Mid term

Question 1

What is the mythological way of thinking?

Answer 1

• nature is a system of cycles

- regular rituals are needed to keep the cycles moving

Question 2

What is the Greek miracle?

Answer 2

The somewhat sudden appearance of science, art and culture in Greece

Question 3

What are some possible explanations for the Greek miracle?

Answer 3

• causality
• intercultural contacts
• political debates in Greek cities, political debates

Question 4

Do we know for certain what caused the Greek miracle?

Answer 4

No

Question 5

What are the 5 tools in the toolkit of science?

Answer 5

• Observation
• Formulating ideas and hypotheses
• Testing
• Objectivity
• Rationality

Question 6

What was the main factor that prevented the progress of science?

Answer 6

War

Question 7

What were the 2 important books that Karl Popper wrote?

Answer 7

• The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1959)

- Conjectures and Refutations (1969)

Question 8

What is Karl Popper’s philosophy on science in The Logic of Scientific Discovery?

Answer 8

It should be falsifiable

Question 9

What is science according to Popper?

Answer 9

A group of theories

Question 10

What are theories made up of according to Popper?

Answer 10

• Concepts
• Laws
• Empirical Facts/Observation

Question 11

What differentiates science from non-science according to Popper?

Answer 11

Testing

Question 12

What was the difference between Newton and Einstein’s beliefs on light?

Answer 12

Newton believed light had no mass, Einstein proved it did

Question 13

What example proved that Einstein was right about light?

Answer 13

A star is located behind the sun from our perspective yet we still see the light as it warps around the sun

Question 14

What is Sigmund Freud’s theory about psychoanalysis?

Answer 14

Your ID and SuperEgo fight eachother to create your Ego

Question 15

What is the main problem with Freud’s science?

Answer 15

He selected his facts to form his theory ignoring contradicting other facts

Question 16

What were Thomas Kuhn’s 2 important books?

Answer 16

• The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1970)

- The Copernican Revolution (1957)

Question 17

For how long were the theories of geocentrism and heliocentrism were equal?

Answer 17

150 years

Question 18

What are the 4 events in the evolution of heliocentrism?

Answer 18

1. Copernicus publishes his theory of Heliocentrism
2. Galileo observes the major phases of Venus
3. Kepler observes that planets go around the sun in an ellipse
4. Newton publishes Mathematical Principles of Natural philosophy and establishes the law of universal gravity

Question 19

What did Aristotle believe the main difference between the universe and the earth?

Answer 19

Universe is perfect and things go in circles

Earth is imperfect and things go up and down

Question 20

What are the 2 levels of the Earth?

Answer 20

A: Sky
B: Earth

Question 21

Which elements were in A and B?

Answer 21

A: Fire and air
B: Water and Earth

Question 22

What is the mysterious fifth element?

Answer 22

Ether: the material that fills the region of the universe above the earth

Question 23

What did Ptolemy add to the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic theory?

Answer 23

went into more detail on Aristotle’s work

Question 24

What was Ptolemy’s best argument for why the Earth is in the center of the universe and why the earth isn’t spinning or moving?

Answer 24

Earth is so heavy it naturally ends up in the center, we don’t feel the movement of the earth

Question 25

Who were the main people involved in Christian theology?

Answer 25

Augustine and Aquinas

Question 26

What was the reason why Mars did not go around in a perfect circle from our point of view according to Ptolemy?

Answer 26

Mars went in little circles whilst in orbit around earth

Question 27

Why was Galileo arrested?

Answer 27

For daring to question God

Question 28

What did Galileo find out about the sun, moon and Jupiter that suggested that we are not that important?

Answer 28

• sun has sun spots
• moon has craters
• Jupiter has 4 moons

Question 29

What is the difference between a quantified and qualified world view?

Answer 29

Quantified: all about the numbers, mechanical, no meaning
Qualified: adjective description, has meaning

Question 30

What are the 2 realities of the world?

Answer 30

The World: realism, empiricism

The Mind: rationalism, idealism, there exists no world only my mind

Question 31

What did Francis Bacon think was wrong with human thinking

Answer 31

we tend to rush to conclusions/wishful thinking

Question 32

What were the 3 steps to Bacon’s induction reasoning?

Answer 32

1. observation of facts
2. general principles, laws and theories
3. make predictions and explanations

Question 33

What are the 2 limitations to induction?

Answer 33

• that you can go from a finite number of cases to a universal statement
• generalizations made are not guaranteed by the premises

Question 34

What is the law of proximity?

Answer 34

when we see a number of similar objects we tend to see them as a group of objects close to eachother

Question 35

What is the law of continuation?

Answer 35

We tend to see lines that have a coherent continuation or direction

Question 36

What is the law of closure?

Answer 36

When we see a familiar pattern with missing parts we fill them in

Question 37

What is the law of figure ground perception?

Answer 37

When we pay attention to an object we see little or nothing of the background

Question 38

What is the Law of size constancy?

Answer 38

the mind organizes the data in term of relationships close to known objects