«Zac Messer What Is Empiricism? Empiricism is a view about where all knowledge comes from. Empiricism is not exclusive to scientific ...» Document abstract
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humanities/philosophy
school essay
date published
07/12/2007
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SummaryEmpiricism is a view about where all knowledge comes from. Empiricism is not exclusive to scientific knowledge, but rather knowledge as a whole. This includes knowledge of everyday life. Empiricism states that science and everyday thinking have the same basic principles, and science is just better organized than everyday thinking. Empiricism is the view that all knowledge comes from experience. The slogan of empiricism is that “The only source of real knowledge about the world is experience.”(pg. 8). Empiricists do not think that experiencing something automatically gives a person knowledge. They realize and admit that logic and reasoning are necessary to understand things, but to them experience is completely necessary for us to understand how we learn about the world. Empiricism includes the ideas of logical positivism (which was later changed to logical empiricism). This view is based on logic, the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of mathematics. Empiricism also includes the views of sensationalism. Sensationalism is considered to be one of the classical form of empiricism and deals with idea of how the mind functions. “Sensations appear in the mind and is all that it has access to.” (pg. 19). This states that all of our experiences and thus all knowledge is based purely on our sensations. This idea is not as generally held by philosophers today. Phenomenalism is another part of empiricism that I will explain more fully later.
« Plato, originating Rationalism.. Aristotle, perfecting Rationalism with Empiricism.. Aristotle, then, was the father of Rationalism's handmaiden, empiricism. ...» Document abstract
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Language : english
humanities/philosophy
presentation
date published
14/07/2008
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SummaryAncient and primitive cultures demonstrate the use of myth as an epistemological basis, but historically they have been replaced by Rationalism. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, however, the insufficiency of reason for the task we give it has become more and more evident, until at last we have been forced to severely limit the truths we believe it can attain. In fact, in contemporary society we have descended into an age of irrationalism—the inevitable result of Rationalism—an age of absolute skepticism, and once again our lost and unguided masses are basing their lifestyles upon a collection of myths—myths this time originated by popular culture. But modern society is intensely aware of the makers of these myths—of the actors and artists and musicians who create the myths—and by a curious act of transference, we have placed the normative authority of the myths on their makers, inventing the cult of celebrity.
Table of Contents
- Introduction.
- Myth in history and primitive cultures.
- The universality of myth.
- Myth replaced by Rationalism.
- Socrates, doubting myth.
- Plato, originating Rationalism.
- Aristotle, perfecting Rationalism with Empiricism.
- The downfall of Rationalism.
- Spinoza's philosophy destroying the public opinion in favor of Rationalism.
- Voltaire destroying the aesthetic desirability of Rationalism.
- The reintroduction of myth.
- Myth in popular culture, Examples.
- Showing the unpleasant distinction.
- Conclusion.
« The rationalist epistemology employed by Descartes and Leibniz gives way to the empiricism of Berkeley in his attempt to ground abstract epistemological claims ...» Document abstract
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5 word format
Language : english
humanities/philosophy
term papers
date published
03/10/2007
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SummaryThe philosophical efforts of the Enlightenment thinkers were based on the relationship between metaphysics and epistemology. Descartes, Leibniz and Berkeley progress in their understandings of being by refining the means by which they are able to make justified claims to knowledge. In a conversation framed around Berkeley’s “to be is to be perceived,” one could phrase the Cartesian rational dualism as ‘to be is to apperceive,’ and the Leibnizian rational idealism as ‘to be is to perceive.’ These three formulations typify each philosopher’s combination of metaphysics and epistemology while demonstrating how each wrote in response to the connected historical discourse in which they participated. The rationalist epistemology employed by Descartes and Leibniz gives way to the empiricism of Berkeley in his attempt to ground abstract epistemological claims in actual experience.
Table of Contents
- The philosophical efforts of the Enlightenment thinkers were based on the relationship between metaphysics and epistemology.
- Berkeley's metaphysical idealism denies the existence of material substances.
- Descartes initially establishes the essence of material things from their potential existence in our clear and distinct mathematical ideas
- While both philosophers use the interaction of body and idea to explicate their greater projects, the meaning of ‘idea' itself differs in the Cartesian and Berkeleyan epistemologies
- Both Descartes and Berkeley set out upon their philosophical adventures with the intention of proving the existence of God to a skeptical audience
- Berkeley's criticism of rationalism's abstract tendency is directed at Leibniz' rational idealism
- Humans mark that point along the monadological continuum in which perception includes self-perception; at the limit of distinctness in perceiving, God's self-consciousness involves perception of the whole
- If monads are ever-subjective, how does body exist even as an object to be perceived?
- The philosophies of the Enlightenment period attempted to distinguish the metaphysical truths of the universe by devising various epistemological methods
« the self is not a concrete image there is no basis for experience of the self- it is itself an abstract notion according to the limits of Berkeleyan empiricism ...» Document abstract
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3 word format
Language : english
humanities/philosophy
school essay
date published
28/10/2007
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level : Advanced
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SummaryTaking their cue from the scientific philosophy of Francis Bacon, the thinkers of the Enlightenment assumed that the mind acted as a mirror, simply reflecting images of outward objects onto the subjective self. Immanuel Kant proposed a reorientation in which the relation between subject and object was recognized as necessarily interactive; Kant suggested that “objects must conform to our cognition (638a)” of them. Independent of experiencing objects themselves, all we are able to think about them is that which the mind itself “puts into them (638b).” The preconditions laid down by consciousness-in-general mark the limits of our rational understanding of reality. Kant’s philosophy establishes the distinction between the appearance of an object, as we experience it, and the thing itself. This distinction is framed within the greater task of the Critique of Pure Reason, of investigating whether metaphysics can be secured as a science. The end of metaphysics is to cognize what Kant calls the unconditioned. If our cognizing about a thing reaches only as far as the appearance of a thing, and not to the thing itself, then our experience cannot be of the unconditioned. If our faculty of representing things conditions the appearances that compose our experience of things, then knowledge of metaphysics- an attempt “to get beyond the boundaries of all possible experience (639b)”- is beyond the grasp of our representational minds.
Table of Contents
- The Copernican revolution in science ocurred when the motion of the stars was investigated in relation to the motion of the observer.
- An a priori judgement is one that is made independent of experience and formulates knowledge that is both universal and necessary.
- Kant's doctrine of the 'Transcendental Aesthetic' seeks to understand the means by which objects of outer sensation conform to inner sense.
- Kantian Reflections on Berkeley's Critique of Abstract Ideas
- Kant would interpret the dilemma of Berkeleyan epistemology in terms of his Copernican revolution of philosophy.
- With his conception of intuitive ideas, Kant's understanding augments Berkeley's denial of non-empirical ideas.
- The lack of such structures of thought in Berkeley's epistemology leaves him unprepared to deal with the metaphysical principles that Kant, too, seeks and ultimately deems unknowable.
« and he devoted his life to identifying these “fastest-occurring” elementary processes (9). Titchener, influenced also by British empiricism, wished to ...» Document abstract
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Language : english
psychology
presentation
date published
19/10/2007
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level : Advanced
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SummaryWilhelm Wundt, considered the founder of psychology primarily for his text book and laboratory, contributed one more lesser-known piece to the evolution of the science: reaction-time. Reaction-time in and of itself is a simple concept: it is the “interval elapsing between the mental receiving of a sense-impression and the execution of a movement in response to that impression” (Titchener, “Simple”). Yet the greater magnitude of his findings, maybe not even obvious to him at the time, reverberated down through the competing schools, securing a prominent role in the synthesis of these contradictory views called modern psychology. And it did this through structuralism. Edward Titchener, an Englishman studying under Wundt, shared his teacher’s belief that “the goal of psychology was to identify the elements of the mind and determine how they combine with one another” (Gray 10). Wundt studied this through reaction-time, noting how the time needed to complete a task increased with increased complexity. Wundt concluded that “complex mental processes can be understood as sequences of more elementary processes,” and he devoted his life to identifying these “fastest-occurring” elementary processes (9). Titchener, influenced also by British empiricism, wished to define the “structure of the mind through analyzing conscious experiences” (10). His desire to delve deeper than Wundt, to find the absolute root of mental processes and the mind itself, the very elements of thought, relied heavily on the technique of introspection. Wundt opposed this technique of “inward looking,” this self-examination of conscious experience, as unscientific (10). However, Titchener regarded introspection as the essential core of the structural view of the mind and of the mind itself, and the structuralists trained individuals to objectively and scientifically separate their sensory experiences into elements according to four basic dimensions: quality, intensity, duration and clarity.
Table of Contents
- Wilhelm Wundt, considered the founder of psychology primarily for his textbook and laboratory, contributed one more lesser-known piece to the evolution of the science
- This understanding of the structure of the mind based solely on analyzing its elementary parts annoyed William James, a Harvard professor who desired intellectualism over experimentalism.
- The transition from primitive psychological theorizing to the refined psychological perspectives of the modern age was indirect.
- Even Gestalt psychology suffered from faults.
- This use of introspection is, in many ways, valid
« considering science and language. It was essentially a new version of empiricism based on a theory of language. According the logical ...» Document abstract
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3 word format
Language : english
humanities/philosophy
presentation
date published
06/05/2008
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SummaryDescribe the logical positivist view of scientific theories. Explain at least one problem with the view, and assess whether it is a problem for all forms of logical positivism. Logical positivism, developed by the members of the Vienna Circle, was a new way of considering science and language. It was essentially a new version of empiricism based on a theory of language. According the logical positivism the goal of any scientific endeavor, and indeed of science itself, is to trace and forecast patterns, both in every day life and in more esoteric considerations. One way to sum up the logical positivist view is that “there is no alternative route to knowledge besides experience
Table of Contents
- This idea of experience-based knowledge is important and stands to be explained more thoroughly.
- Problems arose within the logical positivist paradigm, mostly related to their verification principle.
- I can feel that the water in my shower is hot, but I can't feel the property of hotness itself, per se.
- A second proposal to solve the distinction between observational and theoretical terms was the instrumentation criterion.
« Hegel places spirit above nature: criticizing Kant's rationalism as well as British empiricism, he seeks to combine both methods to achieve a balanced theory ...» Document abstract
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7 word format
Language : english
political science
book review
date published
29/11/2006
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level : Expert
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SummarySince the 18th century, the contrasted views of the state in the Anglo-Saxon world and in France diverge on the notion of public interest. Both movements of thought frequently oppose the vision of an aggregate of the particular interests of citizens to the general interest of the nation.
Hegel, in 1820, already stressed the difference between a social order governed by self-interest -civil society- and the universal political order of the state. However, he did not see these two forms of society as incompatible, but rather as a logical linking in the human social development through history. This complex relationship is described in Hegel’s principles of political philosophy Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts. In his view, these two forms of social system are correlated on two occasions: First, they are part of an evolution in human society, from family to the state. Second, once the state becomes the prevalent social order, it includes and therefore regulates civil society.
Analysing this double relationship implies to dissect both concepts, Civil Society and State, before depicting their twofold rapport, as well as their position in Hegel’s system of thought. This will finally lead to a critical evaluation of Hegel’s view of the universal state.
So as to understand Hegel’s scheme of reflection, however, it is first necessary to point out the method he adopts in his work. Published in 1817, the Encyclopaedia of Political Sciences is a concentration of Hegel’s theory. The Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts, a developed section of this work, presents the result of his reflection-rather than the process to achieve it- in the field of political philosophy.
Hegel, in 1820, already stressed the difference between a social order governed by self-interest -civil society- and the universal political order of the state. However, he did not see these two forms of society as incompatible, but rather as a logical linking in the human social development through history. This complex relationship is described in Hegel’s principles of political philosophy Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts. In his view, these two forms of social system are correlated on two occasions: First, they are part of an evolution in human society, from family to the state. Second, once the state becomes the prevalent social order, it includes and therefore regulates civil society.
Analysing this double relationship implies to dissect both concepts, Civil Society and State, before depicting their twofold rapport, as well as their position in Hegel’s system of thought. This will finally lead to a critical evaluation of Hegel’s view of the universal state.
So as to understand Hegel’s scheme of reflection, however, it is first necessary to point out the method he adopts in his work. Published in 1817, the Encyclopaedia of Political Sciences is a concentration of Hegel’s theory. The Grundlinien der Philosophie des Rechts, a developed section of this work, presents the result of his reflection-rather than the process to achieve it- in the field of political philosophy.
Table of Contents
- The methodological framework of Hegel's Philosophie des Rechts.
- The concepts of civil society and State.
- Civil society.
- The state.
- The twofold Relationship of civil society and State.
- Civil society: a transition towards the idea of the state.
- The integration of civil society into the State.
- Consequences.
- A theory of social relations.
- The impact on religion.
« familiar with both the Common and the Civil Law : " A civilian system differs from a common law system much as rationalism differs from empiricism or deduction ...» Document abstract
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5 word format
Language : english
European law
presentation
date published
08/03/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
requested 1 times
SummaryThe majority of legal authors divide the legal systems in the world into two mains groups : the common law on the one hand and the civil law on the other hand . The most interesting is that when you try to find definitions for those words, you often find the basic definition and then as a conclusion you are told to distinguish the two systems. For instance, we can look at the definitions given by Britannica Encyclopedia for those two notions. Civil law is defined as « a body of law developed from Roman law and used in continental Europe and most former colonies of European nations, including the province of Quebec and the U.S. state of Louisiana… The basis of law in civil-law jurisdictions is statute, not custom; civil law is thus to be distinguished from common law » . Then, common law is defined as « a body of law based on custom and general principles and that, embodied in case law, serves as precedent or is applied to situations not covered by statute. Common law has been administered in the courts of England since the Middle Ages; it is also found in the U.S. and in most of the British Commonwealth. It is distinguished from civil law » .
Since those two systems are both used in the European Union, it might be interesting to look at their differences concretely. So, here we will focus on the main differences between civil and common law as define above. We will concentrate our discussion on the civil and common law as used on the European continent. Rather than focusing on each differences which will lead us to a descriptive listing, we will adopt an evolutive approach. Thus, we will look at the historical background of each systems and how it has influence their actuals characteristics (I). Then, we will focus on the main difference between civil and common law, that is to say the legal thinking, notwithstanding the fact that they always have the same purpose : regulate and harmonize the human activity . (II)
Since those two systems are both used in the European Union, it might be interesting to look at their differences concretely. So, here we will focus on the main differences between civil and common law as define above. We will concentrate our discussion on the civil and common law as used on the European continent. Rather than focusing on each differences which will lead us to a descriptive listing, we will adopt an evolutive approach. Thus, we will look at the historical background of each systems and how it has influence their actuals characteristics (I). Then, we will focus on the main difference between civil and common law, that is to say the legal thinking, notwithstanding the fact that they always have the same purpose : regulate and harmonize the human activity . (II)
Table of Contents
- From a différent historical Background to
- Different légal Thinking
- From a différent légal thinking to the same goal
« to the author, a historical approach is the best way of approaching a study of literature since the historian "has some safeguards in his empiricism, and in a ...» Document abstract
$6.95
7 word format
Language : english
literature
book review
date published
17/05/2007
review : not yet assessed
level : Advanced
requested 4 times
SummaryOffering a precise and coherent definition of artistic movements has always been a tempting prospect for whoever seeks to make sense out of our historical and cultural background. One has to confess, that it is equally tempting to approach the Romantic period in an attempt to set fixed chronological boundaries and to attribute predefined literary themes and political interests to this extremely rich age in English literature. Indeed the names of Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Scott, Byron, Shelley and Keats are often associated with the Romantic Movement. Greatly influenced by Lord Byron’s writing, the romantic poet quickly became associated with the figure of a rebel or “sensitive individual who rejected worldliness, and even, literally, this vulgar material world for a better” (p 3); one could thus imagine that the Romantic Poet would also be a “political rebel”. However, Marilyn Butler immediately questions these clear-cut definitions and stereotypes. First, by pointing out to the fact that the use of the term “romantic” to define these artists is somewhat anachronistic since the writers themselves never really claimed to belong to an organised school or movement just as the definition of romanticism has always evolved throughout history. The author then reminds us that Romantics, whether in Germany, France or Britain, have not always supported revolutions and radicalism as one could have expected, and that romanticism was initially of a rather conservative nature. Realising that to be objective, it is necessary to look at romanticism from its earliest origins in the late 18th Century, Butler refuses to separate the authors from their historical and social context and reminds us that English Literature at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries needs to be considered as “product and part of social experience”. By placing these poets into their historical context, Butler refuses to provide a universal definition of romanticism thus pointing towards the unique character or specificity of English Romanticism.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Offering a precise and coherent definition of artistic movements
- The Arts in an Age of Revolution: 1769-1790
- Art for the people in the revolutionary decade: Blake, Gillray and Wordsworth
- The Rise of the Man of Letters: Coleridge
- Novels for the gentry: Austen and Scott
- The cult of the South: the Shelley circle, its creed and influence
- The war of intellectuals: from Wordsworth to Keats
- Romantic novel, Romantic prose.
- Conclusion: the question of romanticism in England
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