Deck 5: Empiricism, Sensationalism, and Positivism

Question 1

Define empiricism. What was it in other philosophies that the empiricists opposed most?

Answer 1

Empiricism is a philosophical theory, which states sensory experience in the origin of all knowledge. It stresses the importance of experience in the attainment of knowledge. There are many types of experiences but only the sensory experience plays vital role in acquiring knowledge according to empiricism. It also asserts that knowledge cannot exist without sensory experience and even intellectual processes use this experience.
There used to be dispute between both rationalism and empiricism. According to the rationalists, the knowledge can be attained with sensory experiences and also be gained independently of sensory experience. But according to empiricist, the sensory experience is the only source of attaining knowledge and concepts. Rationalists accounts of how reason acts as source of concepts and knowledge, while empiricists opposes it.
The disagreements of empiricists against the rationalists resulted in conflicts within epistemology, which is a branch of philosophy concerned with nature, sources and limits of knowledge. Empiricists opposed the following suggestions of other philosophies:
i. They attack the rationalists accounted for how reason can be a source of concepts and knowledge.
ii. They also reject Descartes's deductive method and the concept of innate ideas, the ideas that do not need any experiences.
iii. They also rejected the existence of superior knowledge.
iv. It also rejects the phenomenon of intuition, which describes the ability to acquire knowledge without the use of reason or any interference.
v. It also rejected the deductive reasoning, which involves logic to reach to certain conclusion.

Question 2

Discuss why Hobbes can be referred to as an empiricist, a mechanist, and a materialist.

Answer 2

Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher who is also referred to as the founder of British empiricism. He was friend of both Galileo and Descartes. He served as Bacon's secretary for a short time. He was convinced with Galileo that universe consisted of matters and they move in terms of mechanical principles and physical objects. He was also one of the founders of modern political science and political philosophy.
Though Hobbes has supported and accepted the Descartes's deductive method, he rejected inductive method of Bacon and the concept of innate ideas given by Descartes. According to him, ideas come only from the sense experience and innate ideas do not exist. He also rejected the existence of non-material mind given by Descartes and explained his concept of mind as the sum total of a person's thinking activities.
Like Luther, Hobbes also believed that there is no place for free will. He explained human will as the action tendency that prevails, when number of conflicting tendencies occurs. He also believed that all that exists is matter and motion. From all of his ideas and views, he can be referred to as an empiricist, a mechanist and a materialist. It can be explained as follows:
i. He is an empiricist because he believed that the knowledge can be attained only through sense experiences.
ii. He is a mechanist as he believed that universe consisted of matters and motions and called humans as machines.
iii. He is a materialist because he rejected Descartes's view on non-material mind and believed that all that exists was physical.

Question 3

What was Hobbes's explanation of human motivation?

Answer 3

Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher, who is also referred to as the founder of British empiricism. He was friend of both Galileo and Descartes. He served as Bacon's secretary for a short time. He was convinced with Galileo that universe consisted of matters, and they move in terms of mechanical principles and physical objects. He was also one of the founders of modern political science and political philosophy.
Hobbes supported the deductive method given by Galileo and Descartes. Though he was close to Bacon, he rejected the inductive method of Bacon. He believed that humans are machines, who carry out various functions within a large machine. He also explained about the human nature and human motivation in a new way. According to him, human beings are physical objects and their actions are explained in terms of mechanical terms.
According to him, human can selfishly seek power over the other for their personal needs and their life would be poor, solitary, nasty, brutish and short without any law and order. Other scholars disagree with Hobbe's view over aggressive human nature, and they believed that human can act even beyond their personal interest. According to the scholars, Hobbes is true with the fact of selfish and egoistic behavior but it is not the case always.
Hobbes had a much more complex view over human motivation. He said that "fear of death" motivates the humans and they act accordingly. According to him, humans are motivated to act in a way, which relieves them from the discomfort and for the satisfaction of their own personal needs. He explained that human violation is due to the strongest present desire, and they act only in their self-interest without regard for others.

Question 4

According to Locke, what was the difference between primary and secondary qualities?
How did the paradox of the basins demonstrate this difference?

Question 5

Explain Berkeley's statement "To be is to be perceived." Did Berkeley deny the existence of external reality?

Question 6

Summarize Berkeley's explanation of distance perception.

Question 7

Discuss the associative principles of contiguity, resemblance, and cause and effect as Hume used them.

Question 8

Summarize Hume's analysis of causation.

Question 9

What, for Hume, were the ultimate determinants of behavior? Explain.

Question 10

What was Hartley's philosophical goal? In what way might he be considered the first modern psychologist?

Question 11

Summarize Hartley's explanation of association.

Question 12

How, according to Hartley, was involuntary behavior transformed into voluntary behavior?

Question 13

What part did the emotions play in Hartley's philosophy?

Question 14

Summarize James Mill's version of associationism.

Question 15

Compare the "mental physics" of James Mill with the "mental chemistry" of his son John Stuart Mill.

Question 16

Why did J. S. Mill believe a science of human nature was possible? What would characterize such a science in its early stages of development? In its later stages? Include in your answer a discussion of primary and secondary laws.

Question 17

What was Bain's philosophical goal? In what way might he be considered the first modern psychologist?

Question 18

Summarize Bain's contributions to psychology. Include in your answer the new laws of association that he added and his explanation of how spontaneous activity is transformed into voluntary behavior.

Question 19

What were the major features of French sensationalism?

Question 20

In what ways was Gassendi's philosophy similar to Hobbes's?

Question 21

Why did La Mettrie believe that it was inappropriate to separate the mind and body?

Question 22

What did La Mettrie believe humans and nonhuman animals have in common?

Question 23

How did Condillac use the analogy of a sentient statue to explain the origin of human mental processes? Give the examples of how attention, feeling, comparison, and surprise develop.

Question 24

How did Helvetius apply empiricism and sensationalism to education?

Question 25

What did Comte mean by positivism ?

Question 26

Describe the stages that Comte believed cultures (and individuals) went through in the way they attempted to explain phenomena.

Question 27

Did Comte believe psychology could be a science? Why or why not?

Question 28

Compare Mach's version of positivism with Comte's