Final 4008

Personalistic theory

The view that great individuals shape history.

Naturalistic theory

The belief that historical forces and culture shape events, and that individuals matter less.

Rationalism

The theory that knowledge comes primarily from reason.

Empiricism

The theory that knowledge comes primarily from experience and the senses.

Peripatetic axiom

The principle that there is nothing in the mind that wasn’t first in the senses.

Normal science

Routine puzzle-solving within an accepted paradigm.

Revolutionary science

Science characterized by paradigm shifts that replace old frameworks.

Scholasticism

Medieval philosophy that attempted to merge Christian theology with Aristotelian logic.

Solipsism

The philosophical belief that only one's own mind is sure to exist.

Hume's fork

The distinction between relations of ideas (logic/math) and matters of fact (experience).

Skepticism

The viewpoint that we cannot be certain about causation and can only observe patterns.

Theory of mind

The concept that the mind is a bundle of perceptions without a core 'self'.

Leibniz's monadology

The theory that reality consists of tiny, soul-like units called monads that do not interact physically.

Synthetic a priori

Truths that add knowledge but are known without experience.

A priori rules

Mental categories imposed by the mind that shape our understanding of reality.

Primary qualities

Physical properties such as size and shape.

Secondary qualities

Properties based on perception, such as color and taste.

Bell-Magendie Law

The principle that separates sensory nerves from motor nerves.

Vitalism

The belief that living things possess a special 'life force'.

Phrenology

The practice of mapping personality traits to the bumps on the skull.

Weber's Law

The principle that detectable differences are in constant proportion.

Structuralism

The approach that studies the elements of the mind.

Pragmatism

The philosophical method that determines truth based on what works.

Social Darwinism

The application of 'survival of the fittest' to societal structures.

Law of Effect

The principle that behaviors followed by satisfaction are more likely to be repeated.

Cognitive maps

Internal representations of physical locations or relevant spaces.

Humanistic psychology

A perspective that emphasizes human growth, free will, and self-actualization.

Cognitive dissonance

The discomfort experienced when holding contradictory beliefs or behaviors, often leading to a change in beliefs.