Test 2 Flashcards
Michael de Montaigne
What is Montaigne’s Skepticism?
Ideas of skepticism drove many to seek a science that disagreed with him:
He attacked the state of reason/knowledge/science
-we didn’t know anything, we only had opinions
-troubled by those claiming knowledge of religion through reason
- basic human characteristics is presumption and vanity.
-showed that the best of us cannot agree on “facts”
-language is unable to clearly express anything ( what is considered a good grade)
-wanting/desires weakens our ability to think
-the best science has to offer changes over time
-our senses are ruled by our mood and changes with it(mad: think someone mumbled something when they didn’t)
What are Montaigne’s views on child rearing/education, purity of experience, and/or human inconsistency?
- believed that parents punish for revenge not to teach
- thought that learning was better with pleasure not punishment
- parents encourage brutishness in there kids by laughing at cruelty
- nothing is pure there is, i.e link between pleasure and pain. Every sense is mixed with other experiences
- he suggested behaviors are a cover for opposite
- growth toward consistency and integrity greatest challenge of humanity
Montaigne
What causes human inconsistency?
- changes in appetites that influence is to follow
- changes in circumstances/context
- the roles we play and the masks we wear
Etienne Condillac
Why was he more practical than past philosophers?
-Wanted philosophy to find out how the mind worked and wanted a science that would benefit the people
- wanted to know the origins of knowledge
- ”” study the genetic basis of knowledge
Etienne Condillac
What would be gained by sensory experience in isolation? One and two sensory experience
Think: If statue came to life
Single smell: awareness and attention
Second smell: discrimination and
contrast
Other senses lead to more knowledge
- pain
- pleasure
- seeking to avoid pain=motivation
Etienne Condillac
Importance of language
- must be precise like Montaigne
- thought math was a good precise language for science
Francis Bacon
4 contributions/ideas of Francis Bacon
- Bacon suggested that we use induction(working from facts to theory instead of from theory, or the bible, to “facts”. look @ facts first
FACTS -> THEORY instead of,
THEORY/BIBLE-> FACTS
2.
Juan Luis Vives :Beliefs on emotions, memory, and learning
What is Vives belief on emotions, memory, and learning?
EMOTIONS
- Inborn temperament differences in people
- Environment and social aspects influenced emotions like Climate( rainy days: sad), Possessions, Relationships
- Body influences emotions and emotions influence body
-Control of emotion was important to avoid flaws in perception, judgement, and reason.
MEMORY
- Works through associations
- Associations are stronger with similarity(license plate),physical closeness(think of your house automatically think of surrounding houses), and opposites(hot and cold)
-Anything that disturbs the brain(i.e., illness,alcohol,age, intelligence) can change memory
-Memory can be erased but is usually just weakened(explains why relearning happens faster)
LEARNING
-Believed in secular(non-religion education includes science) education for ALL.
-Believed that education would bring about good social reforms.
-Believed in
Francis Bacon
Idols of the TRIBE
Human natural tendencies towards bias
- reading wishes into what we think we see
- look for a pattern or purpose to everything ( green socks are lucky where on test day)
- force simplicity onto a complex situation (bumper sticker theory)
- grouping things together and not considering things individually ( all men are alike)
Francis bacon
Idols of the CAVE
Personal experiences: distortion and biases we have as individuals
•preferences for certain interpretation or theories
• inability to see differ. possible interpretations of same events ( diff viewpoints of what happened in a fight)
• due to our peculiar backgrounds and educations as the heroes we emulate
Francis bacon
idols of MARKETPLACE
Society; threatened by use of language
• common use of works are not fit for scientific and philosophical use
•common sense or the logic we presume we are using when we speak
• be more precise and consistent in the way we use words
Francis bacon
Idol of theater
Scientific showplace • journals a Books Famous names Famous theories : the appearances of truth
Don not idolize whatever is accepted even if they are promoted by authorities
Mary Wollstonecraft
A Vindication of the Rights of women : 1st feminist manifesto in print
Difference in men and women were due to education and experience NOT nature
Women to be strong
Disagreed: to the control of any adult by another
Equal relationships
Rationalism
A priori knowledge
Essential truths : innately known ( line cannot be perpendicular to itself don’t have to experience it to know it
Emphasizes innate abilities (seeing in depth) and innate preferences ( sweet over bitter)
Emphasizes deduction (say x is a law)
From rule to experience
Tends to speak in absolutes
Mind is active and able to select organize reject discriminate and act on sensory deduction (active mind)
Empiricism
A posterior knowledge
Emphasizes all knowledge is Learned through senses and experience
Mind is a blank slate
Emphasizes induction
Seen examples of x therefore x must be a rule
Experience to rule
Speak in probabilities
