Epistemology, Evolutionary Theory, and Psychoanalysis

Vocabulary review covering key philosophical foundations in epistemology, classical models of the mind, and the core principles of evolutionary theory and evolutionary psychology.

Core Problem of Epistemology

The central inquiry addressing how humans acquire knowledge, whether reality can be known accurately, and what justifies belief.

Rationalism

The philosophical position that knowledge is grounded in reason and innate cognitive capacity, viewing sensory perception alone as unstable, biased, and insufficient.

Empiricism

The philosophical position that knowledge is grounded in direct sensory experience, acknowledging that sensory impressions can be distorted by emotion, context, and conditioning.

Intellectual Humility

Socrates' epistemological stance holding that true wisdom begins with recognizing that one knows nothing, countering the human tendency to confuse subjective confidence with objective truth.

Socratic Method (Elenchus)

A dialectical system of disciplined questioning, conceptual analysis of ideas such as justice, beauty, and virtue, and exposing logical contradictions in unexamined beliefs.

Theory of Forms

Plato's doctrine that physical reality is an imperfect, shifting shadow of eternal, abstract, and unchanging ideals (Forms).

Anamnesis

The process of rational recollection through which innate knowledge of Plato's Forms is retrieved.

Allegory of the Cave

Plato's allegorical narrative illustrating the human confusion of familiar appearances with ultimate reality.

The Tripartite Mind

Plato's psychological model stating that the psyche consists of three competing internal forces: the Logistikon, the Thumos, and the Epithumetikon.

Logistikon

The rational intellect in Plato's Tripartite Mind, serving as the seat of reasoning and logic responsible for thinking, seeking truth, judgement, and self-control.

Thumos

The emotional and spiritual center of the mind in Plato's Tripartite Mind, governing courage, pride, anger, ambition, and competitive emotional drive.

Epithumetikon

The appetitive part of Plato's Tripartite Mind governing physical desires and biological appetites, including hunger, thirst, sexual desire, pleasure seeking, and bodily wants.

Aristotle's Epistemological Synthesis

The framework proposing that knowledge originates in sensory experience (empiricism) and is actively structured, organized, and abstracted by the rational mind (rationalism).

Laws of Association

Aristotle's principles of learning and memory proposing that relational associative networks are governed by contiguity (experienced together), similarity (shared features), and contrast (opposites).

Human Telos & The Golden Mean

Aristotelian concepts distinguishing humans by active reasoning and causal explanation, establishing that ethics and knowledge pursue balanced moderation between extremes.

19th-Century Scientific Shift in Psychology

The historical transition between 1860 and 1880 wherein psychology moved away from metaphysical philosophy toward natural science via systematic observation, experimentation, and biology.

Theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's evolutionary hypothesis that organisms adapt through use and disuse, guided by an internal drive (orthogenesis), and pass acquired traits directly to offspring.

Orthogenesis

An internal drive posited in Lamarckian evolution that guides organisms to adapt and transform from simple forms into more complex forms.

Natural Selection

Charles Darwin's mechanism of evolution wherein populations possess natural variation, environmental pressures cause differential survival and reproduction, and adaptive traits are inherited.

Darwin's Galápagos Finches

A group of 13 distinct finch species exhibiting specialized beak structures adapted to localized food sources.

Sexual Selection

An evolutionary process favoring traits that improve mating success rather than mere survival.

Intrasexual Selection

A form of sexual selection involving same-sex combat or competition for mates, leading to traits such as horns or large body size.

Intersexual Selection

A form of sexual selection where mate choice is driven by desirable ornaments or displays, such as peacock plumage.

Social Darwinism

A 19th-century sociopolitical ideology formulated by Herbert Spencer applying biological evolution to human societies, advocating extreme laissez-faire capitalism and opposing state welfare.

"Survival of the Fittest"

A phrase coined by Herbert Spencer in 1864, applying the concepts of biological evolution to human societies and markets.

Modular Mind Hypothesis

A core hypothesis in evolutionary psychology proposing that the human mind comprises specialized, domain-specific modules evolved to solve recurrent ancestral problems such as threat detection, face recognition, and spatial navigation.

Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness (EEA)

The ancestral hunter-gatherer conditions under which human cognitive mechanisms and adaptive psychological modules originally evolved.