The Science of Human Nature Flashcards
What are the laws of human nature?
The equivalent of Newton’s laws for the mind.
What did Descartes and Locke believe about the nature of knowledge?
Descartes believed that some knowledge is innate (rationalist), whereas Locke believed there was no innate knowledge, all knowledge was gained through experience.
What viewpoints is Molyneux’s question used to distinguish between?
Descartes’ (rationalist) and Locke’s beliefs regarding the nature of knowledge.
What is Molyneux’s question?
Suppose a Man born blind and now adult and taught by his touch to distinguish between a Cube and a Sphere of the same bigness, so as to tell, when he felt one and the other, which is the Cube, which is the Sphere. Suppose then the Cube and Sphere are placed on a Table, and the Blind Man to be made to see. Query, whether by his sight, before he touched them, he could now distinguish, and tell, which the Globe and which the Cube.
How does rationalism answer Molyneux’s question?
People have innate knowledge of shapes, so the formerly blind man could distinguish between the cube and the sphere.
How does Locke answer Molyneux’s question?
The blind man wouldn’t have the sensory impression - have no knowledge of what a cube or sphere looks like, therefore couldn’t distinguish.
When did George Berkeley live?
1685-1753.
What does ‘esse is percipi’ mean?
To be is to be perceived - Berkeley’s idea.
What was Berkeley?
An idealist and immaterialist.
Define idealism.
The idea that everything that exists is either a mind or depends for its existence upon a mind.
Define immaterialism.
The idea that matter does not exist except in the mind.
What reason did Berkeley give for things not disappearing when they’re not perceived?
God is an omnipresent observer. (Berkeley was very religious, and was an Irish bishop.)
What did Berkeley believe about the nature of knowledge?
He was an empiricist and believed that knowledge is based on experience.
What two books is Berkeley best known for?
- An Essay towards a New Theory of Vision (1709) - first scientific attempt to explain vision, including 3-D vision.- A Treatise concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710).
What was the aim of Berkeley’s new theory of vision?
To explain how we perceive the “distance, magnification, and situation of objects” - depth and 3-D vision. Also to consider the difference between sight and touch and whether they have a common idea.
What two kinds of perception did Berkeley distinguish between?
Mediate (indirect, e.g. perceiving pleasure by a smile on someone’s face, no necessary association), and immediate (direct, e.g. sensory information).
What did Berkeley’s New Theory of Vision state about extension?
That there is no way to demonstrate the extension (occupation of space) of things in the world except through ideas (percepts, properties of object). Nothing about the object itself gives us knowledge.
What are the immediate ideas that mediate (not direct) the perception of distance?
• The kinesthetic sensations associated with focusing the eyes when perceiving objects at various distances.• As objects are brought closer to the eye, their appearance becomes more confused - point eyes slightly inward, eventually it goes out of focus. • This confusion can be mitigated by straining the eyes which is recognized by kinesthetic sensations. Thus there is no necessary connection between the ideas and distance, merely a customary connection between two types of ideas.
What did Berkeley assume about touch?
That it provides immediate access to the world.
