Midterm Review

Hermann Ebbinghaus

first historian of psychology

starting to research psych in a scientific way

Cave Paintings

one of the first signs what was happening in human minds

The Greek “Miracle”

sudden change in types of explanations for the cosmos/reality

starting to use reason/rational/scientific thinking

Pre-Socratics

2 main questions:

• qualitative monism/pluralism

• quantitative monism/pluralism

qualitative monism/pluralism

is there one or many basic elements?

quantitative monism/pluralism

is there just one thing or many things?

Pre-Socratic on mind vs. matter

2 diff things - qualitative & quantitative pluralism

OR

2 aspects of same thing - qualitative pluralism & quantitative monism

OR

1 thing - qualitative & quantitative monism

dual-aspect monism

one thing in the universe, but it has 2 diff aspects

• ex: mind & matter are 2 facets of the same reality

qualitative / quantitative / monism / pluralism diagram

Empedocles

quantitative & qualitative pluralist

everything comes from 4 elements

• earth - solid

• fire - thinking

• air - breath of life

• water - liquid

2 causes/forces that combine elements

• love & strife

• attraction & repulsion

Heraclitus

dual-aspect monism

• universe is one thing constantly changing, and there’s order in change

• same thing 2 perspectives

everything we think is permanent is always changing

Pythagoras of Samos

change + math

order in change follows mathematical rules

Parmenides

qualitative & quantitative monist

all change = illusion and only understood through reason

sensory experiences NOT real

Zeno of Elea

qualitative & quantitative monist

movement - illusion (succession of still frames we compose into movement)

Zeno’s paradoxes used to prove our senses lie

Anaxagoras

qualitative & quantitative pluralist

there is a basic element for all things

• seeds of bone, seeds of air, etc.

there is a nous/cosmic spirit drawing things to order

Democritus

qualitative monist (only one thing), quantitative pluralist (many atoms)

theory of the atom

• everything is made of small indivisible things

order comes from force combining things by chance

Socrates

changes focus back to subject instead of external reality bc it doesn’t tell you what you should do

brings humanities into philosophy

Plato

what’s important can be achieved w reason

Theory of Forms

anamnesis

Plato’s Theory of Forms

distinction between realm of never-changing ideas (Forms) & realm of ever-changing material reality where forms of ideas are imperfectly realized

• ex: allegory of the cave - diff between what senses perceive & pure/ideal forms

• our sense perceptions can’t be trusted

anamnesis

humans can obtain knowledge of Forms by focusing on innate knowledge

“knowing is remembering”

• our souls are immortal & made of leftovers

• the only things we can discover are things we already knew

Tripartite Model of the Soul

3 main parts of the soul associated w diff body parts

• reason = brain

• spirit = heart

• appetite = liver

diff ppl have diff proportions of these

Hegel’s Dialectic

1. thesis

2. antithesis

3. synthesis

Freud

ID

ego

superego

ID

pleasure & avoiding pain

ego

pleasure & avoid pain tempered by reality

compromises demands of ID, superego & the world

superego

do the right thing, be good according to moral code

the “conscience”

Aristotle

start w observations, gradually use reason

Biological Taxonomy - classifying all life forms (led to Darwin’s evolution)

truth found by observing nature - senses are reliable but still need reason

mind = organizer of knowledge

hylomorphism

an object is a composite of form & matter

• ex: ship metaphor

teleology

in every living thing, there is potential to be actualized

• the telos / the end / the good

• all living things designed to reach an end goal

4 Causes why things are the way they are

efficient cause (force exerted)

material cause (stuff it’s made of)

formal cause (essential nature/structure of it)

final cause (telos, goal, purpose, potential to be actualized)

Aristotle’s Epistemology

refutes empiricism

refutes rationalism/innatism

deductive reasoning

deductive reasoning

we can be certain of the conclusions if the premises are valid & we follow the rules of logic

inductive reasoning

can’t be certain of conclusion - observation of one non-white swan is possible and could prove conclusion wrong

induction

sensation → memory → organized experience → intuitive apprehension

Induction - sensation

5 senses

we don’t directly perceive the matter of the universe - we perceive it indirectly through senses

Induction - memory

humans can think abt sensory objects even when they’re not there

tissue of sensory organs can receive “imprints” from external stimuli

Induction - organized experience

regrouping/classifying diff memories as a function of diff laws of association

• contiguity

• contrast

• similarity

• law of frequency

contiguity

when we think of something, we think of things that occurred w it

contrast

when we think of something, we think of its opposite too

similarity

when we think of something, we think of things similar to it

law of frequency

the more often 2 experiences occur together, the stronger their association

Induction - intuitive apprehension

we abstract the Form from particulars

abstract universal idea, not empirical generalization

4 Main Epistemological Positions in philosophy

empiricism

rationalism

rational/moderate empiricism

skepticism

empiricism

generalizations in philosophy

rationalism

innate knowledge

rational/moderate empiricism

innate capacity

skepticism

no truth - everything is relative

on the soul

living things have souls that differentiate from non-living things

soul = form of a living body

life of the body when it’s alive

scale of nature

hierarchical ordering of life forms bounded by simple plants at the bottom and humans at the top

Pain & Pleasure

w every action

guide decisions

morality - we must pursue the right pleasures

The Original Sin

God = all good & powerful

gave humans free will

humans let evil into the world

Empiricists

Bacon

Locke

Berkeley

Hume

Rationalists

Descartes

Spinoza

Leibniz

Kant

external world skepticism

we can’t know what lies behind our sensations

inductive skepticism

we can’t know if patterns found in the past will also be true in the future

phenomenalism

our concept of the world = a pattern of collection of sensations

Veil of Ideas

we only have access to what we see in our minds - we don’t know beyond that

Copernicus heliocentric model

sun = centre of universe

Earth orbits around Sun annually

Formulation of the First Laws of Physics

Newton

objects are attracted to one another as a function of their mass

Newton’s 1st Law

inertia

an object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an unbalanced force

object in motion continues at same speed/direction unless acted on by unbalanced force

Newton’s 2nd Law

acceleration produced when a force acts on a mass

greater mass = greater amount of force needed

F = ma

Newton’s 3rd Law

for every action there is an equal & opposite reaction

Francis Bacon

father of empiricism

cultural mandate given by God to Adam & Eve

creation → sin → redemption

dreamt of scientific utopia

René Descartes

rationalist

if we found a certain method to acquire knowledge, we could solve all of Nature’s problems

pre-emptive skepticism

“I think therefore I am”

pre-emptive skepticism

new method must present arguments that can be defended from skepticism

imagine evil spirit wants to deceive him

Mind-Body Dualism

dissociation between subject & object

soul stirs the body - free will

Pineal Gland = interface between soul & body

Emotion vs. Reason

animal spirits circulating human body

• cause passions of the soul

• influence soul to want certain actions

• mind/reason dominates

passions of the soul

wonder

love

hatred

joy

sadness

Clockwork Universe

God created self-perpetuating machine so he didn’t have to look after it

rejected existence of immaterial force besides human soul

universe made of material objects moving in space

all other properties = mental

Baruch Spinoza

rationalist - reason, logic

God = infinite

• no diff between God & his creation

metaphysical monist (only 1 substance)

double aspect monism

double aspect monism

mind & matter are just names for 2 aspects of the same thing

• God & universe = one thing w 2 aspects

pantheism

belief that the physical universe is equivalent to God

no division between creator and substance of its creation

determinism

no free will

emotions hold us in bondage

liberty comes when we gain clarity about causal forces determining our circumstances

John Locke

empiricist

enlightenment

no innate ideas

all ideas originate in the senses

John Locke: enlightenment

reason as primary source of authority & legitimacy

“knowledge is to be discovered, not recovered from antiquity”

John Locke: Theory of Ideas

knowledge is the addition/subtraction of ideas

ideas = mental representation

tabula rasa

atomistic view

tabula rasa

humans are blank pieces of paper where experiences leave a mark

ideas must come from experience

atomistic view

complex ideas are made of simpler ideas that can be traced back to the experience

simple ideas

can be comprehended by one or more sense

primary or secondary qualities

2 types

2 types of simple ideas

sensation

• smell, sound, etc.

reflection

• thinking, wishing, worrying, etc.

complex ideas

arise from “voluntarily” compounding simple ideas into logical composite

• ex: Rose = complex

  • it’s simple ideas = colour, smell, shape

John Lock - copy theory of knowledge

our ideas are mental copies of the external world

use sense to know something from external world

George Berkeley

you can’t get to what is outside the mind

• the only thing we have are our ideas that compose our experience

phenomenalism

anti-realism - matter doesn’t exist

God is sufficient cause of everything

David Hume

skeptic

sticks to experience & what we get directly from environment

David Hume: impressions vs. clear & distinct ideas

simple ideas arise form impressions

idea = cognitive state that follows an impression that gives you a copy of the impression

perceptions NOT clear ideas - just states of consciousness that begin w impressions

David Hume: principles that govern formation of ideas

3 principles of association

• resemblance

• contiguity

• cause & effect

David Hume: empiricist criterion of meaning

meaning must refer to an original impression

space, time, matter are all abstract ideas - don’t rlly exist

thinking is not empirical

• doesn’t feel like anything in itself

Free Will: compatibilism

freedom of action is consistent w causal determinism

free will = no obstacles prevent us to act on desires

Free Will: incompatibilism

freedom of action is NOT consistent w causal determinism

libertarianism

skepticism

libertarianism

we are free

causal determinism is false

skepticism

freedom is impossible

rational compatibilism

causal determinism by recognition of what I should do

• ex: recognize taking medicine is right thing to do → taking medicine

Thomas Hobbes - Free Will

decisions to act are NOT voluntary

we can’t decide to decide

Immanuel Kant

reconciliation between empiricism & rationalism

metaphysics is impossible - no way to know ultimate/real reality behind our percept/sensation

transcendental method

metaphysics

branch of philosophy that studies the essence of a thing

transcendental method

to get at inner resources that human mind brings

use imagination to strip everything based on sensation to see what remains

causality remains

ex: ice cube tray - you can’t hold water unless you put it through that structure

Immanuel Kant - space

space is just a relationship between diff objects

Kant’s Copernican Revolution

mind actively contributes to our perception of the world

subject is at the centre of the world it perceives

psychology is NOT a science

Auguste Comte

founded doctrine of positivism

proposing scientific utopia

positivism

certain knowledge is based on natural phenomena and their properties and relations

• info from sensory experience, interpreted w reason & logic, forms source of all certain knowledge

• valid knowledge only found in a posteriori knowledge