As we see in this segment of Document 6 “Reason is in the estimation of the philosopher what grace is to the Christian. Grace determines the Christian's action; reason the philosopher's.” the philosophers of the Enlightenment strove to explain everything by means of logic and reason which was a mindset that was pioneered during the Scientific Revolution. Essentially, Enlightenment thinkers took the rational mindset from scientific discoveries of the Scientific Revolution and began to apply it to society. Isaac Newton's discoveries established the principles of the Enlightenment. At the time, discovery was looked at with skepticism as people had become accustomed to the bible being the only source of information about the world.
This side of the nature-nurture debate suggests that we are a certain way because of the way we were bought up and our life experiences. Biological programming - this comes down to your genes. Biological programming suggests that you will have similar medical conditions to your parents supporting the idea of natural selection and genetics. Maturation theory - this theory sees child development as being controlled by evolution and that genetically there is a series of events that will occur automatically. It is believed the development has a biological process and this can be predicted over time.
M1: Discuss the nature-nurture debate in relation to the development of an individual. The definition of learning through ‘nature’ is that things that we know which are innate. These things are biologically caused and genetically inherited. The definition of ‘nurture’ is the effect of the environment has on our learning. The nature-nurture debate is all about whether genetics (nature) or our environment (nurture) is responsible for our behaviour and development.
I refuse to believe that people are born with a personality; it all lies with ones up bringing and experiences. B.F. Skinner, a behaviorist, believed that each organism is a “blank slate” on which experience writes. Skinner’s teachings on operant conditioning are still studied to this day. He believed that the best way to understand behavior is to look at the causes of an action and its consequences. Through Skinner’s research, it helped prove that the most relevant was nurture because through conditioning and repetition one could teach animals to behave predictably.
The ultimate meanings of our lives are chosen by our experiences. The end of our lives “cannot be foreseen and will not be limited by such things as destiny” ("Steinbeck's Nonteleological Perspective"). These are common philosophies of non-teleological thinkers such as Edward Ricketts and John Steinbeck. Steinbeck, the famous literary author of The Grapes of Wrath, incorporates this way of thinking into his many works though his characters: their surroundings shaping them and giving purpose to their lives. The Grapes of Wrath is an example of his non-teleological beliefs being incorporated into the nature of his characters; their fate not being pre-determined, but rather dependent on life events.
Truth The term truth has no single definition about which a majority of professional philosophers and scholars agree, and various theories of truth continue to be debated. Metaphysical objectivism holds that truths are independent of our beliefs; except for propositions that are actually about our beliefs or sensations, what is true or false is independent of what we think is true or false. According to some trends in philosophy, such as postmodernism/post-structuralism, truth is subjective. When two or more individuals agree upon the interpretation and experience of a particular event, a consensus about an event and its experience begins to be formed. This being common to a few individuals or a larger group, then becomes the "truth" as seen and agreed upon by a certain set of people — the consensus reality.
PHIL 2230 – Moral Philosophy The Views of Kant and Aristotle on Morality: the Categorical and Hypothetical Imperatives Immanuel Kant discusses in his Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals the idea of morality as abiding by moral laws – or categorical imperatives. An imperative is “the formula of the command”[1] which indicates to a will – who does not always obey – what is good to do, and what is good to refrain from doing. Kant divides imperatives into two categories; hypothetical and categorical. The hypothetical imperative says “only that an action is good for some purpose, either possible or actual”[2] and therefore an action is only good for its ends. However, the categorical imperative represents an action as “objectively necessary in itself”[3], with no end in mind.
Contrast Theories Explaining Altruism in Humans Altruism according to evolutionary theory is a behaviour that reduces the fitness of the altruistic individual but increases the fitness of the individual receiving help (Okasha, 2008). Fitness is a central tenet in evolutionary theory. It refers to an individual’s capacity to pass on copies of his or her genes to the next population (Rosenberg & Bouchard, 2008). On the face of it, altruism does not make much sense from an evolutionary point of view, as the behavior seems unlikely to have been transformed into an adaptation. Adaptations, which are driven by natural selection, are features especially important for an animal’s survival.
The theory also includes that as well as identity evolving, it is provisional as it is dependent on situation and cultural influences. Juxtaposed against this model are studies formulated by the psychologists who favour the Psychosocial approach, a concept of an evolving characteristics through social interaction, staged according to age regardless of perceived failure or success and that ego identity is formed by adulthood. Firstly, unlike most sub disciplines of Psychology there is no ‘founding father’ to accredit the movement of social constructionism. True to beliefs centred within these theories, that there are multiple identities and therefore no difference amongst a personal self and a social self, there is no one author to this dynamic and developing paradigm. Social Constructionism opens the debate of identity and how it is evolved by stating that it is not something that occurs naturally when adulthood is reached and but is in constant flux, altered in context and in relation to situations we find ourselves in.
Concepts of Motivation and Relation to Behavior April 11, 2011 Psy/355 Motivation is the development of individuals to perform an action. Motivational sources occur in the environment, (external sources) and internal sources (biological sources) such as the individuals own will power or wants and needs. Individuals are not continually aware of the motivations that drive their behavior. According to Freud’s theory of unconscious motivation, motivation of behavior is the outcome of a process instead of a fixed event. In addition only the outcome of the process of motivation is recognizable to the individual they are unaware of the actual process.