Week 2 Early Foundation

Question 1

What is the concept of zeitgeist in historical studies

Answer 1

Zeitgeist refers to societal readiness for discoveries, where changes occur due accumulated knowledge and the right social conditions, not by mere chance

Question 2

What is the Matthew effect

Answer 2

It describes how famous figures often receive more credit than they deserve, potentially inflating their contributions to history

Question 3

What is the difference between presentism and historicism

Answer 3

Presentism judges past events by modern standards, while historicism understands them in their original context

Question 4

What is animism and why was it important in early civilization

Answer 4

Animism is the belief that to are driven by spirits with human like intentions, it helped early societies explain natural phenomena

Question 5

What was the scholastic method of learning

Answer 5

A: It relied on rote learning from authoritative texts, with facts accepted as unquestionable truths.

Question 6

What is Socratic questioning?

Answer 6

A: A method of constantly questioning beliefs to find answers from within, still used in education to encourage critical thinking.

Question 7

What are Platonic Forms?

Answer 7

Plato’s concept that all objects have an ideal, perfect form, and observed objects are imperfect copies of these ideals.

Question 8

How did Plato view sleep and dreams?

Answer 8

Plato saw dreams as a release for desires, where rational thought could not control emotions, influencing Freud’s later ideas on dreams.

Question 9

What is rationalism, as proposed by Plato?

Answer 9

Rationalism is the belief that truth is discovered through reason rather than sensory experience.

Question 10

What is deductive reasoning?

Answer 10

A reasoning method that begins with known truths to reach specific conclusions, foundational in mathematics and science.

Question 11

What is inductive reasoning, according to Aristotle?

Answer 11

A reasoning method that uses specific observations to form general conclusions, foundational to empirical science.

Question 12

How did Aristotle’s view of the mind differ from Plato’s?

Answer 12

Aristotle believed the heart was central to life and emotion, while the brain cooled the heart’s “tempers,” giving it a secondary role.

Question 13

What were Galen’s views on brain function?

Answer 13

Galen believed brain ventricles influenced behavior, an idea that shaped medieval thought on the brain.

Question 14

How did Augustine contribute to the relationship between religion and science?

Answer 14

Augustine reconciled Christian doctrine with scientific discovery, proposing that knowledge is guided by divine illumination.

Question 15

What is scholasticism?

Answer 15

Scholasticism is the adaptation of Aristotelian philosophy with Christian theology, emphasizing both faith and reason as paths to truth.

Question 16

Who was Hypatia, and why is she significant?

Answer 16

Hypatia was an influential philosopher and mathematician in Alexandria who championed Neoplatonism and faced persecution as a high-profile woman.

Question 17

What were Avicenna’s contributions to psychology?

Answer 17

Avicenna introduced hierarchical senses, psychosomatic treatment, and wrote The Canon, a key medical text in Europe.

Question 18

How did Maimonides view the relationship between faith and reason?

Answer 18

Maimonides believed that religious texts could be understood through rationalism, advocating a harmony between faith and reason.

Question 19

What is Ockham’s Razor?

Answer 19

A principle suggesting that explanations should be as simple as possible, avoiding unnecessary complexity.

Question 20

What were the dominant ideas in early explanations for natural phenomena?

Answer 20

Animism and entelechy, where natural events were explained as having intentional, spirit-driven causes,

Question 21

How did Platonic and Aristotelian views influence the concept of the soul

Answer 21

Their views formed the foundation for centuries of thinking on the mind, rationalism, and the relationship between the brain and the soul.

Question 22

What role did the printing press play in the Middle Ages?

Answer 22

it facilitated the spread and reinterpretation of texts, allowing new ideas to
reach a wider audience

Question 23

How did the heliocentric model challenge previous beliefs

Answer 23

Proposed by Copernicus and later supported by Galileo, it placed the sun at the center of the universe, challenging earth centered models

Question 24

What is the recommended reading for this lecture?

Answer 24

Historical and Conceptual Issues in Psychology by Brysbaert & Rastle, focusing on key chapters available on Blackboard.