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35 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Nativism
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born with innate ideas; experience provides occasion for knowing
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Rationalism
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The philosophical belief that knowledge can be attained only by engaging in some type of systematic mental activity.
-learn by operation of mind -manipulation of concepts and ideas |
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Empiricism
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The belief that the basis of all knowledge is experience.
-born as a clean slate (tabula rasa); -experience is the source of knowledge |
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Associationism
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learn by connecting experiences in the world
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Science
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1. naturalistic: all things are to explain nature in terms of nature, no entities that have powers beyond other entities are allowed as they are not subject to determinism (aka no God)
2. our view of nature: scientific materialism where only matter in motion exists; this came from the 17th century and is not proven and can change |
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Alan Turing
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matematician; imagined a machine which could produce an algorithm (essentially a computer); 1936; imaginary tool using binary language based on a dot in the square or not; Turing machine; 1950- wrote an algorithm for human thought, precursor of Artificial Intelligence, token physicalism; Turing test of intelligence: behavioral test where convo btwn human and chimp cannot be distinguished which is which
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John Serlie
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claimed that Turing looked at syntax but more interested in semantics; says one can use a diff lang dictionary but not really know that lang; brain gives meaning to syntax
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Godfred Ligus
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said thought cannot be from a machine; cannot be part of matter (before Serlie)
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Science as Method
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systematic empirical observations which are guided by theory to reveal something; theories are a set of testable propositions which infer from past observation and guides future observations by focusing on solvable problems; must be publicly observable and replicable; (Popper said theories were not proven, only disproven); Intelligent Design doesn't follow science
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Determinism
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1. lawful explanations for every event in terms of antecedent causes (interactions of atoms)
2. past behaviors cause behavior now 3. every event has a cause; nothing just happens due to will |
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Dates of Classical Greece
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625 to 325 B.C.
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Thales
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625 to 545 B.C.; first philosopher b/c he minimized supernatural explanations
1. physis = water; "All things are made of water" 2. matter = animate; "Everything is full of gods"; everything has a soul; panpsychism - the mind is everywhere 3. Things happen due to inherent characteristics 4. Naturalist view; not supernatural like previous thought 5. Thales is considered an inventor of many areas of science 6. Thales WELCOMED CRITICISM Interesting Facts: predicted weather patterns; predicted an eclipse |
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Anaximander
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610 to 540 B.C.
1. physis = 'the boundless'; 'more fundamental than water'; inexplicable 2. Laws of Nature: paralleled laws of human society, as opposed to Thales' god-in-everything; Anaximander saw societal laws as fundamental so nature must have them too 3. used models of phenomena (like maps)...modeling was new 4. Evolution = hot water + earth = fish who gave rise to humans 5. studied fossils and speculated that all life emerged from water Interesting Facts: thought fragile early humans were protected by the rough skin of their shark mothers |
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Heraclitus
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540 to 480 B.C.
1. "becoming"; everything exists between two polar opposites 2. physis = metaphorical fire (fire is always changing and goes through its own life course) 3. "all is change"; no stepping in the same river twice; everything is in motion/flux 4. "the weeping philosopher"; existentialist; empiricist 5. The empiricial world is unknowable so one must pick between the undectable/insensible real (numbers, atoms) or the ideal (mind, soul) Interesting Facts: Pavlov thought animals were always changing to survive a changing world |
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Parmenides
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515 to 430 B.C.
1. "being"; knowledge is attained only through rational thought because sensory experience provides only illusion 2. No change occurs despite appearances. Every different observation is just a different perspective on the same thing 3. Rationalist; emphasis on stability of thought, concepts, language, and logic; one cannot think of something that does not exist 4. If things change than old things are no longer here. Change is impossible. 5. Contradicts common sense 6. Mental representatin of elephants/dogs are lasting entities despite differences between specimens |
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Zeno of Elea
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495 - 430 B.C.; a disciple of Parmenides
1. demonstrated illusory nature of change 2. Zeno's paradox: motion is impossible because one must go half way to something to get somewhere 3. preferred reason to the senses; Zeno said that the senses were deceiving |
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Pythagoras
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580 - 500 B.C.
1. discovered the Pythagorean Theorem which is universal; mathematics 2. focused on abstraction 3. music and cosmos (everything; the universe) are both generated and governed by ratios; math was essential to all life 4. discovered irrational numbers which pointed to a realm beyond experience; repeating decimals occur 5. logos = logic, known to one 6. ratio = simple numerical relationship among all things 7. Rationalist 8. physis = number; came up with figurate numbers 9. science emphasizes measurements, proportions, numerical relationships, equations, and simplicity 10. these secrets bred cult behavior; allowed women, denounced sensory experience, vegetarians 11. Kepler, Galileo, Da Vinci, Newton, Einstein, Shakespeare, Plato all affected by Pythagoras 12. dualism: two interacting worlds; the changing earthly approximations v. the eternal soul in the perfect realm of number Interesting Facts: String Theory: the musical tube shows that notes are related by ratios |
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Empedocles
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495 - 435 B.C.; a disciple of Pythagoras
1. no single physis; instead 4 elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water 2. The 4 elements mix and separate by principles of Love and Strife 3. Hippocrates related these elements to the 4 humors where health was the balance and illness was the imbalance of these things 4. Galan associated personality types with each of the humors by which one dominates 5. Air-Blood-Sanguine: cheerful, upbeat or manic 6. Earth-Black Bile-Melancholic: depressed 7. Fire-Yellow Bile-Choleric: hot-headed 8. Water-Phlegm-Phlegmatic: slow, easy-going 9. Theory of Perception: all objects emanate tiny copies of themselves called EIDOLA and enter other bodies through pores and the heart combines the eidola with the 4 elements present in blood to reconstruct the object; perception is seen as the building of an inner simulation or copy of the environment which lead to mental representation 10. developed a theory of evolution where different parts come together in many forms; the human was the best of these forms and survived |
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Anaxagoras
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500 - 428 B.C.
1. said there was a vast number of elements (SEEDS) which combine in diff proportions in everything...like the elements we know of today; whichever seed predominated determined the characteristics of the object 2. belief in more than one thing making up the world 3. less fluential than Empedocles 4. probably atheist |
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Democritus
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460 - 370 B.C.; the 'Laughing Philosophist'
1. Atomism: the first completely naturalistic world view; the idea that everything can be broken down; all there is are atoms and the void 2. atom = uncuttable units that differ in shape and size 3. all objects are composed of atoms and differ in type, number, location, and arrangement (includes the mind or soul); materialism; elementism; reductionism 4. Atoms are unchanging but objects change (becoming v. being) 5. Theory of Perception: eidola are atoms which come off of objects and enter the body through the five senses and go to the brain; in the brain, these atoms are forged into copies of the object; due to this system the environment can be misperceived; well aware that the senses may limit what can be understood by humans 6. due to atomism; he did not believe in life after death; preached moderation in life Interesting Points: behavior, the mind, and language are atomist; color comes from the combination of black, white, red, and green; Thomas Young's 1801 trichromatic theory of combinations of blue, green, and red; Dalton was color blind and gave the first detailed description of this |
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Five Modern Physics Perspectives on Atoms
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1. Dalton (1803) - said that all matter is tiny particles, that are indestructible, that differ only in mass, and combine in whole-number ratios
2. Boltzmann (late 1800s) - reduced gas laws to the behavior of atoms 3. Einstein (1905) - estimated size based on Brownian movement 4. Rutherford (1912) - proposed solar system model to explain density of atoms 5. Bohr (1916) - proposed the electron cloud model to explain quantum behavior |
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Materialism
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"all that exists are atoms and the void"
the soul could not survive because of disassembly of its atoms |
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Elementism
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separating a phenomenon or entity into component parts
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Reductionism
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mapping one level of explanation onto a more fundamental level
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Sophists (Protagoras, Gorgias, etc.)
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"Man is the measure of all things - of the things that are, that they are, and of things that are not, that they are not"
1. human knowledge matters, not ultimate truth 2. truth for any human is relative 3. focus of questions shifts from the cosmos (ontology) to human knowledge (epistemology) 4. persuasion and rhetoric are important skills 5. beliefs can be changed because they are just words Interesting Points: today's Sophists are lawyers and politicians |
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Socrates
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470 - 399 B.C.
1. examine human knowledge, but says that truth exists beyond mere belief and opinion 2. oracle indicated that anyone who said they knew something actually did not 3. "the unexamined life is not worth living" and knowing right automatically means doing right 4. inductive definition: consider example after example to arrive at a concept's essence 5. "Knowledge means knowing what you're talking about" 6. Socratic method: ask questions to let knowledge emerge 7. Socrates was executed for corrupting the youth, impiety and introducing new gods 'daemon' |
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Plato
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427 - 347 B.C.
1. student of Socrates, a Pythagorean 2. accepts Pythagorean dualism of soul and body and earth and spirit; also accepts Pythag's reincarnation 3. provides an account of WHAT we know along with HOW we know it 4. Theory of Forms: we see the interaction of abstract form with matter which gives imperfect rendering of the form (we can understand that all trees are alike in some way but we cannot define it...this is abstract knowledge) 5. The Divided Line: we live in a world based on 4 things: a world of appearances (split between imagining about images and believing about objects) and knowledge (thinking about mathematical relationships and knowing about forms)...the sun makes these things knowable and "The Good" is the ultimate form of all things that lights what we know 6. The Allegory of the Cave: must see beyond appearances 7. Reminiscence Theory of Knowledge: the reincarnated soul lives on and knows things but must be uncovered by the person (nativist and rationalist) 8. The Soul: rational (immortal), courageous/emotional, and appetitive (mortal); the soul is repressed but comes back as a person gets older as experiences trigger recovery Important Points: Nom Chomsky was a nativist and rationalist of language |
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Structuralist
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1879 - 1913
introspection: meant people were trained observers to determine what was important to awareness |
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Behavioralism
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1913
empiricist behaviors were key to learning |
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Epistemology
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the philosophy of knowledge and its origin
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Empiricism
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'knowledge comes from experience'
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Nativism
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'knowledge comes from inside us'
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Karl Popper
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(1934)
1. opposed logical positivism and claimed that observation isn't neutral and pure b/c it depends on the observer 2. scientific theories must be falsifiable 3. best predictions are risky 4. unfalsifiable theories are unscientific |
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Thomas Kuhn
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(1962)
1. sociological theory of scientific change 2. observed the paradigm shift from behaviorism to cognitive science 3. paradigm has two meanings: -exemplar: standard successful and productive technique of performing an experiment yielding easily interpretable results -disciplinary matrix: intellectual framework or set of shared concepts, assumptions, background knowledge, interpretations, providing a continuous interpretation of observations and building theory 4. a paradigm shift is considered a revolution of ideas and usually comes about with newer, younger scientists; this is the cyclical nature of science |
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Cosmology
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The study of the origin, structure, and processes governing the universe
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