Unit 2 Studying

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

The rudimentary mental experience that results from the stimulation of one or more sense receptors

Question 2

Empiricism

Answer 2

The belief that all knowledge is derived from experience, especially sensory experience

Question 3

Voluntary behaviour

Answer 3

According to Bain, under some circumstances, an organism’s spontaneous activity leads to pleasurable consequences. After several such occurrences, the organism will come to voluntarily engage in the behavior that was originally spontaneous

Question 4

Associationism

Answer 4

The belief that the laws of association provide the fundamental principles by which all mental phenomena can be explained

Question 5

Ethology

Answer 5

J.S. Mill’s idea, the explanation of individual personalities as opposed to human nature which provides information concerning what all humans have in common

Question 6

Law of cause and effect

Answer 6

According to Hume, if in our experience one event always precedes the occurrence of another event, we tend to believe that the former event is the cause of the latter

Question 7

Law of compound association

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Law of constructive association

Answer 8

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 the associations

Question 9

Law of contiguity

Answer 9

The tendency for events that are experienced together to be remembered together

Question 10

Law of resemblance

Answer 10

According to Hume, the tendency for our thoughts to run from one event to similar events, the same as what others call the law, or principle, of similarity

Question 11

Utilitarianism

Answer 11

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 utilitarians

Question 12

Rationalism

Answer 12

The philosophical position postulating an active mind that transforms sensory information and is capable of understanding abstract principles or concepts not attainable from sensory information alone

Question 13

Anthropology

Answer 13

Kant’s proposed study of human behavior. Such a study could yield practical information that could be used to predict and control behavior

Question 14

Monads

Answer 14

According to Leibniz, the invisible units that compose everything in the universe. Characterized by consciousness, but some more so than others. Inert matter possesses only dim consciousness, and then with increased ability to think clearly come plants, animals, humans, and, finally, God. The goal is to think as clearly as it is capable of doing. Because humans share monads with matter, plants, and animals, sometimes our thoughts are less than clear

Question 15

Direct realism

Answer 15

The belief that sensory experience represents physical reality exactly as it is. Also called naive realism

Question 16

Dialectic process

Answer 16

According to Hegel, the process involves an original idea, the negation of the original idea, and a synthesis of the original idea and its negation. The synthesis then becomes the starting point (the idea) of the next cycle of the developmental process

Question 17

The Absolute

Answer 17

According to Hegel, the totality of the universe. Knowledge constitutes the only true knowledge, and separate aspects of the universe can be understood only in terms of their relationship to this power. Through the dialectic process, human history and the human intellect progress toward this

Question 18

Pantheism

Answer 18

The belief that God is present everywhere and in everything

Question 19

Passion

Answer 19

Reduces the probability of survival, not associated with any particular thought

Question 20

Emotion

Answer 20

Linked to a specific thought

Question 21

Apperceptive mass

Answer 21

According to Herbart, the cluster of interrelated ideas of which we are conscious at any given moment

Question 22

Will to survive

Answer 22

According to Schopenhauer, the powerful need to perpetuate one’s life by satisfying one’s biological needs

Question 23

Romanticism

Answer 23

The philosophy that stresses the uniqueness of each person and that values irrationality much more than rationality. People can and should trust their own natural impulses as guides for living

Question 24

Perspectivism

Answer 24

Nietzsche’s contention that there are no universal truths, only individual perspectives

Question 25

Will to power

Answer 25

According to Nietzsche, the basic human need to become stronger, more complete, and more superior. While satisfying the will to power, a person continually becomes something other than he or she was

Question 26

Existentialism

Answer 26

The philosophy that examines the meaning in life and stresses the freedom that humans have to choose their own destiny. Like romanticism, existentialism stresses subjective experience and the uniqueness of each individual

Question 27

Aesthetic stage

Answer 27

According to Kierkegaard, the first stage in the growth toward full personal freedom. At this stage, the person delights in many experiences but does not exercise his or her freedom

Question 28

Ethical stage

Answer 28

According to Kierkegaard, the second stage in the growth toward full personal freedom. At this stage, the person makes ethical decisions but uses principles developed by others as a guide in making them

Question 29

Religious stage

Answer 29

According to Kierkegaard, the third stage in the growth toward full personal freedom. At this stage, the person recognizes his or her freedom and chooses to enter into a personal relationship with God

Question 30

Dionysian aspect of human nature

Answer 30

According to Nietzsche, the part of us that seeks chaos, adventure, and passionate experiences

Question 31

Apollonian aspect of human nature

Answer 31

According to Nietzsche, that part of us that seeks order, tranquility, and predictability