Early Modern Terminology 1 Flashcards
(26 cards)
Ideas
For Plato and Aristotle, ideas are associated with forms. For Descartes, the mind’s ideas give form and structure to external reality (insofar as perceived). On this new view, ideas are mental entities used by minds to represent the objects of perception and thought.
scholasticism
The term scholasticism pertains to ideology taught in the European schools. In those circles, Aristotelian philosophy dominates.
Metaphysics vs epistemology
Metaphysics concerns the nature of being.
Epistemology concerns the nature of being known.
17th Century mechanism
Theories of mechanism say that all changes occur via collisions since there can be no physical causality from a distance. So, the properties of bodies thought to cause observable effects are machine-like properties – notably, size, shape, and motion.
Dualism
According to dualist accounts, the conscious mind and the brain have very different properties, thereby making them distinct entities which cooperate to produce normal cognition.
Identity theory
According to identity theory accounts, the conscious mind is identical with some aspect of the brain.
Metaphysical Realism
According to Metaphysical Realism, ordinary bodies (tables,
trees, rocks, planets, etc.) have mind-independent existence.
idealism
According to Metaphysical Idealism, ordinary bodies have mind-dependent existence.
tabula rasa
The term tabula rasa is Latin for blank slate – a metaphor for understanding the original state of the mind (according to empiricism), prior to any sense experience.
representational theory of perception
Theory of indirect perception whereby the direct objects of perception are mental entities, not external objects. In turn, these mental entities represent the external objects causing them.
direct realism
Direct Realism results from affirming a Direct Theory of Perception, along with Metaphysical Realism.
indirect realism
Indirect Realism results from affirming an Indirect Theory of Perception, along with Metaphysical Realism.
internal world
The internal world includes only what’s immediately perceived, in one’s own mind – the data of consciousness (“ideas”, for early modern philosophers).
external world
The external world encompasses everything else, including one’s own brain, all other bodies, and all other minds.
skepticism
Skepticism is a position adopting an attitude of doubt.
sceptical arguments or doubts
These call into question one’s justifying reasons for belief. (E.g., the Brain in a Vat doubt undermines my knowledge that “I have hands”.)
indubitibility
Literally, not able to be doubted. It is thought (by Descartes) to be equivalent to absolute certainty.
metaphysical solipsism
Metaphysically, solipsism is the view that only one’s own self/mind exists, but nothing else.
epistemological solipsism
Epistemologically, solipsism is the view that nothing but one’s own self/mind can be known to exist. This is the Problem of the External World.
a priori beliefs
Formed independently of (or prior to) sense experience – for example, through conceptual analysis.
a posteriori beliefs
Aka “empirical” beliefs, these are formed on the basis of sense experience.
particularism
Puts great trust in our ordinary intuitions about which statements are true, and which are false.
methodism
Distrusts our ordinary intuitions, holding that we need a method or a theory to help us determine which statements are true, and which are false.
foundationalism
Modeled on geometry and architecture, the theory calls for building one’s system of knowledge by first identifying self-evident propositions, then deducing further propositions from the growing body of existing knowledge.
