Chapter 1:The Wider Picture: -600-1500 Flashcards
3 mythes over de middle ages
niet zo dark als ze werden gepresenteerd; dit komt omdat mensen de periode voor hun eigen periode zo erg dispisen dat ze het overdrijven.
Myth 1: Nothing was invented in the Middle Ages
The Middle Ages saw major advancements in farming, which led to a considerable growth in the European population. Further, the weaponry of the armies was constantly updated, so that countries had varying success in their wars. Eventually this led to the devel-
opment of weapons that could destroy the strongest defence walls, which was one of the factors leading to the demise of the feudal system with castle lords and serfs. Towards the end of the Middle Ages, spectacles and the mechanical clock were added to the list of new instruments.
Myth 2: Medieval people thought that the earth was flat: Aristotle had already given proof of the sphericity of the earth and this was repeated by nearly all early-medieval writers. Medieval scholars also knew that
moonlight was reflected from the Sun.
Myth 3: The medieval Church prohibited dissection and thereby stifled medical progress: The Medieval Church did not prohibit dissection at all. As a matter of fact, the religious authorities did it themselves (e.g. they embalmed bodies and they dis-
sected the bodies of saints to distribute the relics). Opposition usually came from family and local governments.
Myth 4: The rise of Christianity was responsible for the demise of ancient science: The demise of ancient science in the West was due to the fall of the Roman Empire.
plato definition philosophie
love of wisdom
wat was zo bijzonder aan plato’s teksten
geschreven in dialoog tussen mensen
relaties tussen plato artistoteles en socrates
socrates mentor van plato, plato mentor van aristoteles
hoe heette de civilisation voor dat mensen konden schrijven
preliterate civilisation
Lindberg’s 3 characteristics of cultures without literacy=
- they know how to make tools, start fires, hunt etc. not based on an understanding of how things work, but more on practical rules of thum of what to do when. -> know-how: without theoretical understanding of the underlying principles
- fluidity of knowledge: knowledge and history of the actual tribe is limited to two generations, function of hte oral tradition mainly is the transmission of practical skills
- existence of a collection of myth and stories about the beginning of the universe, life and natural phenomena, in which human traits are projected onto objects and events.
animism =
The belief that objects and nature are inhabited by spirits with human-like characteristics, which cause events to happen
wat zei Sir Edward Burnett Taylor
(= bedenker of animism)
In Tylor’s view, primitives (as they were called) looked for animism explanation of the workings of the world and the universe by means of spirits with human-like characteristics
plato summarize
- The distinction between the never changing ideal forms, and the always changing material world, in which ideas are realized in an imperfect way.
- We perceive only the shadows of objects.
- The soul and the body are distinct and different, the soul is immortal and defines the person.
- Humans can get access to the true ideas by focusing on the innate knowledge from the innate soul.
- Knowledge comes from the ratio, true knowledge (about the good/true/beautiful) comes from inside.
- Knowledge from reason is superior to knowledge from experience.
- Two parts of the soul: 1) reason; situated in the brain. 2) sensation and emotions; situated in the heart. 3) appetite and lower passions (lust, greed and desire); situated in the liver.
- Three worlds:
o Intelligible world; anything that arises from reason (= the true world).
o Sensible world: the world perceived by the senses (= the not true world).
aristotle summarize
- 3 kinds of knowledge: productive (making things), practical (how people are ought to act: political and ethical knowledge), and theoretical knowledge (truth: mathematics, natural science and theology).
o Theoretical knowledge starts with axioms -> truths about nature. Via observations and intuation, these truths could be acquired via final causes (the purpose of things within the universe). - Two regions in universe: earth-moon (sub-lunear) and moon-rest universe (more orderly than the sub-lunear, and contains the divine element).
- Elementary statements: propositions (two terms related to each other, affirmatively or negatively).
o 3 propositions are combined to make a syllogism: major premise, minor premise and conclusion.
o Syllogisms eventually lead to either false or true conclusions - Difference between living and non-living things: psyche.
o Psyche consists of souls
o Souls:
Vegetative (all living things, with self-nourishment and reproduction)
Animal (animals and humans, provided with locomotion, sensation, memory and imagination)
Rational (humans, enabling us with conscious reason and virtuous life)
rationalism summarize
- Rationalism states that knowledge comes from inside, that humans are born with this certain sense of knowledge. The intellect would therefore naturally be able to discover the truth (even though this would take time and effort, and a lot of introspection). Rationalism states that babies are born with this form of intellect, but the reason they do not display this intellect is because they cannot access it (yet).
- Rationalists think that knowledge is gained via deductive reasoning, based on innate knowledge. Deductive reasoning is therefore the main research method of rationalism. It is a way of reasoning in which people start with premises that are undeniable, and draws conclusions based on these premises. The conclusions are deemed true, if 1) the premises are true, and if 2) the conclusion follows logically from these premises.
- The most relevant academic fields that are rooted in rationalism are mathematics, ethics and metaphysics.
empiricism summarize
- Empiricists believe that there is no innate knowledge that people are born with, but rather that people gain knowledge via sensory experiences and the process of induction.
- They think people are born with a blank slate as the mind, this is called tabula rasa. This blank slate is then filled with experiences from the world, which eventually leads to the gaining of knowledge. Empiricists therefore argue that knowledge is derived from empirical evidence, through experimentation and/or observation, rather than it being innate.
- The main research methods of empiricism are therefore observation and experimentation, and inductive reasoning.
- The relevant academic fields are the natural sciences.
plato is a…
Plato should be regarded as a rationalist, because he believed that the world existed of unchanging forms. As stated above, he thought humans can get access to the true ideas by focusing on the innate knowledge from the innate soul. This resonates with rationalism because both theories assume that knowledge is innate and can be achieved via deduction.
aristotle is a…
Aristotle should be regarded as an empiricist, because he believed that knowledge is derived from experiences, and he was the first person to write solely about his observations (without the application of deductive reasoning). He wrote that ‘[the mind] actually is nothing until it has thought.’ Aside from that, was Aristotle the first to use the analogy of tabula rasa (comparing the mind to a blank slate).
wat was er met mythes in de preliterary civilisations
myths could freely contradict each other, lack of writing prevented a pattern from emerging and prevented the visibility of the incompatibilities of myths.
wat zei lindberg over dat mythes elkaar tegenspreken en de relatie met science nu
scientific thinking could not have occured without written records.
in welke cultures kwam written language
china, egypt, sumer, america
wat kwam er nog voor de written language
protowriting
protowriting =
the use of symbols to represent entities without linguistic information linking them
pictograms =
information-conveying sign that consists of a picture resembling the person, animal or object it represents
phonograms=
signs that represent a sound or syllable of spoken language
phonograms were replaced by…
simpler signs symbolizing meaningful sounds in the language (phonemes) or syllables
wat waren writing systems in de early stage: een combinatie van…
pictograms & phonograms
welke alphabetic writing systems waren er
phoenician (arabic), hebrew and greek
welk writing system bleef het dichtste bij pictogrammen
chinese
wat was er bij chinese
correspondence between the physical signs and the word meanings rapidly decreased, creating a logographic language.
dus logographic language =
a sign representing a spoken word that no longer has a physical resemblance to the words meaning/not related to the pronouncation
socrates about books
zei dat studenten daardoor lui werden en discouraged from properly studying
dus argument tegen oudere mensen (niet relevant)
There are quotes, attributed to a king of Mesopotamia, and to Socrates and Hesiod, about how lazy the youth are, and how things were better when they were kids. -> older generations will always complain about the youth!!!
reading acquisition is easiest in languages with …
a transparant relationship between spelling and sound, such as spanish/serbian croatian, korean (not english and hebrew)
scholastic method =
study method in which students unquestioningly memorize and recite texts that are thought to convey unchanging truths
subitizing =
newborn babies and animals can distinguish between 1, 2 and 3 entities.
tallying =
turven
most popular base number for tallying was… and why?
5:
1. first entity exceeding perceptual limits
2. number of fingers in one hand
all indo-european languages share the same roots for the numbers 1-10
oke
sumer gebruikte .. voor base
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