History of Philosophy: Occam to Bacon

Study Notes

History of Philosophy:

William of Occam established Occam's Razor: the simplest explanation is usually the best.
Copernicus' heliocentric model was accepted because it was a simpler explanation than the geocentric model of Ptolemy.
Avicenna defined 3 types of imagination in his 7 interior senses:
- Compositive human imagination (creativity)
- Compositive animal imagination (stimulus-response)
- Retentive imagination of memory (storing common sense)
Galileo and Newton ushered in deductive science:
- Galileo was a materialist and believed that idealist science (non-physical, unmeasurable) is not real.
- Newton's classification is not an explanation and psychology is considered pseudoscience because statistical constructs are based in teleology.
Francis Bacon advocated for inductive science with a focus on practical applications:
- Useful information to improve technology
- Experimentation for causal connections
- Control of the world through scientific understanding
René Descartes emphasized intuition (clarity and distinctiveness) and deduction (deriving other truths)
Modern Dualism
- Property Dualism: Same substance but different properties.
- Predicate Dualism: Same substance, different description.

Eastern Philosophy:

Persia:
- Zarathustra was a prophet of God.
- Avesta emphasized the transition between heaven and hell in earthly life.
- Free will was a core belief.
India:
- Hinduism focused on self-control and rejected sensory and theoretical aspects.
- Buddhism rejected sensory experience and free will.
China:
- Taoism emphasized a changing world without distinctions based on language and championed moderation and acceptance of the world.
- Confucianism focused on family structure, morality, and cross-cultural psychology.
Modern Psychology and Eastern Philosophy:
- Mind as dispersed and embodied cognition.

Western Philosophy:

Skepticism:
- Founded by Pyrrho and developed by Sextus Empiricus, skepticism emphasizes the unreliability of appearances (sensory information) and conventions (laws).
- Ataraxia: Ignorance is bliss.
Cynicism:
- Antisthenes and Diogenes emphasized egalitarianism and the rejection of worldly desires.
- Seeking a natural and self-sufficient life.
Epicureanism:
- Epicurus advocated for a life of moderation and pleasure as the ultimate goal.
- Hedonism: Positive hedonism maximizing pleasure, negative hedonism minimizing pain.
- Atomist and materialist beliefs (free will of atoms, no afterlife).
Stoicism:
- Founded by Zeno of Citium, Stoicism emphasizes the acceptance of fate and a divine plan.
- Marcus Aurelius promoted serenity through indifference.
- Harmony with the natural order and free will as the choice to follow one's set path.
Neoplatonism:
- A blend of Plato and Judaism with a focus on mystical elements of Plato.
- Philo considered sensory experience as detrimental and sought to purify the mind to hear directly from God.
  - Air as a divine medium.
  - Soul derived from God, body from Earth.
- Plotinus proposed a hierarchy of emanations: The One -> The Spirit (Intellect) -> The Soul (physical) -> Nature.
  - Henosis: Reunited with the divine, body as a prison of the soul.
Christianity:
- St. Paul: Emphasized faith over reason and that the body leads to sin.
  - 3 parts of the human soul: Body (physical) as the id, Mind (rational) as the ego, and Spirit (immortal) as the superego.
- St. Augustine: Knowledge of God through introspection (faith and emotions over reason) and scripture.
- Lombard: Knowledge of God through science, reason, and faith.
Aquinas:
- 5 Proofs of God's Existence:
  - Argument from motion
  - Efficient cause
  - Necessity
  - Gradation
  - Teleological argument
- Free will: Power of the soul guiding actions.
  - Two types of wills:
    - Reason-based: Universal
    - Appetitive-based: Particular
- Moderate Realism: Universals exist within human experience but not outside it.
Giordano Bruno:
- Hermetism: Magical forces benefiting humanity.
- Infinite solar system with the sun as God.
- Accepted Copernican heliocentrism because it emphasized the sun's divine status.
Kepler:
- Combined Copernican heliocentrism and Bruno's ideas:
  - Mathematical harmony of the universe.
- Kepler's Laws: Planets move in elliptical orbits around the sun.
- Implications:
  - A priori model: Model first, then fit the facts.
  - Science as mathematical reasoning.

Description

Explore the key contributions of philosophers from William of Occam's Razor to Francis Bacon's inductive science. This quiz covers pivotal concepts such as heliocentrism, types of imagination, and the philosophical underpinnings of science. Test your knowledge of these influential thinkers and their ideas!