Chapter 5: Empiricism, sensationalism and positivism

John Locke

An empiricist who denied the existence of innate ideas but who assumed many nativistically determined powers of the mind. Locke distinguish between primary qualities, which cause sensations that correspond to actual attributes of physical bodies, and secondary qualities, which cause sensations and have no counterparts in the physical world. The types of ideas postulated by law included those caused by sensory stimulation, those caused by reflection, simple ideas, and complex ideas, which were composites of simple ideas Locke was to become the most influential political philosopher in post renaissance Europe Locke shaped most of subsequent British empiricism most of the British empiricist followed locke in accepting a mind body dualism Locke was content to say that somehow sensory stimulation caused ideas OPPOSITION TO INNATE IDEAS Locke's essay was a protest against Descartes's philosophy , more specifically his notion of innate ideas lock observed that if the mind contains such any ideas, the nonhuman should have those same ideas, and clearly they do not humans he said, are not born with any innate ideas we get ideas from experience SENSATION AND REFLECTION For locke, an idea was simply a mental image that could be employed while thinking ideas result either by direct sensory stimulation or by reflection on the remnants of prior sensory stimulation sensation -the rudimentary mental experience that results from the stimulation of one or more sense receptors reflection -according to Locke, the ability to use the powers of the mind to creatively rearrange ideas derived from sensory experience the source of all ideas is sensation , but the idea is obtained by sensation can be acted on and rearranged by the operations of the mind, thereby giving rise to new ideas . Locke is often said to have postulated a passive mind that simply received and stored ideas caused by sensory stimulation IDEAS AND EMOTIONS Simple ideas -the mental remnants of sensations simple ideas, whether from sensation or reflection, constitute the items of experience because they cannot be diverted or analyzed further into other ideas complex ideas -configurations of simple ideas complex ideas are composites of simple ideas and therefore can be analyzed into other component parts or simple ideas . When the operations of the mind or applied to simple ideas through reflection, complex ideas are formed the mind can neither create nor destroy ideas but it can arrange existing ideas in an almost infinite number of configurations Locke believed the emotions were all derived from the two basic feelings of pleasure and pain the greatest good was the freedom to think pleasurable thoughts his theory of human motivation was head on a stick because it maintain that humans are motivated by the search for pleasure in the avoidance of pain PRIMARY AND SECONDARY QUALITIES For lock both primary and secondary qualities refer to characteristics of the physical world; what distinguish them was the type of psychological experience they caused Locke referred to any aspect of a physical object that had the power to produce an idea as a quality. Quality -according to Locke, that aspect of a physical object that has the power to produce an idea primary qualities have the power to create NS ideas that correspond to actual attributes of physical objects . For example, the ideas of solidity, extension, shape, motion or rest, in quantity the secondary qualities of objects also have the power to produce ideas, but the ideas they produce do not correspond to anything in the physical world . That includes color, sound, temperature, and taste . Locke's paradox of the basins dramatically demonstrated the nature of ideas caused by secondary qualities paradox of the basins -Locke's observation that warm water will feel either hot or cold depending on whether a hand is first place in hot water or cold water. Because water cannot be hot and cold at the same time, temperature must be a secondary, not a primary, quality. For Locke, the important point was that some of our psychological experiences reflected the physical world as it actually was and some did not. Subjective reality could be studied as objectively as physical reality . ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS associationism - the belief that the laws of Association provide the fundamental principles by which all mental phenomena can be explained it is possible to reject associationism and still accept the fact that associative learning does occur . Such was the case with Locke Locke used Association to explain the faulty believes that can result from accidents of time or circumstance block believed that ideas that succeeded each other because of natural or rational reasons represented true knowledge but the ideas that became associated fortuitously , because of their contiguity, could result in unreasonable beliefs. Locke's philosophy certainly did not exemplify associationism EDUCATION By insisting that nurture was more important than nature for character development, his views on education were in accordance with his empirical philosophy important education took place both at home and in school . He encouraged parents to increase stress tolerance in their children by having them sleep on hard rather than soft beds and would increase tolerance for the inevitable hardships in life concerning classroom practices, mild physical punishment of students with advocated but severe physical punishment was not . Teachers should make learning as pleasant as possible so that it would be sought after . The primary job of the teacher should be to recognize and praise student accomplishments GOV'T BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE Locke challenged the divine right of Kings and propose a government by and for the people . His political writings on Liberty and the social contracts were read enthusiastically, and his ideas were influential in the drafting of the US Declaration of Independence

Thomas Hobbes

Believed that the primary motive in human behavior is the seeking of pleasure and the avoidance of pain. For Hobbes, the function of the government is to satisfy as many human needs as possible and to prevent humans from fighting with each other. Hobbes believed that all human activity, including mental activity, could be reduced to atoms in motion; therefore, he was a materialist Founder of empiricism HUMANS AS MACHINES After visiting Galileo, Hobbes became convinced that the universe consisted only of matter in motion that both could be understood in terms of mechanistic principles. Hobbes chose the deductive method of Galileo and Descartes GOVERNMENT AND HUMAN INSTINCTS Hobbes is primary interest was actually politics. He was thoroughly convinced that the best form of government was an absolute monarchy . He believed that humans were naturally aggressive, selfish, and greedy ; Therefore democracy was dangerous . Fear of death motivates humans to create social order unless controlled, humans would selfishly seek power over others as to guarantee the satisfaction of their own personal needs for a monarch to govern effectively they needed to have an understanding of human nature HOBBES'S EMPIRICISM All ideas came from experience or more specifically, from sensory experience . Hobbes was also a materialist . Because all that exists is matter in motion , Hobbes thought it was absurd to postulate a non-material mind and so called mental phenomena could be explained by the sense experiences that result when the motion of external bodies stimulates the sense receptors . Concerning the mind body problem, Hobbes was a physical monist; He denied the existence of a nonmaterial mind EXPLANATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MATERIAL Attention was explained by the fact that as long as a sense organs retain the motion caused by certain external objects, they cannot respond to others . Imagination was explained by the fact that sense impressions decay overtime, as did memory dreams then have the same origin Hobbes argued that external objects not only produced sense impressions but also influenced the vital functions of the body sense impressions incompatible with the vital functions are experienced as painful human behavior is motivated by appetite and aversion Hobbs accepted a hedonistic theory of motivation we use terms such as love and good to describe things that please us in terms such as hate and evil to describe things to which we have an aversion there was no place for free will . People may believe that they are choosing because at any given moment, one may be confronted with the number of appetites and aversions, and therefore they will be conflicting tendencies to act will was defined as the action tendency that prevails when a number of such tendencies exist simultaneously. COMPLEX THOUGHT PROCESSES In explaining trains of thought , Hobbs said events that are experienced together are remembered together and are subsequently thought of together . He was a materialist because he believed that all that existed was physical he was a mechanist because he believed that the universe and everything in it were machines he was a determinist because he believed that all activity is caused by forces acting on physical objects he was a empiricist because he believed that all knowledge was derived from sensory experience he was hedonist because he believed that human behavior was motivated by the seeking of pleasure in the avoidance of pain

David Hume

Agreed with Berkeley that we could experience only our own subjective reality but disagreed with Berkeley's contention that we could assume that our perceptions accurately reflect the physical world because God could not deceive us. For Hume, we can be sure of nothing. Even the notion of cause and effect, which is so important to Newtonian physics, is nothing more than a habit of thought. He distinguished between impressions, which are vivid, and ideas, which are faint copies of impressions Hume, skeptical of most religious beliefs, and friction with the church was a constant theme in his life . Hume argued that religion was both irrational and impractical HUME'S GOAL All important matters reflect human nature, and understanding that nature is therefore essential . Hume followed in the empirical tradition of Occam, Bacon, Hobbs, Locke and Berkeley He aspired to be the Newton of the moral Sciences The major determinant of behavior in him system were cognitive and not directly observable . For Hume, the term experience meant mental experience. By experiment, Hume meant careful observation of how experiences are related to one another and how experiences related to behavior Hume's goal was to combine the empirical philosophy of his predecessors with the principles of Newtonian science and in the process, create a science of human nature Hume tended to use the Baconian inductive method more than the Newtonian deductive method IMPRESSIONS AND IDEAS believed that the contents of the mind came only from experience . He believed that experience could be stimulated by either internal or external events . We can never experience the physical directly and can only have perceptions of it . Hume distinguish between impressions , which were strong, vivid perceptions, and ideas, which were relatively weak perceptions Impressions -according to Hume, the relatively strong mental experience is caused by sensory stimulation. For Hume, impression is essentially the same thing as what others called sensation SIMPLE/COMPLEX IDEAS AND IMAGINATION Simple ideas cannot be broken down further Complex ideas are made of other ideas Once in the mind, ideas can be rearranged in an infinite number of ways by the imagination. THE ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS For Hume there were three laws of association: 1.law of resemblance -according to Hume, the tendency for our thoughts to run from one event to similar events, the same as what others called the law, or principle of similarity 2.Law of contiguity -the tendency for events that are experienced together to be remembered together 3.law of cause and effect -according to Hume, if in our experience one event always precedes the occurrence of another event, we tend to believe that the former event is the cause of the latter . ANALYSIS IN CAUSATION We can never know that two events occur together unless we have experienced them occurring together . A causal relationship is a consistently observed relationship and nothing more . Causation, is not logical necessity; It is a psychological experience Hume described the observations that need to be made in order to conclude that two events or casually related : 1.the cause and effect must be contiguous in space and time 2.the cause must be prior to the effect 3.there must be a constant union betwixt the cause and effect. It is chiefly this quality that constitutes the relation 4.the same cause always produces the same effect, in the same effect never arises but from the same cause Predictions based on such observations assume that what happened the past will continue to happen in the future but there is no guarantee of that being the case . Even if all conditions listed above are met we could also still be incorrect in drawing a causal inference . ANALYSIS OF MIND AND SELF The mind is no more than the perceptions we are having at any given moment. There is no self independent from perceptions EMOTIONS AND BEHAVIOR All humans possess the same passion (emotions) All humans differ in degree of specific emotions The passions determine behavior - Therefore, we respond differently to situations. Both animals and humans learn to act in particular ways through experience with reward and punishment. It is not ideas or impressions that cause behavior but the passions associated with those ideas or impressions. HUME'S INFLUENCE Here we vastly increased the importance of what we now call psychology . He reduced politics, philosophy, religion, and science to psychology humans can be certain of nothing. for this reason, Hume is referred to as the Supreme skeptic Hume accepted only two types of knowledge; demonstrative and empirical . demonstrated knowledge relates ideas to ideas such as in mathematics . It is entirely abstract and entirely the product of the imagination . It is based entirely on deduction from one idea to another . Empirical knowledge is based on experience, and it alone can furnish knowledge that can effectively guide our conduct in the world

Julien de la Mettrie

Believed humans were machines that differed from other animals only in complexity . La Mettrie believed that so-called mental experiences are nothing but a movement of particles in the brain. He also believed that accepting materialism would result in a better, more Humane world The mind is much more intimately related to the body than Descartes has described MAN A MACHINE Every existing thing consist of matter . He is a physical monist to believe in the existence of a mind was just plain silly HUMAN/NON-HUMAN ANIMALS La mettrie equated intelligence with the size and quality of the brain humans can be considered superior to animals because of education in the development of language intelligence was influenced by three factors . Brain size, brain complexity, and education The belief in the uniqueness of humans and in God are not only incorrect but also responsible for widespread misery. We should accept the fact that like other animals, humans are machines . Complex machines, but machines nonetheless.

David Hartley (1705-1757)

Combined empiricism and associationism with rudimentary physiological notions . HARTLEY'S GOAL Goal was to synthesize Newton's conception of nerve transmission (vibrations in nerves) with versions of empiricism. It was the lingering vibrations in the brain following a sensation that constituted ideas . Ideas were faint replications of sensations HARTLEY'S EXPLANATION OF ASSOCIATION Ideas are diminutive vibrations (vibratiuncles) and are weaker copies of sensations. - These may become associated through contiguity, either successive or simultaneous. Simple ideas become associated by contiguity to form complex ideas Complex ideas can become associated with other complex ideas to form "decomplex" ideas. LAWS OF ASSOCIATION AND BEHAVIOR Laws of association can be applied to behavior to describe how voluntary behavior can develop from involuntary behavior. Proposed that excessive nerve vibration produced pain and mild to moderate vibration produced pleasure. Behavior is involuntary at first, and then becomes voluntary Objects, events, and people become associated with pain or pleasure through experience, and we learn to behave deferentially to these stimuli. HARTLEY'S INFLUENCE Hartley took the speculations concerning neurophysiology of his time and use them in his analysis of Association . His effort was the first major attempt to explain neurophysiology of thought and behavior since Descartes partly started the search for the biological correlates of mental events that has continued to the present Hartley's brand of associationism became highly influential and was the authoritative psychological account for about 80 years

John Stuart Mill

Disagreed with his father James that all complex ideas could be reduced to simple ideas. J. S. Mill proposed a process of mental chemistry according to which complex ideas could be distinctly different from the simple ideas that constituted them . J. S. Mill believes strongly that assigns of human agent could be and should be developed . He described the methodology that could be used in a science of human nature he believed that the lawfulness of human thought, feeling, and action were entirely conductive to scientific inquiry MENTAL CHEMISTRY VS MENTAL PHYSICS J. S. Mill accepted his father's brand of associationism Proposed a mental chemistry in which complex ideas are not made up of aggregates of simple ideas but that ideas can fuse to produce an idea that is completely different from the elements of which it is made. TOWARD A SCIENCE OF HUMAN NATURE He contributed most of his development of psychology as a science he began his analysis by attacking the common belief that human thoughts, feelings and actions are not subject to scientific investigation the same way as physical nature is . Mill placed Sciences whose primary laws are known and, if no other causes intervene, whose phenomena can be observed, measured, and predicted precisely. Primary laws -according to J. S. Mill, the general laws that determine the overall behavior of events within a system secondary laws often interact with primary laws, making precise understanding and prediction impossible. Secondary laws -according to Mill, the laws that interact with primary laws and determine the nature of individual events under specific circumstances. It is the inability of a science to deal with secondary causation that makes it inexact Mill viewed the science of human nature or psychology as in exact because the thoughts, feelings, and actions of individuals cannot be predicted with great accuracy because we cannot foresee the circumstances in which individuals will be placed. SCIENCE OF ETHOLOGY Mill argued for the development of a "science of the formation of character," which he called ethology. - His ethology would explain how individual minds or characters form under specific circumstances. Mill was seeking the information necessary to convert psychology from an inexact science into an exact science he also wanted to explain the subtleties of individual behavior in specific circumstances SOCIAL REFORM Mill was a social reformer who took up the causes of freedom of speech, representative government, and the emancipation of women. No believe that a sound science of human nature would provide the basis for social equality and he also embraced Bentham's utilitarianism. For Mill however intellectual pleasures were far more important than the biological pleasures we shared with non-human animals .

Claude-Adrien Helvetius and others

Elaborated the implications of empiricism and sensationalism for education. That is, the person's intellectual development can be determined by controlling his or her experiences. Explored the implications of the empiricist and sensationalist proposal that contents of the mind come only from experience. Empiricism became radical environmentalism . All manner of social skills, moral behavior, and even genius could be taught through the control of experiences A hedonist MARQUIS DE SADE illustrate hedonism as a natural philosophy FRANCOIS-PIERRE MAINE DE BIRAN writings expanded on Locke's philosophy and added a careful consideration of habit forming (learning) ANTOINE DETUTT DE TRACY juxtaposed advances in physiology and empirical philosophy and advocated for social and education reform grounded in such mechanistic ideas. Influenced Thomas Jefferson

British Empiricism

Empiricism- the belief that all knowledge is derived from experience, especially sensory experience. -Knowledge cannot exist unless this evidence has first been gathered -All subsequent intellectual processes must use this evidence and only this evidence in framing valid propositions about the real world

a second type of positivism

Ernst Mach- Propose a brand of positivism based on the phenomenological experiences of scientists . Because scientists, or anyone else, never experience the physical world directly, the scientist's job is to precisely describe the relationships among mental phenomena, and to do so without the aid of metaphysical speculation . Proposed a second brand of positivism - Differed from Comte's positivism primarily in what type of data science could be certain about. Mach insisted on defining scientific concepts in terms of procedures used to measure them instead of their "ultimate reality" or "essence" ▪ Anticipating the concept of the operational definition

French sensationalism :man as a machine

Like British empiricists, French sensationalists tried to be Newtonians of the mind Stressed that the mind was mechanical in nature Believed the mind could be explained with a few basic principles All ideas, came from experience, and most, if not all, mental activity could be explained by the laws of Association acting on those ideas

Etienne Bonnot de Condillac

Maintained that all human mental attributes could be explained using only the concept of sensation and that it was therefore unnecessary to postulate an autonomous mind Powers which Locke attributed to the mind can be derived from the abilities to sense, to remember, and experience pleasure and pain. -The sentient statue

James Mill

Maintained the omental events consisted of sensations and ideas (copies of sensations) how together by Association. No matter how complex an idea was, mill felt that it could be reduced to simple ideas . Mills analysis is regarded as the most complete summary of associationism ever offered ANALYSIS OF ASSOCIATION The mind was sensations and ideas held together by contiguity Complex ideas were made of simple ideas. When ideas are continuously experienced together, the association may become so strong that they appear as one idea. Strength of associations is determined by: ▪ Vividness of the sensations or ideas ▪ By the frequency of the associations As far as vividness is concerned , Mills said that 1 . Sensations are more vivid than ideas, and therefore, the associations between sensations are stronger than those between ideas; 2. sensations and ideas associated with pleasure or pain or more vivid in there for from stronger associations and sensations and ideas not related to pleasure or pain; and 3. recent ideas are more vivid and therefore form stronger Association than more remote ideas UTILITARIANISM AND ASSOCIATIONISM James mill met Jeremy Bentham . Bentham was a major spokesperson for the British political and ethical movement called utilitarianism . Jeremy Bentham -set up the seeking of pleasure in the avoidance of pain governed most human behavior . Bend them also said that the best society was one that did the greatest good for the greatest number of people . Utilitarianism -the belief that the best society or government is one that provides the greatest good for the greatest number of individuals . Jeremy Bentham, James mill, and John Stuart Mill we're all utilitarianists JAMES MILL'S INFLUENCE He insisted that any mental experience could be reduced to the simple ideas that made it up . Thus, he gave us a conception of the mind based on newtonian physics. The mine consisted of mental elements held together by the laws of Association ; Therefore, mental experience was as predictable as physical events

George Berkeley

Said that the only thing we experienced directly is our own perceptions or secondary qualities. Berkeley offered an empirical explanation of the perception of distance, saying that we learn to associate the sensations caused by the convergence and divergence of the eyes with different distances. Berkeley denied materialism, saying instead that reality exists because God perceives it. We can trust our senses to reflect God's perceptions because God would not create a sensory system that would deceive us The worldview created by materialistic philosophy, Berkeley felt, was that all matter is atomic or corpuscular in nature and that all physical events could be explained in terms of mechanical laws. The world becomes nothing but matter in motion, and the motion of moving objects is explained by natural laws, which are expressible in mathematical terms . Berkeley correctly perceived that materialistic philosophy was pushing God farther and farther out of the picture. And thus it was dangerous, if not completely fatal, to both religion and morality . TO BE IS TO BE PERCEIVED Berkeley solution to the problem was bold and sweeping; He attempted to demonstrate that matter does not exist and that all claims made by materialistic philosophy must therefore be false . He agreed with the Locke that human knowledge is based only on ideas. However , Berkeley strongly disagreed with Locke's contention that all ideas are derived from interactions with the empirical world Reality consists of our perceptions and nothing more Berkeley referred to primary qualities as the supposed attributes of physical things . And secondary qualities as ideas or perceptions He then rejected the existence of primary qualities . For him, only secondary qualities exist . What creates external reality is God's perception . God may change his mind and thus very the laws of nature, creating miracles but most of the time his perceptions remained the same God perceives the physical world, thus giving it existence; we perceive God's perceptions, thus giving those perceptions life in our minds as ideas . PRINCIPLE OF ASSOCIATION It is only through experience that we learn that certain ideas are always associated with a specific object . The objects we name our aggregates of sensations that typically accompany each other Berkeley accepted the law of continua T as his associative principle . All sensations that are consistently experienced together become associated THEORY OF DISTANCE PERCEPTION With his empirical theory of distance perception, Berkeley was refuting the theory held by Descartes's and others the distance perception was based on the geometry of optics. The convergence and divergent of the eyes were important because the sensations caused by the convergence and divergent of the eyes became associated with other sensations that became cues for distance Berkeley's empirical account of perception in meaning was a milestone in psychology's history , because it showed how all complex perceptions could be understood as compounds of elementary sensations such as sight , hearing , and touch .

Pierre Gassendi

Saw humans as nothing but complex, physical machines, and he saw no need to assume a nonphysical mind. Gassendi had much in common with Hobbes. Goal was to replace Descartes's deductive, dualistic philosophy with an observational inductive science based on physical monism. "I move, therefore I am" Anything that moves exists Saw no reason to postulate an immaterial mind Concluded that humans are nothing but matter and therefore could be studied and understood just as anything else in the universe could the founder of modern materialism

Positivism

Scientism: the belief that science, not religion, is the only valid knowledge, provides the only information one can believe For these people, science itself takes on some of the characteristics of a religion

Alexander Bain

The first to attempt to relate known physiological facts to psychological phenomena. He also wrote the first psychology texts, and he found it psychology's first Journal in 1876. Bain explained voluntary behavior in much the same way that modern learning theorists later explained trial and error behavior. Finally, Bain added the law of compound Association in the law of constructive Association to the older, traditional laws of Association. Often referred to as the first full-fledged psychologist. Goal was to describe the physiological correlates of mental and behavioral phenomena. LAWS OF ASSOCIATION The mind has three components: - Feelings - Volition - Intellect Intellect is explained by the laws of association, primarily the law of contiguity which applies to sensations, ideas, actions, and feelings. Contiguity supplemented by the law of frequency. The laws had their effect in neuronal changes in the nervous system. Two other laws of association Law of compound association ▪ Single ideas are not associated, rather an idea is usually associated with several other ideas through contiguity or similarity Law of constructive association ▪ Mind can rearrange memories of experiences into an almost infinite number of combinations, accounts for creativity. VOLUNTARY BEHAVIOR Voluntary behavior -according to Bain, under some circumstances, an Organism spontaneous activity leads to pleasurable consequences. After several such occurrences, the Organism will come to voluntarily engage in the behavior that was originally spontaneous . Bing made an important distinction between reflexive behavior and spontaneous activity reflexive behavior -accrued automatically in response to some external stimulus because of the structure of an organism's nervous system spontaneous activity -behavior that is simply emitted by an Organism rather than being elicited by external stimulation spontaneous activity is one ingredient of voluntary behavior, the other is hedonism. Bing explained the development of voluntary behavior as follows 1.when some need such as hunger or they need to be released from confinement occurs, there is random or spontaneous activity . 2.Some of these random movements will produce or approximate conditions necessary for satisfying the need, and others will not. 3.The activities that bring need satisfaction are remembered 4.the next time the Organism is in a similar situation, it will perform the activities that previously brought about need satisfaction Essentially Skinner's selection of behavior by consequences.

Auguste Comte

The founder of positivism and coiner of the term sociology. He felt that cultures passed through three stages in the way they explained phenomena: The theological, the metaphysical, and the scientific COMTE'S POSITIVISM Proposed that the only thing we can be sure of is that which is publicly observable Sense experiences that can be perceived by others Positivism -the contention that science should study only but which can be directly experienced . For Comte , that was publicly observed events or overt behavior. For Mach , it was the sensations of the scientists Comte was the social reformer in was interested in science only as a means of improving society. THE LAW OF THREE STAGES Meaning societies and disciplines pass through stages defined by the way members explain natural events. First stage:Theological, based on superstition and mysticism Second stage : Metaphysical, based on unseen essences, principles, causes, and laws Third stage : Scientific, description, prediction, and control of natural phenomena. During the scientific stage, positivism is accepted The beliefs characteristic of a particular stage becomes a way of life for the people within the society . It is only a few of the society's wisest individuals who glimpsed the next stage and begins to pave the way for it the beliefs characterizing the new stage then become a way of life until the process is repeated Sociology described the study of how different societies compared in terms of the three stages of development. RELIGION AND THE SCIENCES To him, science is all that one needed to believe in and all that one should believe in. Humanity replaced God, and scientists and philosophers replaced priests . Also arranged sciences in a hierarchy from the first developed and most basic to the most recently developed and most comprehensive in this order: - Mathematics → astronomy → physics → chemistry → physiological biology → sociology