Philosophical Influences on Psychology, Part II “The Empiricists”Auguste Comte “The Positivist”Auguste Comte (1798-1857)MaterialismEmpiricismWait…whatJohn Locke “The Reductionist”John Locke (1632-1704)“An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” (1690)Ideas and AssociationsPrimary and Secondary QualitiesGeorge Berkeley “The Mentalist”George Berkeley (1685-1753)MentalismDavid Hartley “The Associationist”David Hartley (1705-1757)James Mill “The Machinist”James Mill (1773-1836)John Stuart Mill “The Synthesizer”John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)Mental ChemistryOverall Principles of EmpiricismDiscussion QuestionsSlide 24Slide 25Slide 26FRIDAY, AUGUST 29TH, 2014PHILOSOPHICAL INFLUENCES ON PSYCHOLOGY, PART II“THE EMPIRICISTS”AUGUSTE COMTE“THE POSITIVIST”AUGUSTE COMTE (1798-1857)•Kind of a madman, had no academic career•Wanted to survey all human knowledge!•In order to make this manageable, he had to limit himself to indisputable facts that had been objectively and scientifically determined•Positivism: the doctrine that recognizes only natural phenomena or facts that are objectively observableMATERIALISM•Widespread acceptance of positivism led to an overall sense of materialism•Materialism: the doctrine that considers the facts of the universe to be sufficiently explained in physical terms by the existence and nature of matter•Thus, anything that’s true can be explained with physics and chemistry, including the human mindEMPIRICISM•The acquisition of this material knowledge is called empiricism•According to empiricism, the mind grows through the progressive accumulation of sensory experiences•This does not jive with the Cartesian doctrine of innate ideas!WAIT…WHAT•Positivism: the only valid knowledge comes from things we can objectively see•Materialism: you can explain the world using material, objective, observable stuf•Empiricism: acquiring this knowledge using observation and experimentationJOHN LOCKE“THE REDUCTIONIST”•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjIwkvhGsooJOHN LOCKE (1632-1704)•Not much of a student – preferred to write love letters and weird recipes and dissect animals for fun•Discovered that he liked natural philosophy and began practicing medicine•Had to flee England for a while due to a bad connection with an earl who was plotting to kill King Charles II, but returned and wrote about education, religion, and economics“AN ESSAY CONCERNING HUMAN UNDERSTANDING” (1690)•The formal beginning of empiricism in England•Argued that humans are born “tabula rasa” and that nothing is innate•What matters then is how we acquire knowledge•Similar to Descartes however, he came up with two ways in which this happens–From sensation –From reflection (which is dependent on sensation)IDEAS AND ASSOCIATIONS•Simple ideas: ideas that are elemental and arise from sensation and reflection; they cannot be reduced but can lead to greater ideas•Complex ideas: ideas derived from simple ideas that have been compounded and can be analyzed or reduced to their simpler components•Association is a form of learning •You can associate two simple ideas to make a complex onePRIMARY AND SECONDARY QUALITIES•Primary qualities: things that are perceived objectively (size, weight, shape, etc.)•Secondary qualities: things that are perceived subjectively (color, odor, taste, etc.)•According to Locke, this do not exist outside of the perceiverGEORGE BERKELEY“THE MENTALIST”•http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCEHZJKfflwGEORGE BERKELEY (1685-1753)•A very religious Irish deacon and philosopher•Wanted his body to start decomposing before he was buried•Berkeley in CA is named after himMENTALISM•Agreed with Locke: all knowledge of the external world comes from experience•Disagreed with Locke: there are no primary qualities, only secondary–Mentalism: the doctrine that all knowledge is a function of mental phenomena and dependent on the perceiver–All we can ever really know is our own perception, and the world is derived from that perception, not necessarily reality–It’s not that there is no external reality, we can just never know it–God was a permanent perceiver with an accurate sense of realityDAVID HARTLEY“THE ASSOCIATIONIST”•No biography, but this is entertaining: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lta05Q6TNKgDAVID HARTLEY (1705-1757)•Practiced as a doctor without finishing medical school•Agreed with Locke: all ideas and knowledge come from experiences as perceived by the senses; tabula rasa•Also wrote on association, particularly in terms of repetition: the more frequently two ideas occur together, the more readily they will be associated•Also acknowledged contiguity’s importance for association (stagecoach example)JAMES MILL“THE MACHINIST”•No video again, drat.JAMES MILL (1773-1836)•Scotsman from a poor family, but through a very strict routine, became highly educated •Believed that the mind was nothing more than a machine; nothing was subjective, and there was no free will•Had highly reductionist ideals – can not understand the complex without understanding the simple•Like all empiricists, he thought that sensations from the external world were associated and compounded into complex ideas – but in a very passive and mechanical wayJOHN STUART MILL“THE SYNTHESIZER”•http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/john-stuart-mill-utilitarianism-quotes-and-theory.html#lessonJOHN STUART MILL (1806-1873)•Raised by James Mill in a VERY tabula rasa fashion – didn’t go very well•Had kind of a tragic love life – loved a married woman who reconciled the situation not by divorcing or ending communication with Mill, but by celibacy with both!•He remained close with her daughter, but he was brokenhearted, saying “the spring of my life has been broken” (quoted in Capaldi, 2004, p. 246)•Was very sympathetic to the feminist causeMENTAL CHEMISTRY•Agreed with a mechanistic view of the mind, but that it was active and not passive in making its associations•Claimed that complex ideas are not just the sum of simple ideas but that they take on new life –Creative synthesis: the notion that the combination of the mental elements creates something greater than or diferent from the sum of the original elements–This is a much more chemistry-inspired theory than physics-inspiredOVERALL PRINCIPLES OF EMPIRICISM•The focus on how we acquire knowledge•The primary
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