Chapter 2 Review Study Guide
. What explanation does Velasquez give for the appeal of the rationalistic and Judeo-Christian views of human nature? (p. 59)
- They both argue for a self that is spiritual and so can survive the death of its body. - the conflict between what our desires want and what our reason tells us is good for us. - Provides an uplifting picture of human beings as fundamentally spiritual and capable of surviving death
44. The computer view of human nature holds what?
.It holds the view that humans are sophisticated computers and that one day computers will be able to imitate the input-output processing of the human brain.
Someone who believes that humans are basically unselfish would be more like what?
???
The traditional Western view of human nature, according to Velasquez, has five properties. They are what?
All human beings have a self, the self is different from the body, the self endures over time, and the self is an independent individual.
. For Plato, the "three defining parts of human nature" are what?
Appetite, Reason, and Aggression
Which philosopher form the chapter believed that "the truth about human nature requires only knowledge of our world"?
Aristotle
To what do we refer when we refer to "the atomistic view of the self"? Who believed that the self is fundamentally atomistic rather than relational?
Atomistic view of the self is the belief that the self is independent of others and self sufficient . Descartes say this.
How would a Theravada Buddhist explain the self? Does the self, understood as "a permanently abiding individual entity" exist for a Theravada Buddhist?
Buddhist view the self as non existent Buddhist hold the belief that nothing in the universe not even the self remains the same from one moment to the next. Everything consists of aggregates of elements that are in constant flux.
Velasquez includes a section on "The New Dualism", which is also referred to as "property dualism". What is "property dualism" and how does it differ from "substance dualism"?
Charmers argues that we can conceive of zombies who are physically like usage act like us but have no consciousness. So mental properties such as consciousness are. It physical properties. This is property dualism
Which Western philosopher, as a result of his commitment to empiricism, also believed that the idea of a self as "a permanently abiding individual entity" was a fiction, and so illusory?
David Hume
53. Who believed that the enduring self was the soul?
Descartes believed the enduring self was the soul.
What are the Forms, for Plato?
Eternal and Perfect ideals that exist in an unchanging, perfect heaven.
49. David Chalmers is someone who espouses property dualism. How does he explain consciousness?
He explains the consciousness is a nonmaterial property of the world
What did Descartes propose as an answer to the mind-body interaction problem?
He proposed that in the mind, the body had a "Pineal gland"
John Searle is an opponent of the computer theory of human nature. What does he say differentiates a computer from a human mind?
He says the difference between a computer and a human is that a human has consciousness.
Thomas Hobbes' materialism was influenced by what, according to Velasquez?
Hobbes materialism was influenced by the scientific discoveries if his time
What should be true if materialism is correct?
If materialistic view is correct the they must somehow explain exactly how the conscious mind is related to the body.
Why are our views about human nature important, according to Velasquez? In other words, what is the influence that our views of human nature have on our lives?
It affects the way you see yourself, the way you see others, and how you live.
The functionalist view of human nature holds what?
It holds the view that mental states can be explained in terms of sense inputs and behavior outputs. Some mental states can be explained I terms of other mental states but ultimately must be connected to sense inputs and behavior outputs.
What is the most characteristic feature of the mind, according to Velasquez?
It's Consciousness
According to Descartes, the essential nature of the mind is what?
It's conscious ability to think
How is the Judeo-Christian view of human nature different from the Greek rationalist view, when it comes to the purpose of living? (p. 57)
JC- The two purposes of life Love God and love your Nieghbor GR- only one that can exercise their reason can realize the purpose of living
Who believed that memory is what constitutes that to which we refer when we speak of "the enduring self"?
John Locke
What was Liebniz's answer to the mind-body interaction problem?
Liebniz's theory is that the mind and body don't interact but run in parallel order like two synchronized clocks.
What are the two distinguishing characteristics of the Judeo-Christian view of the human being?
Loving God and Serving God; love god with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and that you should love your neighbor as yourself
What was Malebranche's answer to the mind-body interaction problem?
Malebranche agreed that the body and mind can't interact but he said god moves the body for the mind and affects the mind for the body. Ex- you're hurt so god causes the mind to correspond a feeling to the pain. What happens instead, he said, is that God steps in to synchronize the body and the mind. When something affects the body, God obligingly comes forward to cause a corresponding feeling in the mind. When the mind commands the body to move, God again obligingly steps forward to move the body for the mind.
Another materialist theory of the mind is the behaviorist view. What is distinctive about the behaviorist approach to human nature?
Mental activities and states can be explained and defined in terms of our observable behaviors. The thing that makes behaviorism distinct is that it only focuses on what can be observed such as human behavior.
What was the predominant criticism of Descartes' theory about the pineal gland?
No matter how small and sensitive the gland seemed to be, it was still a physical entity
Moritz Schlick argues for the view that humans are so constituted such that they are able only to act out of self-interest. This view of human motivation is referred to as what?
Physiological Egoism
Which of the philosophers from the chapter believed that "the truth about human nature requires knowledge of another world of reality"?
Plato
What are the types of properties we generally take to be characteristic of physical bodies?
Properties that CAN be touched and measured We know our body has a certain weight. We know it has spatial dimensions. It has a definite color, odor, and shape. It can be seen and touched and measured. In short, we know it is a material or physical entity with the properties that are characteristic of all physical objects.
What types of properties do we generally take to be characteristic of the mind?
Properties that CAN'T be touched or measured. Your mind, too, gets its share of attention. We study and learn to increase its knowledge. We travel to expand its experiences. We read or watch movies to keep it entertained. We spend many hours daydreaming to while its time away. We hire psychiatrists to cure it of its illnesses. And we sleep to keep it rested. Our mind, we feel, is the source of our creativity and all deepest feelings. It is with the mind that we experience the ordinary and the unusual, feel desires and emotions, belief or doubt. It is with our mind that we feel hope, fear, love, hate, disgust, shame, pride, amusement. Strangely, and unlike the body, the features of the mind seem to have no observable color, size, or shape. It makes no sense, for example, to say that our mind's beliefs, desires, sensations, emotions, or ideas are colored. Or that they are so many inches long, or shaped like a square or a sphere.
. Which of the three elements of human nature does Plato belief ought to rule over the others?
Reason
What is Searle's position on human nature? Is he a dualist? What exactly does he believe?
Searle is not a dualist but he argues that humans are purely physical in whom, physical, chemical, and biological processes take place. The process cause or produce our mental activities.
. What is the significant implication of the Traditional Rationalistic view of Human Nature, according to Velasquez?
Slavery is justified because the people who are less rational are less human, so it is ok for the more rational to be the masters of the less rational
What problems are there with the view that something we refer to as "the soul" constitutes that to which we refer when we speak of "the enduring self"?
Some of the critics object that we can know that a person remains the same person from one day to another without being able to see his or her soul.
51. What are the various views that purport a solution to the problem of personal identity?
Some philosopher say that what makes us the same person today as we were ten years ago is the continuity of the body.(the body never completely changes.)
. Velasquez speaks about the Dualistic view of human nature as what seems to most of us to be the "common sense view of mind and body." What is the distinctive feature about this view of human nature?
That it is an ancient view that many Philosophers have adopted (Page 88)
40. For a behaviorist, the mind is what?
That the mind is nothing more than bodily behavior and dispositions bodily behavior.
What does it mean to say that "the self is an independent individual"?
That the self has a purpose, endures over time, and is separate from the physical body
What would be the principle violated if we claim that the mind somehow reaches into the physical world?
The Principle of the conservation of matter and energy
Two of the most influential versions of the Traditional Western view of the self are what?
The Traditional Realistic View, and The Traditional Judeo-Christian View
To what do we refer when we speak about "consciousness"?
The awareness that you have of yourself and your sensing and your thinking when you're awake. (page 87)
What does "essence" mean? (p. 76)
The defining characteristics that make something what it is
To what does the notion of a "self" refer, within the philosophical world?
The ego or "I" that exists within the body
41. What would be examples, according to Hilary Putnam, that shows behaviorism is wrong?
The examples Hilary Putnam uses to disprove behaviorism us the example of the super actor an actor who displays pain but doesn't feel it therefore how can the mental state be defined by observation. Another example is the super spartan who is in pain but doesn't show it.
One type of materialist theory of the mind is "Identity Theory". What is this view and what is its ultimate claim about our knowledge of mental states.
The identity theory claims that states of consciousness are identical with states of the brain, which is a physical or material organ.its claim says that science will one day discover that brain states are identical to metal states . The identity of mental and brain states is a contingent relationship.
50. To what does "the problem of personal identity" refer?
The personal identity problem is the what makes a person be the same person from one moment to the next.
What are the primary features of the materialist view of human nature?
The primary features of the materialist view of human nature are that the processes such as thought and life are nothing more than chemical process called reductionism. (page 95-100)
What problem or problems are there with the view that memory is what constitutes the enduring self? What was Thomas Reid's view of this?
The problem was that the theory was contradicting. Thomas Reid's argument: suppose at age 20 I remember myself at 10, and at 30 I remember myself at 20 but not at 10. The on Locke's view at 20 I am the same person I was at 10 and at 30 I am the same person I was at 20. So at 49 I must be the same person I was at 10. Yet Locke 's view also says that at 30 you are not the same person you were at 10.
52. What problems are there with the view that bodily continuity explains personal identity?
The problems found with body continuity is that we would have to say people with Alzheimer's or brain damage have the same body continuity as before but it is not the same as before.
What is "substance dualism"?
The view that human nature is composed of two things: a material body and an immaterial mind or "soul"
43. Opponents of functionalism argue that functionalism leaves what phenomena out of consideration?
They argue that fundamentalism leaves out the inner conscious states that we are directly aware of.
45. What is the Turing Test and what was it devised to determine?
Turing test says that if the outputs of a computer give to certain inputs can not be distinguished from the outputs of a human would make , then the computer is equivalent to the human
To what are we referring when we speak of "the problem of mind-body interaction"? What does this problem have to do with substance dualism?
We're referring to the how the two separate substances interact since one is material and the other is immaterial. Substance dualism can say they both exist but it can't explain how they interact
To what does the question of "Human Nature" refer in philosophy?
What a Human Being is
What follows if we believe that the "real self" is something that is created from our relationships with others and with culture?
What follows is a question. But if one has many relationships with others does this mean one has many selves?
38. What problem does Velasquez associate with the identity theory of the mind?
he associates the problem that how could the brain states and the consciousness be identical when the brain states are observable to everyone while the consciousness experiences are only observable to you, and the experiences provided by your consciousness such as thinking don't have a prefixes location ,color,or shape.
What are some familiar ideas about ourselves that are affirmed by the Traditional Rationalistic versions of Human Nature, according to the textbook? (pp. 59-60)
the idea that we have an immortal soul that can survive death; the idea that humans are unique and different from other creatures; the idea that reason is what makes us different and that reason should rule over our appetites; the idea that human beings have a purpose and that this purpose is related to the soul and its reason.
To what do we refer when we refer to "the relational view of the self"? Who believed that the self is fundamentally relational rather than atomistic?
the relational view of the self is the belief that the we define ourselves depending on our relationships with others around us. Charles Taylor support this view.
