PHIL 201: EXAM 2
33 Cards in this Set
| Front | Back |
|---|---|
|
How is retrograde motion explained in Copernicus' model?
|
Retrograde loops of the planets as seen from the earth occur naturally as a result of the Earth's motion combined with the motions of the planets
|
|
What is Kepler's first law of planetary motion? (Ellipse law)
|
the planets move in ellipses around the sun, not circles
|
|
What is Kepler's second law of planetary motion? (equal areas law)
|
the planets speed up closer to the sun and slow down farther away. The planets "sweep out equal areas in equal times"
|
|
What is Kepler's third law of planetary motion? (the law that relates to orbital distances to orbital periods)
|
there is a precise mathematical relationship between the length of time it takes for the planet to orbit the sun and the average distance of the planet from the sun
|
|
How did Galileo use his observations of mountains on the moon to support the Copernican model?
|
the old assumption was that the moon must be a perfectly smooth body, because it is perfect. If the moon is not perfectly smooth, it is covered in craters and mountains--this challenges the assumption that the moon is a fundamentally different sort of thing that may be found on Earth.
|
|
How did Galileo use his observations of satellites orbiting Jupiter to support the Copernican model?
|
on the Greek/Medieval model, all heavenly bodies orbit the Earth. If Jupiter has moons, they are a counter-example to this principle. But then this opens up the conceptual possibility that Earth orbits the sun.
|
|
What is Newton's law of universal gravitation
|
a force that is proportion to the product of their masses, and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. So, if objects are more massive, their gravitational attraction is stronger, and if you increase the distance between objects, the gravitational attraction get…
|
|
What did Newton find troubling about his law of gravity?
|
He regarded it as an “occult power”, an unintelligible force. Newton preferred “mechanistic” explanations
|
|
How is the physics of fallings bodies related to the physics of orbiting in Newtonian physics?
|
An object in orbit around the Earth, like the moon, is continually falling toward the earth, just like the apple falling from a tree. But its horizontal velocity is so great that it keeps missing the earth.
|
|
Atomism
|
is the view that matter is fundamentally composed of tiny, indivisible particles that move through empty space
|
|
Determinism
|
the view that the state of a physical system at a given moment in time, together with all the forces acting on the system, fixes the state of the system at the next moment in time
|
|
Is determinism a metaphysical or an epistemological thesis?
|
Metaphysical thesis; a view about the nature of change in the physical world
|
|
Why would anyone think that determinism is true?
|
because of the spectacular success of Newtonian mechanics.
|
|
Reductionism
|
he view that all physical and chemical phenomena could be explained in terms of the motions of particles governed by deterministic laws
|
|
Give an example of a reductionist approach to understanding some physical phenomenon
|
The reductionistic mode of explanation is to look at what’s going on with the behavior of the smallest parts of these substances
|
|
Mechanism
|
the view that teleological (goal-directed) principles do not play any role in explaining the motions of physical systems
|
|
What is a mechanistic explanation?
|
Epistemological thesis—It requires that explanations be informative and intelligible, and not appeal to mysterious hidden powers or teleological “essences”
|
|
Natural theology
|
involves knowledge of God’s will that is acquired by studying “God’s handiwork”—the whole of creation
|
|
Revealed theology
|
involves knowledge of God’s will that is revealed to us by a divine act
|
|
What does "nature is a text" mean
|
Everything in nature is a product made by God. By studying nature we can “decode” the rules that he used to create the world, and the purposes those rules serve. By studying nature we can come to know the mind of God and our place in the order of creation
|
|
What does it mean to say that I'm indirectly perceiving the cup in front of me?
|
i am immediately aware of a mental representation of the cup
|
|
What is color realism? use an example of the red cup to explain
|
The color of the cup is an objective property of the cup which exists independently of conscious perceivers. This view is sometimes called color “objectivism”
|
|
Primary qualities
|
exist independent of the observer, convey facts and exist in the thing itself
|
|
Secondary qualities
|
are properties that induce sensations in the observer
|
|
Color realism
|
the color of the cup is an objective property of the cup which exists independently of conscious perceivers.
sometimes called color objectivism
|
|
Color subjectivism
|
the cup itself is not colored. color is a property of the mental states of perceiving subjects.
sometimes called color internalism
|
|
Color relationism
|
the color of the cup is a relational property of an observer within some environmental context
|
|
Physicalist view of color
|
identity colors with physical properties, cannot account for similarity relations among the colors or the distinction between the unique and the binary hues
|
|
Dispositional view of color
|
identify an object having a certain color with its being such that it would produce perceptions of certain kinds in perceivers of a certain kind under specified conditions
|
|
Primitivist view of color
|
color properties are basic features of the world that can't be reduced to anything more fundamental.
|
|
What is color subjectivism?
|
our perception of an object or quality is constant even though the sensory stimulus hitting our eyes may radically change
|
|
Sensation
|
occurs when sensory organs absorb energy from a physical stimulus in the environment.
|
|
Perception
|
brain organizes sensory information and translates/interprets it into something meaningful.
|
PHIL 201: EXAM 2