Descartes: Subactionism And Interactionists

1.) What does it mean to say that Descartes was a dualist and an interactionist? According to Descartes, How did humans differ from animals? To say that Descartes was a dualist is to say that he believed the mind and body are two separate and distinguishable essences. The immaterial mind and the material body although separate, causally interact. According to Descartes there was a clear separation between humans and animals in regards to mind body dualism. He believed that animals were nothing more than simple machines incapable of reason and language. That they lacked a mind unlike humans, who have a sound reasoning mind and mechanical body. -Erica Trujillo

2.) Who were the British empiricist and what does this mean to say they were atomists?

These ideas leading from Sir Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes. The ideas of John Locke also coincide with the empiricist view that there are simple ideas that are from sensory qualities and complex ideas coming from several simple ideas. This could mean to say that they were atomists because atomism is reducing complexity to its simplest basic elements. Which is the assumption of many ideas for psychology for example John Watson’s behaviorism. Locke also had a view of empiricist philosophy because he had the idea that those who have different experiences view the world differently. So not everyone has the same idea of how things work and someone that is defective could potentially have a distorted view of the world. These views all happening in the 17th century along with George Berkeley and his empercism view on vision. Which can be applied to the study of our perceptions and having to do with our experiences determining the distance, size and location. - Kelly

These included physical health, since Locke had been educated in medicine, he proposed that in order for something to result superior, an amount of suffering should be applied in order to toughen up a child instead because then the child is weak. Locke also said that teaching children should be done when they are young because they are more easily influenced into growing good behaviors. These behaviors should also be done on a daily basis like a routine in order for them to apply them as they grow in their lives. He also spoke about punishing children and how he disapproved of it. He mentions how hitting a child for not following rules, leads to them become uninterested in learning. Lastly, Locke didn’t believe in material or tangible rewards, instead he believed in setting up punishments and rewards based on the parent’s approval or disapproval. He thought this would have the child either feel they let the parents down or their support. All of the ways Locke believed about educating a child are similar to 20th century behaviorists in which they both believe that a person’s behavior and mind are molded by their environments and also that based on a person’s experiences you can know alot about them. - Aylin