Topic 5: Empiricism, Sensationalism, & Positivism Flashcards
Empiricism
the belief that all knowledge is derived from experience, especially sensory experience
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
believed that the primary motive in human behavior is the seeking of pleasure and the avoidance of pain
for Hobbes, the function of government is to satisfy as many human needs as possible to prevent humans from fighting each other
Hobbes believed that all human activity, including mental activity, could be reduced to atoms in motion
therefore, he was a materialist
John Locke (1632-1704)
an empiricist who denied the existence of innate ideas but who assumed many nativistically determined powers of the mind
Locke distinguished between primary qualities, which cause sensations that correspond to actual attributes of physical bodies, and secondary qualities, which cause sensations that have no counterparts in the physical world
the types of ideas postulated by Locke included those caused by sensory stimulation, those caused by reflection, simple ideas, and complex ideas, which were composites of simple ideas
Idea
a mental event that lingers after impressions or sensations have ceased
Sensation
the rudimentary mental experience that results from the stimulation of one or more sense receptor
Reflection
according to Locke, the ability to use the powers of the mind to creatively rearrange ideas derived from sensory experience
Simple Ideas
the mental remnant of sensations
Complex Ideas
configurations of simple ideas
Quality
according to Locke, that aspect of a physical object that has the power to produce an idea
Paradox of the Basins
Locke’s observation that warm water will feel either hot or cold depending on whether a hand is first placed in hot water or cold water
because water cannot be hot and cold at the same time, temperature must be a secondary, not a primary quality
Associationism
the belief that the laws of association provide the fundamental principles by which all mental phenomena can be explained
George Berkeley (1685-1753)
said that the only thing we experience directly is our own perceptions or secondary qualities
he offered an empirical explanation of the perception of distance, saying that we learn to associate the sensations caused by the convergence and divergence of the eyes with different distances
he denied materialism. saying instead that reality exists because God perceives it
we can trust our senses to reflect God’s perceptions because God would not create a sensory system that would deceive us
David Hume (1711-1776)
agreed with Berkeley that we could experience only our own subjective reality, but disagreed with Berkeley’s contention that we could assume that our perception accurately reflect the physical world because God would not deceive us
for Hume, we can be sure of nothing
even the notion of cause and effect, which is so important to Newtonian physics, is nothing more than a habit of thought
Hume distinguished between impressions, which are vivid, and faint copies of impressions
Impressions
according to Hume, the relatively strong mental experiences caused by sensory stimulation
for Hume, impression is essentially the same thing as what others called sensation
Imagination
according to Hume, the power of the mind to arrange and rearrange ideas in countless configurations
Law of Resemblance
according to Hume, the tendency for our thoughts to rune from one event to similar events, the same as what others call the law, or principle, of similarity
Law of Contiguity
the tendency for events that are experienced together to be remembered together
Law of Cause and Effect
according to Hume, if in our experience one event always preceded the occurrence of another event, we tend to believe that the former event is the cause of the latter
David Hartley (1705-1757)
combined empiricism and associationism with rudimentary physiological notions
Vibratiuncles
according to Hartley, the vibrations that linger in the brain after the initial vibrations caused by external stimulation cease
James Mill (1773-1836)
maintained that all mental events consisted of sensations and ideas (copies of sensations) held together by association
no matter how complex an ideas was, Mill felt that it could be reduced to simple ideas
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
said that the seeking of pleasure and the avoidance of pain governed most human behavior
Bentham also said that the best society was one that did the greatest good for the greatest number of people
Utilitarianism
the belief that the best society or government is one that provides the greatest good (happiness) for the greatest number of individuals
Jeremy Bentham, James Mill, and John Stuart Mill were all utilitarian
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
disagreed with his father James that all complex ideas could be reduced to simple ideas
J.S. Mill proposed a process of mental chemistry according to which complex ideas could be distinctly different from the simple ideas (elements) that constituted to which complex ideas could be distinctly different from the simple ideas (elements) that constituted them
J.S. Mill believed strongly that a science of human nature could be and should be developed
Mental Chemistry
the process by which individual sensations can combine to form a new sensation that is different from any of the individual sensations that constitute it
Primary Laws
according to J.S. Mill, the general laws that determine the overall behavior of events within a system
Secondary Laws
according to J.S. Mill, the laws that interact with primary laws and determine the nature of individual events under specific circumstances
Alexander Bain (1818-1903)
the first to attempt to relate known physiological facts to psychological phenomena
he also wrote the first psychology texts, and he founded psychology’s first journal
Bain explained voluntary behavior in much the same way that modern learning theorists later explained trial-and-error behavior
finally, Bain added the law of compound association and the law of constructive association to the older, traditional laws of association
Law of Compound Association
according to Bain, contiguous or similar events form compound ideas and are remembered together
if one or a few elements of the compound idea are experienced, they may elicit the memory of the entire compound
Law of Constructive Association
according to Bain, the mind can rearrange the memories of various experiences so that the creative associations formed are different from the experiences that gave rise to associations
Voluntary Behavior
according to Bain, under some circumstances, an organism’s spontaneous activity leads to pleasurable consequences
after several occurrences, the organism will come to voluntarily engage in the behavior that was originally spontaneous
Spontaneous Activity
according to Bain, behavior that is simply emitted by an organism rather than being elicited by external stimulation
Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655)
saw humans as nothing but complex, physical machines and he saw no need to assume a nonphysical mind
Gassendi had much in common with Hobbes
Julien de La Mettrie (1709-1751)
believed humans were machines that differed from other animals only in complexity
La Mettrie believed that so-called mental experiences are nothing but movements of particles in the brain
he also believed that accepting materialism would result in a better, more humane world
Etienne Bonnet de Condillac (1714-1780)
maintained that all human mental attributes could be explained using only the concept of sensation and that it was therefore unnecessary to postulate an autonomous mind
Claude-Adrien Helvetius (1715-1771)
elaborated the implications of empiricism and sensationalism for education
that is, a person’s intellectual development can be determined by controlling his or her experiences
Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
the founder of positivism and coiner of the term “sociology”, he felt that all cultures passed through three stages in the way they explained phenomena: the theological, the metaphysical, and the scientific
Positivism
the contention that science should study only that which can be directly experienced
for Comte, that was publicly observed events or overt behavior
for Mach, it was the sensations of the scientist
Ernst Mach (1838-1916)
proposed a brand of positivism based on the phenomenological experiences of scientists
because scientists, or anyone else, never experience the real world directly, the scientist’s job is to precisely describe the relationships among mental phenomena, and to do so without the aid of metaphysical speculation
What was the Enlightenment?
psychology remains caught up in the Enlightenment
Age of Reason: everyone has reason, so everyone can reach the same level
the Enlightenment was ushered in by Renaissance thinkers like Galileo, Newton, Bacon, and Descartes (shift away from superstition, towards knowledge being power)
could create a utopia if everything is in order
if I can understand how people work, I can prevent bad things from happening
emotions are downplayed in order to make the mechanist assumptions true
What was the British Empiricism and French Sensationalism perspective?
denied Descartes’ conception that some ideas are innate, instead maintaining that all ideas are derived from experience
sought principles or laws that could account for all mental experience
What was the German rationalist perspective?
made an active mind central to their conception of human nature
knowing the operations of this mind is central to determining how humans understand their world
What was the Romantic philosopher perspective?
rebelled against both empiricists and rationalists, seeking to understand the total person and prioritizing human emotions and individual uniqueness
What was British empiricism?
asserts that the evidence of senses constitutes the primary data of all knowledge
knowledge cannot exist unless this evidence has first been gathered
all subsequent intellectual processes must use this evidence in framing valid propositions about the real world
knowledge comes from sensory experience, emphasize external experiences
there is no knowledge without experience
have to root our knowledge in an understanding of the world, only way we can make valid statements about the world
Who was Thomas Hobbes?
founder of British empiricism
man is a machine functioning within a larger machine: matter and motion as Galileo’s explanation of the universe
used the deductive method of Galileo and Descartes: attempted to apply the ideas/techniques of Galileo to studying humans
What was Hobbes ideas on government and human instincts?
governments were necessary to control innate human tendencies of aggressiveness, selfishness, and greediness
best form of government is a total monarchy because we are innately destructive and evil, need a ruler to keep us in check
democracy was dangerous because it gives too much free to these tendencies, even the Church needed to be subservient to a ruler
human life without control would be brutish and short
we are motivated by a fear of death to combat we create order, best order is through a leader
What are the characteristics of Hobbes’ empiricism?
was a materialist in that the “mind” was a series of motion within the person (a physical monist)
sensory experience is the root
mental phenomena needs to be understood in terms of the activity of the physical being
mind is a sum of the motion with the person
How did Hobbes’ describe psychological phenomena?
attention: sense organs retain the motion caused by certain external objects, can’t move on if focusing on one thing
imagination: sense impression decay over time, residual sense impression
proposed a hedonistic theory of motivation: appetite, seeking or maintaining pleasure; aversion, avoidance or termination of pain drove human behavior, motivated to maximize pleasure, minimize pain at all costs
there is no free will: a strict deterministic view of behavior, hard determinist, we are machines responding to pleasure and pain
there is no absolute morality
What were Hobbes’ ideas of complex though processes?
complex though processes resulted from law of contiguity (originating with Aristotle), things we experience together are measured together
Hobbes was a materialist, mechanist, determinist, empiricist, and hedonist
Who was John Locke?
a philosopher who was the most important of the British Empiricists, set the stage for those who came after him
heavily influenced by Robert Boyle: tried to teach Locke that everything is made up of corpuscles, arrangement of corpuscles make up everything “reductionism”, can reduce everything down
not a pure materialist
external stimulation causes ideas, end of story
What was Locke’s idea of the opposition of innate ideas?
all ideas come from sensory experience
there are no innate ideas as Descartes proposed
at the time people though morality was innate; Locke had a problem with this
no ideas are innate
What were Locke’s views on sensation and reflection?
an idea is a mental image employed while thinking and comes from either sensation (direct sensory stimulation) or reflection (reflection on remnants of prior sensory stimulation)
the source of all ideas is sensation: these ideas can be acted upon by operations of the mind giving rise to new ideas
operations of the mind include perception, thinking, doubting, believing, reasoning, knowing, and willing: these operations are innate, a part of human nature
What was Locke’s idea of simple ideas?
cannot be divided further into other ideas
What was Locke’s idea of complex ideas?
are composites of simple ideas and can be analyzed into their parts (simple ideas)
are formed through operations being applied to simple ideas through reflection (comparing, abstracting, discriminating, combining and enlarging, remembering, and reasoning)
What was Locke’s idea of the interaction between ideas and emotions?
feelings of pleasure and pain accompany simple and complex ideas, other emotions are derived from these two basic feelings
seek out pleasurable ideas and avoid painful thoughts
What were the three types of complex ideas thought of by Locke?
substances
modes
relations
What are substances?
distinct particular things existing (or imagined to exist) in themselves [a la Aristotle]
e.g., rock, chair, dog, arm, unicorn
What are modes?
properties that have no existence in themselves, but exist only as an aspect of another thing
creative, with our control; perfect in a way because they are not existing; derived from sense experience, but aren’t sensory themselves
e.g., inch, murder, beauty, theft, rainbows, numbers, shapes, emotions, events, mental processes (remembering, imagining, reasoning)
What are relations?
ideas that relate one mode, substance, or relation to another
e.g., lead is heavier than water
What are Locke’s primary and secondary qualities?
Locke ran with Newton’s idea that not all characteristics of an object are inherent in the object by itself
Locke specifically noted that secondary sensation are further removed from reality than primary ideas
What are primary qualities?
create ideas in us that correspond to actual physical attributes of objects
solidity, extension, shape, motion, and quality
direct physical match up between our perception and the physical world
What are secondary qualities?
produce ideas which do not correspond to the objects in the real world
color, sound, temperature, and taste
things that are evoked within us
What is the binding problem?
the common sense has to do with (what we now call) “the binding problem”, by which input from the different sense are bound together to create one coherent object with global properties shared between senses
for example, we need to know that what we see in our hand and what we feel is one single object that has properties such as solidity, extension, figure, motion, rest & number (primary qualities) that are shared between the sensory modalities
What was Locke’s belief regarding the association of ideas?
association was used to explain faulty beliefs, which are learned by chance, custom, or mistake (associated by contiguity)
many ideas are clustered in the mind because of some logical connection among them and some are naturally associated
these are safe types of associations because they are naturally related and represent true knowledge
did believe in associative learning, but its not the whole picture
somethings can be linked through chance, which can cause faulty beliefs; antecedents of behaviorism
What were Locke’s views on the education of children?
parents should increase stress tolerance in their children and provide necessities for good health
teachers should always make the learning experience pleasant as well as recognizing and praising student accomplishments
we all have the capacity to be educated, emphasizes nurture over nature
What were Locke’s views of government?
against the idea that people have an innate sense of morality
Locke challenged the divine rights of kings and proposed a government by and for the people
founder of modern liberalism (social contract)
Who was George Berkeley?
was an Irish bishop and prominent scholar
opposed materialism because it left no room for God
questioned whether matter exists; there is no matter, materialism is wrong
What was Berkeley’s ideas regarding the quote “to be is to be perceived”?
“to be is to be perceived”, which basically states that we exist only in being perceived by another
therefore, only secondary qualities exist because they are, by definition, perceived
don’t derive ideas from experiences
all we interact with is our own perceptions; immaterialism
there is an external reality; but it is not matter, God is the master empiricist can rely on him for our perceptions scientists come to know God’s mind
save empiricism from a completely mechanist view
What is the principle of association thought of by Berkeley?
all sensation that are consistently together (contiguity) become associated
via our experience with things
associate sensory experiences together
similar to Hobbes
everything depends on the law of continuity
What is Berkeley’s theory of distance perception?
linking of multiple sensory modalities, all depends on the binding problem
Berkeley’s theory of distance perception suggests that for distance to be judged, several sensations from different modalities must be associated
for example, viewing an object and the tactile sensation of walking toward it
Who was David Hume?
a Scottish philosopher who is best known for his work Treatise of Human Nature
was never a university professor due to opposition from the Scottish clergy
was an outright atheist, one of the few amount the British empiricists
his ideas of faith have inspired religious thinkers
turned his concern away from reason
we are emotions; creatures, need to “school” our emotions
What was Hume’s goal?
goal was to combine the empirical philosophy of his predecessors with principles of Newtonian science to create a science of human nature
focused on use of the inductive method of Bacon to make careful observations and then carefully generalize
Hume wanted to create a more rigorous moral philosophy, human science
measure experiences, how cognition relates to behavior
What was Hume’s ideas regarding impressions and ideas?
contents of the mind come from experience
can be stimulated by either external or internal events
distinguished between impressions and ideas
What are impressions?
strong, vivid perceptions
What are ideas?
weak perceptions
faint images in thinking and reasoning
only have access to secondary qualities
What were Hume’s views on imagination as well as simple and complex ideas?
simple ideas cannot be broken down further (like Locke)
complex ideas are made of other ideas
once in the mind, ideas can be rearranged in an infinite number of ways by the imagination
ideas come from the world, ideas become bundled together to form beliefs, beliefs become our reality
fantasy is the product of imagination, facts are a product of beliefs
What were Hume’s three laws of association?
law of resemblance: things that are similar are related
law of contiguity: things experienced together are recalled together
law of cause and effect: when we think something causes something else we think of them in conjunction
What was Hume’s analysis of causation?
causation, for Hume, is not a logical necessity, but rather is a psychological experience
no cause, only the experience of cause
has nothing to do with regularities of nature
According to Hume, what leads us to assume causation?
we assume cause and effect happen in the same space and time
cause is prior to effect
constant union between cause and effect
same cause must produce the same effect
What was Hume’s analysis of the mind and the self?
for Hume, just as there is no mind independent of perceptions, there is also no self independent of perceptions
mind is a collection of perceptions unified through laws of associations
there is no mind and no self
naturalistic understanding of self
bundle theory: for any object, all that exists of the object are its features, a collection of properties, no object itself, no substances underneath properties
humans: no self, just perceptions that are bundled to look like a self
What were Hume’s ideas regarding emotions and behavior?
all humans possess the same passion (emotions), lead to similar behaviors
all humans differ in degree of specific emotions
the passions determine behavior; therefore, we respond differently to situations
both animals and humans learn to act in particular ways through experience with reward and punishment
character is similar to personality, experiences are colored by passions, passions are bundled through laws of association
What was Hume’s influence?
Hume vastly increased the importance of psychology
Hume accepted two types of knowledge; demonstrative knowledge, empirical knowledge
demonstrative knowledge: mathematical, abstract knowledge, no guarantee it will pertain to the world
empirical knowledge: guides how we live our lives
Who was David Hartley?
similar to Hume, reflects first attempt to correlate mental with neurophysiology
goal was the synthesize Newton’s conception of nerve transmission (vibrations in nerves) with versions of empiricism
nerves are not hollow, information is transferred through vibrations (activity), vibrations work their way to the brain and move particles around
residual vibrations in the brain (vibrationicules)
What were Hartley’s principles of association?
ideas are diminutive vibrations (vibratiuncles) and are weaker copies of sensations
these may become associated through contiguity, either successive or simultaneous
ideas cluster together neurologically
principles link up, once one idea is stimulated, the corresponding ones are as well
neurons that wire together, fire together
What were Hartley’s views on simple and complex ideas?
simple ideas become associated by contiguity to form complex ideas; occur automatically using rules of association, made up of simple sensations
complex ideas can become associated with other complex ideas to form “decomplex” ideas
What were Hartley’s views on the laws of association and behavior?
laws of association can be applied to behavior to describe how voluntary behavior can develop from involuntary behavior
proposed that excessive nerve vibration produced pain and mild to moderate vibration produced pleasure
behavior is involuntary at first, and then becomes voluntary; develop a sense of willful engagement, don’t need to think of about actions, they become habits
babies actions are involuntary, as we get older, they become voluntary, then as we perform them more they become involuntary and habitual
objects, events, and people become associated with pain or pleasure through experience, and we learn to behave differentially to these stimuli
What was Hartley’s influence?
actions were still determined by outside forces
tried to connect biological components to psychological components
What was James Mill’s views of associationism?
the mind was sensations and ideas held together by contiguity
complex ideas were made of simple ideas
when ideas are continuously experienced together, the association may become so strong that they appear as one idea
What were Mill’s views on the strength of association?
strength of associations is determined by: vividness of the sensations or ideas and by the frequency of the associations
association between sensations are stronger than ideas because they are more vivid
associations with pleasure and pain are more vivid
more recent sensations are more vivid and form stronger associations
What was Mill’s view of liberatrianism?
governments should be concerned with maximizing pleasure in the majority
What was Mill’s view of mental physics?
most ideas we form are based in pleasure or pain, mind is entirely predictable
What was John Stuart Mill’s views of mental chemistry versus mental physics?
proposed a mental chemistry in which complex ideas are not made up of aggregates of simple ideas but that ideas can fuse to produce an idea that is completely different from the elements of which it is made
every sensation in the mind that’s an idea is weak, law of contiguity, thing experienced together associated
opens door for creativity, can build up complex ideas in a way independent of the sensations underneath
laws of association are important
How did John Stuart Mill view psychology as a science of human nature?
primary laws: exact laws used to make prediction
secondary laws: interact with primary laws and mess them up
we should be able to study the mind like chemist and physicists
needs to be understood in terms of underlying laws
inexact science: can’t make exact predictions
the thoughts, feelings and actions of individuals cannot be predicted with great accuracy because we cannot foresee the circumstances in which individuals will be placed
What was John Stuart Mill’s view of ethology?
Mill argued for the development of a “science of formation of character”, which he called ethology
his ethology would explain how individual minds or characters form under specific circumstances
determine how circumstantial things impact primary laws
What was John Stuart Mill’s view on social reform?
Mill was a social reformer who took up the causes of freedom of speech, representative government, and the emancipation of women
hedonic calculus: some pleasures are greater than others, intellectual pleasures are greater than biological pleasures
Who was Alexander Bain?
often referred to as the first full-fledged psychologist
goal was to describe the physiological correlates of mental and behavioral phenomena
founded the first psychology journal, first to bring together philosophy and physiology
What were the three components of the mind according to Bain?
feelings: less important
volition
intellect: rational side
What were Bain’s views on the laws of association?
intellect is explained by the laws of association, primarily the law of contiguity which applies to sensations, ideas, actions, and feelings (also law of frequency)
contiguity supplemented by the law of frequency, the laws had their effect in neuronal changes in the nervous system
changes in synapses, organic change, reflected biology
law of similarity: less easy to describe these connection neurologically
What was Bain’s law of compound association?
single ideas are not associated, rather an idea is usually associated with several other ideas through contiguity or similarity
What was Bain’s law of constructive association?
mind can rearrange memories of experiences into an almost infinite number of combinations, accounts for creativity
mind could connect, reconnect, rearrange ideas, infinite combinations, use this to account for creativity
What was Bain’s explanation for voluntary behavior?
when a need arises, spontaneous or random activity is produced
some of those movements will produce approximate conditions necessary to satisfy the need, other movements will not
activities which produce need satisfaction are remembered; when in similar situation again, the activities which previously produced need satisfaction will be performed, essentially Skinner’s selection of behavior by consequences
how do we build from industry to directed behavior
when there is a need, spontaneous behavior is produced
seeking pleasure and avoiding pain
Who was Mary Wollstonecraft?
1759-1797
accounted for gendered differences in psychology
What was Wollstonecraft’s views on universal education?
Wollstonecraft argued that girls and women had a right to education, which they had been largely denied
she though education would enhance femininity
if the mind is a blank slate, then gender is not an intrinsic part of the mind, rooted in experience
push children to think differently about things
did not believe gender roles should go away
What was Wollstonecraft’s views on emotions?
Wollstonecraft used the word sensibility to refer to the fact that emotions could offer a perspective on situations not offered by reason
emotions enhance our rational experience
What was the French Sensationalism view of man as a machine?
understand mind mechanically
sensation is basis of all knowledge
like British empiricists, French sensationalists tried to be Newtonians of the mind
stressed that the mind was mechanical in nature
believed the mind could be explained with a few basic principles
Who was Pierre Gassendi?
goal was to replace Descartes’s deductive, dualistic philosophy with an observational inductive science based on physical monism
anti-Cartesian approach; if mind does not interact with matter it can have no knowledge of material things
“I move, therefore I am”
saw no reason to postulate an immaterial mind; first modern materialist
Who was Julien de La Mettrie?
a strict materialist who believed:
the universe is made of matter and motion
sensation and thoughts are movements of particles in the brain
man is a machine
humans and animals differ only in degree (of intelligence)
What was La Mettrie’s view of man as a machine?
we can be understood in the same way as machines
physical monist
supported through medical evidence, things affect the body and how we behave
What was La Mettrie’s view of human and nonhuman animals?
separate by matters of degree, not kind
intelligence is influenced by three factors: brain size, brain complexity, and education
humans: human are typically superior in intelligence to animals because we have bigger, more complex brains and because we are better educated
Who was Etienne Bonnot de Condillac?
powers which Locke attributed to the mind can be derived from the abilities to sense, to remember, and experience pleasure and pain
the sentient statue
Locke’s problem is the idea of innate powers
What was de Condillac’s idea of the sentient statue?
imagine a statue that can sense, recall, feel pleasure and pain, but can only smell
on the basis of one sense: statue has capacity for attention, the feeling of pleasure and pain with odors, because it can make distinctions
it can desire a pleasant smell, can understand love and hate, statue loves pleasant smells and hates gross smells
it can compare smells, because it can compare it can be surprised
statue can imagine and dream, can experience fear and hope, start to group smells together, which leads to abstract thought
sense of time or duration based on how long smells last
clearly, Condillac was not writing about statues but was discussing how human mental abilities could be derived from sensations, memories, and a few basic feelings
with our senses we can create unique psychological abilities
What was Condillac’s views on language?
word meaning is determined by how they are typically used in life
designated view: words designate things, which are designated by norms
Who was Charles Bonnet?
was one of the first 18th century scientists to use the term evolution; used to describe the chain from simple to complex things
extended Condillac’s sentient statue by examining the physiological mechanisms of sensory processes
gives statue a nervous system to sense things
Who was Calude-Adrien Helvetius?
explored the implications of the empiricist and sensationalist proposal that contents of the mind come only from experience
proposed that if you control experience you control the mind of the person; thus, social skills, moral behavior, and genius can be taught by controlling experience
empiricism became radical environmentalism; concerned with reinforcement contingencies in the environment
Who was Pierre Cabanis?
viewed Condillac as being radical
concerned with perceived reductionism; if we reduce everything to sensory info, then we don’t need to study the mind
brain integrates and synthesizes sense experiences
discussed levels of consciousness
sensations are not processed separately from the self
Who was Maine de Biran?
a complex figure whose intellectual positions concerning psychology went through four distinct phases
challenged mechanist views
wanted to understand how we’re different from each other
What were the four phases Maine de Biran went through?
- ideologists: led by Cabanis, reading and promoting Condillac, very physiologically oriented
- Memoir on Decomposition of Thought: “fibre psychologist”, argued against ideologists, thought is its own thing, will is also important, thought can’t be decomposed, will gives us a sense of self, mechanistic to vitalist
- The Essay on the Foundation of Psychology: I will therefore I am, study how people develop themselves, objective observation of the self (introspection), psychology studies the willful ego
- abandoned psych and became a theologist
What is positivism?
scientism: the belief that science, not religion, is the only valid knowledge, provides the only information one can believe
for these people science itself takes on some of the characteristics of a religion
Who was Auguste Comte?
founder of sociology
promoted central positivism, can use scientific processes to study human behavior
What was Comte’s view on positivism?
proposed that the only thing we can be sure of is that which is publicly observable; sense experiences that can be perceived by others
positivism equates knowledge with empirical observation
social reformist: only useful if it had practical value
predict and control events
“know in order to predict”
What was Comte’s law of three stages?
meaning societies and disciplines pass through stages defined by the way members explain natural events
first stage: theological, based on superstition and mysticism
second stage: metaphysical, based on unseen essences, principles, causes, and laws
third stage: scientific, description, prediction, and control of natural phenomena
also believed people go through these stages; being able to think through things scientifically is the highest form of being
What were Comte’s views of religion and the sciences?
proposed a religion of humanity which was a utopian society based on scientific principles and beliefs; humanity replaced God, scientists and philosophers would be the priests in this religion
also arranged sciences in a hierarchy from the first developed and most basic to the most recently developed and most comprehensive in this order:
mathematics –> astronomy –> physics –> chemistry –> physiological biology –> sociology
psychology cannot exist because it is not publicly observable, so it’s not a science
Who was Ernst Mach?
proposed a second branch of positivism; differed from Comte’s positivism primarily in what type of data science could be certain about
he thought we could never experience the physical world directly
Mach insisted on defining scientific concepts in terms of procedures used to measure them instead of their “ultimate reality” or “essence”
anticipating the concept of the operational definition
everything is cognitive, proving cognitive laws through psych
operational definitions
What is logical positivism?
in the 1920s, a group of scientists and logicians founded a view called logical positivism, which was an attempt to formulate general principles for gathering knowledge
verification principle: what a statement means is its method of verification, have to be verifiable or they are meaningless
protocol sentences: publicly observable observations
dispositional sentences: variations of lawful relationships between variables, independent and dependent variables falsifiable
