PSYC104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Reductionism, Tabula Rasa, Renaissance Humanism
8 May 2018
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PSYC104 Research Design Lecture
Week 3 – Philosophical Basis
Philosophical foundations of scientific method in psychology
• Philosophy is necessary to constructively critique and evaluate theories and their methods of
investigation
• All knowledge arises in a social context (zeitgeist) – for an informed and sophisticated understanding
of psychology you need to know the ideas and events that have influenced its development
Some current questions
• What is it to be human?
• The existence of and relationship between the mind and the body
• Knowledge and how to obtain it (rationalism and empiricism)
• Emotion and its role in human existence
Renaissance Humanism (1400-1600 CE)
• Period when social and intellectual focus turned onto human beings and human activities
• Four themes are prominent
o Individualism
o Personal religion
o Interest in the past
o Anti-Aristotlelianism
Principles of Newtonian Science
• God created but does not micromanage
• The material world is governed by natural laws
• He rejected Aristotle’s final cause concept
• Accepted Occam’s Razor
• Knowledge is imperfect because of limitations of human beings
• Classification (naming) is not explanation
Francis Bacon (1561-1626 CE)
• Stressed the observation of events
• Desired not theories but only induction
• Recognized only empirical observation as the ultimate authority in matters scientific
• Scientific endeavours should benefit society
Significance of the Period of the Beginnings of modern Science for Western Psychology
• The challenge to dogma and in particular, Aristotle, was the beginning of a return to active engagement
with the world as the focus of speculation and open inquiry, and ultimately onto human beings and
their makeup
• Public funds for public good (Bacon)
Rationalism – Descartes (1596-1650 CE)
• Invented analytic geometry
• Wanted to establish human knowledge on the same certain basis as the truths of mathematics
• Method consisted of four rules
o Avoid all prejudgment; all is up for examination
o Divide problems into as many parts as might be required to obtain a solution
o Analyse the parts in an orderly fashion; start with the simplest and work toward the most
difficult
o Be extremely thorough so as to leave no aspect unexamined
• I think, therefore I am
• Emphasised the dominance of logical thought processes in the quest for knowledge
• Asserted that humans and animals possessed similar methods of responding to the environment
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