Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Chapter 2 - Philosophical Issues A History of Psychology: Ideas and Context (4 th edition) D. Brett King, Wayne Viney, and William Douglas Woody This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law: any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network; preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images; any rental, lease, or lending of the program

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Epistemology A priori v. A posteriori knowledge Nativism v. empiricism Instinct v. learning

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Epistemology How do we know the truth? –Authority –Empiricism –Rationalism –Aetheticism –Pragmatism –Skepticism Role of emotions in truth?

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Models of Science Karl Popper –Scientific claims must be falsifiable. Thomas Kuhn –A community of scientists shares a paradigm describing the accepted beliefs, values, and methods of a science. Persistent anomalies lead to scientific revolution –Paul Feyerabend Anything goes if a method generates results

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Causality Aristotle’s four causes –Efficient – immediately preceding event –Material – physical substrate –Formal – shape –Final – purpose for which something exists Teleology – purpose –Intrinsic teleology argues that purpose imminent in nature –Extrinsic teleology argues that purpose comes from an external designer

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Causality David Hume argues that “cause” does not exist in the world. Causation is complex and difficult.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Free Will and Determinism Free Will – The belief that human beings make choices that are, to some degree, independent of the antecedent conditions. – Free will is necessary to adequately explain human experience. –Choosing to believe in determinism is inherently illogical. –Determinism makes a mess of morality by eliminating responsibility. –Determinism is challenged by quantum indeterminism.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Free Will and Determinism Psychological determinism – the belief that there are causes, both known and unknown, for every behavior or experience. –Deterministic accounts have become more effective through history. –Free will makes a mess of morality. –Belief in determinism provides us with grounds to expect some outcomes.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 The Mind-Body Problem What is the relationship between the subjective mind and the physical brain? Monistic positions argue that everything is related to one fundamental thing. –Materialism argues that everything is physical. –Idealism argues that everything is mental. –Double aspect monism argues that mind and brain are like two sides of the same coin. –Epiphenomenalism suggests that mental states are only the overflow or byproduct of brain activity.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 The Mind-Body Problem Dualistic positions argue that mental and physical are two qualitatively different orders of reality. –Interactionism argues that the mind and the body are fundamentally different but interact. How do they interact? –Psychophysical parallelism argues that mind and body coexist in a beautiful preestablished harmony without interaction. –Emergentism argues that mental processes are produced by brain processes but are qualitatively different.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 The Mind-Body Problem Pluralism – the belief that there are many real things that may interact in a variety of ways. –Ontological pluralism suggests mind and body exist along with other orders of reality. –Attributive pluralism maintains that there are many ways to describe an object Humans should be open to several valid levels of explanation.

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Psychogeny Psychogeny – the study of the origin of consciousness or experience (psuche). –Identity theory maintains that psuche is instilled into the organism at one point in time. Psuche remains identical throughout the lifespan. –Problems with Identity theory When does psuche arrive? After conception, the division to form twins suggests that psuche can happen after conception. How is a conscious adult identical to a fertilized egg?

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 Psychogeny Psychogenic Emergentism suggests that psuche develops as the neurology develops. Problems with Psychogenic Emergentism –Emergentists do not agree on a time at which psuche emerges. –We feel like we are the same people we were at age 5. –How do we value individuals who develop slowly or are in decline?

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008 The Problem of Explanation Explanations by analogies risk overstating similarities. Models as explanations may apply only in a limited fashion to what we wish to explain. Numerical analyses can describe and predict, but explanation is limited. Neurological and physiological explanations can provide input on the physiological processes, but can they explain psychological phenomena?