Philosophical Issues: More
Background
• A good starting point for our discussion of
relevant, overriding philosophical issues is
to define EPISTEMOLOGY.
• -- The branch of philosophy which deals
with theories of knowledge or ways of
explaining how we understand concepts
about nature and human behavior.
• The work of Jean Piaget.
A Priori vs. Posteriori
Knowledge
• A Priori knowledge is derived from what is
prior or comes before.
• This type of knowledge does not come from
experience; we are born with it.
• Like lower animal, humans also posses an
array of instincts which help us survive and
even thrive as we learn to interact with our
world.
• Some argue that our understanding of good
and evil constitutes a priori knowledge.
Posteriori Knowledge
• By contrast, Posteriori Knowledge is
derived from what comes later via
experience with our world.
• In other words, this is knowledge acquired
through experiential learning.
• To be sure, this is a contention which
enjoys enormous support among
psychologists.
Other Opposing Concepts
• Nativism versus Empiricism
• Instinct versus Learning
Is Truth Knowable?
• How can we be sure a given theory or
explanation is true?
• Authority – it’s true because an
authoritative source or person says so.
• Empiricism – the use of observable facts
to confirm or deny truth. Seeing is
believing!
• Rationalism – we posses, a priori, the
organizing mental capabilities to know
truth. We are born with the capacity to
reason and this is how we can come to
know truth.
How we Know truth…
• Aestheticism – beauty always
accompanies truth. Truth is aesthetically
pleasing.
• Pragmatism – we can only know truths
which can be subject to test.
• Skepticism – we start by questioning any
proposed truth and never let go of our
doubts completely.
Mixing Science and
Epistemology
• Ostensibly science combines rational,
empirical, pragmatic, and aesthetic
dimension of Epistemology.
• Despite debates dating back to ancient
Greek philosophers, we have entered the
21st century not having resolved many
long-standing controversies regarding
proper philosophy of science and research
methodology.
Attributing Cause
Causality remains a central question
for psychologists.
Aristotle proposed four levels of causation:
1. Material Cause
2. Efficient Cause
3. Formal Cause
4. Final Cause
Four Levels of Causation
• The Material Cause of an event is the physical
substrate through which the objects affect each other.
The physical substrate must be appropriate for the
action to take place.
• The Efficient Cause is that which immediately sets an
object in motion.
• The Formal Cause is the shape of the objects in the
action. The functional or causal properties of an object
depend on its shape.
• The Final Cause is the end or purpose for which an
event occurred.
Final Cause and Teleology
• Teleology refers to purpose or design
and is an integral component of Final
Cause.
• Intrinsic teleology suggests that design,
order, and purpose are imminent in
nature, while
• Extrinsic teleology is the belief that any
design in nature reflects an external
designer.
Cause and Psychology
• David Hume suggests that cause does
not exist in the world and that the word
“cause” is only descriptive of the behavior
of two objects interacting with one
another.
• Cause provides additional difficulties;
causation is complex, and it may not be
possible to cleanly derive a single cause
for an event.
Free Will and Determinism
• The debate surrounding free will and
determinism is one of the oldest in
psychology, and there are several influential
psychologists on each side.
• Free will is the doctrine that human beings
make choices that are, to some degree,
independent of the antecedent conditions.
Even though there exist several physical,
genetic, biological, psychological, and
cultural limits to human behavior, we may
be able to transcend these influences via
free will.
Free Will and Determinism
• Proponents of free will provide several
arguments for their position.
• Free will is necessary to adequately explain human
experience.
• Saying “I believe in determinism” implies a logical
contradiction.
• Determinism makes a mess of morality by
eliminating responsibility.
• True randomness or indeterminism may exist.
Psychological Determinism
• Psychological determinism states that
there are causes, both known and
unknown, for every behavior or
experience. Determinists argue their case
in numerous ways.
• Historically, deterministic accounts are
gaining ground and are explaining areas
of psychology once believed to be driven
by free will.
Psychological Determinism
• Free will makes a mess of morality
because a belief in free will can justify
excessive punishment of someone who
has misused his or her free will.
• Determinists argue that our world is
predictable in part because causes provide
us with reasonable expectancies as to
possible outcomes.
Mind vs. Body
• The mind-body problem is related to the
branch of philosophy called ontology, the
study of the nature and relations of being
and existence. What is the relationship
between the subjective mind and the
physical brain?
• Possible relationships:
• monisms,
• dualisms, or
• pluralisms
Mind vs. Body
• Monistic positions maintain that
everything is related to everything else in
an intimate way as one fundamental
substance or unit.
• Materialism is the belief that mind and
brain are one thing, and that is matter.
• Idealism suggests that mind and the
mental world are fundamental and that
matter is not verifiable outside of
experience.
Mind vs. Body
• Double-aspect monism maintains that the
different languages humans use for mental
states and brain states are only different
languages and not references to different sides
of the same coin.
• Epiphenomenalism suggests that mental
states exist but that mental states are only the
overflow or byproduct of brain activity.
• Dualism asserts that the mental and the
physical are two qualitatively different orders of
reality.
Mind vs. Body
• Interactionism is the common sense position
that the mind and the body are fundamentally
different but interact with each other.
Interactionists have had difficulty specifying the
mode of interaction.
• Psychophysical parallelism solves the
problem faced by the interactionists by
eliminating the interaction. Mind and body
coexist in a beautiful preestablished harmony as
two clocks, independent of each other yet
perfectly synchronized.
Psychogeny
• Psychogeny is the study of the origin of
consciousness or experience (mind or psyche).
• There are two primary theories of psychogeny:
• Identity theory maintains that psyche is instilled
into the biology of the organism at one point in
time and that the psyche instilled at that point
remains identical throughout the lifespan.
Psychogeny
• Problems with Identity Theory:
• (1) Although most contemporary identity
theorists accept conception as the time of
infusion, the time of the arrival of the psyche is
a matter of historical debate.
• (2) After fertilization, a blastocyst can divide into
two bodies and presumably two psyches. When
did the second psyche arrive? How many were
present at conception?
• (3) How is a conscious adult identical to a
fertilized egg?
Psychogeny
• The other theory, psychogenic emergentism,
suggests that the psyche develops as the body or the
neurological substrate develops.
• Psyche can grow and decline with age.
• Emergentists do not agree on a time at which psyche
emerges.
• Humans feel like we are the same people we were at
age 5; have we changed as much as emergentists
suggest that we change?
• How do we value individuals who are developing psyche
at an atypical rate or who are declining with age?
The Greek Philosophers
• The Greek philosophers, primarily
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, are
commonly considered the intellectual
foundation of Western Civilization (450300 b.c.)
• Originators of many “ideas”, including
medicine, history, geometry, astronomy,
democracy, the “modern military”, the
scientific method, logic, and philosophy.
Before Socrates
According to Early Greeks, the ultimate cause of
everything was to be found somewhere in
nature.
Thales – proposed the idea that all things are
made from basic elemental, physical substances,
e.g., water.
Heraclitus – proposed idea that everything is
changing, thus perception can be deceiving. (the
basic problem with empirical knowledge)
.
Before Socrates
Pythagoras – the ultimate explanations were to be
found in numbers
Pythagoras was the first scientist to suggest that
the world was a sphere, not flat.
Democritus – all explanations were to be found in
nature.
Contended nature was made up of tiny particles
(atoms) constantly in motion.
Provided the first recorded explanation of
sensation --- immediate particles contact
Before Socrates (2)
• Hippocrates – “father of medicine” proposed natural
causes of mental and physical disorders, such as
heredity, organ damage, and imbalance of fluids.
(namesake of “Hippocratic Oath”)
Borrowed four basic elements from Empedocles
earth, air, fire, and water
Proposed a theory of humors within the body to
account for four basic human temperaments:
Before Socrates (3)
Blood = sanguine (cheerful) temperament
Yellow bile = choleric (fiery) temperament
Phlegm = phlegmatic (slow) Temperament
Black bile = melancholic (sad) temperament
According to Hippocrates, psychological
problems are caused by humors that are out of
balance
FIVE FACTOR THEORY OF
PERSONALITY
“The Big Five”
• Neuroticism (N3)
Depression: a tendency to experience dysphoric
effect (sadness, helplessness & guilt).
• Extraversion (E2)
Gregariousness: a preference for companionship
and social stimulation.
FIVE FACTOR THEORY OF
PERSONALITY
“The Big Five”
• Openness to Experience (O4)
Action: a need for variety, novelty & change.
• Agreeableness (A4)
Compliance: a willingness to defer to others
during interpersonal conflict.
FIVE FACTOR THEORY OF
PERSONALITY
“The Big Five”
• Conscientiousness (C4)
Achievement striving: a strong sense of
purpose and high aspiration levels.
“Western Civilization”
• Socrates taught Plato. Plato taught
Aristotle. Aristotle taught Alexander the
Great. Alexander the Great builds Greek
Empire by the age of thirty. This is the
origins of modern philosophy, modern
science, and the modern military, all in the
years 400-300 b.c.
“Western Civilization”
• Greek Empire (300-100 BC) is the
foundation of Roman Empire (100 BC to
400 AD). The revival of Greek knowledge
is also the root of the Renaissance (14501600 AD), which ends the “Dark Ages”
and “Middle Ages” (400-1450 AD).