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history & methods (y2) > problem 1 - early roots of psychology > Flashcards

problem 1 - early roots of psychology Flashcards

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1
Q

what is empiricism?

A

knowledge arises through external processes & is obtained by gaining experiences

  • Most empiricists argue that acquiring knowledge combines cognitive and external processes but attach more value to the latter
  • Hard-core empiricists argue that cognitive processes are not necessary to obtain knowledge
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2
Q

what is nativism?

A

Human traits can be explained by heredity

  • Knowledge is innate and, therefore, present from birth
  • Many nativists are hard-core rationalists
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3
Q

what is rationalism?

A

knowledge arises through internal (thinking) processes (logical reasoning)

  • Some rationalists argue that knowledge comes from reasoning about perceptions
  • Hard-core rationalists argue that perception is not necessary to obtain knowledge
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4
Q

what is dualism?

A

there are two realities: the reality that we perceive and the reality that we cannot perceive (world of ideas)

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5
Q

what is idealism?

A

states that truth consists of ideas (not physical)

  • Everything can be explained by mental processes in the mind
  • An idealist is also a monist.
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6
Q

what is materialism?

A

the only form of reality is matter

  • Everything can be explained from matter, including psychological processes
  • A materialist is also a reductionist (explaining psychological phenomena from biological terms)
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7
Q

what is monism?

A

there is only one form of reality: physical (body) or mental (mind)

  • Everything can be explained from either matter (materialism) or ideas (idealism)
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8
Q

plato summary

A

nativist: knowledge is innate

rationalist: mental operations are necessary to find the truth

idealist: ultimate reality consists of ideas (forms) instead of the world we see through perception

dualist: distinguished between mind & body (but dualism did not exist in his time)

  • was a student of socrates (built on & broadened his moral concerns)
  • pursuit of justice: doing good for its own sake
  • 2 properties of truth
  • created the field of epistemology (study of knowledge)
  • idea of form + metaphors for the forms
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9
Q

plato: what are the 2 properties of truth?

A
  1. a belief is true (is knowledge) if and only if it is true in all times and places absolutely
    - e.g. earth is round
  2. knowledge has to be rationally justifiable
    - a judge who always judges rightly does not genuinely know the truth unless he can explain his judgements and by force of argument convince others they are correct
  • the way of truth is the inward path of logical reasoning about ideas rather than the outward path of seeming about physical objects
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10
Q

Plato’s views of beauty and ugliness

A

accepted that societies might instill diff views of beauty & ugliness - but did not conclude that judgments of beauty were therefore matter of local taste

a person/sculpture was beautiful by resembling the Form of beauty & was ugly by departing from this

Beauty & virtue were not subjective judgments of people and cultures, but real properties that objects actually possessed

If two people disagree about whether a person is beautiful - at least one of them was wrong bcuz they were ignorant to the Form of beauty

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11
Q

plato: the simile of the sun

A

the Form of the good is to the world of the Forms what the sun is to the physical world of objects

  • Light has to be present for vision to occur - the light of the sun is the ‘other 3rd thing’ needed to see
  • In the intelligible realm: reason has the power to grasp the forms the same way the eye has the power to see
  • The ‘other 3rd thing’ in this realm is the form of good
  • To see the truth you need the good to illuminate you
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12
Q

plato: the metaphor of the line

A

presented a hierarchy of lines based on degree of truth

BOTTOM/SHORTEST LINE (LEAST TRUE)
- imagining: lowest form of knowing & cognition bcuz based on images/pictures (world of appearances)
- belief: better than looking at images is looking at objects themselves, it is an incomplete form of knowledge because it is obtained through sense perception (world of appearances)
- thinking: move from mere opinion, to real knowledge (world of forms)
- intelligence/knowledge: represents the world of the forms, the place of all truth (world of forms)
TOP/LONGEST LINE (MOST TRUE)

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13
Q

plato: the allegory of the cave

A

described fictional prisoners who spend their entire lives trapped in a cave and can only look forward
behind them is a road that people travel on, and behind it is a fire, presenting the projection of shadows on the cave’s walls
to the prisoners, the shadows on the wall are reality to them

  • shadows represent imagination (lowest level) - are sensory perceptions that provide unreliable images of reality

one of the prisoners escapes & can see what is hiding behind the shadows = he sees the real shapes responsible for the shadows - he will gain real knowledge and want to transfer this wisdom to the other prisoners

plato offered the cave as an allegory of the human condition: each soul is imprisoned in an imperfect body, forced to look through imperfect eyes at imperfect copies of the Forms, illuminated by the sun
- perception of the physical world is incorrect - you cant learn through observation or perception (not an empiricist)

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14
Q

plato: the ladder of love

A

describes the love of Beauty, which Plato said was the easiest path from this world to the Forms

  1. sexual love = the first rung of the ladder - must be steered in the right direction
  2. general love = love for every body and every soul
    - one must come to believe that beauty in souls is more valuable than in the body
  3. develop a love for art and philosophy (highest ladder)
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15
Q

plato & reincarnation - reminiscence theory of knowledge

A

learning as remembering: believed in reincarnation - when a person dies, a small part of the knowledge is retained

this knowledge is taken with you when you are born again in a new body = the process of learning consists of remembering the knowledge from previous life

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16
Q

plato: what are the 3 classes of citizens

A
  1. the guardians: the ruling class - have innate greatness of soul & the academic education
  2. the auxiliaries: aid the guardians by acting as soldiers, magistrates & other functionaries
  3. the productive class: the mass of the citizens - the least inherently virtuous class

class membership is determined by which soul rules each citizen

17
Q

plato: what are the 3 forms of soul (and their parallel classes of citizens)

A
  1. rational soul = the highest & only immortal soul - located in the head
    - rules each guardian = they are most fit to rule
  2. spirited soul = the second best - located in the chest
    - dominant in the auxiliaries
    - motivated by glory & fame
  3. desiring soul = located in the belly & genitals
    - irrational wants
    - pursuit of self-interest
    - dominates in the productive class who are described as unfit to rule bcuz they seek their own interests
18
Q

aristotle summary

A

rationalist: knowledge is obtained through logical reasoning

empiricist: sensory perception leads to the acquisition of knowledge - PERCEPTUAL REALIST

monist/materialist: matter is the only form of reality - everything is physical

  • studied w plato
  • was more scientific and rational than plato - concerned w discovering what is natural

your observations are correct - what we see is actually true, but we need to apply some abstract thinking (active mind) to achieve knowledge

19
Q

aristotle: form and matter

A

matter = sheer undifferentiated physical existence
- said matter was unknowable: for matter to be knowable (to be an object of perception) it has to be joined to form

form = what makes a thing that which it is, defining it and making it intelligible to us
- e.g. a statue - the matter of a statue is what it is made of (bronze), when the bronze is cast, it takes on form
- the form makes the statue what it is

aristotle rejected the ‘separability of the Forms’: plato’s thesis that the Forms exist in a realm of Being separate from our imperfect physical world

20
Q

aristotle: 3 causes of form

A

his concept of Form is more than just shape + is comprised of the other 3 causes - all of them together make a things form

the essential cause = Form defines what something is in its essence
- what defines a statue as being of someone or something is form

the efficient cause = Form includes how things come into existence or are made
- the process of building a statue

the final cause = Form includes the purposes for which a thing exists
- statues are created to honor something

21
Q

aristotle & experimenting with nature

A

he observed nature and offered accounts of how nature works, but he did not interrogate nature through experimentation

wanted to understand how nature naturally developed without interference from humans

he did not conduct empirical experiments bcuz he didn’t want to manipulate nature = his work is not ‘scientific’

22
Q

aristotle: potentiality & actuality

A

everything in the universe has both potentiality & actuality - a lump of bronze is actually a lump of bronze, but it is potentially a statue

2 exceptions to the rule of potentiality/actuality:
- pure matter: sheer matter without form of any kind is pure potentiality (can become anything - e.g. and atom)
- the unmoved mover: is perfect & fully actualized = other things naturally move toward it, as their potentiality becomes actuality

23
Q

aristotle: 3 levels of soul

A

all living things have soul, but there are different forms of living things, possessing different forms of soul - 3 levels of soul appropriate to different levels of actualization

  1. nutritive soul (lowest) - possessed by plants & serving 3 functions: nutrition, reproduction & directing growth
  2. sensitive soul - possessed by animals & more complex: includes the functions of the nutritive soul + new extra functions
    - animals have sensation = experience pleasure and pain
    - also have imagination & memory + movement as a consequence of desire
  3. rational soul (highest) - possessed by humans: includes functions of the others + adds mind (the power to think & have general knowledge)
24
Q

aristotle: the special senses

A

vision, hearing, touch, taste & smell

  • first stage in sense perception: reception of aspects of an object’s form
  • each special sense is dedicated to reception of a particular kind of info about objects
  • are passive = reliable & unerring
25
Q

aristotle: the interior senses

A

info provided by the special senses is passed on to faculties that deal with it in various ways

common sense = integrates the info provided by the special sense by binding their separate neural pathways into a single mental representation

imagination = involved in judging what an object is (along w common sense)

memory = storehouse of the images created by common sense & imagination

26
Q

aristotle: passive and active mind

A

mind is the rational part of the human soul - its function is acquiring knowledge of abstract universals

passive mind = potentiality, your perception of the world, the things you observe
- knowledge of universals in the passive mind is actualized by the operations of the active mind

active mind = actuality, pure thought, acting on the contents of the passive mind to achieve rational knowledge of universals
- unchangeable &immortal
- not a personal soul - is identical in all human beings

you always start with the passive mind: you look at things → to actually get knowledge from these things, you need to use the active mind (abstract thinking)

27
Q

descartes summary

A

rationalist: emphasizes logical reasoning

nativist: innate ideas are important

dualist: mind and body are separate but interact with each other - INTERACTIONIST/CARTESIAN DUALISM

  • viewed animals as machines whose operations could be fully explained as physical processes and without resort to vital forces of any kind
28
Q

descartes: thinking

A

focused on how thinking separates humans from animals in experience, in behavior, and in the possession of language

thought makes human experience different from animal experience: animals lack reflective, thoughtful awareness of their own awareness

thought makes human behavior more flexible than animal behavior: animals require some preset disposition for every particular action

29
Q

descartes: cartesian theater

A

a viewer (the inner self) looks at a screen on which the visual stimuli from the retina are projected
- when we see the image of a leaf, we believe we are seeing an actual leaf outside us
- if, however, the Cartesian theater is true, what the self actually sees is not a leaf but the projected image of a leaf

30
Q

descartes: introspection (cartesian theatre)

A

thinking of the image as an image and then inspecting the image without reference to the object outside
- makes a distinction between material mechanistic world and a world that is not observable
- you can see the leaf and inspect it but to introspect the essence of the leaf you have to do it in your mind

the real world is a projection of what is in our head: what we observe is not what we have directly in our brain
- pineal gland

31
Q

locke summary

A

empiricist: knowledge can be derived by sensory experience (father of empiricism as we know it)

cant say hes a nativist but he’s not fully non-nativist (bcuz he said learning language is innate)

32
Q

locke: the fountains of knowledge

A

are where all the ideas we have are created

sensation = the first fountain of knowledge - resulting in ideas about the objects that cause sensations, including pleasures and pain
- ideas arise from direct sensory stimulation
- impressions are passively transferred to the mind.

reflection = the second fountain of knowledge - observation of our own mental processes

33
Q

locke: tabula rasa

A

believed knowledge came from experience and sensory observations

we are born as clean sheet of paper → tabula rasa

the mind is not merely an empty room to be furnished by experience; rather, it is a complex, information-processing device prepared to convert the materials of experience into organized human knowledge

34
Q

locke: simple vs complex ideas

A

simple ideas: a simple idea of an experience bcuz they cannot be further subdivided
- e.g. the color, scent & feel of a rose are simple ideas, even though a rose consists of their combination
- always come from sensation bcuz its a passive process

complex ideas: a complex combination of simple ideas through an active reflection process - can be analyzed in different components.
- e.g. the color & fragrance of a flower combine with a simple idea of reflection (like pleasure) to give a complex idea of a rose
- arise from reflection

35
Q

hume summary

A

empiricist: knowledge is obtained through cognitive and sensory experiences

  • analyzed human nature as he found it in himself and in the behavior of others
36
Q

hume: 2 types of perception

A
  1. impressions = what we today call sensations
  2. ideas = less vivid copies of impressions

e.g. you have an immediate impression of the book before you. an impression you may recall later on is an idea, a less vivid copy of the actual experience

37
Q

hume: simple vs complex impressions

A

simple impression = a single, unanalyzable sensation
- simple ideas are copies of simple impressions & complex ideas are collections of simple ideas

complex impression = most impressions are complex bcuz our senses are usually exposed to many simple sensations at once
- complex ideas may not exactly correspond to some complex impression - complex ideas may always be broken down into simple ideas

38
Q

hume: association

A

association is seen as the fundamental principle of mental life

complex human experience (complex ideas) is at root simple ideas (derived from impressions) united together by the principle of association

39
Q

hume: 3 laws of association

A
  1. law of resemblance = thoughts easily drift from one idea to other similar ideas
  2. law of continuity = thoughts about an object easily drift to other objects that took place at the same time or place
  3. law of cause and effect = thoughts about an outcome (effect) easily stray into thoughts that led to that outcome (causes).

history & methods (y2) (7 decks)

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