Empiricism Part I College of the Redwoods Home经验主义的一部分我的红木家学院.pptxVIP

Empiricism Part I John Locke (1632-1704 CE) George Berkeley (1685-1783 CE) Aristotle Locke’s Method Ockham’s (or Occam’s) Razor. Principle of parsimony, economy, succinctness: “What can be done in fewer [terms] is done in vain with more.” Given competing hypotheses, the hypothesis with the fewest assumptions that adequately explains should be selected. Oh my word, I’ve found a $20 bill on the ground: God must be rewarding me for good behavior OR I must have good karma. The TV show Jackass must be secretly filming me, and they placed the bill in my path hoping I’ll reach down to pick it up just as they yank an invisible string and pull the bill out of my reach. Someone must have dropped it, and I found it. Ockham’s Razor Rationalism What assumptions must one accept for Plato’s Forms and the rationalists’ “innate ideas” to be valid? Descartes’ pineal gland. Spinoza’s immanent God. Leibniz’s coherence rooted in an omni-everything, always-perceiving God. Starting Point All knowledge is a posteriori. Born as “blank slate” or “tabula rasa.” Experience “writes” on the blank slate, creating knowledge. Ideas: Conceptualized Experiences Simple Ideas Cannot be broken down into component parts. Solidity. Yellow. Mass. Shape. Motion. Usually come in through one sense (but some things, like motion, may be seen and felt) Complex Ideas Compounds of simple ideas. A man, an army, beauty, gratitude, the universe. Ideas of Relations. Smaller, taller, anterior. Abstractions/Generalizations. Blueness, fatness, friendliness. The Stuff of Thought Secondary Qualities Characteristics not inherent to the object but power of objects to produce sensations in observer. Primary Qualities Characteristics that inhere in material bodies. Characteristics cause our awareness. Qualities that can be measured. Na?ve Realism vs. Cartesian Realism vs. Representative Realism Representative Realism There is a world “out there.” The mind experiences a “representation” of this world but not the world