Psyc 375 Chapter 5: Empiricism, Sensationalism and Positivism Textbook Notes PDF

lOMoARcPSD|37523509 Psyc 375 Chapter 5: Empiricism, Sensationalism and Positivism textbook notes History of Psychology (Athabasca University) Scan to open on Studocu Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|3752...

lOMoARcPSD|37523509 Psyc 375 Chapter 5: Empiricism, Sensationalism and Positivism textbook notes History of Psychology (Athabasca University) Scan to open on Studocu Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 Chapter 5: Empiricism, Sensationalism, and Positivism   Most philosophies developed after Descartes were a response to his theories. o Some disagreed and said that ideas were not innate and that all ideas came from experience. o Others tried to explain the functioning of the mind o Many rebelled against the vies of empiricists and rationalists because they ignored many vital points. British Empiricism o An empiricist is anyone who believes that knowledge is derived from experience.  Empiricism is then the philosophies that stress experience o Many types of experience  “inner” experience: dreams, imagination, fantasies, and emotions  Logical thinking is another type of mental experience  Empiricism is accepted to be only sensory experiences  But sensory experience does not alone qualify knowledge or an empiricist. o Sensory information is the primary data of all knowledge o Knowledge cannot exist until sensory information has first been gathered.  The attainment of knowledge begins with sensory experience. o All subsequent intellectual processes must focus on sensory experience when it comes to formulating theories about the world.  It is not the recognition of mental processes that distinguish an empiricist from a rationalist, but what those thoughts are focused on. o Thomas Hobbes  Followed in the footsteps of Bacon and Occam  Sometimes called the founder of British empiricism.  Lived a full life  Friends with Galileo and Descartes. Served s Bacon’s secretary for a while.  Went to oxford but claims he learned very little there.  Played tennis until the age of 70, wrote an autobiography at 86 and translated The Illiad and The Odyssey because he was bored.  Humans as machines  After reading a book, came to believe that humans could be understood using techniques of geometry. o Eg. Starting with undeniable premises, valid conclusions could be drawn. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 He started with galileo’s concept that the universe consisted of nothing other than matter and motion. This must be the same for people.  Humans are a part of nature so external forces must act on us as do external forces on the planets.  Hobbes had issues with Baconians inductive method as he agreed with the deductive method. o This is why he never joined the British Royal Society. Government and Human Instinct  Primary interest was in politics  Thought the best for of government was an absolute monarchy. o Humans are naturally aggressive and greedy, making democracy dangerous because it give people a reason to show those traits.  A monarchy forces people to be submissive, thus bringing law and order.  It is a fear of death that motivate humans to create social order. o Civilization is a result of self-defence. o Humans are power hungry.  Wrote the leviathan to justify an absolute monarchy, but started the book with psychology because for people to rule effectively, they must understand human nature. o Book became seen as the work of an atheist and parliament wanted to burn him at the stake for being a heretic.  King Charles II came to his rescue. Hobbes’s Empiricism  He did agree with Bacon when it came to the importance of sensory experience.  Disagreed with Descartes when it came to innate ideas. o For him, all ideas come from experience, specifically sensory experience.  He was a materialist because of his belief that all that exists is matter and motion. o Did not believe in an non-material mind because of this. All mental experiences could be explained with experiences.  The mind is nothing more than the sum total of a person’s thinking activities which are a series of motions within the individual. Explanation of Psychological Phenomena  Attention was explained by organs retaining the motion caused by certain external objects.  Imagination is remaining impressions from our senses  Dreams are also impressions from experience that occur while we sleep o Dreams are vivid because there is no sensory information being taken in to compete with the past impressions. o    Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 External objects create sense impressions, but also influence the functions of the body o Things that assist vital functions are experienced as enjoyable  Person seeks them out or tries to preserve them. o Things that are incompatible with vital functions are painful or unenjoyable.  We avoid or terminate the experience o Humans are driven and motivated by appetite and aversion.  Hobbes had a hedonistic theory of motivation. o Because of this, he believed that there are no true morals, there are only things that are good for an individual or bad (evil) for an individual.  There is no place for free will. o People may think that they are choosing, but their action is a result of many appetite and aversions  Will is simply the action that prevails in the presence of many tendencies are present.  Complex thought process  Trains of thought is the tendency for one thought to follow another in a coherent manner. o Reintroduced Aristotle’s low of continuity: event that are experienced together are remembered together.  Overall  Hobbes was a o Materialist: all that exists is physical o mechanist: the universe and everything in it are machines o determinist: all activity is caused by forces acting on objects o empiricist: knowledge is derived from our senses o hedonist: human behavior is motivated by pleasure seeking or pain avoiding. John Locke  Lived through a great time of chaos and change (civil war, execution of King Charles I)  Because of this, he became the most influential political philosopher in post-renaissance Europe  Went to Oxford  First publication was a poem that he wrote in his undergraduate degree.  Studied Greek, rhetoric, and moral philosophy. Got his doctorate in medicine. Medicine led him to meet Robert Boyle who influence him greatly.  From Boyle, Locke learned  Physical objects are composed of minute corpuscles that have minimal qualities  o Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 The arrangement of these particles changed the qualities of the material.  Lock became a member of the Royal Society  Did some demonstrations in chemistry and meteorology.  Became good friends with Newton Most famous work is an essay called Concerning Human Understanding.  Took 17 years and was published when he was 60. Had five editions  Focused on education, government, economics, and Christianity. Lock shaped most of British empiricism.  Locke’s mind-Body dualism- rejected Hobbes’ materialism. Opposition to Innate Ideas  His essay primarily confronted Descartes’ innate ideas theory. o People strongly agreed with Descartes at the time because innate ideas implied a God-Human connection.  If God really gave those ideas, then we would all have the same Ideas. These ideas come from experience. Sensation and Reflection  To Locke, an idea was a mental image that could be employed while thinking. o All ideas either come from sensation or reflection.  All ideas come from sensation, but we can create new ideas by reflecting upon those sensations. o Believed that absolutely all ideas came from sensory experience.  The contents of the mind come from experience, but the operations of the mind come from human nature. Ideas and Emotions  Simple Ideas: Are the atoms of experience because they cannot be divided any further.  Complex Ideas: Grand ideas composed of smaller ideas that can be broken up. o simple ideas come from sensation, complex ideas come from reflection on simple ideas. o An idea cannot be created nor destroyed, simply rearranged. In an infinite number of configurations.  Emotions also tend to accompany ideas. o All emotions can be boiled down to either pleasure or pain.  This theory of motivation is hedonic. Primary and Secondary Emotions  Different from previous concept of primary and secondary qualities. o Both primary and secondary qualities refer to characteristics of the physical world. The difference is in what type of psychological experience they cause. o Any aspect of an object that ahs the power to produce an idea is a quality. o       Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509     Primary Qualities have the ability to create ideas that correspond to actual attributes of the object.  Eg. Shape, motion, quantity. There is consistency between the thoughts and the object. Secondary Qualities have the ability to produce an idea, but the ideas do not correspond to anything physical  Eg. Colour, sound, temperature, and taste.  Paradox of the Basin o If you just had your hand in cold water, warm water would feel hot. If you just had your hand in hot water, warm water would feel cold.  Secondary qualities are about perception. Association of Ideas  Associationism: psychological theory which takes association to be the fundamental principal of mental life. o Possible to not agree with associationism and still believe in associative learning.  Locke believed that ideas that succeeded each other because of natural or rational reasons represent true knowledge, but ideas that become associated by chance are not. o The development of aversions= irrational fears o His philosophy did not demonstrate associationism.  People that followed locke took hold of the law of association to a greater extent. o Argued that Boyle’s corpuscles and the laws of association provided the gravity that hold ideas together. Education  Believed that Nurture was more important than nature for character development. o Lines up with empirical philosophy  Encouraged parents to increase stress tolerance in children (hardening) by having them sleep on hard, rather than soft beds, exposing them to cold and wet conditions as well. o Crying should be discouraged with physical punishment  Also provide them with enough sleep, food, fresh air, and exercise to increase learning through good health  Encouraged teacher to give mild punishment, but not sever punishment. o Should try to make the learning experience as enjoyable as possible to encourage learning. Punishment will make them avoid it.  Avoid very difficult assignments, teach complex things in steps. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 Main job of the teacher is to recognize and praise student’s accomplishments  To deal with irrational fears, Locke encourages what is now called exposure therapy proposed by Mary Cover Jones  These techniques of teaching were very radical for his day.  Government by the People and for the People  Lock saw himself as a political philosopher o Attacked innate ideas and the ideas of innate moral principles.  Lots of Dogma around one innate moral truth and people should seek truth for themselves.  Because of this, empiricism was seen to be a radical movement that sought to replace religion.  Locke Challenged the divine right of Kings and proposed a government by the people, for the people.  This idea was influential in the declaration of independence. George Berkeley  From Ireland, had his bachelors degree by 19 and masters by 22.  received ordination as a deacon of the Anglican church at 24.  Wrote 3 main important works and taught divinity at Trinity College. Tried to start a college in Bermuda.  Discovered the downfall of scholasticism had resulted in religious skepticism, and materialism further it. o So Berkeley attacked them both by arguing that the assumption that matter exists is false.  To be is to be perceived. o Tried to demonstrate that matter does not exist. o Agreed with Locke that human knowledge is based only on ideas, but disagreed that all ideas are derived from interactions with the world.  If there were a world, we could never know it directly. Reality is nothing but our perceptions.  Referred to primary qualities as the supposed attributes of physical things and secondary qualities as ideas or perceptions.  Rejected the existence of primary qualities and that everything is secondary qualities.  Did not deny the existence of an external world, but denied that it consisted of matter.  Said that external reality is created by God’s perception that makes it stable over time for everyone.  o Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 The laws of nature are ideas in god’s mind and he could change his mind about them resulting in “miracles”  The we experience the ideas in god’s mind and our ideas come to resemble those of god’s.  What Locke say as Primary qualities are just the secondary qualities seen by God that we experience. Principle of Association  Each sense provides different ideas and information about objects.  It is only through experience that we learn certain ideas are always associated with specific objects.  Objects we name are aggregates of sensations that typically accompany each other. Objects are aggregates of sensations and nothing more.  Accepted law of continuity as his associative principle, but did not focus on arbitrary associations. Theory of Distance Perception.  Agrees with locke that If a person had been born blind, they would not be able to distinguish between a cube and a triangle if they later got their sight.  This requires experience.  He goes farther though and says they could not perceive depth/ distance for the same reason.  These things are learned through the process of association. Other senses also help such as noise, smell, etc.  This was specifically refuting the theory by Descartes who believed that it was created by the geometry of optics and how our eyes naturally process.  He was not wrong, but the information that our eyes pick up on then have to be associated with experiences which Descartes did not take into account. These experiences also have to be associated with words. o o o o David Hume  Studied law and commerce at University of Edinburgh but did not get a degree.  Lived off inheritance  Wrote Treatise of Human Nature, Being an Attempt to Introduce the Experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects.  Did not do well at all. Neither did his second publication. Got Zero attention. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509      Was nominated for an academic positions twice but the Scottish Clergy wouldn’t let him take the positions.  Has not on great terms with the church because of how skeptical he was. Thought it was irrational and impractical. Gave a manuscript to his friends Adam Smith to publish it after he died, but he did not out of fear of competition.  Was eventually published without the authors name on it. Hume’s Goal  “All science have a relation, great or lesser to human nature”  Followed Empirical methods.  Wrote a lot about a variety of subjects o Math, physical sciences, religion, logic, morals, criticism, and politics.  Was impressed by Newton and wanted to do for moral philosophy what newton had done for natural philosophy. o Used his same methods. o Moral philosophy is what we know today to be social sciences. o Did not use experiments like newton did, but meant careful observation of the connection between experiences.  Created a science of human nature. o Used more of a Baconian inductive method more than Newton’s deductive method. Impressions and Ideas  Believed that the contents of the mind come from experience and that they could be caused by internal or external events.  Agreed with Berkeley that we can’t experience the physical directly. And can only have perceptions of it, but did not deny the existence of physical reality. o You just can’t know it directly.  Distinguished between Impressions ( Strong, Vivid perceptions, maybe strong emotion) and ideas (weak perceptions). Simple and Complex Ideas and the imagination  Same idea as lock in simple vs Complex ideas, but for Hume, all simple ideas were once impressions. o Ideas can be rearranged in the mine with our imaginations.  Ideas that are consistently experienced together create beliefs that one will follow the other. o The imagination’s ideas are not strong enough to create these beliefs o What distinguishes the fact from fantasy is the degree of belief that one ideas belongs with the other, and the strength of the belief depends on experiences. o We can ponder thoughts that don’t necessarily line up with reality. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509    The association of Ideas  Ideas connected only by the mind would be loose and associations would be different for each person because there is no commonality between them. o But there actually is a lot of similarity between the thought people have. Why?? o Hume considered his thoughts on associationism as brilliant, and downplays it’s history.  Laws of association do not cement ideas together, they are more gentle forces and these associations can be changed. o Three Laws of Association  Law of Resemblance: Thoughts run easily from one idea to the next.  Law of contiguity: when on thinks of an object, we think of other objects that were experienced at the same time.  Law of cause and effect: When we think about an outcome, we also think about the things that lead to that outcome.  Most important law of association. Analysis of Causation  Originally, If A causes, B, then A would allow for the prediction of B. o Could be done by knowing the essences of both A and B, but they do not have to happen together.  Hume Disagreed. We can never know that two event occur together without witnessing them occur together. o Causation is not a logical necessity, it is a psychological experience.  Cause and effect must be contiguous in space and time  Cause must be prior of effect  Must be a constant union between cause and effect.  This is the quality that makes it a relationship  The same cause always produces the same effect.  Effect does not rise from any other cause. o These points assume that what has happened in the past will happen in the future.  It is possible for all of the points above to be true and for us to still be wrong about the cause and the relationship. Analysis of the Mind and the Self  Most common explanations around the continuity of experience have to do with the mind and self.  According to Hume, all beliefs come from reoccurring experiences that are explained by laws of association. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 God, Soul, Matter, laws of nature are products of the imagination. o The mind is no more than the thoughts we are having at any given moment.  There is no mind or self independent of perceptions.  Emotions and Behavior.  Humans have had the same emotions throughout history, but they don’t have them to the same degree. o Pattern of emotions determines one’s character and character determines behavior. o Ideas and experiences become associated with emotions.  People learn how to act through reward and punishment of reaction. o Reasoning has nothing to do with it.  Ideas and impressions do not cause behavior, but the emotions associated with those ideas.  Hume’s Influence  Increased the importance of what we call Psychology. o Reduced politics, science and philosophy down to psychology.  Believed that humans can be certain of nothing and accepted only two types of knowledge o Demonstrative Knowledge: eg. Math  Abstract and the product of the imagination o Empirical knowledge: based on experience.  Is the only things that can guide how we conduct ourselves. David Hartley  Became a physician, was very religious, believed that understanding natural phenomena increased our knowledge of God.  Wrote a book and the first half contained contributions to psychology.  Hartley’s Goal  Was not influenced by Hume, but by Locke and Newton.  Believed that the nerves were solid and sensations caused vibrations called impressions. o Caused vibrations in the infinitesimal, medullary particles which caused sensations and that these sensations lingered. o Lingering sensations cause ideas.  Hartley’s explanation of association  The remaining vibrations in the brain are called vibratiuncles, these are associated with ideas. o Ideas are weaker copies of sensations.  Experiences happening together are recorded in the brain as a package o Experiencing one aspect of the package will make them think of the other aspect in the package.  Law of continuity o o Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 o o Simultaneous experience o Successive experiences  Believed that all complex thought are created automatically by the process of association. o Complex ideas can be broken down to form decomplex ideas, o All ideas are made up of sensations. o Association is the only process responsible for converting simple ideas into complex ones.  Laws of Association and behavior  Voluntary behavior developed from involuntary behavior. o Starts out involuntary and becomes voluntary, then becomes involuntary again (automatic).  Voluntary begins from ideas or stimuli  Becomes a conditioned reflex.  Hartley’s influence  Joseph Priestley, his disciple, promoted Hartley a lot.  First to attempt explain thought and behavior with neurophysiological mechanisms since Descartes. o His ideas were mostly wrong, but started the search for the biological connection.  Hartley is the first man that associationist applies James Mill  Was an educated scots man, moved to London to start a literary career.  Became the editor of the literary journal, wrote for periodicals.  Successful career with East India Company  Mill’s Analysis of Association  Tried to show that the mind consisted of only sensations and ideas held together by continuity and complex ideas are made of simple ones, like Hartley. Differed though in that when ideas are continuously experienced together, they are strong enough to appear in the consciousness as one idea. o All things we see as external objects are groups of sensations experienced together.  These external objects are therefore complex ideas and can be reduced to simple ones. But individual sensations are simple ones. o No matter how complex an idea is, it can always be reduced. Two factors cause varied strength of association o Vividness: The more vivid, the stronger o Frequency: The more frequent, the stronger  Most important cause of strength in associations o  Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509  1) sensations are more vivid than ideas-> associations between sensations are stronger than those between ideas.  2) Sensation and ideas associated with pain or pleasure are more vivid and cause stronger associations. Utilitarianism and Associations  Met Jeremy Bentham and became good friends. He was a major spokes person for British political and ethical movement called utilitarianism. o Bentham rejected all metaphysical and theological arguments for government, morality and social institutions.  Human happiness is the ability to feel pleasure and avoid pain.  The best government was one that brought the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people. o Was the first to apply hedonism to society as a whole.  Led to many reforms and in legal and social institutions. o He had his bachelors at 15 and a masters by 18. o His approach forms the basis of almost all modern approaches to ethics.  He created university college London.  James Mill’s influence  His analysis is the most complete summary of associationism.  Gave a conception of the min based on Newtonian Physics. o To newton, the universe could be understood as material elements held together by physical forces and behaving in a predictable way.  His goal was to provide the details that were lacking in Hartley’s account. o Mind was viewed as passive. No creative abilities. o Association only organized ideas and did it automatically. o This conception of the mind ended with James Mill John Stuart Mill  James Mill’sInterest in psychology was secondary to social, political and educational change.  These things could be facilitated with psychology  He used his theory of human nature on his Son John Stuart Mill o He learned Greek by three, Latin and algebra by 8 and formal logic at 12.  J.S. Mill struggled with depression at times, but happily married a good friend of his after she was widowed.  Wrote a successful book that had 8 editions.  o Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 A system of logic, ratioinative and inductive: begin a connected view of principles of evidence and the methods of scientific investigation. o Responded to criticisms and defended his theories. o Added onto his fathers work by releasing his Analysis book with his own footnotes. Mental Chemistry Vs Mental Physics  Believed that o 1) every sensation leaves an idea in the mind that is close, but weaker than the sensation. o 2) similar ideas excite one another. o 3)sensations or ideas experienced frequently together (simultaneously or successively) become associated. o 4) More vivid sensations or ideas form stronger associations o 5) strength of association varies with frequency of occurrence  This list does not include the law of similarity  Law of similarity and law of frequency are separate laws. o Ideas are secondary mental states o Sensations are primary mental states.  Disagreed with his father about complex ideas being aggregate of simple ideas and proposed mental chemistry instead. o Believed that the elements of ideas could be combined to create something entirely new. Toward a Science of Human nature  Because he was such a respected philosopher of science, he was able to develop psychology a lot  Attacked the idea that human thoughts, feelings, and actions are not subject to scientific investigation o Anything under laws is subject to scientific scrutiny o You don’t need to understand the laws yet to study the phenomenon, therefore psychology can be a science.  Primary laws and secondary laws. o Primary laws are the general rule, but secondary laws can cause exceptions  Secondary laws cause variations and modifications  It is an inexact science is when the science cannot deal with the secondary causes that make in inexact. o An exact science would be something like math, however, when there are things that are not fully understood, it is an inexact science.  An inexact science can become an exact science if we learn more about it. o Psychology is an inexact science because we can predict things pretty well, but there are variations caused by other variables. o   Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 Primary laws: General overarching behaviors that apply to all humans  Secondary laws: individual characteristics and circumstances that change individual cases. J.S Mil’s Proposed science of Ethology o Science of the formation of character.  This would study the secondary laws of humans.  Little resemblance to modern day ethology that studies animal behavior from an evolutionary stand point. o Tried to convert the study of humans into an exact science. o Attempt to form the study of ethology failed because the primary laws of humans were not accurate and stable, so how could the secondary laws be?  Re-emerged in France later on and it stressed emotions, not association, and was more successful. Social Reform o He wanted freedom of speech, representative government, and the emancipation of women.  Wrote a book called the subjection of women.  Male chauvinism was defended by natural law or religion and neither of these reasons were good enough.  Believed psychology would set the record straight. o Believed in Utilitarianism  Greatest amount of pleasure for the greatest amount of people.  His version differed though as he weighed intellectual pleasures as better than physical ones like good food.    o Alexander Bain  Even though he was poor, he was provided university education because he showed promise.  Moved to London and became a journalist, new John Stuart Mill. They were friends and helped each other.  Published two classic texts.  Senses and the intellect  Emotions and the Will  With these he proved himself capable of an appointment at a university.  Referred to as the first true psychologist, and his books were considered the first psychology textbooks.  Founded “Mind” Which was the first journal for psychology  He looked for the physiological connection between mental and behavioral events.  Did lots of research into anatomy, neurology and physiology Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509  Laws of association  Three components of the mind o Feelings o Volition o Intellect- explained by the laws of association  Actions, sensations and feelings occurring together or in close succession, tend to grow and cohere in a way that causes the mind to think of the other if one is brought up  He supplemented the law of contiguity with the law of frequency. o Stated that both laws occurred because of neurological changes.  He theorized what we now know to be synapses and the brain connections that are made in learning.  Also accepted the law of similarity as an associative principle o Similar things that happened at different times could be paired together by the brain.  Added two of his own laws o The law of Compound Association  Associations are usually associated with several other ideas, not just one other one.  Compound associations o The law of constructive Association  The mind can make up connections that had not been paired before in a creative way.  Voluntary Behavior o Difference between spontaneous activity and reflexive behavior  Reflexive behavior happens automatically in response to external stimuli  Spontaneous Activity: Emitted behavior, not elicit behavior. Usually by emotions.  Used hedonism to explain how spontaneous activity is turned into voluntary behavior  Voluntary behavior still involves laws of association  Spontaneous behavior can still be rewarding or painful, thus increasing or decreasing behavior’s likelihood.  Spontaneous behavior is not free, just controlled differently.  Development of voluntary behavior stesps: o Need drives random or spontaneous activity. o Some actions satisfy the need, others don’t. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 Actions that satisfy the need are remembered. o Organism will use satisfactory action again the next time that need arises.  These actions are voluntary. Basically explained trial and error learning and operant conditioning with reinforcement and punishment. Bain brought psychology to the edge of being an experimental science. o    French Sensationalism  French were similar to the British int hat they wanted to be the Newtonians of the mind. o Wanted to explain the mind in mechanical ways that explained it basic elements and principles.  Some French Philosophers were considered sensationalists because they stressed the importance of sensations in explaining all conscious experience. o All of these philosophers were more similar than different and did not agree with rationalism or innate ideas.  All believes that all ideas come from experience and mental activity can be explained through laws of association.  The main questions asked fell in line with Descartes’ beliefs. o If the universe followed mechanical laws, humans did too.  His dualist conception  Bodies follow mechanical principles  Minds do not o The French liked the Idea of human’s being machines.  Pierre Gassendi  Contemporary of Descartes and Hobbes o Respected mathematician and philosopher and priest o Lock and Newton acknowledged a debt to him, whose major goal was to denounce Descartes’ deductive theory  If unextended, the mind could have no knowledge of material things.  Only physical things can be influenced by other physical things. o I move, therefore I exist. Believed that a physical mind caused movement and activity.  Humans are nothing more that matter and can be understood physically o Suggested a physical monism, like epicureans Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 Accepted the epicurean principle of long term hedonism, which guides human conduct o He could also be given the title of modern materialism, or it could be hobbes. Julien de La Mettrie  Got his medical degree and distinguished himself by writing about venereal disease, vertigo, and smallpox  He was widely resented because of professional jealousy, satirized the medical field and had a quick temper  Believed that the mind and body were more connected than Descartes had assumed after suffering from a violent fever. o Believed them to be two separate entities and the mind only controls the body when it wants to. o First to suggest that you are what you eat.  Jean-Anthelme also thought this. o What affects the body affects thought processes and there is nothing in the universe but matter and motion  Sensations in the brain are movements of particles in the brain.  Was forced into exile because of the criticisms of his book The Natural History of the Soul o Went to Hollad where he was forced into exile again for writing Man a Machine  Man a Machine o Thought Descartes was truly mechanist and used his theories of God and the soul as a cover up.  Mettrie believed that humans are Automata and machines, and there is only one substance in the world that comes out in many forms.  Makes him a physical monist  According to Mettrie, only philosophers who were not physicians also would believe in an immaterial mind.  Humans and Nonhuman animals o Equated intelligence and some personality characteristics to size and quality of the brain.  Fierceness= small brain, kindness= big brain  The more one gains in intelligence, the more instinct one loses. o Humans are better than animals because we learn and speak.  Primates would be similar to us if they did these two things.  Didn’t think it was impossible for an ape to learn a language.   Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 o  Intelligence is influenced by three factors:  Size, complexity, and education  Humans are superior because of these things.  Education is not explicit instruction though, but interactions with others.  Humans differ from non-humans because of degree of ability, not by type.  “only one dough in nature that we all come from”  Belief in the uniqueness of humans and in God are responsible for misery.  Humans would be better off accepting their relationship with the animal world and that humans are machines. o Would mean they would take care of nature, and love characteristics in their enemies. Admire your enemies. You will also be kind to everyone because you wouldn’t want to be treated that way.  He was very open with his potentially offensive ideas. Etienne Bonnot De Condillac  Contemporary of Hume, Rousseau and Voltaire  Became a catholic priest but ended up speaking against lots of religious dogma after he started reading philosophy books  He respected locke, but thought he gave the mind too many innate abilities to the mind. o All of these things could be explained with senses, memory, and the ability to experience pleasure and pain  The Sentient Statue o Imagine a statue that can perceive, remember and think, but only has the sense of smell.  Statue only has attention for odors, which leads to feelings based on good and bad smells. o If it had only a good or only a bad smell, it would not feel happy or sad because there would be no comparison. o Because of memory, we can compare to our past experiences and make judgments about the present. o Surprise comes from radically different experiences from those that came before o Sensations are remembered in an order and form a chain  We remember things by going down the thought train to the most distant memory. This is called retrieval. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509 Things being recalled in a different order is called imagination.  Dreaming is a form of imagination  Retrieving or imagining hated things causes fear, the opposite causes hope.  With several sensations, the statue can think about these things in many ways.  When sensations are grouped by commonality, the statue has formed abstract ideas.  Statue also develop the concept of duration based on the length of time these sensations last.  Will think about pleasant experiences more than unpleasant ones. o Mental abilities are put towards pleasure seeking.  Self, ego, or personality come from sensations, memories, and other mental abilities.  Can want things not currently happening. The meaning of words is determined by how it is most commonly used.  o o Claude-Adrien Helvetius and Others.  Claude-Adrien Helvetius  Born in Paris, tax collector and socialized with some of Europe’s finest minds.  Published Essays on the Mind o Condemned by the Sorbonne and Burned.  The published A treatise on Man: His Intellectual Faculties and His education o Led Jeremy Buntham to claim that what Bacon did for our understanding of the physical world, Helvetius had done for the moral world. o Didn’t contradict any major tenets of British empiricism or add new ones. Just explored the implications more deeply.  If you control experiences, you control the contents of the mind. o To Helvetius, empiricism became environmentalism  All social skills, moral behavior, and genius could be taught through experience.  Russel thought this was too optimistic. Only perfect education can make someone perfect. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509    Education = manipulation of pleasurable and unpleseant experience. Other people that should be mentioned  Marquis de Sade- hedonism as natural philosophy  Francois-Pierre Maine be Biran- habit forming  Antoine Destutt de Tracy- physicoogy with empirical philosophy and social and educational reform.  Cabinas- mind body connection. Positivism o Scientism: Belief that science is best suited to solve human problems. o August Comte  Trouble maker growing up.  Believed in elitist views after being converted from liberal equality views.  Attempted to create a science of history and human social behavior  Only gave three lectures before he fell mentally ill.  Began writing again 5 years later ish. o Cours de philosphe positive which attracted attention  System de politique positive- introduced his religion of humanity o Deemed himself a high priest.  Comte’s Positivism o Can only know about things publicly observable: senses shared with other. o Equating knowledge with empirical observation = positivism  To be placed in the mind by experience. o Only cared about science to improve society  Knowledge is not important unless practical o Can predict and control events with science.  Know in order to predict. o Theory was similar to Bacon o Two types of statements :  Refers to objects of sense and is a scientific statement  Nonsense o Almost all British empiricists could be said to be positivist leaning.  The Law of Three Stages o Societies pass through stages.  Theological- mystical  Metaphysical- based on unseen essences  Scientific- prediction and control o Used the word Sociology to explain the differences in societies. o Pass through these stages by listening to the wisest of society who can see the next stage.  Individuals also pass through the same stages. Downloaded by JENESAH HANKE ([email protected]) lOMoARcPSD|37523509   Religion and Sciences o Science became a religion for him. o Described society based on scientific principles and focused on happiness of the overall group, not individuals  This is what made John Stuart Mill lose respect for him. o Listed the sciences in a hierarchy (first and most basic to most comprehensive)  Math, astronomy, physical, chemistry, physiology, biology and sociology o He thought psychology was metaphysical nonsense.  Harsh words towards introspection  Did believe in phreneology  Study overt behavior A second Type of Positivism  Led by Ernest Mach o Also agreed to only concentrate on what can be known with certainty  No metaphysical speculation  Believed that we can only experience the world through our senses.  Job of a scientist is to note the sensations that occur together  No prior knowledge of the world, only experiences.  Cause and effect is functional relationships in mental phenomena o Believed you needed an operational definition to do good science.  One of the most important influences on albert Einstein. o Positivism became logical positivism and had a big impact on society. 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