Unit 2 - Chapter 5 - Empiricism, Sensationalism, and Positivism Flashcards
Define British empiricism
stresses the importance of experience in attaining of knowledge.
Describe general characteristics of British empiricism
1) sensory experience is primary data
2) knowledge cannot exist without sensory evidence
3) must focus on sensory experience in forming propositions.
Thomas Hobbes
- father of British empiricism.
- physical monist
- used deduction
Describe Hobbes’s position with respect to empiricism and materialism
- Was an empiricist → all ideas came from sensory experience.
- Was a materialist → all that exists is matter and motion.
Physical monism
the idea that everything that exists has a concrete physical basis
Hobbes explanation of psychological phenomena (i.e., attention, imagination, dreams, motivation, free will)
Attention: as long as sense organs are retaining the motion caused by certain external objects, they cannot respond to others.
Imagination: sense impressions that decay over time
Dreams: vivid because there are no new sensory impressions to compete with
Motivation: hedonistic –> behaviour motivated by aversion & appetite.
Freewill: determinist, choice is verbal label
Hobbes explanation of complex thought processes (trains of thought)
trains of thought ⇒ the tendency of one thought to follow another in some coherent manner.
- law of contiguity
John Locke
- An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
- shaped most of British empiricism.
Describe Locke’s position on empiricism
knowledge founded on experience
Describe Locke’s position on mind-body distinction
Mind-body dualism
Describe Locke’s position on innate ideas
all humans dont have the same ideas so not born with innate ideas.
- believed in tabula rasa
Describe Locke’s position on sensation and reflection
All ideas come from either;
- sensation: direct sensory stimulation (passive mind)
- reflection: reflection on prior sensory stimulation (active mind)
Describe Locke’s position on simple ideas & complex ideas
simple ideas are the atoms of experience because they cannot be divided further.
complex ideas are formed through reflection, made up of simple ideas and can be divided.
Describe Locke’s position on emotions
all human emotions were derived from feelings of pleasure or pain.
Describe Locke’s position on primary qualities
have the power to create ideas that correspond to physical objects.
ex: shape, motion, quantity
According to Locke, the mind can neither _____ nor ____ ideas
create; destroy
Describe Locke’s position on secondary qualities
produce ideas, but do not correspond to anything in the physical world.
ex: temperature (paradox of basins)
Paradox of the basins
observation that warm water will feel either hot or cold depending on whether a hand is first placed in hot water or cold water.
- shows temp is secondary quality
- Locke
Describe Locke’s position on association of ideas
rational succession of ideas represent true knowledge.
- contiguity can lead to unreasonable ideas.
Describe Locke’s position on education
- nurture over nature.
- suggested hardening.
- expose children to wetness/coldness to increase tolerance to hardships.
- physical punishment to discourage crying.
- mild punishment in classrooms.
- good health tied to effective learning.
Hardening
sleep on hard beds to increase stress tolerance in children.
Describe Locke’s position on government
- attacked ideas of innate moral principles
- proposed gov by and for the people.
- work influential to U.S declaration of Independence.
Describe Berkeley’s ideas with respect to materialism
- thought materialism was ruining foundation of religious belief.
- attacked assumption that matter exists.
Describe Berkeley’s ideas with respect to “To be is to be perceived”
in order for something to exist, it must be perceived
Describe Berkeley’s ideas with respect to primary & secondary qualities
- rejected idea of primary qualities
- said only secondary qualities exist
Describe Berkeley’s ideas with respect to the existence of external reality
God perceives the physical world –> giving it existence –> we perceive God’s perceptions
Describe Berkeley’s ideas with respect to principles of association
accepted law of contiguity.
Describe Berkeley’s ideas with respect to the theory of distance perception
ability to discriminate between objects requires the association of visual and tactile experiences.
argued that religion was an inexplicable mystery
David Hume
Describe Hume’s goal as a philosopher
to combine empirical philosophy + Newtonian science = create a science of human nature.
Describe Hume’s ideas regarding physical reality and perceptions of it
denied the possibility of knowing physical reality directly, we can only have a perception of it
Describe Hume’s notion of simple and complex ideas and imagination
all simple ideas were once impressions.
- impressions: strong perceptions vs. ideas: weak perceptions
imagination: ideas rearranged in infinite number of ways
Describe Hume’s account of the association of ideas (including the three laws of association)
Humes three laws; 1) law of resemblance, 2) law of contiguity, 3) law of cause and effect
Describe Hume’s analysis of causation
can never know that two events happen together unless we have experienced them happening together.
Describe Hume’s analysis of mind and self
the mind is perceptions that a person is having at any given moment
Describe Hume’s conception of the role of emotions in determining behaviour
- pattern of emotions –> determine character –> determine behaviour
- ultimate cause of behavior is passion
Describe Hume’s influence on the development of psychology.
proposed two types of real knowledge; demonstrative and empirical
Law of cause and effect - Hume
when we think of an outcome, we tend to also think of events that usually precede.
- most important law
Demonstrative knowledge
relates ideas to abstract concepts such as in math.
Describe David Hartley’s goal as a philosopher
goal = synthesize Newton’s conception of nerve transmission with previous versions of empiricism.
Describe David Hartley’s of a) account of association, b) simple & complex ideas,
A)
1) sense-impressions produce vibrations in the nerves,
2) cause similar vibrations in the “medullary substance” of the brain
3) successive or simultaneous experiences are recorded together
B) contiguity converts simple ideas into complex ones
Describe David Hartley’s application of the laws of association to voluntary behaviour
Used law of association to explain how that involuntary behaviour → voluntary → automatic.
Describe David Hartley’s influence on the development of psychology
correlated mental and neurophysiological activity
Vibratiuncles
lingering vibrations in the brain that continue after the initial stimulation that ends
- hume
Involuntary behaviour
is reflexive
Voluntary behaviour
occurs in response to ideas, so habitual that it becomes automatic
Describe James Mill’s positions on associations
when sensations are continuously experienced together, they appear in consciousness as one idea.
Describe James Mill’s positions on factors that determine the strength of associations
two factors that cause variation in strengths of associations are;
1) vividness
2) frequency (most important cause)
Describe James Mill’s positions on utilitarianism and hedonism, including Jeremy Bentham’s perspectives.
Bentham
- spokesman for utilitarianism
- applied hedonism to society
- friend of Mills
utilitarianism
calculate the pleasures and pains involved in a situation in order to determine the correct action.
the end justifies the means
Summarize James Mill’s influence on psychology
analysis regarded as the most complete summary of association.
Describe John Stuart Mill’s philosophy with respect to mental chemistry
individual sensations can combine to form a new sensation.
Describe John Stuart Mill’s philosophy with respect to psychology as a science
said any system governed by laws is subject to scientific inquiry (ex; primary & secondary laws)
Describe John Stuart Mill’s philosophy with respect to ethology
argued for science that explains individual differences
Describe John Stuart Mill’s philosophy with respect to social reform.
science of human nature would provide a basis for social equality.
Primary laws
general laws within a system that allow for prediction
Secondary laws
determine the nature of specific events.
referred to as the first true psychologist.
writings (Senses & Emotions) considered first true textbooks.
Alexander Bain
Describe Bain’s goal
goal was to describe the physiological correlates of mental phenomena.
Bain said law of _______ is most basic associative principle
contiguity
Bain explained intellect using
laws of association
According to Bain, law of frequency + contiguity had their effects because of
synapses between neurons
Describe Bain’s laws of association
added 2 laws
1) compound association
2) constructive association
Describe Bain’s ideas regarding voluntary behaviour.
voluntary behaviour = spontaneous activity + hedonism.
- deterministic
Three components of the mind, according to Bain
1) Feeling
2) Volition
3) Intellect
What two laws of association did Bain add?
Law of compound association
Law of constructive association
Law of compound association
contiguous or similar events form compound ideas
Law of constructive association
mind can reconstruct the memories of various experiences
Spontaneous activity
emitted behaviour
Describe the general features of French sensationalism.
- viewed humans as machines
- minimize metaphysical speculation.
- stressed sensations in explaining all conscious experience
Pierre Gassendi
- founder of modern materialism.
- goal was to denounce deduction + dualism and replace it with induction + physical monism.
“you are what you eat” → observed effects of wine, coffee, opium, etc on ones thoughts.
Julien de La Mettrie
Describe Julien de La Mettrie views concerning man as a machine
physical monist, only matter and motion in universe.
Describe Julien de La Mettrie views concerning the differences between humans and non-human animals
- intelligence influenced by brain size, brain complexity, and education.
- humans differ from nonhuman animals only quantitatively
Describe Julien de La Mettrie views concerning the desirability of accepting materialism as a worldview.
Mettrie believed those who accepted materialistic philosophy would be happy about their fate
Describe Étienne Bonnot de Condillac’s idea of the imaginary sentient statue
suggested a statue that can perceive, remember and feel but only has the sense of smell.
metaphor for how human abilities could be derived from sensations, memories and basic feelings
Claude Helvétius
embraced environmentalism: everything is taught through the control of experiences.
What is Scientism?
belief that science provides the only information one can believe and is best suited to solve all human problems.
Auguste Comte
- positivist
- science should be practical
- used term sociology to study dif societies
Describe the following aspects of Comte’s work: positivism
The only thing we can be sure of is what is publicly observable
Describe the following aspects of Comte’s work: the law of three stages
societies pass through three stages
1) theological
- most primitive, involve superstition and mysticism.
2) metaphysical
- based on unseen laws, principles, or causes.
3) scientific
- stresses description, prediction and control
Describe the following aspects of Comte’s work: religion and the sciences.
- should only believe in science
- humanity replaces God
- emphasize group happiness
Two methods suggested by Comte to study the individual objectively
1) phrenology
2) studying overt behaviour.
Describe Ernst Mach’s view of positivism.
logical –> mathematical terms to describe relationship among sensations
Compare the positivism of Comte and Mach.
- neither allowed metaphysical speculation
- concentrated only on what could be known with certainty.
Contrast the positivism of Comte and Mach.
Comte –> believed scientist could be certain about physical events.
Mach –> believed we can never experience the physical world directly.
