal mechanisms that are influencing us

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15
Q

John Locke (1632-1704) was:
- (career)
- a personal friend of _____
- one of the most influential thinkers of _______

A
  • an English philosopher and physician
  • friend of Newton
  • influential Enlightenment thinker
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16
Q

What was the Enlightenment?

A
  • range of ideas centered on reason as primary source of authority
  • came to advance ideals like liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government and separation of church and state
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16
Q

John Locke was a(n) (empiricist/rationalist)

A

Empiricist!!!

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17
Q

What were John Locke’s 2 main ideas?

A
  • No innate ideas (if knowledge was innate there would be things we all agree on universally; supposedly innate ideas are unknown to children and idiots)
  • All ideas originate in the senses (would be an affront to God not to trust our senses)
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18
Q

Locke’s idea that all ideas originate in the senses is similar to which other thinker

A

Descartes!

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19
Q

According to Locke’s Theory of Ideas, knowledge is ________.
Ideas are ______
Knowledge takes the form of a ____ or ______

A

the addition or subtraction of ideas
ideas are a mental representation
knowledge takes the form of a judgement or proposition

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20
Q

What is the concept of a tabula rasa? Who came up with it?

A
  • humans are blank slates on which experience leaves its mark
  • John Locke!!
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21
Q

According to Locke, experience leads to _______ which lead to ______

A

simple ideas; complex ideas

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22
Q

Explain simple vs complex ideas (Locke)

A

simple: sensation or reflection, cannot be broken down
complex: involves thought process, combining of simple ideas

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23
Q

What are the 2 types of simple ideas (Locke)

A

Sensation: smell, sound, colour, shape, etc
Reflection: thinking, wishing, worrying, etc

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24
Q

In the sentence “I am thinking of a blue square”, what are simple and what are complex ideas?

A

simple: “thinking” “blue” “square”
complex: “blue square”

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25
Q

What do we mean when we say Locke had an Atomistic view?

A

complex ideas are made of simpler ideas which can be traced all the way back to experience

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26
Q

Distinguish primary vs secondary qualities within “Simple ideas”. How would you describe the shape, colour, and smell of a rose in these terms? (Locke)

A

Primary
- matter; size, shape, weight, texture
- can be perceived by MORE than one sense!!

Secondary:
- qualities associated w different sense organs (colour, smell)
- mental representations of physical things

Rose:
- shape: primary quality
- colour: secondary quality
- smell: secondary quality

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27
Q

What is the copy theory of knowledge? (Locke)

A

our ideas are mental copies of the external world

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28
Q

According to Locke, truth is correspondence between _____ and _____. But we can never be sure of the truth of the correspondence, _____ is/are the best we can have.

A

correspondence btw the IDEA and the THING
PROBABILITIES is the best we can have

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29
Q

Locke said that “you should proportion your ____ to ______”
(this is very different from which thinker?)

A

proportion your ascent to the evidence (evidence comes from observations and testimonies)
very diff from Plato

30
Q

George Berkeley (1685-1753)
- Bishop of Cloyne (country)
- wants to secure the traditional idea of God (____) from _____

A
  • Ireland
  • wants to secure idea of God (theism) from mechanistic physics (by following empiricist thought)
31
Q

What are the thoughts of Descartes, Spinoza, Bacon, Hobbes and Locke on God?

A
  • Descartes is a deist (God is the creator but then leaves)
  • Spinoza leans more on material side (vs spiritual)
  • Bacon, Hobbes and Locke don’t give a God much credence
32
Q

In Locke, you get to reality through _____

A
  • causation (ie the external world is causing my ideas - realism)
  • mind leads to ideas, but so do material objects that give rise to primary qualities which lead to ideas
33
Q

What part of Locke’s model of ideas did Berkeley disagree with?

mind –> IDEAS <– primary qualities <– material objects

A

IDEAS <– primary qualities

  • you can’t get to what is outside the mind!
34
Q

What 3 theories/ideas are related to Berkeley’s idea that you can’t get to what is outside the mind?

A
  • phenomenalism
  • anti-realism (matter doesn’t exist, can’t trust senses)
  • idealist (only mind and God exist)
35
Q

How is Berkeley’s thinking similar to Locke?

A
  • insists that only thing we have are out ideas that compose our experience
  • empirical evidence is trustworthy if we use it correctly; have to proportion beliefs to evidence (believes the evidence is insufficient!!)
36
Q

What did Berkeley think about cause and effect?

A
  • ideas are at basis of knowledge and ideas are mental by nature; if cause if like the effect, how can material things cause immaterial ideas?
37
Q

What did Berkeley think about primary vs secondary qualities?

A
  • can we really separate them in our minds?
  • if you picture a colour, it has a shape; if you picture a shape it has a colour
  • maybe primary qualities are not so special after all
38
Q

What is the difference between active and passive ideas (Berkeley)

A

active: caused by me (ex blue unicorn)
passive: imposed by external senses (similar to Descartes’ passions)

39
Q

According to Berkeley, sensations are ____

A

a divine message from God (sensations are God’s language to us by which we grasp the order of things)

40
Q

According to Berkeley, ____ is the sufficient cause of _____

A

God; everything and all there is!!

41
Q

David Hume (1711-1776):
- wanted to focus on the information we get _________
- was a ______; he believed that free will is _______

A
  • focus on info we get directly from our experience
  • was a skeptic; free will is an illusion
42
Q

(Locke/Hume): simple ideas are ________
(Locke/Hume): simple ideas arise from _______

A

clear and distinct ideas
arise from impressions

43
Q

Hume: An idea is the ______ that follows an ______ that provides you with a ____ of the _____

A

COGNITIVE STATE that follows an IMPRESSION that provides you w a COPY of the IMPRESSION (the first impact is physical/emotional, not intellectual)

44
Q

Hume: perception are not __________, they are just ________ that begin with impressions and include _______

A

clear and distinct ideas; states of consciousness that begin w impressions and include ideas

45
Q

Hume’s 3 principles of association that govern the formation of ideas:

A
  • Resemblance
  • Contiguity (in space and time)
  • Cause and effect (empirically, only thing we can observe is associations, don’t observe causal connection)
46
Q

What did Hume think about making inferences about cause and effect?

A
  • inference of necessary cause & effect is invalid BUT psychologically we believe there is a cause & effect
  • ideas are not beliefs we give our ascent to as a function of the evidence, there is NO evidence
47
Q

Hume: beliefs are caused by _______

A

psychological habits (get deeper w repetition like everytime we scratch design into wax tablet)

48
Q

Hume: the meaning of the words we use do not mean _____ or _____, the Meaning must refer to an _______

A

not mean Truth or Knowledge; must refer to an original impression

49
Q

Hume: we should be careful about using a word without _____. What issues does this bring up for talking about Cause & Effect, Space/Time/Matter/etc, and the Mind as Substance?

A

idea or meaning (do ideas have any basis in experience?)

Cause & Effect: no impression of necessary connection
Space/Time/Matter: all abstract ideas, don’t exist for real
Mind as Substance: even if we feel ourselves thinking, this leaves no impression, therefore not empirical

50
Q

According to Hume, what is the “self”? This perspective represents _____ism, not ____ism.

A
  • not the body (constantly re-generates), but self is constant
  • “I” am just the stream of impressions, sensations and reflections

Phenomenalism, not realism!

51
Q

How does thought relate to the example of a play (Hume)?

A
  • in a play at the theatre, there is a series of events playing out
  • without the acts/scenes, there is no play. the play is the play
  • in the same way, thought is just a stream of thoughts
52
Q

Explain Hume’s “psychological habits”

A
  • the more regularity in conjunction there has been in the past, the stronger the impression of the habit
53
Q

Hume: Believing something is real vs fiction have different _____. ______ is the guide of life!

A

different IMPRESSIONS; FEELING is the guide of life
(we each have our own inner compass)

54
Q

Compatibilism and Incompatibilism are two perspectives that answer what question?

A

Is freedom of action consistent with causal determinism?

Compatibilism: YES, free will can be consistent w causal det.
Incompatibilism: NO, free will can’t be consistent w c.d.

55
Q

((In)Compatibilism) can be further divided into what 2 ideas?

A

Incompatibilism
Libertarianism: we are always free, causal determinism is false
Skepticism: freedom is impossible (equally inconsistent w causal determinism and causal indeterminism)

56
Q

What is rational compatibilism?

A
  • causal determination by recognition of what I should do
  • we’re not 100% free to make decisions but are to a degree in control of the reasoning process
  • ex recognition that taking meds is right thing to do –> taking meds
57
Q

What is animal action?

A
  • not really an act of free will
  • starts w passive desire (eg shark is hungry so wants to hunt)
58
Q

what is human action (Hobbe’s theory)?

A
  • similar to animal desire, starts w passive desire
  • decisions to act are NOT voluntary, we can’t decide to decide
  • eg wanting to raise hand –> raising hand (don’t plan this 5 mins in advance, it comes from a strong desire outside our control)
59
Q

Where does Hobbe’s human action theory sit in terms of compatibilism/incompatibilism?

A
  • compatibilism!!
  • free will is when there are no obstacles preventing us to act on our prior desires that are causing our actions
  • considers laws to be an obstacle
60
Q

What metaphor was used to explain Hobbe’s human action theory?

A
  • a marionette
  • we are the marionette, hand is passive desire to do one thing or another
61
Q

What did Hume think about the Will?

A
  • guided by passions, not reason
  • we make moral decisions based on ethical feelings, not reason
  • free will is our interpretation of a spontaneous initiative
62
Q

What does the trolley problem illustrate in relation to Hume’s theories?

A
  • shows that passions direct will, not reason
  • use ethical feelings, not reason
  • reason would say to throw one guy off bridge to save 5, but it FEELS wrong so most ppl don’t pick that option
63
Q

What is metaphysics?

A

the branch of philosophy that studies the essence of a thing

64
Q

What was the main message of Kant’s 1783 book “Prolegomena to any future metaphysics”

A
  • metaphysics is impossible, we can’t know the ultimate reality
65
Q

What interrupted Kant’s “dogmatic slumber” and gave his “investigations in the field of speculative philosophy quite a new direction”?

A

David Hume’s attack on metaphysics (demonstrating that cause & effect is in the eye of the beholder)

66
Q

According to Kant, what was Hume’s problem?

A
  • question concerning whether concept of cause could be thought by reason a priori
  • NOT question about if the concept of cause is indispensable
67
Q

What is Kant’s transcendental method?

A
  • method for getting at the inner resources that the human mind brings
  • transcendental knowledge is occupied not with objects but with a priori concepts
  • What is it that reason brings a priori to the quest for Knowledge? Are there any universal concepts?
68
Q

How does Kant describe a priori concepts? How is this different from Plato and Descartes?

A
  • more of a framework (mold, lens)
  • formal principles that give rational form to things (vs factual concepts that tell you ab things, a priori concepts by themselves tell you nothing)
  • not innate idea in sense of Plato (pre-formed idea already in mind that we can recollect)
  • not innate idea in sense of Descartes (self-evident)
69
Q

What would Hume say in terms of causality in a billiards game?

A
  • there is no causality, all we know for sure is that we perceived 2 separate events (hitting white ball into purple, purple ball moving)
70
Q

Kant responded to Hume by saying that the concept of cause and effect are not _______ derived, but in some sense ______

A

not empirically derived, in some sense a priori (not from experience, comes from pure understanding)

71
Q

Why was the metaphor of an ice cube tray used to discuss Kant’s theories?

A
  • like water, we can’t really hold on to raw thought/experience
  • so we need a priori concepts as structure that helps us make sense of experience!
72
Q

What important step did Kant add to the model of perception/ideas shown in class?

A
  • UNDERSTANDING

Kant’s model:

Categories –> Understanding <– Perceptual input

**understanding leads to formulating judgments about perceptual input

73
Q

Per Kant, the mind is (passive/active) in forming perceptions of the outside world

A

ACTIVE!

74
Q

According to Kant, what 2 things can’t we directly perceive in a billiards game (that we need to use a priori concepts for)?

A

space and time

75
Q

What does the Phi effect show?

A
  • circle of dots with one coloured dot moving in circle
  • movement is not directly in sensory experience, we use a priori forms to see this as movement!
76
Q
A

PSYC 403 (10 decks)

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