DANCEST 805 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Reductionism, Tabula Rasa, Auguste Comte
Document Summary
Scientific revolution (17th century) zeitgeist: mechanistic view on universe. Cartesian dualism = universe + all matter machine, can be studied by humans. Mechanistic view = universe can be understood as machine. Reductionism = phenomena on one level (e. g. complex ideas) can be explained by phenomena on other level (e. g. simple ideas) 1596-1650 ren descartes first to apply mechanistic view to human mind + value independent thinking sceptical method: philosophical questioning of everything to find basic truth (= ideas: rationalism = knowledge obtained by means of reasoning. Processes all functions despite thought reflex-action theory = precursor modern bahvioral stimulus-response (s-r) psychology eliciting involuntary (automatic/reflexive) response because of external stimulus. Physical-psychological duality (mutual interaction) interacts at pineal gland (only unitary structure brain) Consequences: redirected abstract theological concept soul scientific study subjective metaphysical analysis objective observation + experimentation. Helped free scientific inquiry from old ideas. 1588-1679 thomas hobbes relationship human nature + society (human innately evil)
