part two - concepts

Question 1

concepts

Answer 1

a general idea or understanding about something

examples - tree, bed, yellow, a witch

Question 2

concept empiricism

Answer 2

if you possess a concept you acquired it, deriving it from experience

mind at birth is a tabula rasa - mind creates mental copies of our sensory perceptions of the world

Question 3

concept innatism

Answer 3

the view that there are at least some innate concepts. An innate concept is a concept that isn’t acquired and is part of our rational nature; it’s inborn

Question 4

concept empiricists (philosophers)

Answer 4

Locke and Hume

Question 5

concept innatists (philosophers)

use examples of innate concepts to attack knowledge empiricism

Answer 5

Descartes - trademark argument

Plato - universals

Kant - causation

Question 6

Impressions and Ideas

Answer 6

Impressions - our more lively perceptions
distinguished from ideas (my current experience of a person)

Ideas - less lively perceptions
when we reflect on any sensations (my memory of a person)

Question 7

Simple and Complex Concepts

Answer 7

simple - uniform and has no separable parts

complex - compound of simple concepts

Question 8

Hume’s Adequacy of Stimulus Argument

copy principle - simple and complex concepts

Answer 8

Hume’s claim is that we can trace back to experience whatever we can think about

all ideas (concepts) are copies of impressions and we experience simple concepts which then create complex concepts

so this is a response to the claim that, say, the idea of a unicorn must be innate as we have no experience of it. A unicorn is a complex impression made from the complex ideas of a horse and a horn

Question 9

simple concept

Answer 9

defined by Hume and Locke

contains nothing in it but one uniform appearance or conception in the mind and isn’t distinguishable to different ideas

example - an exact colour, certain shade of yellow

Question 10

complex concept

Answer 10

defined by Hume and Locke

mind has the power to repeat, compare and unite simple concepts to an almost infinite variety making complex concepts.

example - unicorns, a necklace

Question 11

Hume’s Counter-Argument for his Adequacy of Stimulus Argument

Answer 11

missing shade of blue

person familiar with every shade of blue except one could supply the missing shade without having had an impression of it. This contradicts the copy principle.

But we subtract or add from our existing ideas of the neighbouring tones and produce a new complex idea of the missing shade, meaning his original argument is still valid.

Question 12

Innate Concepts

argument against concept empiricism

Answer 12

God - Descartes Trademark/Hallmark Argument

Causality - Kant

Numbers - Developmental Psychology

Infinity - Descartes (with the use of God)

Univerals - Plato

Question 13

Descartes trademark Argument

(argument against concept empiricism
for concept innatism)

Answer 13

1. I have an idea of God
2. This idea was either produced by sense experience, imagination or it’s innate
3. It was neither produced by sense experience or imagination
4. The idea of God is innate

Question 14

Plato - Universals

(argument against concept empiricism
for concept innatism)

Answer 14

Universals (like colour) don’t exist physically in the world so you can’t experience them so they must be innate.

Question 15

Kant - Causation

(argument against concept empiricism
for concept innatism)

Answer 15

Kant claimed our idea of causation must be innate because we couldn’t have derived the idea from experience; the concept of causality is necessary for experience in the first place. Meaning if we didn’t already possess the concept of causality, we couldn’t have experiences at all.

Kant argued that the possibilty of having any experiences at all depends on already possessing certain fundamental concepts (called this group of concepts ‘categories’) his claim: categories were necessary for experience.

Kant thinks the concept of causality is a requirement for distinguishing between experiences of change in the world and change in us.

Question 16

Causality - Locke and Hume’s Response

so for empiricism

Answer 16

Locke - argues that we derive our concept of causality from our experience of forming an intention and witnessing the body execute it. We use our own experience of acting as a model of causation.

Question 17

Numbers

(argument against concept empiricism
for concept innatism)

Answer 17

Experiment of a tribe that don’t include names of natural numbers in their language. Experimenters showed them a specific number of counters then moved them. Test subjects were told to do as they did and each one set out the same number as previously. Argued that these numerical concepts weren’t learned due to communities not having suitable linguistic forms.

Question 18

Descartes - Infinity

(argument against concept empiricism
for concept innatism)

Answer 18

it’s not the case we obtain our concept of the infinite through counting or being shown an infinite series.

empiricists - claim infinity is an abstract idea, we start with the idea of finite and think away limitations or boundaries with our imagination

1. God is a substance that is infinite, independent and all knowing and the creator of everything
2. These ideas of characteristics aren’t capable of originating in me alone; I am finite.
3. My being a substance explains having the idea of substance but not an infinite substance. This must come from a substance that is finite.
   God necessarily exist.

Question 19

Infinity - Locke’s Response

Answer 19

argues that we don’t have an idea of what infinity is (which would be a positive concept) instead, we only have an idea of what it’s not (negative concept)

Locke claims the negative conception of infinity is the concept of the endless or unbounded. Locke also thinks the idea of boundless originates in experience. We live for a short period of time, and we wonder how much we can double that amount, and discover it appears to be ongoing.

Question 20

Locke

responses to innate concepts - for empiricism

Answer 20

claims we can observe kids gradually acquiring concepts through natural experience

Locke argues that some concepts, like God and universals (the colour blind), aren’t found among everyone. To be innate, the the concept would need an even distribution among humanity.

Question 21

Concept Innatism Relies on the Non-Natural

responses to innate concepts - for empiricism

Answer 21

non-natural refers to things that can’t be described by science and examined empirically.

non-naturalism is problematic, it’s empirically undetectable, on what bias can we know for sure about these concepts?

The innate status of the concepts ‘god, universals ect’ can’t be established without assuming the existence of these problematic non-natural entities.

Question 22

Locke

Definition of experience

Answer 22

sensation - external experiences which we perceive though our senses
(e.g experiencing being punched in the face)

reflection - experiences of one’s own mind, to observe your thoughts
(e.g experiencing riding a pink elephant while on LSD)

Question 23

Hume

Definition of experience

Answer 23

perceptions - what we’re immediately and directly aware of

impressions - more lively perceptions (relate to feeling or sensation) no control
impressions of sensation - derive form our senses
impressions of reflection - derive from our experience of our mind

ideas - less forceful and lively perceptions (relates to thinking) control

Question 24

Condillac’s Statue

Answer 24

Support for Knowledge Empiricism

• an analogy that shows all operations of our mind derive from senses
• a statue organised inwardly like a man, animated by a soul which has never received an idea, into which no sense-impression has ever penetrated. The statue experiences the sense one by one learning from experience multiple idea.

Proves nothing but experience is required for the acquisition of concepts.