The -isms

Question 1

rationalism

Answer 1

view according to which knowledge is obtained by reasoning, usually through deductive reasoning on basis of innate knowledge

Question 2

nativism

Answer 2

the philosophical position that the mind or brain has certain innate structures present which play a role in the creation of knowledge

Question 3

geocentrism

Answer 3

earth as the centre

Question 4

Heliocentrism

Answer 4

sun as the centre

Question 5

Mechanism

Answer 5

doctrine that natural processes are mechanically determined and capable of explanation by the laws of physics and chemistry

Question 6

Dualism

Answer 6

view of mind-body relation according to which mind is immaterial and independent of body. Central within religions and also in Descartes’ philosophy

Question 7

Cartesian Scepticism (Descartes)

Answer 7

some empirical proposition (e.g., that there are trees) cannot be known because we might be deceived (e.g., we might be brains hallucinating that there are trees)

Question 8

Determinism (Descartes)

Answer 8

the philosophical belief that all events are determined completely by previously existing causes

Question 9

Reductionism

Answer 9

any of several related philosophical ideas regarding the associations between phenomena which can be described in terms of other simpler or more fundamental phenomena

Question 10

Empiricism

Answer 10

view according to which knowledge is obtained by means of perceptual experiences (blank slate - tabula rasa). It usually involves the idea of associations between ideas to combine individual perceptions. It also emphasizes inductive reasoning.

Question 11

Idealism (Berkely)

Answer 11

view within philosophy that human knowledge is a construction of the mind and does not necessarily correspond to an outside world (truth of knowledge depends on coherence with rest of knowledge in the social group)

Question 12

Positivism (Comte)

Answer 12

view that authentic knowledge can only be obtained by means of scientific method. It saw religion and philosophy as inferior forms of explanation

Question 13

Logical positivism

Answer 13

philosophical movement in first half of 20th century, claiming that philosophy should stop thinking about metaphysics, and instead try to understand essence of scientific approach: central tenet was verification principle

Question 14

Verificationism

Answer 14

adherence to principle that proposition is meaningful, only if it can be verified as true or false. With respect to science, it states that proposition is scientific only if it can be verified through objective, value-free observation

Question 15

Falsificationism

Answer 15

view within philosophy of science that statements are scientific only if they can be falsified empirically

Question 16

Evolutioism (Darwin)

Answer 16

the belief in the evolution of organisms

Question 17

Functionalism (James)

Answer 17

approach that examined practical functions of human mind inspired by evolutionary theory

Question 18

Experimentalism (Wundt)

Answer 18

doctrine of relying on experimentation; empiricism

Question 19

Structuralism (Titchener)

Answer 19

approach that tried to discover structure of human mind with the use of introspection

Question 20

Animism (Burnett Tylor)

Answer 20

explanation of workings of world and universe by means of spirits with human-like characteristics

Question 21

Ethnocentrism

Answer 21

too much attention is given to contribution of author’s own group, resulting in tendency to give too much credit to input of economically dominant groups

Question 22

Syllogism

Answer 22

an instance of a form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn from two given or assumed propositions (premises); a common or middle term is present in two premises but not in the conclusion, which may be invalid (e.g., all dogs are animals, all animals have four legs, therefore all dogs have four legs)

Question 23

experimentalism

Answer 23

eliciting secrets from nature by mechanical means

Question 24

realism

Answer 24

view within philosophy that human knowledge tries to reveal properties of the outside world (truth of knowledge is determined by correspondence of knowledge with real world)

Question 25

materialism

Answer 25

a doctrine that considers the facts of the universe to be sufficiently explained in physical terms by the existence and nature of matter

Question 26

mentalism

Answer 26

all knowledge is a function of mental phenomena and depends on the person perceiving or experiencing

Question 27

Naturalism

Answer 27

the idea or belief that only natural (as opposed to supernatural or spiritual) laws and forces operate in the world

Question 28

Lamarckism

Answer 28

organisms acquire new characteristics via active adaptation to their environment

Question 29

Neo-Leomarckism

Answer 29

a modern theory of evolution based on Lamarckism and retaining the fundamental concept that acquired characters are inherited

Question 30

Behaviorism

Answer 30

a movement in psychology arguing that observable behaviors are most important aspect of human functioning to be understood

Question 31

Darwinism

Answer 31

a theory of the origin and perpetuation of new species of animals and plants that offspring of a given organism vary, that natural selection favors the survival of some of these variations over others, that newspecies have arisen and may continue to arise by these processes, and that widely divergent groups of plants and animals have arisen from the same ancestors

Question 32

Radical behaviorism (Skinner)

Answer 32

version of behaviourism, denying relevance of information processing and holding that all human behaviour can be understood on basis of S-R associations

Question 33

Purposive behaviorism (Tolman)

Answer 33

aversion of behaviorism, which saw behavior as goal-related. It agreed with other behaviorists that psychology should be based on observable behavior