PSYC 305 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Occasionalism, Eric Fromm, Antithesis
8 May 2018
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PSYCHOLOGY 305
CHAPTER 6 - RATIONALISM
1
Feb 27 2018
Starting off rationalism - Where are we?
- Mechanical function of mind
- Passive process
- Information from our senses
- Associations from contiguity
- No free will
- Induction
• Empiricists: Behavior based on experience, memory, associations, and hedonism determine not only how a person thinks
and acts but also his or her morality.
• Rationalists: Cause of behaviors; reasons some acts or thoughts are more desirable than others.
Rationalism
Still debating Descartes.. Immaterial Mind ???
- This is goig to look at the other part of Desartes, e just looked at sesatios…
- Rationalism will look at the higher-level thought, the active mind
- They have a dualistic perspective more like Descartes but argue about how the mind and body work together
Baruch Spinoza
Nature of God
- Does’t agree ith Desartes that id, god ad ature ere part of differet etities, he elieed God, nature, and
mind were aspects of the same substance
- God, nature, and mind were inseparable.
- Pantheism: God was nature Pan-psychism: Mind is everywhere
Mind – Body issue
Double Aspectism: mind and body were two aspects of the same thing. (two sides of the same
coin)
Denial of Free Will
- Free will DOE“N’T EXI“T: god is nature nature is lawful thought and behavior are
lawful (deterministic –cause of everything)
- Our freedom is accepting how things are and that is where our choice lies.
Motivation and emotion
- Pleasure comes from clear ideas, conduie to the id’s surial (clarity of mind = pleasure)
- Rational thought brings us pleasure
- Self preservation - our mind wants to keep going on and survive, the way it goes on is through clear thought
- Eotio is ok but passio is’t ….
- Passion is a general upheaval not associated with a particular thought. It clouds your thinking etc. It gets unclear.
- passion should be harnessed by reason
- Passio is a eotioal ad sesor oerload ad it ill thro ou off… ou o’t use logi
- Emotion is linked to a particular thought. It helps clear your thoughts
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find more resources at oneclass.com
PSYCHOLOGY 305
CHAPTER 6 - RATIONALISM
2
Nicolas de Malebranche
Mind Body issue
- He suggests that God mediated mind – body interaction.
- When you want to perform a behavior, god helps you and puts the though in your mind
- Occasionalism
o When a person has a desire to move a part of the body, God is aware of this and
moves the body part. Anything you want to do gives god the oasio to help
you.
(Similar to Parallelism but there is Diving intervention)
March 1 2018
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz
- Ideas are nonmaterial and cannot be caused by material activity such as sense activity.
- Monads are what Is going to affect the mind. They are alive and have a consciousness.
- Ideas must be innate because we have monads
- Universe made up of infinite number of life units called monads
- There is nothing in the mind that is not first in the senses except the mind itself
Monads
- like living atoms, active and conscious
- monads differ in intelligence
- inert matter had monads incapable of anything but muddled thoughts
- monads seek to be actualized (entelechy) (*similarly to Aristotle, everything seeks its final purpose/entelechy)
- next to God, humans contain the monads with the highest level of thinking
- dominant monad (soul) determines the potential
- We huas hae a i of oads fro plats, aial ad god hiself ad that’s why thoughts are’t alas lear.
- monads cannot be influenced by anything external, can only become clearer with internal development (aka:
atualizig oe’s o potetial
Mind-body issue
- Psychophysical parallelism with a pre- established harmony.
o Monads are influencing the minds
o Monads and body are not communicating
o They happen at the same time but are not communicating.
o It’s set up this a eause God set it up this a pre-established harmony)
Conscious and unconscious perception
- There are perceptions which are conscious and those which are below consciousness/level of awareness (petites
perceptions).
- As petites perceptions accumulate, their force causes apperception (awareness).
- Law of Continuity (not to confuse with contiguity)
o There are no major leaps or gaps in ature… rather…
o All differences in nature are characterized by small gradations.
- Limen
o Threshold
o Boarder between the conscious and unconscious mind
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
This is goi(cid:374)g to look at the other part of des(cid:272)artes, (cid:449)e just looked at se(cid:374)satio(cid:374)s . Rationalism will look at the higher-level thought, the active mind. They have a dualistic perspective more like descartes but argue about how the mind and body work together. Does(cid:374)"t agree (cid:449)ith des(cid:272)artes that (cid:373)i(cid:374)d, god a(cid:374)d (cid:374)ature (cid:449)ere part of differe(cid:374)t e(cid:374)tities, he (cid:271)elie(cid:448)ed god, nature, and mind were aspects of the same substance. Pantheism: god was nature pan-psychism: mind is everywhere. Double aspectism: mind and body were two aspects of the same thing. (two sides of the same coin) Free will doe n"t exi t: god is nature nature is lawful thought and behavior are lawful (deterministic cause of everything) Our freedom is accepting how things are and that is where our choice lies. Pleasure comes from clear ideas, condu(cid:272)i(cid:448)e to the (cid:373)i(cid:374)d"s sur(cid:448)i(cid:448)al (clarity of mind = pleasure)
