Philosophical Empiricism Knowledge Through the Senses

Empiricism is the philosophical stance according to which the senses are the ultimate source of human knowledge. It stands in contrast to  rationalism, according to which reason is the ultimate source of knowledge.  In Western philosophy, empiricism boasts a long and distinguished list of followers; it became particularly popular during the 1600s and 1700s. Some of the most important  British empiricists  of that time included  John Locke and David Hume. Empiricists Maintain That Experience Leads to Understanding Empiricists claim that all ideas that a mind can entertain have been formed through some experience or – to use a slightly more technical term – through some impression. Here is how David Hume expressed this creed: it must be some one impression that gives rise to every real idea (A Treatise of Human Nature, Book I, Section IV, Ch. vi). Indeed – Hume continues in Book II – all our ideas or more feeble perceptions are copies of our impressions or more lively ones.Empiricists support their philosophy by describing situations in which a person’s lack of experience precludes her from full understanding. Consider pineapples, a favorite example among early modern writers. How can you explain the flavor of a pineapple to someone who has never tasted one? Here is what John Locke says about pineapples in his Essay:If you doubt this, see whether you can, by words, give anyone who has never tasted pineapple an idea of the taste of that fruit. He may approach a grasp of it by being told of its resemblance to other tastes of which he already has the ideas in his memory, imprinted there by things he has taken into his mouth; but this isn’t giving him that idea by a definition, but merely raising up in him other simple ideas that will still be very different from the true taste of pineapple. (An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Book III, Chapter IV)There are of course countless cases analogous to the one cited by Locke. They are typically exemplified by claims such as: You can’t understand what it feels like †¦ Thus, if you never gave birth, you don’t know what it feels like; if you never dined at the famous Spanish restaurant El Bulli, you don’t know what it was like; and so on. Limits of Empiricism There are many limits to empiricism and many objections to the idea that experience can make it possible for us to adequately understand the full breadth of human experience. One such objection concerns the process of abstraction through which ideas are supposed to be formed from impressions. For instance, consider the idea of a triangle. Presumably, an average person will have seen plenty of triangles, of all sorts of types, sizes, colors, materials †¦ But until we have an idea of a triangle in our minds, how do we recognize that a three-sided figure is, in fact, a triangle?Empiricists will typically reply that the process of abstraction embeds a loss of information: impressions are vivid, while ideas are faint memories of reflections. If we were to consider each impression on its own, we would see that no two of them are alike; but when we remember  multiple impressions of triangles, we will understand that they are all three-sided objects.While it may be possible to empirically grasp a concrete idea like triangle or house, however, abstract concepts are much more complex. One example of such an abstract concept is the idea of love: is it specific to positional qualities such as gender, sex, age, upbringing, or social status, or is there really one abstract idea of love?   Another abstract concept that is difficult to describe from the empirical perspective is the idea of the self.  Which sort of impression could ever teach us such an idea? For Descartes, indeed, the self is an innate idea, one that is found within a person independently of any specific experience: rather, the very possibility of having an impression depends on a subject’s possessing an idea of the self. Analogously, Kant centered his philosophy on the idea of the self, which is a priori according to the terminology he introduced. So, what is the empiricist account of the self? Probably the most fascinating and effective reply comes, once again, from Hume. Here is what he wrote about the self in the Treatise (Book I, Section IV, Ch. vi):For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe any thing but the perception. When my perceptions are removed for any time, as by sound sleep, so long am I insensible of myself, and may truly be said not to exist. And were all my perceptions removed by death, and could I neither think, nor feel, nor see, nor love, nor hate, after the dissolution of my body, I should be entirely annihilated, nor do I conceive what is further requisite to make me a perfect nonentity. If any one, upon serious and unprejudiced reflection, thinks he has a different notion of himself, I must confess I can reason no longer with him. All I can allow him is, that he may be in the right as well as I, and that we are essentially different in this particular. He may, perhaps, perceive something simple and continued, which he calls himself; though I am certain there is no such principle in me. Whether Hume was right or not is beyond the point. What matters is that the empiricist account of the self is, typically, one that tries to do away with the unity of the self. In other words, the idea  that there is ​one thing that survives throughout our whole life is an illusion.

Family History And Problem From California Family And...

Family History and Problem A social worker from California Family and Children Services received a referral by Judge Cummins concerning a custody battle over Eloise Anderson, age 7. The presenting problem is that Rowena Jeffers and her brother Jeremiah are concerned that Eloise is not receiving proper parental guidance and support living with her paternal grandfather, Elliot Anderson. The Jeffers have called a court hearing and Judge Cummins has ordered a psychological evaluation for Eloise. Both families love Eloise and want what is best for her, but racial differences are what keeps this battle going (Costner Binder, 2014). According to Rowena Jeffers, Elliot Anderson’s wife Carol died in a car accident, leaving him to raise his granddaughter on his own. Carol was the primary caregiver for Eloise, creating daily routines for Eloise. Her death has left Mr. Anderson to continue these routines and become the primary caregiver for his granddaughter. Judge Cummins referred the s ocial worker to the Anderson family because Mr. Anderson informed the judge that Eloise’s behavior had changed since the psychological evaluations (Costner Binder, 2014). The social worker made a home visit to speak with Elliot and his granddaughter and she informed Mr. Anderson she was there to visit with Eloise concerning the change in behavior after Eloise started undergoing a psychological evaluation. Mr. Anderson was reluctant but allowed the worker in because he was worriedShow MoreRelatedEssay about Safe Surrendered Baby Law1319 Words   |  6 Pagesquestions asked (California Department of Social Services, 2007). A baby can be safely surrendered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. An identity bracelet is given to the baby so that if the parents decide to keep the baby, they have up to 14 days to change their mind (Santa Clara Community, 2011) Safe surrender sites display a blue and white sign and are typically at fire stations and hospitals. 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Monsters Are Real Donnie Darko free essay sample

DarkoIn storytelling, monsters are used to express the fears and worries of humans. They allow us to discover our values by questioning our morals through imagination and illusion. In both Donnie Darko and Pan’s Labyrinth illustrating real-life monsters Captain Videl and Jim Cunningham enhances our fear of monsters. These villains symbolize the vulnerability we feel as we identify ourselves with the victims of the attack. We can relate each example of monsters to an evolution of our fears throughout our lives. The fear we have of monsters stems from the idea that our moral imaginations shape the danger inside these beastly beings. As children, our vulnerability came from our fears of losing security. The monsters hiding under our beds taunted us with the threat that we’d be eaten and would never see our parents or that our most valued possession would be taken from us. This juvenile fear is illustrated in Pan’s Labyrinth through Captain Videl. We will write a custom essay sample on Monsters Are Real Donnie Darko or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He encompasses the threats we felt as children by being controlling and dominating, as he manipulates Pan and she loses her innocence. As we mature and the limits of our moral boundaries widen, the term â€Å"monster† evolves into something more complex. As we enter into adolescence, and later into adulthood, our fears become something less to do with security and more to do with a threat to our happiness. Our moral imagination evokes fears of defeat and failure, a fear that we formulate in ourselves. As we grow older, we also fear the world and others that we cannot control. In Donnie Darko, Jim Cunningham, embodies our fears of a predator. He is the real-life monster we fear everyday with his complex, dark and twisted secrets. Ultimately, both Donnie Darko and Pan’s Labyrinth effectively embody our illusions of fear from childhood to adulthood.

Philosophy Of Jeremy Bentham Essays - Ethics, Philosophy

Philosophy of Jeremy Bentham Over time, the actions of mankind have been the victim of two vague labels, right and wrong. The criteria for these labels are not clearly defined, but they still seem to be the standard by which the actions of man are judged. There are some people that abide by a deontological view when it comes to judging the nature of actions; the deontological view holds that it is a person's intention that makes an action right or wrong. On the other hand there is the teleological view which holds that it is the result of an action is what makes that act right or wrong. In this essay I will be dealing with utilitarianism, a philosophical principle that holds a teleological view when it comes the nature of actions. To solely discuss utilitarianism is much too broad of topic and must be broken down, so I will discuss specifically quantitative utilitarianism as presented by Jeremy Bentham. In this essay I will present the argument of Bentham supporting his respective form of utilitarianism and I wi ll give my critique of this argument along the way. Before the main discussion of the Bentham's utilitarianism gets underway, lets first establish what utilitarianism is. As stated in the introduction, utilitarianism is a teleological philosophy that is primarily concerned with the results of an action when determining the nature of that act. Utilitarianism operates primarily under the greater happiness principal, in other words, utilitarians believe that one should only act in such a way that the results of that act should produce the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest for the greatest number of people. It is due to this view that utilitarianism is often criticized for being too hedonistic because it places the moral value of an act only on how much that act effects happiness. The teleological nature of utilitarianism also can serve as a problem because it pays no attention to the intention an action and can make acts of an immoral nature justifiably right. I will use the example that a professor of mine used in which a ma n tries to snatch an old lady's purse and in his struggle to do so he pulls her out of the way of a speeding vehicle thus saving her life. This act, although it started with mischievous intent, ended with a life being saved and surely produced the greatest amount of happiness for the old lady. In the utilitarian eye this act is morally acceptable and right due to the fact that happiness was produced. Jeremy Bentham was a utilitarian philosopher with his own version of this particular of this teleological view called "Quantitative Utilitarianism". Bentham's utilitarianism argument starts by giving his principle of utility which judges all actions based on its tendency to promote or diminish happiness of whoever is involved, be it a community or an individual. According to Bentham, an action is right if, it increases happiness and decreases suffering and is wrong it does not. Also included in his view of utilitarianism is a way to calculate the general tendency of any act and its affect on a community. The calculation is based on the seven circumstances of the act, which are: its intensity, its duration, its certainty or uncertainty, its propinquity or remoteness, its fecundity (tendency to be followed by sensations of like kind), its purity (tendency not to be followed by sensations of unlike kind), and its extent (number of people affected). With these circumstances in order, one can start to calculate the nature of the act and according to Bentham after the completion of the process, one can make an accurate assessment of the true nature of the act. Here is where my critique of Bentham's "Quantitative Utilitarianism" comes into the picture. I will present Bentham's process in his own words and then offer my observation as to where he went wrong. The community is a fictitious body composed of the individual persons who are considered as constituting as it were members. The interest of the community then is, what?-the sum of the interests of the several members who compose it?..To take an exact account then of the general tendency of any act,