The Empiricists: A Guide for the Perplexed

by Carlin, Laurence

• ISBN13: 9781847062000
• ISBN10: 1847062008
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-06-09
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Continuum's Guides for the Perplexed are clear, concise and accessible introductions to thinkers, writers and subjects that students and readers can find especially challenging. Concentrating specifically on what it is that makes the subject difficult to grasp, these books explain and explore key themes and ideas, guiding the reader towards a thorough understanding of demanding material.

Author Biography

Laurence Carlin is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, USA.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction: The Empiricists and Their Context	p. 1
Empiricism and the Empiricists	p. 1
The Intellectual Background to the Early Modern Empiricists	p. 3
Martin Luther and the Reformation	p. 4
Aristotelian cosmology and the Scientific Revolution	p. 5
Aristotelian/Scholastic hylomorphism and the rise of mechanism	p. 7
The Royal Society of London	p. 11
Francis Bacon (1561-1626)	p. 13
The Natural Realm: The Idols of the Mind	p. 14
Idols of the Tribe	p. 15
Idols of the Cave	p. 17
Idols of the Marketplace	p. 19
Idols of the Theatre	p. 21
Knowledge and Experience: Induction Introduced	p. 23
Aristotelian/Scholastic syllogisms: deductions dismissed	p. 23
Baconian empiricism: induction introduced	p. 24
Conclusion: Bacon the Empiricist	p. 28
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)	p. 30
The Natural Realm: Hobbes's Materialistic Mechanism	p. 31
The importance of motion	p. 32
Sensation and the mind	p. 35
Knowledge and Experience: Definitions and the Euclidean Method	p. 41
Two kinds of knowledge and proper ratiocination	p. 41
The method of analysis and the method of synthesis	p. 43
Conclusion: Hobbes the Empiricist	p. 48
Pierre Gassendi (1592-1655)	p. 50
The Natural Realm: Gassendi's Atomism	p. 51
The basic principles of Gassendi's atomism	p. 51
Atomistic sensation	p. 55
Knowledge and Experience: The 'Middle Way' to Knowledge	p. 57
The sceptics are partly correct	p. 57
Knowledge regained?	p. 59
Conclusion: Gassendi the Empiricist	p. 61
Robert Boyle (1627-1691)	p. 62
The Natural Realm: Boyle's Mechanism ('Corpuscularianism')	p. 64
The basic principles of Boyle's mechanism (or 'corpscularianism')	p. 65
Sensation and the mind	p. 70
Knowledge and Experience: Mechanism and the Cautious Experimenter	p. 72
The excellency of mechanism	p. 72
Experimentation and the status of mechanism	p. 76
Conclusion: Boyle the Empiricist	p. 77
John Locke (1632-1704)	p. 78
The Natural Realm: Locke's Mechanism	p. 81
Against innatism	p. 82
Ideas and the Tabula Rasa	p. 86
Primary and secondary qualities, and our confused idea of substance	p. 88
Locke on power	p. 94
Knowledge and Experience: Locke's Epistemology	p. 96
Indirect realism, or the representational theory of perception	p. 97
The certainty of knowledge	p. 99
The origin of knowledge	p. 102
The extent of knowledge	p. 106
Conclusion: Locke the Empiricist	p. 110
Isaac Newton (1642-1727)	p. 112
The Natural Realm: Newton's Principia	p. 115
A world of forces: universal gravitation	p. 116
What kind of quality is gravity?	p. 117
Mechanism and action at a distance	p. 121
Knowledge and Experience: Rules for the Study of Natural Philosophy	p. 123
The four rules	p. 123
Whither natural philosophy?	p. 125
Conclusion: Newton the Empiricist	p. 126
George Berkeley (1685-1753)	p. 128
The Natural Realm: Berkeley's Idealism	p. 130
The world contains only souls and ideas	p. 130
Esse est percipi: two arguments for idealism/immaterialism	p. 133
Against the primary/secondary quality distinction	p. 137
Knowledge and Experience: Berkeley's Common Sense Epistemology	p. 139
Against the representational theory of perception	p. 139
Defeating the sceptic, and returning to common sense	p. 143
Mechanism, Newtonianism and instrumentalism: Berkeley on the new science	p. 144
Responses to popular objections	p. 150
Conclusion: Berkeley the Empiricist	p. 153
David Hume (1711-1776)	p. 155
The Natural Realm: Hume's Psychological Approach	p. 157
Impressions and ideas	p. 158
The principles of association	p. 160
Knowledge and Experience: Hume's Semi-Scepticism	p. 161
Relations of ideas vs. matters of fact	p. 161
From matters of fact to cause and effect: Hume's first question	p. 163
Knowledge of cause and effect: Hume's second question	p. 164
The problem of induction: Hume's third question	p. 170
Hume's positive account of causation: induction regained?	p. 174
Conclusion: Hume the Empiricist	p. 177
Empiricism and the Empiricists: Summary and Conclusion	p. 178
Bibliography	p. 181
Index	p. 185
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.