Philosophy of Psychology

James' pragmatism

"If you follow the pragmatic method, you cannot look on any such word [eg energy, reason, God] as closing your quest. You must bring out of each word its practical cash value, [and view it] as a program for more work". Beliefs and practices were judged by the work they accomplished in the world.

James' radical empiricism

"The only things that shall be debatable among philosophers shall be things definable in terms drawn from experience". Inclusion of 'radical' means that things experienced must not be ignored. Open to new possibilites and borderline phenomena and experiences unique and widespread. Must find a place for everything that is a genuine part of experience. Open to hypothesis of monism, but failed to find any monistic vantage point so encompassing that it could include everything. Since the world is in process, there is no vantage point from which one can make the big claim for Truth, because our vantage points are themselves in constant flux.

Wilhelm Wundt

"When he began his work psychology was thought of as a branch of philosophy. His work changed it into an experimental science." Extremely productive, studied, wrote, taught extensively. Experience is central. Believed in unity and interdependence of mental and physical processes.

Arguments in support of the libertarian position

1) Argument for an adequate explanation of human experience. Psychologists have never been able to make perfect predictions of even simple behaviours. 2) Logical contradictions in determinism A determinist cannot logically declare that they believe in determinism, because they are not the true believer. 3) Argument from morality Following determinism, individuals are not responsible for their actions 4) Argument from indeterminism Strict determinism is a pre-twentieth-century concept that is no longer applicable in the physical sciences. Human nature is characterised by an inherent uncertainty.

Aristotle's laws of causation - the "four be-causes"

1) Efficient cause 2) Material cause 3) Formal cause 4) Final cause

Arguments in support of the determinist position

1) Historical argument Historically, determinism wins out over free will. With increasing knowledge of brain structure and function, lawful explanations are extended to more and more behaviours 2) Argument from morality Many of history's most barbaric practices were justified on the grounds that the victim had made a free choice and now needed to be punished. 3) Argument from reasonable expectancy We live our lives based on reasonable expectations. If an expectation is not confirmed, then we assume that we failed to take some variable into account.

Reid's first principles

1) The thoughts of which I am conscious, are the thoughts of a being which I call 'myself', 'my mind', 'my person'. 2) Those things do really exist which we distinctly perceive by our senses. 3) We have some degree of power over our actions.

Psuche

A Greek term that translates to "spirit", "soul", or "mind".

Aesthesiometer

A compass like instrument to measure tactile sensitivity.

Preestablished harmony

A concept employed by Leibniz to account for the congruence or harmony of different orders of reality. Leibniz believed that God had ordered the world in such a fashion as to permit the simultaneous and harmonious operation of many independent principles of existence.

Authority

A criteria by which we claim to know truth.

Aestheticism

A criteria by which we claim to know truth. A doctrine that the principles of beauty apply to other arenas of thought

Skepticism

A criteria by which we claim to know truth. All truth claims are suspect and must be questioned. Epistemic humility in order for good science and honest inquiry.

Pragmatism

A criteria by which we claim to know truth. Concepts must be judged based on their cash values or the practical work they do in the world (utility and practical consequences)

Rationalism

A criteria by which we claim to know truth. Emphasises a priori reason or innate ideas

Psychophysical parallelism

A dualistic viewpoint. Mental events influence other mental events and bodily event influence other bodily events. However, the two do not influence one another, but run parallel - whatever happens in one also happens in the other.

Emergentism

A dualistic viewpoint. Mental processes are produced by brain processes but are qualitatively different.

Interactionism

A dualistic viewpoint. Sometimes called the common sense position. Mental events influence other mental events, bodily event influence other bodily events, and mental and bodily events influence each other.

Attributive pluralism

A major variation on pluralism that emphasises the relationship between an object and the words used to describe it. The most fundamental reality is our words. Other pluralists insist that there are realities beyond our words.

Functional autonomy

A means or mechanism for satisfying a motive may acquire drive properties.

Hylomorphism

A mind-body position advanced by Aristotle. Comes from 'hule' meaning matter and 'morphe' meaning form. Aristotle stressed the interdependence of matter and form. Thus, seeing as a mental process cannot be separated from the physical structure of the eye.

Epiphenomenalism

A monistic viewpoint. A mind-brain position that regards mental processes as a kind of "overflow" or by-product of brain activity.

Idealism

A monistic viewpoint. Emphasises mind or spirit as the preeminent feature of life. The mental world has priority - it is the only world to which we have immediate access.

Double-aspect monism

A monistic viewpoint. Emphasises the idea that there is a language for mental processes and a language for underlying physical processes, but both languages refer to the same reality.

Materialism

A monistic viewpoint. Matter is the fundamental constituent to all things.

Normal science

A notion introduced by Thomas Kuhn that refers to conventional ways of solving problems in science at a given time or during the reign of a particular paradigm.

Apperceptive mass

A term employed by Johann Friedrich Herbart to refer to the goal of education to produce not only higher level of awareness of relationships.

Monads

A term employed by Leibniz. A principle of existence or an ultimate unit of being. A unity or an entity harmonious with the entire universe.

Sophist

A type of teacher in ancient Greece that emphasised relativism and how to live successfully.

Plato's thoughts on method

Accorded a more important role to the senses in practice than in theory. Believed rational processes provide true knowledge. Sensory knowledge provides appearance and opinion, which are not without value.

Paradigm

According to Thomas Kuhn, the beliefs, attitudes, values, methods, and assumptions that guide the intellectual community at a given time.

Common sensibles

Activities common to all the senses. Consist of figure, number, magnitude, movement, and rest.

Additional methods of explanation

Analogies Models Numerical Neurological and physiological

Extrinsic teleology

Any design in nature reflects the work of a designer

Aristotle's thoughts on dreams

Argued that dreams are not divine messages. Advanced a naturalistic account of dreams. Called attention to the persistence of movement (eg ripples) and of senses (eg bright light slowly fading when we close our eyes), and applied this to dreams. Dreams are complicated afterimages. Believed that in sleep we have a special sensitivity to small movements/changes in the body, which may manifest in dreams as a message of the development of pathology.

Aristotle's thoughts on imagination and thought

Argued that perception of the special objects of sense is always free from error. Imagination is pure appearance without the subject of the perception, and is therefore highly susceptible to error. Because thinking typically occurs in the absence of objects of perception and in the presence of mental images it is also susceptible to error. Imagination does not have the corrective influence of the external world. Aristotle may have believed in a higher reason that is perhaps a manifestation of a higher order of the soul.

Neils Stensen

Argued that pineal gland could not lean side-to-side, and that it is not richly supplied with nerves, contradicting Descartes' thoughts. Also stated that animals have pineal glands. Called for a more empirical science of anatomy

Helmholtz's contributions to colour vision understanding

Aristotle first believed that colours resulted from admixtures of lightness and darkness. Newton described the properties of light, and demonstrated the spectrum of colours through a prism, and the recombination through a converging lens. Thomas Young argued that all colours can be produced with various combinations of red, green, and blue, and suggested three types of specialised retinal structures, each sensitive to a specific colour. Helmholtz conducted experiments on colour mixtures, and held to empiricism. Helmholtz interested in the minimum number of primaries to create all colours in the spectrum. Decided on red, yellow, green, blue, and violet. James Maxwell provided experimental work supporting Young's trichromatic theory. Helmholtz subsequently supported it and tied it to possible physiological mechanisms. Extended the theory to account for colour blindness, negative afterimages, and successive contrasts.

Lyceum

Aristotle's school

Wundt's definition of psychology

As far as the laboratory was concerned - "a science that investigates the facts of consciousness". Psychology has two tasks: to discover the elements of consciousness; and to discover the combinations that elements undergo and the laws that regulate combinations.

Karl Raimond Popper

Asserted that observational evidence and induction cannot verify scientific theories. One can never justify drawing a universal conclusion using induction. Argued for a hypothetico-deductive system that serves as the basis for the falsification of theories. Scientific integrity hinges on an honest quest for negative instances. Stated there was no such thing as neutral observation, always observation in the light of theories. Emphasis on falsifiability may restrict the range of what counts as legitimate science.

Dualism

Asserts that there are two fundamental orders of reality - mind and body.

Francis Sumner

Awarded a PhD from Clark University in 1920, the first African American to earn a doctorate of psychology in the United States.

Aristotle's thoughts on motivation and values

Believed we seek pleasure and happiness, but should also seek the good. Actions give enjoyment because they are good, not vice versa. One manifestation of the good is the development of the capacity to reason. Also consist partly of subordinating appetites and passions to rational control. Learning and habit keys to ethical behaviour. Failures to achieve goodness due to excess or lack of moderation. Four sets of factors in achieving the good: individual differences, habit, social supports, freedom of choice. Should attempt for a "mean between extremes", varies for individuals. Social supports and good fortune help attain happiness, as do effortful and habitual virtuous activity. Motivation driven by appetite, tempered by reason. Choices, causality, habit, and chance interact in human life.

James and stream of thought

Continuities, relations and complexities define consciousness. Five characteristics: 1) Thoughts are personal and owned 2) Thoughts are constantly changing 3) Thought is characterised by continuity 4) Thought is cognitive - conveys a sense of something other than itself 5) Selectivity, discrimination, choice, and shifting interests are in its very nature

Sir Charles Sherrington

Created the most comprehensive and integrative research on nervous system properties. Coined many terms (eg synapse, neuron pool, neuron threshold). Mapped a variety of neural pathways. Investigated the integrative work of reflexes. Reflexes are not necessarily isolated or discrete events, but are integrated in an adaptive fashion with ongoing routine activities. Identified new type of receptor that detects information from interior of muscles and joints.

James-Lange theory of emotion

Departs from common sense. Holds that bodily changes precede emotional experience.

Cogito ergo sum I think, therefore I am

Descartes found something he could not doubt - the fact that he was doubting. To doubt, one must think. To think, one must exist.

Julien Offray de la Mettrie

Deterministic, evolutionary, mechanistic viewpoint. Argued that mental events depend on bodily ones. Observed that during a fever, his thinking was clouded. Concluded that good physical health means more likely to have good mental health. Failed to find qualitative gap between animals and humans - possession of language may be extended to apes. Disagreed with state-enforced punishment, believed we should look for causal connections and ways to heal. Happiness and health major goal of medicine and philosophy. Sin, evil, vice, and virtue are old concepts that should be replaced with more scientific concepts.

Theory of local signs

Developed by Rudolph Hermann Lotze. A hypothetical sensory representation by means of which one can detect the position or locus of one part of a sensory surface relative to other points on that surface. An external object may consist of several colours, contours, surfaces, and projections, each resulting in a corresponding brightness intensity or local sign on the surface of the retina. The relationships between brightness intensity points from the object and the corresponding points on the retina are ambiguous depth perception cues, because a slight head or eye movement redistributes the points on the retina. But in time, relational discriminations are established such that the local sign in the retina for a given point on the object is discerned from the local sign for a different point on the object. Relational discriminations based on local signs become cues for the perception of depth.

Wundt's laboratory work

Directed toward manageable, well-defined problems that lent themselves to available techniques and equipment. He had a broader vision, but never compromised the basic canons of scientific research. At Leipzig, Wundt researched reflex speed and magnitude, and demonstrated the critical role of inhibitory processes in the nervous system.

Kant's thoughts on sense, experience, and reason

Distinguished between analytic a priori knowledge and synthetic a priori knowledge. Accepted that knowledge begins with experience, but believed sensory information was impure as it was shaped by a priori considerations. Sensory experience would be unintelligible if not for certain a priori considerations. Sense experience and ordering principles of the mind together contribute to knowledge. Mind as active agency to transform sensory material into meaningful configurations, connections, and structures. Reason and experience alone are suspect as sources of knowledge, knowledge results from interaction of reason and experience.

Yin and yang

Dominated ancient Chinese philosophy and psychology. First thought to be antagonistic cosmic forces, later recognised as both opposite and complementary.

Ancient Chinese philosophy and psychology

Emphasised balance and cognitive processes. The mind plays a dominant role, the body acts as its servant. Mental processes are nurtured inside the body. Chinese thought opened the door to a physiological psychology where the mind is as important as the body.

Thomas S. Kuhn

Emphasised the importance of understanding science in terms of community structures and historical development. Argued that competing schools of thought mark early pre-scientific development. In time, one school becomes dominant. When the dominant school controls the intellectual agenda, it sets conventions and we transition to 'normal science'. Normal science phase consists of 'mopping up', not novel exploration of anomalies. Three classes of problems in normal science: scientists search for facts designated important by paradigm; facts matched with theory; scientists elaborate and extend theory. Serendipitous findings and anomalies cannot be ignored. Attempts to assimilate into prevailing paradigm. Paradigm shifts are caused by a succession of anomalous findings. Has a broader interpretation of legitimate science than Popper.

James' individualism

Emphasises the importance of the individual. Believed that circumstances shape individuals but individuals act on the world and shape it in turn. Reality in the experience of the individual. When we get away from individual experience we study abstractions, and are removed from what is most fundamental. Fierce denunciation of impersonal and hollow forces found in large bureaucratic organisations. Resistance to the growth of imperialising and dehumanising forces in government, the military, and large corporations.

James and habits

Focused on habits. Discussed their physical basis - the more you do something, the physically easier it becomes to repeat, extending the nervous system pathways. Goal of education was to instill good habits. This thinking relates to common sense quality of Jamesian psychology.

Descartes' method

Four procedural rules for the intellect: 1) Never accept anything as true unless it is so clear and distinct as to be immune from doubt. 2) Divide all possibilities into as many parts as possible. 3) Start with the easiest and best known elements and proceed step-by-step to knowledge of the more complex. 4) Make complete enumerations and comprehensive reviews to ensure that nothing is left out.

Pierre Flourens

French neurophysiologist. Used ablation. Found some functions that were located in some sections of the brain, eg muscular coordination and cerebellum. Recognised some localisation, but argued that the brain functions as a whole. Determined that the brain shows plasticity, so that within limits, select brain regions could take over for other injured parts in a recovery of function.

Paul Broca

French physician. Met a mental patient who could comprehend speech, but could not speak himself. In autopsy, Broca found he had a lesion in his left frontal lobe, a region later named 'Broca's area'. Research into similar cases concluded that damage to Broca's area produced expressive aphasia, or a loss of articulate speech.

Harvey A. Carr

Functionalist. Contended psychology is concerned with mental activity. Both experience and behaviour are central features of functionalism. Psychologists should not be uncompromising about method, but should attend first and foremost to the nature of the problem. All problems should be examined in terms of biological and social context.

James Rowland Angell

Functionalist. Defined functionalism: the identification and description of mental operations rather than the mere stuff of mental experience; concerned with the conditions or circumstances that evoke a mental state; mental states or events must be understood in terms of how they contribute in terms of adaptation for the organism. A functionalist psychology is inherently social and biological and emphasises experience and behaviour in the service of adaptation.

Stanley Hall

Functionalist. Explored every human area and relationship. Process-oriented evolutionary perspective of psychology. First president of Clark University. Founded APA. Investigated binocular vision, perception of time, coordination of action between two halves of the body and the relationship between psychological attention and muscular movement. Focus on psychology of childhood, interest in lifespan development. Adopted the idea that ontogeny (history of the individual) repeats phylogeny (history of the species). Huge body of work on the mind of the child. Called for national retirement plan in USA.

Robert Whytt

Further studied the spinal cord's role in reflexes. Observed that some reflex actions occur if small segments of spinal cord are left intact. Emphasised that movement has its origin in the action of a stimulus that excites nervous activity. Drew distinctions between voluntary and involuntary actions, and habits (somewhere inbetween). Emphasised protective and adaptive nature of reflexes.

Phrenology

Gall and Spurzheim. Highly controversial, became a cultural phenomenon. Skull shape reveals strength of faculties - localised personality and intelligence traits. Eventually branded a pseudoscience. Helped shape public opinion regarding central role of the brain in intellect and personality.

Franz Joseph Gall

German anatomist, physiologist, and physician. Developed extreme theory of brain localisation. Believed "faculties" (personality and intelligence traits) were localised in very specific brain regions. These could be analysed by examining the skull shape. Development and thus skill in one faculty would results in that region would swell, weakness in a faculty would result in the region shrinking. Indentations and protrusions on the skull were a map of our personalities and intelligence. Worked with Johann Kaspar Spurzheim to map faculties. Originally called 'cranioscopy', later 'faculty psychology', and under Spurzheim's leadership, 'phrenology'.

Carl Wernicke

German neurologist and psychiatrist. His patients had no trouble speaking, but did have difficulty comprehending language. This was discovered to be due to lesions in the superior portion of the left temporal lobe, later named 'Wernicke's area'.

Empedocles

Greek homeostatic theorist. Taught that the first two principles (love and strife) act as forces of attraction and repulsion for the four basic elements (fire, earth, air, and water). Believed thought and reason had their substrate in blood because blood represented a near equal mix of the four elements. Believed in a form of evolutionary theory.

Heraclitus

Greek philosopher. "Upon those that step into the same rivers different and different waters flow". Constancy is illusory, experienced change is real. Philosophy of becoming. Believed soul could be wet (harmful) or dry (wise). Had little respect for anyone else, including fellow philosophers.

Socrates

Greek philosopher. Constantly probed into existing and established wisdom, exposing its fallibility and the majority's lack of understanding. Opposed the sophist viewpoint that individual perception is the source of knowledge. Instead, claimed that we obtain knowledge through analysis of concepts. Emphasised the power of reason as a path to objective truths. Human beings do not knowingly engage in evil, but evil results from ignorance. Among the first to formulate a scientific approach to psychology that emphasised multiple causes of behaviour.

Aristotle

Greek philosopher. Interested in facts as experienced by the senses. Interested in physical sciences. Emphasis on understanding causes. Rejected the idea that the universe is irrational or chaotic. Emphasised that there is direction in nature and that this direction is toward reason.

Pythagoras

Greek philosopher. Likely coined the term philosophy ("love of wisdom"). Focused on humanity, not cosmology. Believed that all things had numerical properties. Numbers are absolute and unchanging and can affect the existence of objects on Earth. Viewed the brain as the seat of mental life. Believed in immortality and the transmigration of souls. Valued study. Had many laws, some seemingly arbitrary.

Parmenides

Greek philosopher. Tackled the problems of rationalism vs empiricism and being vs becoming. Studied mechanisms of perception. Considered that the changes we observe with the senses, including personal changes, may be an illusion. Emphasised a philosophy of being as opposed to becoming.

Hippocrates

Greek physician. Helped establish an empirical approach to medicine. Disease results from a disturbance of balance. Dreams represented the activity of the soul, and indicated illness. The greater the contrast between dreams and reality, the greater the illness. Believed that the four elements (fire, earth, air, water) were associated with four bodily humors (black bile, yellow bile, blood, phlegm) and four qualities (cold, hot, dry, wet). Health resulted from an organic balance of the four humors and disease from an imbalance. First to classify emotional disorders, including mania, melancholia, paranoia, and epilepsy.

Protagoras

Greek sophist. Argued for relative truths. If a painting is ugly to one person and beautiful to another, then it is equally true that the painting is ugly as it is beautiful.

Zeno

Greek. Known for paradoxes of motion

Alcmaeon

Greek. Practiced dissection, one of the first to use an empirical approach to anatomy and physiology. Advanced a homeostatic-equilibrium theory of health.

Myia

Greek. Pythagoras' daughter, studied moderation and balance.

Theana

Greek. Pythagoras' wife, played a key role in the society's educational activities.

Aesara

Greek. Pythagorean scholar, argued that physical and mental health result from harmony.

Leucippus and Democritus

Greek. Reality is composed of the void and atoms

Ancient Indian philosophies

Had Vedas, oldest sacred texts. Neither senses nor intellect is to be trusted. Emphasised respect for the mystery of life and encouraged intuition and the development of spiritual sensitivities. Advocated austerity, self-denial, and cleansing of excessive desires of the senses through fasting and meditation. Careful observers of pregnancy. Diseases resulted from devils, filth, or imbalance of humors. Mental illness caused by excessive emotional expression.

Kant's thoughts on social psychology

Had disdain for any nationalism that undermines humane values. Optimistic that through good education people could widen their context and enjoy the moral progress that comes from a broader identity. One of the first to advance a theory of moral development. Believed humans are caught in tensions between heteronomy (government from the outside) and autonomy (self-goverment and intrinsic ability to act morally). Kant's theory of moral action related to belief in possibility of individual freedom. Moral actions are based on our regard of other people as ends (emphasis on their intrinsic self-worth) rather than as means (risk we will use them for our own purposes).

Helmholtz's contributions to acoustics and hearing

His resonance theory of hearing identified possible physiological structures for pitch perception. Speculated that fibers in the basilar membrane of the inner ear, like the strings of a piano or harp, may resonate to specific frequencies. Thus, pitch discrimination is based on vibration of fibers in sympathy with external sources. Argued each discriminable pitch activates separate specialised nerves.

Apperception

Historically a term with many meanings, but it commonly refers to mental processes that are more complex than those involved in perception. Active capacity to assimilate ideas from one arena and apply them to another; to apply old lessons to new problems. It implies a high level of awareness and activity of the mind so that relationships are clearly understood. Activity with intelligent direction and inner unity. Contrasts with more passive awareness. Humans versus animals. Mental illness or head injury may interfere with apperception.

Contributions of rationalism

Hoped to restore faith in human knowledge and construct a philosophical base for the new sciences. Constructed intellectual foundations that supported psychology. 1) René Descartes aimed to overcome extreme skepticism and restore faith in human knowledge. 2) Leibniz, Herbart, and others were among the first to investigate concepts of the threshold. 3) Investigation of subconscious and unconscious mental processes 4) Spinoza emphasised lawfulness of psychological processes, laid ground work for a science of psychology. Contributed to naturalistic approaches to study of emotional disorders 5) Christian von Wolff attempted to elevate study of mental powers as a foundational part of psychology. 6) Herbart explored pedagogical (educational) techniques to foster learning and improve memory. 7) Provided a broad vision of the world of experience, agreed that observation and association are important in the acquisition of knowledge but argued that some connections are grasped intuitively or using a priori knowledge.

Phantasia

In Aristotle's writings, can be understood as "imagination" or "mental image".

Plato's thoughts on love

In all love, we are searching for beauty. We may find this first in eros, which is erotic love bound to the body and its sense, but then in people, then in knowledge, and finally in philosophy.

Response compression

In psychophysics, equal intervals on a physical scale may be experienced as a diminishing series.

Johann Friedrich Herbart

Leading rationalist. Outlined educational techniques designed for teachers to facilitate learning and retention. Believed good teachers must help students review familiar material, then relate new material to older more familiar material. One goal of education was to build the apperceptive mass, and apperception. Central goal of education was moral development (instill effort, delayed gratification, sensitivity to moral issues, ability to see different perspectives, goodwill). Thought of mathematical psychology that attempted to integrate concepts. Believed concepts, or fragments of, are in the unconscious but strive to break into consciousness.

James' thoughts on free will

Leaves room for methodological determinism, but also believed we will probably never write an individual biography in advance. He rejected metaphysical determinism after being a determinist in his early years. "My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will. For James, determinism is more consistent with monism, while belief in free will, even limited, is more consistent with pluralism. Argued that the concept of causality is as ambiguous as the concept of freedom. Ambiguities associated with future and real possibilities. Found that free will is hard won and exercised only through effortful striving.

Monadology

Leibniz believed that the world consisted of many independent monads, but all monads are harmonious with all other monads. A real mental world is completely harmonious with (but independent of) a real physical world. No monad is causal with respect to any other monad; they do not interact. All monads are goal-directed, but some are more aware. Some are conscious, some possess higher self-conscious qualities, some are unconscious. Monads were invested with energy. The mind could not be passive, its nature is to be active and involved in cognitive processes.

John Dewey

Like James, believed that philosophy must begin with experience, and experience must be understood in a naturalistic context. Pluralistic. Emphasis on irreducible and unique features of the experiences of individual human beings. Believed schools should teach democracy by example, respect individuality and challenge ethnocentrism (perspective own culture is superior to others).

Afferent

Moving inwards, towards the central nervous system.

Efferent

Moving outwards, towards the muscles or glands.

Aristotle's thoughts on memory

Object of memory is in past, object of perception in present, and object of expectation in the future. Memory is based on something within us like an impression. If the receiving surface is too soft, hard, frayed, or decaying, memory with be defective. Elderly have poor memories due to decay, young due to rapid growth. Recollection is not memory as it involves effort and an active process of searching. Memory can occur without recollection, recollection cannot occur without memory. Defects in memory are one of the symptoms of mental derangement.

Efficient cause

One of Aristotle's causes. Antecedent conditions; that which sets a thing in motion.

Final cause

One of Aristotle's causes. The end or purpose for which a change was produced.

Formal cause

One of Aristotle's causes. The form, shape, or identifying properties of a thing. The functional or causal properties of a thing depend on form.

Material cause

One of Aristotle's causes. The physical substrate/material structure that allows for the event.

Voluntaristic psychology

One which emphasises psychological causality. Wundt understood there were underlying material and efficient physiological and biochemical causes for a choice. Psychologists study psychical motives, "ideas accompanying the voluntary act". We study those experiences and behaviours that are varied to meet changing circumstances on the basis of past learning. Voluntary actions are not mechanical, they adapt in a flexible manner to changing circumstance. Agreed with Darwin's concept of more passive adaptation, but argued that animals also act in a voluntary, active, adaptive way on the world around them

Naive realism

Opposes the solipsistic claim. Contends that we see external things as they are.

Wundt's breadth of vision

Philosophical and psychological vision offered enormous scope. Taught a wide range of courses. Published in a range of fields. Employed a variety of methods. Most work was based on a rigorous form of introspection, but he also recognised others. Emphasised precise measurements and importance of replicating findings. Focused on sensory processes, perception, and reaction time, but had a vision of a wider psychology that included social and cultural variables.

Johannes Müller

Physiologist. Also anatomy and pathology. Almost all German scientists who achieved fame after the middle of the ninteenth century considered themselves his students. Argued for each of the five senses, there is a 'specific nerve energy' such that the nerve itself imposes the quality of sensation on mental processes. A nerve is only capable of transmitting one kind of sensation. Eg, putting physical pressure on the eye will result in a visual sensation. Philosophically, we are directly aware not of objects, but of our nerves which act as intermediates, imposing their own characteristics on the mind. Extended to the idea that specific nerve fiber energies correspond to various psychological qualities (eg each discriminable tone corresponds to specific auditory energies). Suggested a radical isolation of the senses from each other. No meaningful transition from one to another (bitter's relation to blue cannot be stated).

Rational philosophy

Places emphasis on a priori knowledge and reasoning

Theory of forms

Plato. World of forms exists in contrast to the world of sense, and is known through intuition or rational processes through the soul. The true world, a world of absolute being, perfect, unchanging. Sense objects may participate in or partially represent the real world of forms, but individual objects of sense are always incomplete, temporal, spatial, and changeable.

Plato's thoughts on motivation

Pleasure and pain belonged to the lower appetitive realm. Pleasure in moderation is likely to represent harmony and balance, while pain represents discord. A particular motive was understood in terms of a complex interaction of appetite, spirit, and reason. Human beings seek pleasure, but the source of please changes with growth.

Johann August Unzer

Popularised the concept of the reflex, systematic research. Introduced the terms afferent (moving inwards, towards the CNS), and efferent (moving outwards, towards muscles or glands). Studied nature of mind and consciousness, and relationship between consciousness and nervous activity. Stemmed from social interest in capital punishment (death by guillotine, and signs of consciousness after beheading). Concluded that reflexes may be identical in decapitated and intact people and animals. Reflexes in decapitated animals are unconscious.

James and memory

Primary memory - memory for immediate past or recently in consciousness. Association with afterimages. Secondary memory - knowledge of previous events that are not currently a part of thought or attention. Two parts - retention and recollection.

Heuristic

Produces new ideas and hypotheses; stimulates further thought.

Psychogenic emergentism

Psuche has no independent origin, but develops with the developing body. Problems: Neural complexity required is arbitrary. How do we know when an organism has the capacity for reflective self-awareness? The experienced continuity of consciousness - always 'me'.

Hebrews

Radical monotheism. Stressed human responsibility and freedom of choice. Mental illness may be caused by the anger of Jehovah or human disobedience.

Differences between rationalism and empiricism

Rationalism: A priori knowledge, deductive reasoning, mind is active in the sense of its capacity to select, organise, and discriminate. Empiricism: A posteriori knowledge, inductive reasoning, mind is more like blank slate.

Monism

Reality, whatever it is, is all of one piece. What appears foreign or alien is only a product of the present gaps in our knowledge.

Common sense philosophy

Refers to Thomas Reid's philosophy. A deeply held opposition to beliefs that are counter-intuitive or that do violence to our experience of the world.

Wundt's thoughts on mind and body

Rejected hylozoism (the view that the mind is manifested in all material movement) and the dualistic Cartesian view that only humans have mental functions. Believed lower limits of mental function are illustrated in movements that have a voluntary basis. Believed the origin of mental processes dated to the origin of life itself. Noted the popular assumption that mind is a substance or real being, but deemed it unnecessary. Likened it to virtue or honour, which are not substances but still exist in behaviour. Mind is one meaningful subject of discourse, the physical system is another meaningful subject of discourse. Mental and physical processes are both known in experience, but psychology is too immature to speculate the metaphysical bases. Believed in unity and interdependence of mental and physical processes - close to Spinoza's double-aspect monism.

Hugo Münsterberg

Rejected implications of James's pragmatism, but wanted psychology to relate to daily lives. Related psychology to law, education, industry and work, and studied psychotherapy effectiveness. Did not identify with functionalism but more related to that school than any other.

Paradigm shift

Related to Thomas Kuhn's 'normal science' and paradigms. A new vision replaces the old way of seeing things.

Ablation

Removing a specific brain structure to determine its function

Stephen Hales

Researched reflex activity and that spinal cord. Demonstrated that reflexes can occur without the brain, but not without the spinal cord.

Ancient Egyptian philosophies

Saw a link between cognition and the activity of the heart, due to the expanse of blood vessels. Also studied the brain and neurological problems - some Egyptians may have recognised the brain as the source of mental activity. Medicine was a blend of superstition and observation. Hygiene was emphasised. Egyptians recognised the emotional disorder the Greeks later called 'hysteria', believed caused by a wandering uterus, and fumigated the vagina to lure the uterus back to its rightful position.

A Priori

Self-evident truths that come before experience

Aristotle's thoughts on sensing

Sensation depends partly on sense objects. Some sense objects can only be detected by one sense. In addition to these 'special objects', Aristotle argued that there are 'common sensibles', or activities common to all the senses. Must be understood through his theory of actuality and potentiality - sensing can be potential (listening for a clock chime) or actual (hearing and chime coincide). Sense objects serve as actualising stimuli - but must interact with organism through a medium of contact. Eg air is the medium for sound. The medium for smell is unnamed. The medium for touch is skin. It is not the organ as direct contact with the sense organ itself results in no sensation. One of the first to write about perceptual illusions.

Plato's thoughts on mental disorders

Several important contributions of Plato's work: 1) Recognition that powerful irrational and asocial forces may erupt and dominate the mind. 2) Mental disorder results from discord among the rational, appetitive, and affective components of the psuche. 3) Mental problems result from ignorance. Irrational and beast-like forces exist in all people. Mental disease is a lack of intellectual function. Madness results when the appetitive psuche dominates a weak rational psuche. The impulsive and unbridled appetitive psuche was asocial and tied to selfish aims of the body. The rational soul (that capable of participating in the world of forms) that integrates sanity. Two types of ignorance resulting in mental disorder: 1) Ignorance of self; deficits in self-knowledge. 2) Ignorance of the ideal and world of forms - reliance on the sensual, temporary, illusory world of the senses (results in ascendance of the appetitive psuche).

Jan Swammerdam

Showed a frog muscle with attached nerve will contract even without body, and even if cut (to cause any spirits to run out), ruling out Descartes' ventricles and spirits. Determined a contracted muscle does not occupy more space than a relaxed muscle, therefore did not swell.

Petites perceptions

Small perceptions of which we are not away. Many small perceptions in concert form the basis of perception. This idea suggests the importance of unconscious processes, absolute thresholds, and difference thresholds.

Fechner's method of average error

Sometimes called the method of adjustment. Permits the participant to manipulate a comparison stimulus until it appears to match the standard. The difference between the adjusted stimuli and the comparison are then measured. A mean is determined from several ascending and descending series.

Aristotle's thoughts on soul and body

Soul and body are as interdependent as matter and form. That which is mental is not separable from its physical substrate. Mental processes are more than a mere addition of their physical elements - depend on a physical structure, but also have some independence and causal efficacy. Hierarchy of psyche: 1) Nutritive function, growth and reproduction (lowest) 2) Sensitive functions and movement functions 3) Function of reason - passive reason (associated with senses, common sense) and active reason.

Jacques Quételet

Statistics. Interested in the orderliness between many variables, mostly crime-related. Eg age and criminal behaviour, literacy and criminality. Found that physical, moral and psychological qualities are all distributed according to the bell curve. Concept of 'homme moyen' - that there is a central type in every population and that variation around that central type is lawful. Had many practical and theoretical implications. Advanced the idea that behaviour could be measured.

James' multiple levels of analysis

Strong believer in emphasising the biological and physiological correlates of behaviour. Nevertheless, he was not a reductionist. Also emphasised the importance of the broad psychological world of experience. High importance on experience. Popular at the time to explain religious experiences in terms of neurological processes - James extended this to atheistic beliefs. James affirmed that multiple levels of analysis: molecular, biological, psychological, sociological, philosophical are all legitimate and have value and application. Error begins when we believe that all things can be subsumed under any one rubric.

François Magendie

Studied anatomy and physiology. Argued for well-controlled experiments. Contributed to physiology of digestion. Generalised therapeutic use of iodine and bromine salts. Studied anterior and posterior roots of spinal column and their effects on sensation and movement by dissecting animals. Discovery of separate sensory and motor functions of spinal roots contributed to concept of specialisation of nerves.

Sir Charles Bell

Studied anatomy. Worked on sensory and motor tracts, unusual gift as anatomical artist, discovery of thoracic nerve, and analysis of facial paralysis (Bell's palsy) resulting from injury to the seventh cranial nerve. Studied neural transmission.

August Kirschmann

Studied in Wundt's laboratory. Studied light sensitivity in the retina. Greater sensitivity to brightness in the peripheral parts of the dark-adapted retina. Best known example - dim stars increase in brightness if we don't look at the directly.

Edward Scripture

Studied in Wundt's laboratory. Studied the stimuli association process. He identified four processes in the act of association: 1) Preparation - perhaps the most subtle, in addition to the idea evoked by the stimulus, there were others that did not cross the threshold. 2) Influence - An idea or association crosses the threshold and enters consciousness. 3) Expansion - When additional ideas or associations complement the main idea. 4) After effect - May include thoughts about the nature of expansion or further interpretations of a specific association. Looked at unconscious influences on associations, and feelings being associated to some stimuli, particularly colour.

Gustav Theodor Fechner

Studied relationships between physical and mental realms. Monist - body and mind a double manifestation of the one and the same real thing. Profiled two contrasting views of the universe. He viewed the basic stuff of the universe, including mental phenomena, as inert matter. This extreme materialistic view he called the night view. A contrasting view would suggest that all things have a psychic component. Any organic whole has psychic qualities. He called this panpsychic view the day view. Independent of Weber's study, Fechner also found that perceived increases in stimuli were related to the amount of existing physical stimulation. His work predicted the observation of response compression.

Bell-Magendie Law

The discovery by Sir Charles Bell and François Magendie that spinal nerves are specialised. The ventral root handles motor functions and the dorsal root handles sensory functions. Ventral or anterior roots of the spinal column influence muscular contraction.

Challenges to solipsism

The discovery of lawful relationships between physical values of stimuli and experience. Suggested that our experiences are tied to the physical world in lawful ways and that comparisons between individuals are meaningful.

Thresholds

The minimal or maximal stimulus intensity that is detected 50 percent of the time.

Difference thresholds

The minimal stimulus difference that is detectable 50 percent of the time.

Mary Whiton Calkins

The most visible advocate for self-psychology for three decades, though not a popular concept at the time. Mind was ultimate reality (idealist). Aimed for reconciliation between structuralism and functionalism.

James' thoughts on 'the self'

The self is the totality of all things that belong to us. Three constituents: 1) Material self (body and possessions) 2) Social self (different social self for each person who recognises us - we change in social contexts) 3) Spiritual self (personal, subjective, intimate; source of effort, will, change and desire for change) In addition to these, and a class apart, is the ego.

Just noticeable difference

The smallest detectable difference between the standard and the comparison stimuli. The jnd is a function of the amount of existing or original stimulation.

Ontology

The study of nature and relations of being.

Psychogeny

The study of the origin of psuche or the study of theories of the origin of psuche.

Psychophysics

The study of the relationships between the physical properties of stimuli and the psychological or subjective impressions of those stimuli. Study of the properties of stimuli as measured by a physical scale, and the psychological impressions of those stimuli.

Babylonian philosophies

Thousands of major and minor gods populated their world. Gods were anthropomorphic and active in human affairs. Each disease had its specific demon, which where exorcised through special medicines or other rituals/procedures. Prevention was encouraged. Women were said to have the power to inspire demonic possession. Sophisticated though regarding disease, astronomy, anatomy, and mathematics.

A Posteriori

Truths derived from experience

Identity theory

Two key features: 1) Psuche is instilled in the primitive biological substratum of the organism at a given point in time. 2) There is continuity or identity between the psychically endowed biological substratum and the later mature, self-reflective, fully conscious adult. Problems: Microsurgical sectioning of fertilised eggs - a single blastocyst can be divided and grow into unique individuals, therefore psuche must be instilled at some point after conception. Two separate colonies of cells may merge in the early days of pregnancy.

Plato's thoughts on nature of the soul

Unitary in the sense that parts can be in harmony. The soul is marked by duplicity, manifested in the conflict between rational and irrational forces. Three functions of psuche: 1) Rational soul, in the head, highest. 2) Affective soul, in the chest, intermediate. 3) Appetitive soul, in the gut, lowest. Although trapped and chained as prisoners of the sense, our soul can overcome its limitations and escape captivity through reason (the allegory of the cave).

René Descartes (Physiological work)

Wanted to understand the mechanisms of movement. Envisioned body as machine. Theory of bodily movement inspired by hydraulically powered moving statues. Believed nerve fibers were filled with fluids that activate muscles and tendons. Fluids were refined, distilled elements of blood - "spirits" or "animal spirits", composed of minute fast-moving particles. Fluid made muscles swell and move. When threads running through nerves were stimulated, triggered valves in brain ventricles, opening spirit stores (instantaneous). Sensory and motor functions both ascribed to same nerve. Argued that God had united rational soul with bodily machine (to distinguish from animals). Soul-body interactions occur in pineal gland, which has nerves that allow it to influence the body. Soul cannot exercise complete autonomy, particularly when body is aroused/excited (eg pain).

Jamesian pluralism

Was open to monism, but he was a pluralist and referred to himself as such. Had pragmatic pluralism in methodology - embraced a variety of methods for his vision. Also evident in his psychology - though experience is primary, there is no one content area (learning, sensing, emotion, etc) that is foundational. Had enormous scope, including basic and applied problems, the psychology of religion, and even paranormal phenomena.

Psychic compound

What Wundt called a combination of elements

Wundt's principle of creative synthesis

While Wundt believed in the elements of consciousness and hoped to discover the laws that governed their connections, he also believed that there is real novelty and creativity (indeterminations) in higher mental operations. This novelty is referred to as the principle of creative synthesis. The principle refers to the fact that in all psychical compounds, it is not just a sum of elements but a new creation. One of the major manifestations of creative synthesis is illustrated in the principle of the heterogeny of ends, which is exemplified in the emergence of new motives during the course of a chain of events. Wundt also called attention to the changing motivational structure attached to the practice of ancient traditions or customs.

Helmholtz's contributions to visual perception

Wrote 'The Handbook of Physiological Optics", discussing the physics and physiology of vision. Invented the ophthalmoscope, an instrument for viewing the retina by intercepting reflected rays. Emphasised 'unconscious inferences' in perception that are built through countless repetitions of stimulus and response events. It would be nearly impossible to specify all the cues that contribute to a given perception, but we do draw unconscious inferences that are exquisitely conditioned by our interaction with objects in the environment. Studied depth perception, particularly monocular cues, but also binocular cues which could be demonstrated with a stereoscope.

Wundt's association and apperception

Wundt believed that compounds or combinations of elements may be passive or active. Associations: passive combinations. Apperceptions: active combinations. These are illustrated in the distinction between rote memory (joined by association) and memory with real awareness (actively forms a unified whole). Apperception is characterised by activity with intelligent direction and inner unity.

Wundt's thoughts on sensation and perception

Wundt defined sensation as an element of consciousness. Perception generally refers to combinations of outward sense impressions. An idea generally refers to combinations that may come from memory, previous associations, and so on. Questioned distinction between idea and perception - in both cases we observe compounds or combinations and both can be equally lively as experienced phenomena.

Wundt's tridimensional theory of feeling

Wundt developed this based on three dimensions: 1) Pleasure and pain 2) Strain and relaxation 3) Excitation and quiescence. Certain sensations result in certain feelings. Rarely are feelings isolated with respect to these dimensions, instead they combine to form a meaningful compound. A given sensation might be pleasurable and exciting or pleasurable and relaxing.

Voluntarism

Wundt's system of thought. Stated that to be free, an act must be voluntary, but not all voluntary acts are free. Eg an insane person may balance motives against one another, and proceed with thoughtful circumspection, yet we do not call his actions free. Believed some possess free will, but is possible only through truly reflective self-consciousness based on deep cognitions that are hard won through experience.

Florence Nightingale

Aimed to improve sanitary conditions and record-keeping in hospitals and battlefield emergency hospitals. Used statistical methods to demonstrate that during war, disease and poor sanitary conditions caused more deaths among British soldiers than the enemy. Saw a role for statistics in moral and political reform, and saw that they could explore questions of social and psychological significance.

Inductive reasoning

Aims to show the conclusion is more likely than not, given the premises. Characteristic to reason from samples to populations. Specific to general.

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory

All colours of the spectrum can be produced with various combinations of red, green, and blue. Three types of specialised retinal structures, each sensitive to a specific colour.

Empiricism

All perceptions are learned or developed from experience. A criteria by which we claim to know truth. A theory of knowledge in which experience plays a central role.

Wundt's elements

An element is something pure, irreducible, and simple. Wundt believed that there are mental elements, or pure sensations. He recognised that a mental element is simple on the psychological side (by definition) but is by no means simple on the physiological side.

Epistimology

Branch of philosophy concerned with theories of knowledge

Thomas Reid

Bridged the extremes of empiricism and rationalism with a 'common sense philosophy'. Principles of common sense refer to neither opinion nor judgement, instead the very activities of mind and laws of conduct by which life becomes possible. Eg, beliefs in an external world, causation, and in the self as an active manipulator make life possible and contribute to successful adaptation. Believed an adequate empiricism would discover important truths in experience. Believed that there are innate principles of the mind leading to convictions that we find as a natural part of experience and common sense. A truly empirical philosophy will discover natural necessities that are more complicated than mere sensations. Through experience and common sense attempted to restore faith in the external world, a self with real continuity, and a belief in causality.

Paul K. Feyerabend

Challenged the idea of one scientific method, emphasised ingenuity, determination, and serendipity. Science is not as tidy, objective, and coherent as we have been led to believe."There is not a single rule that is not violated at some time or another". Straying from conventional method and wisdom are necessary to the progress of science. Calls for closer scrutiny of the history of scientific discovery.

Hsün Tzu

Chinese philosopher who argued for rational and empirical methods and against superstition. Believed basic human nature is evil, but we can attain goodness through education.

Fritsch and Hitzig

Collaborated to research electrical stimulation of the cortex. Applied small electrical currents to specific regions of a dog's cortex, producing reliable movements on the side of the body opposite the source of stimulation. Established the field of electrophysiology.

Ernst Heinrich Weber

Collaborated with his brother Eduard. They discovered the inhibition of heart action following stimulation of the peripheral end of the vagus nerve. Showed that inhibition is a common phenomenon in the central nervous system and that an adequate balance between excitation and inhibition is indispensable for its normal function. Employed the two-point threshold technique to systematically map the cutaneous sensitivity of the human body. This work demonstrated that the world as experienced does not directly correspond to the physical characteristics of the stimuli. Also studied just noticeable differences - we cannot directly measure a psychological event, but we can quantify perceived differences in relation to scaled physical stimulus values.

Challenges to naive realism

Early psychophysics demonstrated measurable stimulus above or below the threshold of awareness. Stimulus differences may not be experienced by the unaided senses.

Pluralism

Embraces the reality of body and mind but insists that these two orders do not exhaust the possibilities.

Functionalism

Emphasised a broad-based methodology applied to basic and applied problems associated with experience and behaviour. Explored 'how' questions. The identification and description of mental operations rather than the mere stuff of mental experience. Concerned with the conditions or circumstances that evoke a mental state. Mental states or events must be understood in terms of how they contribute in terms of adaptation for the organism. A functionalist psychology is inherently social and biological and emphasises experience and behaviour in the service of adaptation.

Categories of understanding

Expression used by Kant to refer to inherent ordering principles of the mind that contribute to knowledge. For example, Kant believed that human beings have intuitive understandings of causality and temporal and spatial relationships.

Sir Francis Galton

Fascination bordering on obsession with numbers.Most important discoveries were in the areas of regression and correlation. Also introduced that terms median and percentile (though the concept of percentiles was not new with him).

Fechner's method of limits

Fechner called this the method of just noticeable differences. Consists of presenting a standard stimulus along with variable or comparison stimuli of greater and lesser value than the standard. Presented in an ascending and descending series. The average for several of these series defines the jnd. This method also applies to absolute thresholds.

Fechner's method of constant stimuli

Fechner called this the method of right and wrong cases. Comparison stimuli are coupled with the standard stimulus in a random fashion, and the participant must state whether it's equal to, greater than, or weaker than the standard, or alternatively, detected or not detected. This avoids errors associated with the method of limits, such as errors of habituation, by randomising stimuli.

The Academy

First European university, founded by Plato

Hermann von Helmholtz

Invented a device called a myograph to record the time lag between stimulation of a nerve and a response. By stimulating the nerve at different distances from the muscle, Helmholtz could look at the differences in velocity and determine how fast the impulse was travelling - surprisingly slow (50-100 m/s), not the speed of light as was thought at the time. Believed that all movements within an organism are in principle understandable in terms of physical laws. Practiced sciences in unity.

Indeterminism

It is not possible to apply strict cause-and-effect explanations in the world of subatomic particles. Human nature is characterised by an inherent uncertainty.

Analytic a priori knowledge

Kant's distinction. Formal truths in which a predicate completely unpacks a subject. Play important roles in deductive logic, but taken alone can be trivial or tautological (redundant).

Synthetic a priori knowledge

Kant's distinction. Known intuitively and is informal about the world. Not trivial.

Robert Sessions Woodworth

Key figure in motivation. Categorised as functionalist, but thought of himself as an experimental psychologist aiming to understand cause-effect relationships in experience and behaviour. Extended experimental psychology to a widening field of subjects. Expanded motivation to include the idea of intrinsic incentives, and to the unconscious. "Dynamic psychology" - underscoring the importance of understanding the causes of behaviour. Argued stimulus-response formula should be changed to a stimulus-organism-response concept, to include factors like expectations, learned motives, and personal characteristics. Narrowed scope of experimental research, emphasised importance of IVs and DVs.

William James

Leader of functionalist school. Sensitive to people and their problems, respected common feelings and hopes. His philosophy not pessimistic or optimistic, but practical. Seldom lost an opportunity to apply psychology to human nature. Wanted basic experimental psychology that made a useful difference in everyday lives.

Thomas Hobbes

Leading mechanist, dedicated materialist. Argued that subject matter of philosphy is bodies in motion. Applied mechanical model to human body. Argued knowledge originates from sensory impressions resulting from external physical movements activating the sense organs. Sense organs then activate the brain via nerves. Argued that experience alone is incapable of establishing anything of a universal nature, only specific events. Hobbes loved geometry as a way of reasoning, believed its method was crucial to understanding all sciences. We begin with knowledge from the senses about individual things. Through reason, we then establish all-inclusive names and classification systems that provide order for specific experiences. Believed sensations, thoughts, and psychological processes depend on a physical substrate and are based on quantifiable movements. Human nature governed by drives of self-interest and self-preservation, tempered by fear and awe of collective power.

Immanuel Kant

Leading rationalist. Accepted that knowledge begins with experience, but believed sensory information was impure as it was shaped by a priori considerations. Reason and experience alone are suspect as sources of knowledge, knowledge results from interaction of reason and experience. Most important legacy is that he found a center between the extremes of empiricism and pure reason.

Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza

Leading rationalist. At first admired by Jewish community, then unabashed radical, then brutal consequences. Unflinching integrity throughout life. Central theme: denial that epistemology based on revelation has special status as means of attaining truth. Instead, rigorous rational inquiry held promise for truth and knowing God. In contrast to Descartes, denied legitimacy of distinctions between sacred/secular, mind/body, free-will/determinism, and emphasised unity. Only one ultimate reality, that is God. God is all things, "sacred/secular" distinction false, scientist/rationalist can discover as much about God as theologian. Diversity is mere appearance, unity is reality. World of experience (psychological world) and world of behaviour (physiological world) are two expressions of the same thing. If human mind is subject to nature's laws, there's no absolute free will, but knowledge of nature's laws gives us a kind of freedom (eg disease knowledge).

René Descartes (Epistemological work)

Leading rationalist. Hoped to establish an "intellectual fortress capable of withstanding the assaults of the skeptics". Aimed to push skepticism to its limit to see if he could discover something immune to doubt. Skilled in mathematics and science, used this knowledge to develop his philosophy. Reserved a crucial role for experience and sense data in his scientific work (provide material for reflection), but had an emphasis on innate ideas, a priori truths, and deduction. Trusted everyday experience more than experiments (which are only a special form of observation that can be poorly conceived and result in misinformation). Believed foundation for science is grounded in simple observation of natural events followed by critical reflection. Sensory information alone cannot be trusted. Dualism of soul and body.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Leading rationalist. Leibniz was on a quest for unity like Spinoza, but allowed for a stronger role of diversity. Concern for unity in practical situations - Protestants and Catholics, medicine and science, universal language. Saw a possibility for a united world. Denied interactionism, instead thought the world consisted of harmonious monads. Emphasised lawful and gradual gradations from unconscious to conscious processes. Importance of growth in development, but emphasised the maintenance of identity in change.

Free will

People make choices that are to some degree independent of antecedent conditions.

Libertarians

People who believe in free will.

Plato's thoughts on perception

Perception provides, at best, an approximation to reality, and at worst, outright illusion. Plato was not concerned with the mechanisms of sensation and perception.

Nativism

Perceptions are operational from birth

Solipsistic claim

The claim that we can only know our own experience. Opposes naive realism

Uniformitarianism

The concept that change is gradual and occurs over long periods of time

Teleology

The investigation of evidence that there is design or purpose in nature, leading to the question "what was the origin of that design or purpose?"

Weber's illusion

The perception that two points of a compass appear to move apart when the compass is moved over an insensitive area of the skin. By contrast, the two points appear to move together when the compass is moved over sensitive areas of the skin.

Intrinsic teleology

The position that design, order, and purpose are immanent in nature - simple manifestations or characteristics of nature.

Deductive reasoning

The premises are claimed to provide definitive grounds for the conclusion. If the premises are true, it is impossible for the conclusion to be false. General to specific.

Hylozoism

The view that the mind is manifested in all material movement, for example, even the falling of a rock.

Determinism

There are causes, both known and unknown, for every behaviour and experience.