LING 1010 Final Exam Questions
and Answers All Correct
What is Idealism? - Answer-Believed that 'matter' is only known to us in terms of our
mental understanding of it... can lead to solipsism
What is solipsism? - Answer-we all live in our own mental world, which is the only world
we can know
What is behaviorism? - Answer-as a dominant approach in psychology
Human behavior can only be understood by studying observable behavior and factors in
immediate environment causing behavior.
Used positive and negative reinforcements to manipulate organisms into doing or
learning anything.
study our subjects directly
What was Watson's and Skinner's contribution? - Answer-Methodological behaviorism-
Alleged mind cannot be scientifically studied - postulating a mind then becomes a
matter of belief
What is logical behaviorism? - Answer-Statements about so-called mental states are
logically equivalent to statements about actual or possible behavior
What is the central claim of Innateness Hypothesis? - Answer-humans have innate
capacity for language, that is, that humans have a mind for language
What is the Nature/ Nurture debate about? - Answer-idea is that nature comes out in
behavior what being "channeled" by nurture
Nature: innate genetically determined knowledge
Nurture: knowledge from experience, environment, and learning
What is plato's problem? - Answer-Problem: how do people come to know so much on
the basis of so little knowledge
Meaning: how is knowledge developed if there is no innate knowledge to develop it?
Chomksy's idea about how children acquire language? - Answer-he says that acquiring
language is beyond the control of children and their caretakers. children do not learn by
, imitation alone (unlikely that they store all utterances heard and apply 'copy-paste'
techniques to make new utterance).
Each child constructs a grammar, using stimuli to fill in blanks already present in innate
language workbook (inherited through genetic channel from parents) - parents provide
utterances to help child home in on mental grammar which allows child to produce own
utterances
why Chomsky's Innateness Hypothesis is controversial - Answer-Because at first sight it
may seem to give a free pass to criminals, it acknowledges that not all people are
equally driven, smart or honest, which opens the door to all sorts of discrimination and
along the way it kills the idea of the American Dream
A criminal could say that since her/his father was a killer that it was an innate feeling for
him to want to kill as well, and therefore it is not his fault.
What is empiricism? - Answer-Humans form knowledge much like scientists gain
knowledge, that is, based on observable facts and using very general techniques to
organize the data into theories - experience = data
What is rationalism? - Answer-All knowledge is a priori knowledge (independent of all
particular experiences) - i.e. knowledge that exists prior to existence
Who are the empiricist - Answer-Aristotle, Hume, Locke, Berkeley, Sampson
Who are the Rationalist? - Answer-Plato, Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Kant, James,
Chomsky, Pinker
What is Empirical Science? - Answer-Scientific theories are 'pieces of knowledge' that,
by definition, we must be able to test on the basis of observable (i.e. empirical) data.
Philosophical debate between empiricists and rationalists is independent from notion
that science is necessarily an empirical endeavor, aiming to make testable statements
about the observable world.
Who created the concept Mind-body dualism? - Answer-René Descartes
What is the Mind-body Dualism? - Answer-= idea that humans consist of two
fundamentally different things: bodies and minds
the human body belongs to the material word but the mind does not.
Descartes postulated that our world contains two essentially different kinds of
'substances': the material world ('extended' substance, matter, etc.) and conscious
experience (thinking substance, etc.)
What is the common response to Mind-Body Dualism - Answer-monism
and Answers All Correct
What is Idealism? - Answer-Believed that 'matter' is only known to us in terms of our
mental understanding of it... can lead to solipsism
What is solipsism? - Answer-we all live in our own mental world, which is the only world
we can know
What is behaviorism? - Answer-as a dominant approach in psychology
Human behavior can only be understood by studying observable behavior and factors in
immediate environment causing behavior.
Used positive and negative reinforcements to manipulate organisms into doing or
learning anything.
study our subjects directly
What was Watson's and Skinner's contribution? - Answer-Methodological behaviorism-
Alleged mind cannot be scientifically studied - postulating a mind then becomes a
matter of belief
What is logical behaviorism? - Answer-Statements about so-called mental states are
logically equivalent to statements about actual or possible behavior
What is the central claim of Innateness Hypothesis? - Answer-humans have innate
capacity for language, that is, that humans have a mind for language
What is the Nature/ Nurture debate about? - Answer-idea is that nature comes out in
behavior what being "channeled" by nurture
Nature: innate genetically determined knowledge
Nurture: knowledge from experience, environment, and learning
What is plato's problem? - Answer-Problem: how do people come to know so much on
the basis of so little knowledge
Meaning: how is knowledge developed if there is no innate knowledge to develop it?
Chomksy's idea about how children acquire language? - Answer-he says that acquiring
language is beyond the control of children and their caretakers. children do not learn by
, imitation alone (unlikely that they store all utterances heard and apply 'copy-paste'
techniques to make new utterance).
Each child constructs a grammar, using stimuli to fill in blanks already present in innate
language workbook (inherited through genetic channel from parents) - parents provide
utterances to help child home in on mental grammar which allows child to produce own
utterances
why Chomsky's Innateness Hypothesis is controversial - Answer-Because at first sight it
may seem to give a free pass to criminals, it acknowledges that not all people are
equally driven, smart or honest, which opens the door to all sorts of discrimination and
along the way it kills the idea of the American Dream
A criminal could say that since her/his father was a killer that it was an innate feeling for
him to want to kill as well, and therefore it is not his fault.
What is empiricism? - Answer-Humans form knowledge much like scientists gain
knowledge, that is, based on observable facts and using very general techniques to
organize the data into theories - experience = data
What is rationalism? - Answer-All knowledge is a priori knowledge (independent of all
particular experiences) - i.e. knowledge that exists prior to existence
Who are the empiricist - Answer-Aristotle, Hume, Locke, Berkeley, Sampson
Who are the Rationalist? - Answer-Plato, Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Kant, James,
Chomsky, Pinker
What is Empirical Science? - Answer-Scientific theories are 'pieces of knowledge' that,
by definition, we must be able to test on the basis of observable (i.e. empirical) data.
Philosophical debate between empiricists and rationalists is independent from notion
that science is necessarily an empirical endeavor, aiming to make testable statements
about the observable world.
Who created the concept Mind-body dualism? - Answer-René Descartes
What is the Mind-body Dualism? - Answer-= idea that humans consist of two
fundamentally different things: bodies and minds
the human body belongs to the material word but the mind does not.
Descartes postulated that our world contains two essentially different kinds of
'substances': the material world ('extended' substance, matter, etc.) and conscious
experience (thinking substance, etc.)
What is the common response to Mind-Body Dualism - Answer-monism
