The Philosophical Roots of Psychology Flashcards
What is philosophy?
The love of knowledge and learning
Who created the Macedonian Empire?
Alexander the Great
Did the Roman empire have a caste system?
NO!
They did not have a strict casts system as Greece did. There was no strict caste system.
What was the Byzantine Empire conquered by?
The Ottoman Empire
What philosopher taught Alexander the Great?
Aristotle
How did philosophy enter Abbasid Caliphate?
The translation and perseveration of the works of Aristotle and other Greeks
Who was Abbasid Revolution against?
The Umayyad
What are the two main branches of philosophy?
Epistemology and metaphysics
What is epistemology?
The study of where knowledge comes from.
What is metaphysics?
The study of the nature of the world
Which philosopher proposed a dualistic universe?
Pythagoras
Which philosopher gave a naturalistic view of the universe?
Democritus
What did the Sophists believe?
That no absolute truth exists
What did Protagoras believe in?
That truth is dependent on the perceiver and is partially determined by culture.
What did Gorgias believe in?
That all things are equally false
What did Xenophanes believe in?
That religion was a human invention
What did Socrates believe in?
The truth is relative and that no truth exists beyond personal opinion.
What did Plato believe in?
True knowledge can be attained only through reason and rational thought.
He was also more of a rationalist than an empiricist.
What did Aristotle believe in?
That knowledge is gained through studying the world around us.
that rational thought came from information that is gained from sensory information.
What did Aristotle believe were the hierarchy of souls?
- Vegetative soul (plants): Provides growth, assimilation of food, and reproduction. He believed plants have this.
- Sensitive soul (animals): It is what gives you sensory ability.
- Rational soul: Functions of vegetative and sensitive souls plus ability of thinking and rational thought.
Who was Al-Kindi?
An Arab philosopher who tried integrating Greek
philosophy with Islamic theology
Who was Avicenna?
He added to Aristotle’s way of thinking and was an expansion of Aristotle.
He believed that a human can still be self-aware without their sense.
Who was considered the first Muslim neuroscientist?
Avicenna
Who was Averroes and what did he believe in?
He proposed an understanding of localized brain functioning.
This is an important point that is used in modern psychology.
Ex: The brain lobes
He proposed that dreams were collections of sensory information and thoughts of the previous days.
Who is considered the father of modern psychology?
Rene Descartes
What were the beliefs of Rene Descartes?
He thought that the fact one thinks means that they exist. “I think therefore I am”.
He sees the value of empiricism.
What were some of the propositions that Descartes had that we still use in modern psychology?
He explains reflex systems
The brain contained animal spirits which flow through the
nerves resulting in sensation and movement.
What were the beliefs of Hobbes?
A hedonistic theory of motivation
Who was Thomas Hobbes influenced by?
Galileo
What was the belief of Baruch Spinoza?
That pleasure comes from entertaining clear ideas, which are important to the mind’s survival.
That the mind, body, nature, and God are all the same substance and that they were inseparable.
What were the beliefs of Gottfried Leibniz?
He believed that ideas are different from the material world and are an innate part of our mind.
What were the beliefs of philosopher Immanuel Kant?
We can never know absolute truth
Proposed that the mind must add something to sensory data before.
Who is often referred to as the father of empiricism?
Francis Bacon
What were the beliefs of philosopher Francis Bacon?
that rationalism is not reliable since not everyone is rational even though they may think they are.
What did philosopher John Locke believe in?
An idea is a mental image employed while thinking and comes from either sensation or reflection.
What did philosopher George Berkeley believe in?
The world is not made of matter, but are the ideas of God.
What were the beliefs of philosopher David Hume?
Contents of the mind come from experience
Simple ideas cannot be broken down further.
What were the beliefs of philosopher John Stuart Hill?
- If we understand the formation of character, we could improve society and mankind.
- Declared that psychology was ready to become a natural science.
