chapter 2: part 1 the “dark ages” rome collapses in the 5th century c.e. european communities...
TRANSCRIPT
Chapter 2: Part 1The “Dark Ages”
• Rome Collapses in the 5th Century C.E.
• European communities fracture and disconnect from North Africa and the Byzantine Empire
The European Renaissance
• Florence Italy ~ 1400– Art meets architecture
– Availability of paper makes communication efficient
– Travel and commerce generate wealth and drive the formalization of politics
– The Catholic Church loses its authority in explaining the natural world
The Spirit of Mechanism
• 17th to 19th century zeitgeist reflected in:– Amusement with mechanical
figures
– The universe as a enormous machine
– Mechanism: all natural processes are mechanically determined
Beginnings of Modern Science and Physics (natural philosophy)
• Bacon: Methodological unity of science
• Galileo: Planetary movement and challenges to dogma
• Newton: Planets moved by invisible forces, not by contact
Newton (1643-1747)Galileo (1564-1642)Bacon (1561-1626)
Distinguishing Features of Science
• Observation
• Experimentation
• Measurement
– If scientists could grasp the laws by which the world functioned, they could determine its future course
The Clockwork Universe• Clock as metaphor for mechanism
– Produced in quantity and variety
– Clocks were• Available to all people• Regular• Predictable• Precise
Determinism and Reductionism• Determinism: acts are caused by past events
• For the universe as with a clock, – Its parts function with order and regularity
– We can understand its functions and functioning
– We can predict changes that will occur from its past and present characteristics
Determinism and Reductionism• Reductionism: If you break it down, it
can be understood– Reduce a clock to its components such as
springs and wheels to understand its functioning
• Analyzing or reducing the universe to its simplest parts will produce understanding
• Characteristic of every science
Automata• Designs were mimicking human
behavior and cognitive function
Vaucanson's Flute-Player (1738) Babbage’s Calculator (1820s)
The Beginnings of Modern Science
• The pursuit of knowledge through observation and sensory experience– Replaced dogma and church doctrine as
ruling forces of inquiry
– Descartes: symbol of the transition to free scientific inquiry and forerunner of modern psychology
René Decartes (1596-1650)
– Born in France
– Inherited wealth allowed him to travel and pursue intellectual and scientific interests
– Attracted to applied research
The Contributions of Descartes
• The mind-body problem– “Are mind and body—the mental world
and the material world—distinct, or one?”
– Pre-Descartes direction: mind influences body, but not vice versa; Mind is master of mental and material aspects.
– Descartes: A two-way street!
Descartes (continued)
• Single function of mind: thought
• Diverted attention from the soul to the scientific study of mind. Descartes shifted the methods of intellectuals: from metaphysical analysis to objective observation and experimentation
Descartes (continued)• The Body is matter (an automaton)
– Has extension and capacity for movement
– Laws of physics and mechanics
– Nerves are pipes, muscles and tendons are engines and springs
– Reflex action is not voluntary but due to external objects
– Human behavior is predictable if inputs are known
Descartes (continued)
• The mind-body interaction– Mind
• Is nonmaterial• Is unitary• Thinks, perceives, wills• Provides information about the external
world• Influences and is influenced by the body• Has the brain as its focal point
Descartes (continued)• Conarium (pineal gland)
– Single and unitary– Material – The site of the mind-body interaction
Descartes (continued)• The Doctrine of Ideas
– Derived ideas
• Occur from contact with an external stimulus such as the touch of a hot stove
• Are products of the experiences of the senses (e.g., The concept of heat)
– Innate ideas• Develop from within the mind rather than
through the senses
Descartes in Sum
– The mechanistic conception of the body
– The theory of reflex action
– The mind-body interaction
– The localization of mental functions in the brain
– The Doctrine of Ideas
Part 2: Scientific Revolution
• What events led to the scientific revolution in Europe?
• Who were the major figures?
• Consider how this will be important for Psychology.
• Next: Quick review of European Philosophers.
Foundations of Psychology
• European philosophy– Auguste Comte (1798-1857):
Father of Positivism• In the attempt to review all
human knowledge, limited his work to scientific facts refers to the “objects of sense,” rather than “nonsense”
Foundations of Psychology
• European philosophy– Materialism: “the doctrine that
considers the facts of the universe can be described in physical terms.” • Consciousness explained in terms of
physics and chemistry• Mental processes due to physical
properties: brain anatomy and physiology
Foundations of Psychology
• European philosophy– Empiricism: “the pursuit of knowledge
through objective observation and sensory experience
– This is the foundation of the scientific method
Philosophical Movements (17-1800s)
• Positivism, Materialism, Empiricism all supported the foundations of modern science
• For psychology: If behavior and consciousness is the result of material forces (materialism) and if material forces can be understood through observation (empiricism), then behavior can be studied scientifically.
John Locke (1632-1704)
• Taught Greek, writing, and philosophy and practiced medicine in England
• Politics: secretary to the Earl of Shaftsbury
• Fled to Holland when the earl was found to be part of a plot to overthrow King Charles II
• Returned to England, resumed politics, wrote education, religion, and economics books
Locke (continued)• How does the mind acquire knowledge?
– Rejected existence of innate ideas– Any apparent innateness due to early
learning and habit– All knowledge is empirically derived:
mind as a tabula rasa or blank slate
Locke’s Types of Experience
– Sensations: input from external physical objects experienced as sense impressions, which operate on the mind
– Reflections: mind operates on the sense impressions to produce ideas
– Reflections require info from past sensations – can be combined to form new ideas
Locke’s Types of Ideas– Simple
• Arise from either sensation or reflection• “Received passively from the mind”• “Cannot be analyzed or reduced to even
simpler ideas”
– Complex• Creation of new ideas through reflection• Combinations of simple ideas• Can be analyzed and/or reduced
Locke’s Theory of Association
– Association = learning
– Linking of simple ideas/elements into complex ones
– Complex ideas do not appear from thin air, they are built from simple experiences
– Laws of association akin to laws of mechanics; Mind = machine
Lockes’ Types of Qualities
• Primary qualities: objective, exist independently of being experienced (perceived)– Object size, shape, weight
• Secondary qualities: subjective, exist in the experience of the object– Color, odor, sound, taste, warmth or coldness
• A feather tickles because of our reaction to it, not the feather itself
John Locke (1632-1704)
• Locke was the first philosopher to define the self through a continuity of "consciousness."
George Berkeley (1685 – 1753)• George Berkeley (1685-1753)
– Nothing exists without our perceptions.
– Q: Why do we all perceive the same thing?
– A constant observer (God) maintains constant qualities
George Berkeley (1685 – 1753)
• Agreed with Locke’s assertion that all knowledge comes from experience, but..
• Perception is the only reality– Primary qualities do not exist if not perceived,
thus ALL qualities are secondary qualities
– Mentalism: “the doctrine that all knowledge is a function of mental phenomena and dependent on the perceiving or experiencing person.”
David Hume (1711-1776)
• Extremely reductionist approach; we are just organisms reacting to the environment
• Denied the concept of self
• Our personalities are just collections of perceptions
British Empiricism• David Hume (1711-1776)
– So, Mr. Hume, from what do we get our sense of self?
– The self is nothing but our own way of perceiving a succession of ideas.
– Causation is nothing but our impulse to attach corresponding events (the view of a fire and the feeling of heat)
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
– Unceasingly drilled with hours and hours of facts
– Could read Plato in Greek at 3– Was a child prodigy who was
clinically depressed by 21– Harriet Taylor was the love of
his life– Championed women’s rights
Mill (continued)
• Mental chemistry– “Complex ideas are more than the
sum of simple ideas.”– Creative synthesis: a combination of
mental elements always produces some distinct quality
– His model: research in chemistry rather than physics
Empiricism’s Legacy
• Methods of approach: atomistic, mechanistic, positivistic
• Emphases of empiricism– Primary role of sensation– Analysis of conscious experience into elements– Synthesis of elements through association– Focus on conscious processes
• Mid-19th century: philosophy augmented by the methods of experimental physiology