Task 3 - enlightenment Flashcards
Age of Enlightenment
- 18th century
- autonomous thinking and observation -> primary sources of knowledge , rather than reliance on authority
- reason and science should be basis of social order
- > lead to secularization: religions loses social and cultural significance
Counter forces of Enlightenment
- Roman Catholic church
- Protestant church
- the humanities ( literature, art etc)
- romanticism ( against mechanistic view and enlightenment)
Enlightenment in Britain
- began with John locke
- individuals were NOT persecuted
- writings were NOT censored
- British philosophers did not denounce religion
Prussia (Germany)
- enlightenment allied with existing autocratic government
- applied newtons mechanical model of universe to the state
France
enlightenment was separated from political power
- publications were censored
- French philosopher pushed Cartesian, Newtonian and Lockean ideas to the extremes
- > wanted to tear social institutions down
- > French Revolution
Individualization in western society - precursors to a scientific psychology
- Increased complexity of society -> everyone struggled to maintain sense of dignity and meaning
- increased control by the state
- individuality promoted by Christianity
- increased availability of mirrors, books and letters
Descartes
- mind-body problem -> dualism
- Reflexe action theory: external object can bring about an involuntary response -> reflexive behavior is mechanical and automatic
- rationalism, deduction
- suggests that mind produces 2 kinds of ideas:
1) derived ideas: products of senses
2) innate ideas: from mind/consciousness-> independent of sensory experiences
Dualism
- mind immaterial and independent of body
- separating soul from rest of universe
Mechanistic view of universe - Descartes
- universe as one big, sophisticated machine that could be studied
- believed God created the machine
- replaced Aristotles view
Newton & principia Mathematica
- ## universe must be subject to laws of measurement and it should be predictable
From rationalism ( Plato, Aristotle, church, Descartes ) to
-> Empiricism
- philosophers developed scientific method
- > observations and inductive reasoning gained importance
- Bacon
- Locke, Berkeley and Hume
John Locke
- father of empiricism
- people born without knowledge
- > knowledge derives from experience alone
- 2 kinds of experiences: sensation , reflection (not possible without sensation)
- 2 kinds of ideas: simple, complex (combining simple ideas)
- 2 kinds of qualities: primary , secondary ( do not exist without perception)
Bishop Berkeley ( 1685-1753)
- agreed with empiricism
- only believed in secondary qualities
- > God = ultimate perceiver, holds everything in existence
Mentalism:
- perception is subjective, does not mirror external world
- all knowledge is a function of mental phenomena , depends on person perceiving
Berkeley’s analysis of depth perception
- foundation of modern analyses of depth perception
- depth perception must be learnt
- countered by Kant: depth perception is innate (correct)
Hume ( 1711-1776) ?????
- great skeptic
- human behavior is driven by passion rather than reasoning
-no existence of innate ideas, all knowledge form experience
claiming that all contents of mind are solely built from sense experiences
Hume - perception
2 types of perception:
1) impressions -> sensations
2) ideas -> less vivid copies of impressions
Wolff
-
Kant (
- realism
- psychology = never a natural science -> serious setback for psychology
His objections:
- introspection cannot be formulated in mathematical terms
- inner observations cannot be separated and recombined at will
- act of introspection changes and displaces state of the observed mind
- psychology can never become a natural science
Isaac Beeckman (1588-1637)
- studied theology, literature and mathematics
- studied medicine
- he didn’t publish his ideas
- but he did influence many scientists
- kept an extensive journal
- developed concept that matter is composed of atoms
- described inertia
- fundamental frequency
- functioning of a pump
Beeckman - Relationship to Descartes
- met him 1618 in Breda
- Beeckman translated a placard for Descartes at a market place
- B. Convinced Descartes to devote his studies to a mathematical approach to nature
- Beeckman introduced Descartes to many of Galileis ideas
Scottish common sense
- realism
- Reid, Stewart
- 18th century Scottish enlightenment
- innate ability to perceive common ideas
- > inherent in and interdependent with judgement
- common sense as foundation of philosophical inquiry
- opposite of idealism (Hume etc)
Romanticism vs enlightenment
enlightenment:
- reason
- rational
- culture, human progress, education, civilization
- the city as food place to live (educated people are there, new ideas are developed etc)
- universal human nature, society, social life
Romanticism:
- emotion, imagination
- irrational
- nature -> civilization against nature’s goodness
- the country as best place to live
- valued “uncivilized”people ( farmers etc)
- more individual
Cartesian dualism
- god created 2 separate spheres
Mind = emotion
Matter = measurable reality/math
