midterm Flashcards
Why is it important to study psychology in a historical context?
- Creates a deeper understanding
- Recognize trends and track periods of thought. Such as when psychology first emerged a science, the trend was to focus on “pure science”- gaining knowledge regardless of utility. Later, Darwin’s theory of constant survival. Today, major emphasis on cognitive processes.
- Avoiding repetition- this would be a waste of time and energy
- Avoid mistakes (phrenology, bumps on skulls in relation to depression
- To develop old ideas further
Karl Popper
- Science does not start with empirical observation, observation is selective.
- Science starts with a problem- discovered through the observation of a scientist
- Scientists propose solutions to problems
- If you cannot falsify something, it’s not scientific, if its too vague, its not scientific
- A scientific theory must be refutable
- criticized Freud and Adler
- In order for a theory to be scientific, it must make risky prediction
- All theories will be eventually found to be false and replaced with ore accurate ones
- Scientific method has three components: problems, solutions to the those problems (theories), criticism of proposed solutions
Thomas Kuhn
Paradigm- a widely accepted viewpoint shared by many scientists. “Entire constellation of values, techniques, and so on shared by the members of a given scientific community.” The way of analyzing something
-Believed science to be highly subjective
-Physical sciences- paradigms form quickly
-Being subjective is part of human nature
-When a paradigm becomes accepted, they are explored- this is normal science-puzzle solving- challenged until point of displacement
-Science does not change easily- anomalies must be present- things the paradigm can’t explain
-Someone proposes an alternate viewpoint that explains these anomalies. Usually met with great resistance. Over time, new paradigm displaces old one.
Example: Einstein challenged Newton’s conception of universe.
-Science is method of inquiry- combines objective and subjective makeup of science
Science progresses because scientists are forced to change their beliefs based on new truths.
Sophists and their common beliefs
Groups of teacher who were considered experts in logic and rhetoric; believed all truths were relative (Protagoras) (Gorgias)
- No universal truths exists
- All we can ever know is our own experience- individual experiences
- No single truth exists
- Shift to: What can humans know and how can they know it? epistemological shift
- Truth varies from person to person
Socrates
- Truth is not always personal
- Disagreed with sophists
- Sought the essences of beauty, justice, and truth
- Created Socratic method
- Believed a teacher’s job was to guide the student to the ultimate truth
- Knowledge comes from careful analysis of concepts- only through reason
- Evil comes from ignorance
- Why is something beautiful
Important ideas from Plato’s allegory of the cave
- Emphasizes that knowledge comes from memories of experiences and introspection
- Sensory experiences are important but are the lowest levels of intelligence- only a copy of reality
- Teaching is a directional thing, teachers should be guides to the students. Guide student to ultimate truth. Final form
- Philosophers should be the leaders of society
- Universe is inherently good
- Every soul has the capacity to learn
Theory of Forms (Plato)
Everything in the world has its own ideal “form” in the abstract sense.
- Knowledge is attained through reason
- Chairs, cats, all examples of forms or physical manifestations- imperfect rendition of an abstract
The Reminiscence Theory of Knowledge . How does this relate to The Allegory of the Cave (Plato)
All knowledge is innate (natural or born with) and can be attained only through introspection. Sensory experience reminds us what we already know. therefore, all knowledge comes from reminiscence, from remembering experiences before soul entered the body.
-This relates to the allegory of the cave because: Plato believed that in order to arrive at knowledge, one must ignore sensory information and focus on introspection . When the prisoner escapes, he can finally see what forms or real objects are casting the shadows on the wall. However, it is only after processing this sensory information that he embraces true knowledge.
The Analogy of the Divided Line (Plato)
-A person only has true knowledge (the good) when they embrace all forms of knowledge. For example, the lowest form of knowledge is an image (object) and the corresponding state of mind is the imagination. Both are considered very low on the scale. Further up the line, the forms of visible things are considered more valuable and when we view these objects, we form beliefs and opinions about these objects. Mathematical objects are an even higher form of intelligence, these are used to solve practical problems through the use of “thinking”. The highest forms of intelligence are forms themselves or “the good”. This shines light on all other forms of knowledge leads to wisdom.
Aristotle
- Knowledge through studying nature
- sight is the most important sense
- Soul and body are interdependent
- Knowledge and nature are interconnected
- Much of human behavior is rooted in seeking pleasure and avoiding pain
- Everything in nature has a purpose/ function
- To know something is to understand something
- -what is it made of (material cause)
- -Shape?pattern? (formal cause)
- -Transforms material thing into form (efficient cause)
- -Purpose for which thing exists (final cause)
- Entelechy- everything has a purpose or function in nature. Keeps an object moving or developing
- Happiness is primary motivation in life
Plato’s Nature of the Soul
- Rational and immortal
- Courageous (mortal and spiritual part)
- Appitative- bodily wishes that need to be met
- True knowledge comes from concentrating on rational pursuit like introspection
- Rational person is guided by moral principles, not impulses.
Basic Differences between Plato and Aristotle
-While Plato and and Aristotle emphasized that truth is beyond appearances, their methods for discovering ‘truths’ were different.
-Plato: essences and forms were independent of nature and could only be discovered by ignoring all sensory information and focusing on introspection.
-Aristotle: essences and forms could be discovered through studying and observing nature.
-Aristotle: values sensory information more than Plato. Plato believed that in order to gain knowledge, you must ignore all sensory information.
-Aristotle believed that sight was the more important sense.
-Plato: All knowledge exists independently of nature
-Aristotle: Nature and knowledge are inseprable
-Plato: The body hinders the path to knowledge
Aristotle: Believed logic was powerful, however he emphasized careful examination of nature through observation.
Plato: Heavily valued mathematics
Plato: Ultimate reality can only be known through reasoning- emphasized the rational powers of the mind.
Plato was more of a rationalist and Aristotle, while he embraced rationalism, was also an empiricist
Romanticism
The philosophy that stressed uniqueness of each person and values irrationality more than rationality. This focuses on intuition and emotion, as well as individual thought. People can and should trust their own natural impulses as guides for living.
Key players: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Arthur Schopenhauer, Goethe,
Existentialism
Examines the meaning in life and stresses the freedom that humans have to choose their own destiny.
Like romanticism- emphasizes subjective experiences and uniqueness.
Truth is subjective
key players: Friedrich Nietzsche, Soren Kierkegaard
Rene Descartes
- Father of modern philosophy
- Believer in eternal truth
- Much of human behavior can be explained mathematically
- He was a dualist and believed that the mind and body are separate,
- the mind contains innate or natural ideas. Ideas that must be accepted as true due to clarity but had no counterparts to personal experience
- “I think, therefore, I am”
- Contributions: comparative- physiological psychology (studied the bodies of animals to learn their functionalities), phenomenology (focuses on the study of consciousness and introspection), stimulus-response psychology (tested reflex behavior),
- All human and animal processes can be explained mechanically
- We can trust information provided by sense because God is perfect and would not try to fool us.
