Review Lecture
Exam Index
- Multiple choice
- Two short essay (general, comparative question), One of these will be regarding a piece of text.
Spinoza
- no separation of intelligent will
- everything is determined
- Spinoza believed intellect, the will has made a judgment was garbage
- the affirmation is already in the intellect
- when you see something is true, you don't have freedom to not (thus not bound by our will)
- bodies that are impressed dont just move
- if the human body has been effected by 2 bodies at once, he will recall 2 bodies
- we see some bodies more quickly, some more fast
- time thus comes from the idea of motion
- Critiques of Previous Philosophers (Descartes ...)
- challenges the received wisdom of the western view
- it was at one time acceptable to believe in god, but not anymore
- cant believe nature as a purpose
- critique of teleology
- must think of logically, without normative value
- all human action is part of the natural economy of things
- Connection to Descartes
- accepted his definition of substance
- propecity to existence
- only a single distinct substance
- refers to this subistance as god or nature
- his attempt to offer a rational spirituality
- mind and body problem
- attributes: same thing described in different ways
- can describe physically or in terms of a descriptive way of analysis (ideas)
- we are only aware of the body and mind, there are unlimited attributes
- the mind and body are two different ways of describing the same phenomena
- does god have a mind, yes, it is within all of us
- the mind of god is human rationality
- if every cause is a logical implication, than every cause is determined.
- substance makes a being
- behavior being completely determined
- determinism
- we are different in the fact we are much more complex, but man must be part of nature
- free will is not real
- stimulus response game
- conadous (will to power)
- will to power
- like a survival instinct
- principle of association
- associating stimuli with response
- cause and effect, allowing for emotional predictability
- passive emotion: held passive to required phenomena, human bondage
- mans lack of power to control and respond to emotions
- determined by that which is outside of us
- all in human bondage
- a way of salvation: understanding the cause of them, when we see the necessity of judgments they lose their power on us
- Follower of Descartes
- knowledge begins with pure intellect
- sense experience is unreliable, and full of error
- geometry and mathematics provide us a path to divine understanding
- from god follows infinite things in infinite ways
- god is single
- all is god
- god causes things from within
- the essence of modes does not involve existence
- substance: necessarily exists, infinite and eternal, the cause of itself, cannot be produced by anything else
- the entire universe as one all encompassing reality
- attributes: infinitely many attributes of a substance, humans can only perceive of thought and extension, each attribute expresses the essence of substance in a different way
- the realm of ideas, consciousness, and mental processes
- the physical spatial dimensions of reality
- modes: affections of substance, dependent on substance for existence, particular things that we experience in the world, the same mode can be conceived through different attributes
- infinite modes: the law of motion and rest in the physical world
- finite mode: a book or a tree
- essence: refers to the fundamental nature of a thing, can be expressed through infinitely many attributes, each attribute constitutes the essence of substance in a unique way
- the essence of a substance: infinite and eternal nature expressed through all of its attributes
- the essence of a human being: desire insofar as it determines a persons actions
- uses inertia as a model for his chaining theory
Spinoza Ethics
- considering human interaction with nature and how our mind interacts with it
- we can only access 2 of gods infinite attributes
- thought (mind) and extension (body)
- everything happens for a reason
- nothing cannot abide by the laws of god
- an individual thing can work together to make a single effect which is still then one thing
- extension is an attribute of god
- god only exists within our minds
- thought is only reliant on god
- all modes have god as a cause, so far as they are ascribed to attributes with god as a cause
- only possible to have a mode because of god
- the order and connection of ideas are the same as the order and connection of things
- originating from the same point
- if we have an idea of something that doesnt exist
- it exists in the infinite idea of god
- an attribute of thought
- can belong to the infinite possibility of gods thought
- god is affected by another idea, we can say god is the cause
- if we think of something god is the originator of this thought
- the being of substance does not imply human existence
- as humans our capacity for thought has to go through the world in order to create new thoughts
- anything that happens in the body must be cognizable by the mind
Descartes
- intellect, the will has made a judgment
- perception: every act of awareness what so ever. That he is aware of something rather than "I have sensed it"
- reality: the whatness or content of an idea or concept. This is described as what is "positive" in our thought of it. This is closely related to our essence.
- essence: a chair for example is a collection of all the "realities" we think in it
- Two Types of Reality
- objective reality: the reality contained in my mental concept or the idea of a thing, the reality represented in the idea
- formal reality: the same reality but as in the existing thing itself
- quantitatively something with more inner complexity or number of parts has more reality than something with less (car vs chair for example)
- not all thoughts are realities
- all thoughts with any meaning must hold ground (serve as a reference) in reality.
- some things can be negations of reality
- for example cold, cold is not a thing rather an absence of heat. this is a negation of a reality
- when we think of anything we do we represent absolute realities and then negate some aspects of it.
Bacon
- born in London 1561
- lawyer and politician
- parliament in 1584
- traditional deduction deduction had produced little scientific knowledge, leading us astray
- Man being the servant and interpreter of nature
- beyond his nature he knows nothing
- helpless beyond nature
- Instruments in assisting in work
- understanding and assisting in life
- Human knowledge where the cause is unknown the effect cannot be produced
- nature to be commanded must be obeyed
- Our logic gives us stability from error
- does more harm than good, predisposing our expectation, thus making it biased
- syllogism
- consists of propositions
- propositions consist of words, words are symbols of notions
- if notions are confused there can be no firm conclusion made, only hope then lies in true induction
- notions
- substance, quality, passion, and essence are NOT notions
- rather ill defined, and fantastical
- discovering the truth
- there are only two ways
- senses and particulars to general axioms: proceeds judgement, fly's from senses to general axioms, from these to principles
- derives axioms and particulars from senses and particulars: gradual rise, unbroken ascent, arrives at the most general axioms last of all. true induction
- difference between methods of induction is infinite
- establishing certainty, through methodical process
- most conclusions within human reasoning are rash and unsubstantiated, these are examples of common induction
- idols and the human mind
- tribe
- foundation in human nature
- race of men, or the human nature itself
- (false) sense of man is the measure of things
- make the truth difficult to discern
- human understanding is like a false mirror, distorting reality by mingling in a nature of its own (perception)
- cave
- individual man
- their individual life experiences
- market
- formed by the association with other men
- discourse associates with taboo, thus guiding our thinking
- theater
- immigrated into mans mind from various dogmas
- from things such as philosophy's
- Idols destroy the senses, and have taken deep root in mans nature
- true induction vs common induction
- true: longer more deliberate way of induction, exploring every possibility
- the same as common, without making generalizations
- mother and cookies example
- common: influenced by our biases (more so), guessing a pattern will likely continue
- Aristotelian philosophy
- more naive
- Descartes and Spinoza are more deductive than inductively making conclusions
- knowledge is power
- trying to convince kinds to building scientific institution's
- science is gods way of giving us power over nature
- rational method of learning the most basic principles of knowledge of things from our sensory expirence
- no insight to the inner essence of things by any means
- knowledge as a usuful way of navigating the world
- Analysis vs Synthesis
- analysis: reducing some whole part and examining its parts individually
- synthesis: combining parts together into a whole
- these are opposite processes
- complimentary within science
- Induction vs Deduction
- deduction: process of beginning from a general statement, premise, and arriving at something that is logically true
- begin with the conclusion and attempt to arrive at the premise.
- induction: combine the premises to form the conclusion, _sythesis
- our dog has traits that resemble a dog, therefore he is a dog
- never be sure of correctness, because all premises have not been explored (true induction)
- syllogism: said to be true if all premises are true (syllogistic figures) and therefore the conclusion must be true as well
- asserts a necessary connection between premises regardless of the result
- an argument is sound if the premise's are true and if it is a valid argument
- logically synthetic: combines premises into a conclusion
What is the relationship between knowledge and power according to Bacon?
Answer
knowledge is power, allows us to gain control over nature and through things such as tools we can further this. emphasizes the practical utility of knowledge.
What is Bacon's view of the use of the syllogism in science?
Answer
Considered it to be inadequate for providing scientific evidence. No match for the subtlety of nature. Disconnected from reality.
What does he say about axioms?
Answer
Bit self evident or necessarily true, should be derived from careful observation rather than from generalized limited experience. Believed forming proper notions and axioms through true induction was the remedy to expel false ideas
What is the difference between common induction and true induction
Answer
Common induction is what most humans go through in their daily life. The example given in class being the cookie jar. Even though your mom slaps your hand that does not necessarily mean it will always happen (every house, parent, time, etc). True induction is much more rigorous, and involves testing more possibilities ensuring the truth is not generalized.
What is Bacon's view of nature?
Answer
Nature is a source of knowledge, and we can gain knowledge of its secrets through careful observation. This is the key for advancing human civilization. Nature can be manipulated and controlled through human intervention. It is something like a garden that should be cultivated and improved through human effort, to restore the garden of eaden. Nature is in constant motion, and is the product of god.
What are the idols? Why are they important? (Describe all four by their titles and explain them)
Answer
Idols of the tribe describes human nature, and the limitations of human perception and cognition. Meaning our senses do not perfectly mirror the world around us. The Idols of the cave are unique to the individual, arsing from personal experience. The cave representing the prejudices that come from the subjects background and experiences. The Idols of the marketplace are formed from the misuse and misunderstanding of human language within interaction. Words often betray their own purpose, highlighting the imperfections within language. The idols of the theater are false beliefs arising from our philosophical systems or traditional knowledge. These are preexisting theories or dogmas which make it harder to objectively view the world since we have our preexisting notion distorting our perception.
Galileo
- life
- born 1564 in Pisa
- Studied mathematics at the University of Pisa
- constructed a telescope from observations of the moon
- died in 1642 in Arcetri (near Florance)
- body possessing a shape, not nessicarily conjoined
- tastes, colors, etc do not exist
- found through our processing of perception
- look at regimented rational method in order to learn basic principles
- only seek to interpret sensory expirence sensory expirence
- we can free ourselves from illusion by looking to the senses directly to gain knowledge
- primary: mathematical in nature and are thought to be part of essential nature of physical bodies
- secondary: subjective, in us
What are the specific primary and secondary qualities listed by Galileo?
Answer
Primary qualities are properties of the body that exist independently from any observer. Characteristics such as figure, shape, motion. and spatio-temporal location are primary qualities. Secondary qualities are properties that produce sensations within observers.These are qualities such as taste, color, and sound. These would not exist with out bodies to perceive them
What is the significance of holding this view for science?
Answer
This would lead to an emphasis on quantitative properties by focusing on aspects such as size and shape. This would also lead to more objectivity within sciences since perception is not left to muddy the water. This will also separate subjective experience from scientific observation
How does it differ from older views of the physical world like Aristotle?
Answer
Galileo focused mainly on quantifiable properties that are measurable and mathematical. Whilst Aristotle took a more quantifiable approach using examples such as hot, cold, wet, etc. Gallielo additionally had a much larger emphasis on mathematical thinking, as opposed to Aristotle. Aristotle was more reliant on syllogistic logic and deductive reasoning than mathematical reasoning.
How is it different than Bacons view?
Answer
Galileo was more focused on measurable mathmatical thinking through primary qualities, whereas Bacon did not describe this difference. Bacon additionally aimed to provide a more comprehensive answer of the processes that we should engage in contrasted to Galileos approach was more heavily focused on the scientific applications.
What argument does he give to try and justify distinction?
Answer
He gives the argument that primary qualities are inseperable from the body, while secondary ones are not. Since we cannot concieve of a body without qualities such as size, shape, and spacial location they are to be considered primary qualities. We can also observe these through; persistence, universality, deducibility, explanatory power.
What type of argument does he use to try and justify the fact that primary qualities are really in external bodies but secondary qualities are not? What is his primary argument?
Answer
We cannot concieve of a body without these primary quantities, such as size, position or shape. Primary quantities also persist even when the object is not being percieved. These also universally apply to bodies, where secondary qualities may not. They can also be deduced through human logic as well as understanding.