Lesson 1 (Slide 28 - 56).pdf
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RENE DESCARTES Descartes (1596-1650) is known as the “Father of Modern Philosophy.” He was considered as one of Rationalist Philosophers of Europe. This group of philosophers considered, truth as a universal concept And reason is superior to and independent of sensory and...
RENE DESCARTES Descartes (1596-1650) is known as the “Father of Modern Philosophy.” He was considered as one of Rationalist Philosophers of Europe. This group of philosophers considered, truth as a universal concept And reason is superior to and independent of sensory and experience. The rationalist are so impressed by the scientific method and mathematics that they aimed to apply these to their philosophy. RENE DESCARTES Descartes’ contribution to the present bulk of knowledge is remarkable. He introduced what is known as the Cartesian method and invented analytic geometry. In this method, he asked himself is there anything I can know with certainty?. In his search for answers, nothing satisfied him for he saw. That there were always difference in the facts, ideas and opinions. In his search for an answers to his questions. He had three dreams. These dreams instructed him to construct a system of knowledge using just the power of human reason (Price , 2000). DESCARTES’ SYSTEM Using his dreams as guide, Descartes came up with a system using principles that were true and related to each other in a clear and meaningful way. He turned to mathematics. Through math. He discovered that the human mind has two powers: 1. Intuition or the ability to apprehend direction of certain truths and 2.Deduction or the power to discover what is not known by progressing in an orderly way from what is already known. Truths are arrived at using a step by step process. With what he discovered, Descartes believed that reasoning could produce absolute truths about nature, existence , morality , and God. The truths that can be discovered are a priori. Ideas discovered this way do not rely on some experience because they are innate in the human mind. Descartes also believed that philosophy should progress from simple ideas to complex ideas. This would make possible the formation of new insights. DESCARTES VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE ‘I think , therefore I am.’ This Phrase is Descartes legacy. This is also the first principle of his philosophy. He believes that to doubt is o think. What Is a thing that thinks? He deducted that a thinker is a thing that doubt, understands, affirms, denies, wills , refuses and that also imagines and feels (Price, 2000). The cognitive aspect of human nature as his basic for existence of the self. THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM Descartes considered the soul/mind (also the self) as a substance that is separate from the body. Based on this , Descartes believed that all bodily processes are mechanical. The body, according him, is like a machine that is controlled by the will and aided by the mind. RENE DESCARTES JOHN LOCKE John Locke (1632-1704) was born in Wrington, England and is the son of a Puritan Lawyer. Locke was interested in politics and like his father was a defender of the parliamentary system. At the age of 57, he published a book on the scope and limits of the human mind which played a significant role in the new era of thought known as the Enlightenment’ (price 2000). JOHN LOCKE John Lock’s interest is on the workings of the human mind, particularly the acquisition of knowledge. Contrary to what Descartes proposed. Locke believed that knowledge results from ideas produced a posteriori or by objects that were experienced. The process involves two forms: sensation wherin object are experienced through the senses and reflection by which the mind ‘looks’ at the objects that were experienced to discover relationship that may exist between them. Locke contended that ideas are not innate but rather the mind at birth is a “tabula rasa’ (i.e Blank slate ). Locke stated further that, ‘nothing exists in the mind that was not first in the senses’ What the senses have experienced are simple ideas which are the raw materials from which knowledge begins. Ideas can also be the result of reflection which demonstrates the power of thinking and volition or will. Through these mental powers, simple ideas are repeated and compared to become complex ideas. LOCKE’S VIEW ON HUMAN NATURE Since there are no innate ideas according to Locke, morals , religious , and political values must come from sense experiences. Mental acts , for instance, are act that produce the ‘greatest possible good’ but contended that knowing what is good does not necessarily mean that people will always do what is good. Morality has to do with choosing or willing the good ( Price 2000 ) Moral good depends on conformity or non-conformity of a person’s behavior towards some law. There are three laws according to Locke. 1. Law of Opinion – where actions that are praiseworthy are called virtues and those that are not are call vice. 2. Civil Law – where right actions are enforced by people In authority (i.e court and police). 3. Divine Law – set by God on the actions of man. This is deemed to be the true law of human behavior. The divine law is eternally true and the one law that man should always follow. JOHN LOCKE DAVID HUME David Hume (1711-1776) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. At the time he was enrolled at the University of Edinburgh. He lost his faith. He became cynical about almost everything expect philosophy and general learning. After reading the philosophy of Locke. ‘he never again entertained any belief in religion’ (Price 2000). Hume was credited for giving empiricism its clearest formulation. At the beginning of his philosophy, he relied on the scientific method, believing that it could analyze human nature and explain the workings of the mind. As he examined the process of how ideas are formed. He discovered the limitations of the mind and his optimism turned into skeptism. DAVID HUME THE HUMAN MIND Hume’s analysis proceeded this way: the mind receives materials from the senses and calls it perceptions. According to Hume, there are two types of perceptions: Impressions and ideas. 1. Impressions are immediate sensations of external reality. These are more vivid than the ideas it produces. 2. Ideas are recollections of these impressions. These two together make up the content of the human mind. It all begins with impressions. Without impressions, there will be no formation of ideas. The imaginations has the ability to connect two ideas to form a complex idea. According to Hume. Words are meaningful if and only if they can be traced to impressions and ideas or ideas that copy impressions (Moore and Bruder 2002). In examining the patterns of thinking, Hume formulated three principles on how ideas related to one another: 1. The principle of Resemblance 2.The principle of Contiguity THE PRINCIPLE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT This principle of cause and effect was what Hume studied more closely. His observations changed what he and others believed about the cause and effect relationship. According to Hume, the idea of cause and effect arise only when people experience certain relations between objects thus it cannot be a basis for knowledge. HUME’S VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE The part of human nature is what other philosophers called the soul; Hume termed it ‘the self’. He concluded that man does really have an idea of the so-called self because ideas rely on sense impressions and people have no sense impression of a self. In Freud’s clinical practice, therapy involves several techniques that would help the person recognized thses repress thoughts and thus bring him back to emotional stability. Freud made use of methods like free association and Dream analysis. DAVID HUME STRUCTURE OF MIND Philosophical thought had debated on the mind-body problems. A closer look at Freud’s psychodynamic theory would tell that the workings of the mind or one’s mental life impacts strongly on the body resulting in either emotional stability or psychological dysfunctions. To further clarify how this may be possible, Freud presented the topography of the mind. In Freud’s illustration. He made use of a typical iceberg to represents conscious awareness which characterizes the person as he deals with his external world. The person’s observable behavior, however , is further controlled by the workings of his unconscious/subconscious mind. Freud further explained that he subconscious serves as repository of past experience, repressed memories, fantasies and urges. The three levels of mind are structured by the following components: 1. Id. The structure that is primarily based on the pleasure principle. It demands immediate satisfaction and is not hindered by societal expectations. 2. Ego. The structure that is based on the reality principle. This structure mediates between the impulses of the id and the restraints of the superego 3.Superego. The last structure to develop and is primarily dependent on learning the difference between right and wrong. Morality of actions is largely dependent on childhood upbringing particularly on rewards and punishments. Psychodynamic Theory Psychodynamic Theory In addition to the structures, Freud in his 1920 book, beyond the pleasure principle presented two kinds of instincts that drive individual behavior. These are eros or the life instinct and Thanatos or the death instinct. The energy of eros is called libido and include urges necessary for individual and species survival like thirst, hunger and sex. There are cases, however , wherein man’s behavior is direct towards destruction in the form of danger of aggression and violence. Such according to freud are manifestations of Thanatos. FREUD’S VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE Freud’s psychoanalysis sees man as a product of his past lodge within his subconscious. Man’s behavior by his pleasure seeking life instinct and his destructive death instinct is said to be born with his ego already in conflict. Man then lives his life balancing the forces of life and death-opposing forces that make mere existence a challenge. GILBERT RYLE Gilbert Ryle (1990-1976) was an English Philosopher whose ideas contradicted Cartasian Dualism. In his book entitled, the concept of the mind , Ryle argues that dualism ‘involves category mistake and is a philosophical nonsense’ (Ryle, 1949). The category mistake involved in the mind-body problem is how a non-material mental substance known as the ‘mind’ can influence a physical, material body. Ryle also stated that many of the philosophical problems (e.g mind- body problem) were caused by the wrong use of language. The category mistake in Cartesian Dualism was in applying properties to a non-material thing that are logically and grammatically appropriate only for a category of material things. With this , Ryle stigmatized the mind as the ‘Ghost in the Machine’
