RENAISSAN

CE
Changing
Times in
Psychology
 BEFORE RENAISSANCE:

• Till 14th and 15th century, philosophy served religion

• Two classes: believers and nonbelievers

• Nonbelievers were physically punished, imprisoned or killed (stupid and evil)

• Astrology, superstition and magic became extremely popular.

• Not a time for open inquiry.

• Philosophers engaged in ‘normal philosophy’

• Church authority was on a decline.

• Little philosophical, theological or scientific growth.

• For progress to occur, Church authority had to be broken.
• Zia’s Regime??
 BEGINNING OF MODERN SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY:

• Renaissance means ‘rebirth’

• Going back to the more open-minded inquiry – Greek philosophers’ method.

• Europe – from God-centered to human-centered.

• God existed in nature so studying nature is studying God.

• There was more to humans that their souls.

• Reliable sensory system- why not use them?
• Reasoning powers- why not exercise them?

• Enjoyment- why not ENJOY?

• From heavens to living in the world. (From Living for Afterlife to Living for Life)
• The Renaissance was a period of time from the 14th to the
17th century in Europe. This era bridged the time between
the Middle Ages and modern times. The word
"Renaissance" means "rebirth".
• The Renaissance was a time of "coming out of the dark". It
was a rebirth of education, science, art, literature, music,
and a better life for people in general.
• The term Renaissance is used to describe the development
of western civilization that marked the transition from
medieval to modern times.
 • The Renaissance is best known for its art as this was the age of
geniuses as Leonardo da Vinci, Petrarch, Dante, and Michelangelo.
• Where the medieval period of art was looked upon as an age of
beliefs and religious faiths (It was laden with work that depicted
fears and superstitions). The Renaissance period of art was also
looked upon as a rebirth period. It was regarded as an age of hope.
People were beginning to think more logically without accepting
everything that church said during this time. This change in the
thought pattern was illustrated as paintings too.
• Another point of comparison between the Renaissance and Middle
Ages is the literature. The development of the printing press was the
greatest cultural achievement of the Renaissance. This encouraged
the writers to write in the local language.
 • The term Renaissance Man refers to a person that is an
expert and talented in many areas.

• Under this new way of thinking, knowledge was seen as one

of the primary reasons for life itself – and there followed a
passion to seek out forgotten books among the monasteries
and libraries of Europe. With every “lost” classic
rediscovered, the influence of these texts grew.
 FUN FACTS:

• Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Botticelli made human

anatomy a reality it was rigorously studied by them and brought to bear
in their works.
• Enjoying art became seen as the mark of a cultured individual.
• Explorers such as Christopher Columbus and Marco Polo explored new
lands, cultures and ideas to the east and west. All old ideas about the
world started blowing away
• Copernicus and Galileo: Suggested – and then proved – that the Earth
revolved around the Sun.
• Religion was questioned in a way that it never had before. A new way of
thinking called HUMANISM emerged, centered around the attempts by
man to shape and control nature – rather than simply view us, and nature
itself, as merely part of God’s creation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vufba_ZcoR0
 FUN FACT
• Michaelangelo
(Mickey), wears an
orange mask and
uses nunchucks.
• Leonardo (Leo),
wears a blue mask
and uses two
katana.
• Raphael (Raph),
wears a red mask
and uses uses sais.
• Donatello (Donnie),
wears a purple
mask and uses a bo
staff.
 It was an intellectual movement which originated in the thirteenth century, and came to

dominate European through out during the Renaissance.

Humanism was using the study of classical texts to alter contemporary thinking, breaking with

the medieval mind-sets and creating something new.

Humanism denotes an intense interest in human beings, as if we were discovering

ourselves for the first time. During this time, interest was focused on a wide range of

human activities. How do we think, behave, and feel? Of what are we capable?

RENAISSANCE HUMANISM
1. Individualism 2. Personal religion
– Great concern with human potential and achievement, – Religion to be more personal and less ritualistic,
power of individualism.
- religion to be more personally experienced than
The belief in the power of the individual to make a positive imposed on people by church.
difference in the world created a spirit of optimism.
RENAISSANCE HUMANISM
Four Major Themes Humanism- interest in human beings (as discovering ourselves for the
first time).How do we think, behave and feel? What are we capable of?
3. Intense interest in past 4. Anti-Aristotelianism
– Aristotle’s philosophy as Bible
– Interest in the work of Greek and Roman
philosophers, and poets • Humanists were against it as Aristotle was a human and
• Interest in Plato as he was re-found an re- capable of making errors
studied • Unfortunately, Aristotle’s philosophy had to be accepted
• Marsilio Ficino- founded Platonic academy in to be a Christian
Florence
• Accepting church dogma became more important than
• Old Eastern religions were re-discovered. one’s personal relationship with God; therefore, the
• Fall in Muslim power humanists attacked church dogma harshly
RENAISSANCE
 FRENCESCO
PETRARCH
father of Italian humanism

all work was bases on the 4 Themes of

humanism
his idea was more about the expression
of humanism – actually did not make any
theory
1. Individualism

2. Personal religion

3. Intense interest in past

4. Anti-Aristotelianism
 Petrarch (1304 - 1374) has been called the Father of Italian Humanism. He argued that each person should study
the ancients and create their own style to reflect themselves. Had Petrarch not lived, Humanism would have been
seen as more threatening to Christianity

• Influential- his writings mark the beginning of Renaissance

• All the themes discussed previously are found in his work
• Concerned with freeing human spirit from medieval traditions
• Target of attack- Scholasticism- said ‘Like those who have no notion of architecture, they make it their
profession to whitewash walls’
• Urged a return to personal religion like described by St. Augustine
• Scholasticism made religion too intellectual to compete it with Aristotelian rationalism
• God wanted humans to use their vast capabilities and not inhibit them.
• By actualizing human potential we can change the world for the better
• Did not create anything new philosophically.
• His scepticism towards all forms of dogma helped pave the way for modern science
 MARTIN
LUTHER:
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=FhGGjRjvq7w
 MARTIN LUTHER:
• Augustinian priest and biblical scholar, disgusted by present Christianity

• Human intentions are inspired either by God or by Satan: former results in God’s work, latter is sin

• If people have sinned, they should suffer the consequences

• Intensely personal religion: everyone is answerable to God

• Reformation (1517)- Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg

• he was excommunicated

• Opposed the idea of sinner paying a fees to reduce the retribution for their sins

• Jesus preached the glory of simple life, devoid of luxury and privilege

• Major reason for the downfall of Catholicism was its assimilation of Aristotle’s philosophy

• Due to all the arguments he had with Erasmus on free will, Luther’s protest against church gave birth to a new religion Protestantism
insisting that every individual has the right to interpret the Bible in his or her own way

• Translated the bible into German

• Dispute over which version of Christianity was correct soon divided Europe
The decline in the church’s authority was directly related to the rise of a new spirit of inquiry that

took as its ultimate authority empirical observation instead of the scriptures, faith, or revelation.

Gradually, church dogma was replaced by the very thing it had opposed the most—the direct

observation of nature without the intervention of theological considerations. But the

transition, although steady, was slow and painful. Many Renaissance scholars were caught

between theology and science because of either personal beliefs or fear of retaliation by the

church. They reported their observations with extreme caution; in some cases, they requested

that their observations be reported only after their death.

In addition, the following events are considered factors in the
acceptance of the objective study of nature because they weakened the authority
of the church:
■ The explorations of central Asia and China from 1271 to 1295 by Marco Polo
■ Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of metal moveable type thus creating modern
printing techniques.
■ Discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus (1492).
■ Martin Luther’s challenge to Catholicism (1517).
■ Circumnavigation (the action or process of sailing or otherwise travelling all the
way around something, especially the world.) of the globe by Ferdinand Magellan’s
expedition (1519–1522).
 The work of a few astronomer-physicists was

most detrimental to church dogma and most influential

in creating a new way of examining nature’s

secrets.

That new way was called science.

PTOLEMY:

Ptolemaic
system

earth in the center

• Summarized mathematical and observational astronomy.

• Ptolemaic System- Earth is sphere and sun, moon and planets revolve
around the earth in orbits.

• Ptolemaic system prevailed until the 17th century

It was resilient for at least 3 reasons:

1.It accorded well with the testimony of senses (earth appears to be the fixed
centre of universe)
2.It allowed reasonable astronomical predictions.
3.Congenial to Christian theology.
• It was in agreement with the biblical account of creation.
NICOLAS COPERNICUS

heliocentric theory
Sun is the center
• Rather than the sun revolving around the earth (geocentric theory), the earth revolved around
the sun (heliocentric theory)
• This was a clear contradiction to church dogma.

• It was later realized that Copernicus’s heliocentric theory questioned the traditional place of
humankind in the universe, it wondered if there are others, are there other life forms
outside earth..
 Were we favored by God and therefore placed in the center of the universe? If not, why not?
 If the church was wrong about this vital fact, was it wrong about other things?
 Were there other solar systems that contained life?
 If so, how were they related to ours, and which did God favor?

• Common sense dictated the acceptance of the geocentric theory, and those rejecting it were
considered either misinformed or insane
group project

an philosopher studied in the history school and present a character evolution journey of the philosopher

what he did
say and do
show the place
living and life

and 2020 repeat his character evolved from early Greek times to 2020….
major waves / major espoides or events that happened and what he would say and how he would tackle..

creativity. ------ ― Hypathia of Alexandria

“All formal dogmatic religions are fallacious and must never be accepted by self-respecting persons as final.”
― Hypatia of Alexandria

deadline when uni open

“Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and
miracles as poetic fancies. To teach superstitions as truths is a
most terrible thing. The child mind accepts and believes them,
and only through great pain and perhaps tragedy can he be in
after years relieved of them. In fact, men will fight for a
superstition quite as quickly as for a living truth — often more
so, since a superstition is so intangible you cannot get at it to
refute it, but truth is a point of view, and so is changeable.”
― Hypathia of Alexandria
GALELIO
father of modern
Science
 • Brilliant Mathematician

• Set out to correct a number of misconceptions about the world and

about heavenly bodies

• building on

• Challenged Aristotle’s contention that heavy objects fall faster than

lighter ones

1. theories of motions

2. all objects fall at the same rate irrespective of weight

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5vezYaOpC4
1564 – 1642
Finding contradicting evidence to the church knowledge
1. Moon is not smooth covered in
2. covered in sunshots – dark spots
3. suns was rotating
4. Earth not the center of the solar system
5. he believed Sun center
 Modified the newly invented telescope and discovered 4 of Jupiter’s
moons

 Which meant that there were at LEAST 11 bodies in the solar system
and not 7 like the church had said

 People refused to look through his telescope  heresy (blasphemy)

 “If God meant man to use such a contrivance in acquiring

knowledge, He would have endowed men with telescopic eyes”
 Objective and Subjective Reality

 Objective Reality  exists independently of anyone’s perception of it

 Physical reality  quantity, shape, size, position, and motion or
rest.
 Primary qualities -

 Subjective Reality  exists through our senses  purely psychological

experiences  purely relative, subjective, and fluctuating

 Secondary - color, taste, emotional

 GALELIO rejected subjective reality

 Conscious experiences cannot be scientific

• Conscious experiences are inferior to the “real world”

• Thus, for Galileo, what we study in Psychology today could

never be quantified and thus should never be a science

• Secondary qualities  UNRELIABLE – because they are different

for everyone - each have their own perceptions.

• as a result you will not see life objectively – because our

conscious experiences will make up our life… you need to
• differentiated science and philosophy
 • A man named Ronald Cotton went on
trial

• He was accused of brutally raping a

university student named Jennifer
1986 Case Thompson

• Jennifer testified that during the ordeal,

which happened at night in the darkness
of her apartment bedroom, she intently
studied the rapists face
 1986 Case
• Jennifer  15 years later:
• “‘I looked at his hairline; I looked for scars, for tattoos, for anything that would
help me identify him.”

• STRONG MEMORY

• Identified Mr. Cotton  Rapist

 1986 Case

• “I knew this was the man. I was completely confident. I was sure. . . . If there was
the possibility of a death sentence, I wanted him to die. I wanted to flip the
switch”

• Mr. Cotton was sentenced to serve life + 54 years

 1986 Case
• Mr. Cotton consistently appealed his conviction  maintaining his innocence

• Another man  Prison inmate Bobby Poole  discovered to have boasted to

his cellmates about having committed the rape for which Mr. Cotton had been
convicted.

• Ms. Thompson was shown Mr. Poole  “I have never seen this man in my life,
I have no idea who he is”
 1986 Case

AFTER SERVING 11 YEARS IN PRISON  Mr. Cotton was EXONERATED of the

crime

DNA EVIDENCE  confirmed Bobby Poole was the rapist

Jennifer Thompson  became a strong advocate of EXTREME caution when

convicting a defendant solely on the basis of someone’s memory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubuXSiv0wtw
 natural philosophe

ISSAC NEWTON
25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27
 • Deeply Religious

• Understood the universe to be a complex, lawful machine 

Created by God

• Studying the Universe = Understanding God

• Developed the universal law of gravitation

Isaac Newton was a physicist and mathematician who developed the principles of modern physics, including the laws
of motion and is credited as one of the great minds of the 17th-century Scientific Revolution
• Deism - belief that universe is created by God, but it sustains itself without Him
interfering in the living of the universe.
• The belief that God has created the universe but remains apart from it and
permits his creation to administer itself through natural laws.
• Deism thus rejects the supernatural aspects of religion, such as belief in revelation
in the Bible (see also Bible), and stresses the importance of ethical conduct.

• God created the universe but he does not intervene in the events of the world

• Design of the universe and everything in it  God’s work

• Revelation, religious dogma, prayer, and all other forms of supernatural beliefs
regarding God  Pointless
FRANCIS BACON
22 January 1561 –
9 April 1626
 RADICAL EMPIRICIST

Who believed that nature could be understood

only by studying it directly and objectively.
Accounts of how nature should be based on
How
scripture, faith, or any philosophical or Many
theological authority would only hamper one’s
efforts to learn how the world Actually Functions. Teeth
Does A
EMPIRICISM : Understanding Nature Via Sensory Horse
Experience
Have?
he believed we should follow sensory experience
• Francis Bacon discovered and popularized
the scientific method, whereby the laws of
science are discovered by gathering and
analyzing data from experiments and
observations, rather than by using logic-
based arguments.
In the year of our Lord 1432, there arose a grievous quarrel among the brethren over the
number of teeth in the mouth of a horse.

For thirteen days the disputation raged without ceasing.

All the ancient books and chronicles were fetched out, and wonderful and ponderous
erudition such as was never before heard of in this region was made manifest. At the
beginning of the fourteenth day, a youthful friar of goodly bearing asked his learned
superiors for permission to add a word, and straightway, to the wonderment of the
disputants, whose deep wisdom he sore vexed, he beseeched them to unbend in a
manner coarse and unheard-of and to look in the open mouth of a horse and find answer
to their questionings.

At this, their dignity being grievously hurt, they waxed exceeding wroth; and, joining in a
mighty uproar, they flew upon him and smote him, hip and thigh, and cast him out
forthwith. For, said they, surely Satan hath tempted this bold neophyte to declare unholy
and unheard-of ways of finding truth, contrary to all the teachings of the fathers.

After many days more of grievous strife, the dove of peace sat on the assembly, and they
as one man declaring the problem to be an everlasting mystery because of a grievous
dearth of historical and theological evidence thereof, so ordered the same writ down.
 • Galileo vs Bacon
• Galileo  sought general principles that governed the physical
world  Science should be based on deduction (Theory 
prediction  testing  conclusion)
• Galileo investigative method
(Deduction: involves predicting a particular event from a general
principle) – general to specific dimension
Baconian
science Bacon….. investigative method. - INDUCTIVE

• Bacon  science should only involve facts of observation  should

be based on induction (Observation  testing  prediction 
conclusion)
(Induction: Specific to General)
working from a already held standing idea – that will effect how u
see things
 • Deduction  pre-conceived notions (Aristotle’s Final Causes) -
is biased approach for bacon
• he says look at what is there in front of u rather than taking
pre made notions
• follow what is front of u …

Baconian • Accepting a theory  create a bias in one’s observations

science • No authority, no theory, no words, no mathematical

formulation, no belief, and no fantasy could displace
empirical observation as the basis of factual knowledge.

• Today  Positivism

elements that skeptics they will

 • In Baconian science, one proceeds from
observation to generalization (induction); in
Galilean science, and later in Newtonian science,
one proceeds from a general law to the prediction
of specific, empirical events (deduction).
• Bacon did not deny the importance of the
Baconian rational powers of the mind, but he believed that
those powers should be used to understand the
science facts of nature rather than the figments of the
human imagination.
• What Bacon (1620/1994) proposed was a position
intermediate between traditional empiricism
(simply fact gathering) and rationalism (the
creation of abstract principles)
 “Empiricists, like ants, merely collect things and
use them. The Rationalists, like spiders, spin
webs out of themselves. The middle way is that
of the bee, which gathers its material from the
flowers of the garden and field, but then
Baconian transforms and digests it by a power of its own.
And the true business of philosophy is much the
science same, for it does not rely only or chiefly on the
powers of the mind, nor does it store the
material supplied by natural history and
practical experiments untouched in its memory,
but lays it up in the understanding changed and
refined. Thus from a closer and purer alliance of
the two faculties—the experimental and the
rational, such as has never yet been made—we
have good reason for hope. “
 BACON’S IDOLS:

errors in
investigates
holding a
preconceived image
in your mind
IDOLS: An idol is an image, in this case held in the
mind, which receives veneration but is without
substance in itself. Bacon did not regard idols as Errors in Investigation/Intellectual
symbols, but rather as fixations. Fallacies
IDOLS OF CAVE
• Personal biases that arise from a
person’s intellectual endowment,
experiences, education, and feelings.
• Mind is symbolically a cavern. The
thoughts of the individual roam
about in this dark cave and are
variously modified by attributes
mentioned above.
• Individual’s background would colour
their observations of events more
than what is actually seen
IDOLS OF TRIBE:
• Biases due to human nature. All humans have
in common the abilities to imagine, to will, and
to hope, and these human attributes can and
usually do distort perceptions.
• They are abstractions in error arising from
common tendencies to exaggeration,
distortion, and disproportion.
• Thus men gazing at the stars perceive the
order of the world, but are not content merely
to contemplate or record that which is seen.
They extend their opinions, investing the
starry heavens with innumerable imaginary
qualities. In a short time these imaginings gain
dignity and are mingled with the facts until the
compounds become inseparable.
IDOLS OF MARKETPLACE:

• Are biases that result from being overly influenced by the

meaning assigned to words. Verbal labels and descriptions can
influence one’s understanding of the world and distort one’s
observations of it.
• Bacon believed that many philosophical disputes were over
the definitions of words rather than over the nature of reality.
We see in this latter observation similarity between Bacon’s
philosophy and contemporary postmodernism.
• The constant impact of words variously used without attention
to their true meaning only in turn condition the understanding
and breed fallacies

• meaning of the word .. verse the actually word meaning

IDOLS OF THEATER:

• Are biases that result from blind allegiance

to any viewpoint, whether it be
philosophical or theological
• They are defended by learned groups are
accepted without question by the masses.
When false philosophies have been
cultivated and have attained a wide sphere
of dominion in the world of the intellect they
are no longer questioned.
• False superstructures are raised on false
foundations, and in the end systems barren
of merit parade their grandeur on the stage
of the world.
 • Science should provide useful information

• Science should change the world for the better

• “Human knowledge and human power come to the

Baconian same thing, for where the cause is not known the
effect cannot be produced. We can only command
science Nature by obeying her”
•
• By “understanding nature,” Bacon meant knowing how
Function of Science
1.useful information things are causally related; once these relationships
2.change that world in are known, their practical implications could be
practical way
explored.
 Baconian science
• Ahead of his time  scientists should
purge their minds of their biases

• Currently it is agreed that observations of

ALL SCIENTISTS are ”theory-laden”

• One’s acceptance of a theory influences

what one observes and how one
interprets what one observes
 • Does this happen?

• Does one’s acceptance of a theory influence

what one observes and how one interprets what
"Right Now” one observes?

Discussion • Examples?

1. Cognitive Dissonance
– thinking biases in a way a client thinks

2. and Self-fulfilling Prophesies

RENE DESCART

Born: March 31, 1596, Descartes, France

Died: February 11, 1650, Stockholm, Sweden
Descartes has been heralded as
the first modern philosopher. He is
famous for having made an
important connection between • Soldier, mathematician, philosopher,
geometry and algebra, which
allowed for the solving of scientist, and psychologist
geometrical problems by way of
algebraic equations.
• Man of the world who enjoyed gambling,
dancing, and adventure

• But  also an intensely private person 

preferred solitude and avoided emotional
attachments with people.
• Moved 24 times without leaving the
forwarding address to his locations
 • Went through an intellectual crises  everything

he had ever learnt was useless (especially

philosophy)

• Philosophers had been seeking the truth for

centuries  never found it or agreed on anything 

hence everything in philosophy was uncertain

What is Descartes most
famous for?
• This realization  deep depression
Descartes has been heralded
as the first modern
• He decided that he would be better off learning
philosopher. He is famous for
having made an important things for himself instead of from the “experts”: “I
connection between geometry
and algebra, which allowed resolved to seek no other knowledge than that
for the solving of geometrical which I might find within myself, or perhaps in the
problems by way of algebraic
 The coordinate system we commonly use is
called the Cartesian system, after the
French mathematician René Descartes
(1596-1650), who developed it in the 17th
What is Descartes theory? century.

Legend has it that Descartes, who liked to

stay in bed until late, was watching a fly on
Known as Cartesian dualism (or Mind- the ceiling from his bed.

Body Dualism), his theory on the

separation between the mind and the
body went on to influence subsequent
Western philosophies. In Meditations on
First Philosophy, Descartes attempted
to demonstrate the existence of God
and the distinction between the human
soul and the body
• Descartes reached the conclusion that ultimate knowledge is always
mathematical knowledge. With the invention of analytic geometry, it
was now possible to precisely describe and measure essentially all
known physical phenomena.

• In this way, Descartes further substantiated the Pythagorean Platonic

conception of the universe that had been accepted by Copernicus,
Kepler, and Galileo and that was about to be elaborated further by
Newton.

• Next, Descartes sought other areas of human knowledge that could

be understood with the same certainty as analytic geometry.

• Stimulated by his success in mathematics, Descartes (1637/1956)

summarized his four rules for attaining certainty in any area:
4 RULES FOR CERTAINTY
1. Never accept anything as true unless I
recognize it to be evidently as such
(avoid prejudices) carefully to avoid all
precipitation and prejudgment, and to
include nothing in my conclusions unless
it presented itself so clearly and
distinctly to my mind that there was no
reason or occasion to doubt it.
2. Divide each of the difficulties
encountered into as many parts as
possible
3. Think in an orderly fashion beginning
with the simplest and gradually moving
towards the more complex knowledge
4. Always make enumerations complete,
and reviews so general, that I would be
certain that nothing was omitted – not
specific keep general
• Resigned himself to
doubt everything that
could be doubted

• Thus began
Descartes’s search for
philosophical truth.

• He resigned himself to
doubt everything that
could be doubted and
to use whatever was
certain.
 that the only thing of which he could be
certain was the fact that he was doubting; but
doubting was thinking, and thinking
necessitated a thinker.

• Thus, he arrived at his celebrated conclusion:

“Cogito, ergo sum” (I think, therefore I
am).
• Descartes established the certainty of his own
thought processes, a certainty that, for him,
made the introspective search for knowledge
valid.
• It was the end of the
search Descartes conducted for a statement
that could not be doubted.
• He found that he could not doubt that he
himself existed, as he was the one doing the
INNATE IDEAS

• Natural components of the mind.

• I am imperfect  but some ideas I
have are perfect  Since perfect
cannot come from imperfect  must
be innate

• “The only hypothesis left was that

this idea was put in my mind by a
nature that was really more perfect
than I was, which had all the
perfections that I could imagine, and
which was, in a word, God”
• Because God exists and is perfect  he would not deceive humans 
thus we can trust the information provided by our senses

• Sensory information must be clear and distinct  to be accepted as

valid.
• Clear means that the information is represented clearly in
consciousness, and distinct means that the conscious experience
impressist
cannot be doubted or divided for further analysis

• Seeing a stick partially submerged in water  concluding that it is

bent

• Descartes concluded (1) that rational processes were valid and that
knowledge of the physical world gained through the senses could be
• Descartes method  Intuition + Deduction
• Intuition  unbiased and attentive mind arrives at a clear distinct idea
such that it’s validity cannot be doubted

• Once the idea is discovered  One can deduce many other valid ideas
• Example: God exists (intuition)  We can trust sensory information
because God will not deceive us (Deduction)

• It is important to note that Descartes’s method restored the dignity to

purely subjective experience, which had been lost because of Galileo’s
philosophy.
• In fact, Descartes found that he could doubt the existence of
everything physical (including his own body) but could not doubt the
• Descartes was a rationalist
 Logic above all else bec
his idea of gaining
knowledge is

• He was a nativist  innate

ideas

• But he was also a

phenomenologist  studied
• Reflexes were explained in terms of “animal spirit”

• Believing that the presence of animal spirits distinguished the

living from the nonliving,. Descartes described animal spirits as
a gentle wind or a subtle flame.

• Descartes thought of the nerves as hollow tubes containing

“delicate threads” that connected the sense receptors to the
brain. These threads were connected to the cavities or
ventricles of the brain, which were filled with animal spirits

• Animals were purely reflexive  they could not ACTUALLY feel

 • The mind-body interaction

• The human body operates on

physical principles but the mind does
not

• However, they still INTERACT with

each other.

• How?

• The mind  Consciousness, free

choice, rationality, etc.
• Contribution to Psychology

• Offered a mechanistic explanation of bodily

functions and behavior

• After him, philosophers often either talked about

human beings as machines or stressed upon the
importance of cognition (consciousness)

• Thus, in one way or the other they were all

reactions to Descartes’s theory
 • Despite Descartes’s efforts to appease the
church, his books were placed on the Catholic
index of forbidden books  lead to atheism

• Died of Pneumonia
REST.IN.PIECES
Descartes • Body was exhumed 16 years later to be shifted
to France

• Finger was cut off and head removed