Shared Flashcard Set

Details

science
and the modern world
54
Philosophy
Undergraduate 3
10/29/2012

Additional Philosophy Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term

 

1.    Epicycle

 

Definition

a circle in which a planet moves and which has a center that is itself carried around at the same time on the circumference of a larger circle(eccentric).


Ptolemy astronomy

Term

 

   Geocentric

 

Definition

 

model in which planets and sun revolve around the earth

 

 This was a central thesis of Aristotelian physics. It served as the predominant model in Greece and many other ancient civilizations. Ptolemaic idea of the solar system and planets revolving around the Earth (in direct opposition of heliocentrism), a stationary Earth is the center of the universe

Term

Retrograde motion

 

Definition

 when planets sometimes slow down, stop, and even move backwards in someone’s eyes. motion of a planet in a direction opposite to that of other bodies within its system as observed from a particular point. Depends on the the planets, its just a matter of earths motion relative to the planets motions.

 

Term

 

1.    Principle of sufficient reason

 

Definition

 

a principle stating that everything must have a reason or cause. Stated by Leibniz.

 

states that nothing is without a ground or reason why it is [aka every effect or consequent has, necessarily, a cause or antecedent adequate enough to result in/ground said effect].

 

ex. space is not a thing, it is a conceptual construct made from spacial relations. (so each “element” of space is related to another, giving it reason why it “is”)

     
holds that for every fact there is a reason that is sufficient to explain what and why it is the way it is and not otherwise. Leibniz used this to argue against substantivalism 

Term

 

1.    Natural motions

 

Definition

 

left to themselves. Aristotles 4 elements have natural motion. Fire and air have a straight line away the center of the earth. And earth and water have a straight line towards the center of the earth.

 

Term

1.    Violent motions

 

Definition

 put force on it, our hand impedes its tendency to move natural. Throwing it upward exhibits a violent motion of a stone for example.

 

Term

 

1.    Horror vacui

 

Definition

 

 “ nature abhors(detests) a vacuum” nature always acts so as to avoid the production of a vacuum, a place where there is no matter.

 

Term

1.    Stellar parallax

 

Definition

difference in apparent position of a star as viewed from 2 different position/lines of sight. Ptolemys observations that angular distances of the stars always remain unchanged. Due to our motion, not the stars.

 

Term

1.    Tychonic model –

 

Definition

places the earth at the center of the cosmos, but with the planets revolving around the sun, but the sun revolves around the earth. His observations of the stars that supernovaed, provided evidence that heavens were subject to change.

 

Term

1.    Keplers laws

 

Definition

1. Planets orbit the sun along elliptical paths

2. Planets move so as to traverse equal areas in equal times (faster when closer to the sun, slower when away from sun)

3. The ratio of the square of the periods of planets is equal to the ratio of the cubes of their average orbital radii.

 

Term

1.    Relationism (space)

 

Definition

 Leibniz thought that space is not a thing in itself, but rather something like a conceptual construct out of spatial relations. Your position relation of space compared to that of another object in another position. Space does not exist unless there is objects in it, nor does time exist without events.

 

Term

1.    Twin paradox

 

Definition

two identical twins on earth. One takes off in a spaceship and returns 5 years later. Comes back and he looks younger from the other twin since he was traveling faster in time. Twin on earth got older.

 

Term

1.    EPR paradox

 

Definition

Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen. Photon shooter in the middle will hit 2 absolute momentum detectors on opposite sides of the shooter at the same time and will hit the same amount of momentum recorded on one or the other. So its safe to assume that if one hits 15 points, the other will have 15 points. Position and momentum are perfectly correlated. “God does not play dice with the universe”

 

Term

1.    Two-slit experiment – are electrons more like waves or particles?

 

Definition

 are electrons more like waves or particles?

 

Term

1.    Interference pattern

 

Definition

 in the two slit experiment they would shoot the light and it would go through the 2 slits and make an interference pattern suggesting that they act like waves cause they made interference.

 

Term

 

1.    Hidden variable theory

 

Definition

Einstein is one proponent of this theory (led to his quote “I am convinced God does not play dice with the universe”). This theory states that quantum theory is unable to describe reality as it wholly and actually exists, and that adding something to the theory (a so-called “hidden variable”) will bring a proposed theory closer to what we actually equate with reality                  

 

the state of a physical system as formulated by quantum mechanics, does not give a complete description for the system. That QM is incorrect because, only correct theories provide account for observable behavior and this has no indeterminism. Quantum theory is unable to describe as it actually exists. A “hidden variable” will bring a proposed theory closer to what we actually equate with reality.

 

 

-whats gonna happen and when. They have definite properties at all time, its either in one place, or the other.

 

Term

1.    Instrumentalism

 

Definition

is only worried about theoretical entities. Scientific theory is useful instrument to understand the world. Its evaluated by how well it explains the phenomena, not how it describes objective reality. Instrumentalists would say electrons don’t exist. the Theory is adecuate if it reflects right predictions, if it occurred its good. It just explains and predicts relevant data, and does not care how if the data explains how things really are. Instrumentalists are agnostic about quantum reality in itself, they treat quantum theory as a device for making accurate predictions, rather than a collection of true statements.

 

Term

1.    Determinism

 

Definition

everything that occurs is pre-determined by what occurred by prior events. Anything you will do in the future is already set up somehow.

 

Term

1.    indeterminism – 

 

Definition

view that events are not caused or determined by prior events. Quantum theory is indeterministic, in the sense that if only predicts probabilities for measurement results. According to Quantum theory “when an atom will emit a photon is not determined by anything in its previous physical state”. The future is simply undetermined by what went before. When an atom emits a photon, it does so for absolutely no reason, nothing causes it.

 

Term

1.    Uncertainty principle

 

Definition

 any measurement of the position of a quantum system, blurs the momentum. Any measurement of the momentum blurs the position! The minimal amount of blurring is captured in the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. The more certain you are about the position, the less you are about its momentum and vice versa.

 

Term
Schrodingers cat experiment
Definition
a cat is placed inside a box where a radioactive atom will be released and poison the cat and kill it. According to quantum theory we cannot know if the atom decayed or not and killed the cat until we observe what happened. Until we observe, the cat is in a superposition state (dead and alive) only when we open the box and observe what happened will we know if the cat is dead or alive. This leads to quantum theory being very indeterministic
Term

3. Summarize Aristotelian Cosmology, including the four elements, natural motion, simple motions, plenum theory, and the reasons for the finiteness of the Aristotelian Cosmos. 

 

Definition

1-    aristotles 4 elements include: earth,air,fire,water. And they have their own natural place which explain how things in our vicinity move when not forced to move naturally. (fire and air) move up, (earth and water) move down!

 

- Natural motion is when objects are left to themselves(no force upon them)

 

- violent motion is is when force is put on an object, it impedes it to move naturally.

 

- Simple motion involves straight and circular motions. This is also a conceptual belief that all celestial bodies and what not move in perfect circular motions.

 

- reasons for finiteness He thinks the cosmos are finite cause the earth is the center of the universeand everything else in the cosmos is in a perfect sphere where all the stars are bounded to.

 

- plenum theory – according to Aristotle, there can be no “empty space” the reason is that the notion of space, or location, is supposed to be defined in terms of the volume occupied by a body. Finiteness is determined by the lack of a stellar parallax.

 

 

 

Term

4. Summarize Copernicus’ heliocentric model.  Summarize Copernicus’ main arguments for his model over Ptolemaic models, and his arguments for the possibility of the Earth’s motion.  What were the chief obstacles to the acceptance of the Copernican model?

 

Definition

1-    Copernicus said that if you placed the sun at the center, all motions are explained in simple ways.

 

1. accounts for qualitative features of observed orbits quite simply

 

2.some phenomena that are explained in an ad hoc way in Ptolemy model are accounted for as natural consequences of the Copernican model

 

3.arguments against the motion of the earth are not compelling.

 

 

 

The chief obstacles was that the protestant church got too involved and rejected his ideas cause the bible said the earth was at the center, this was blasphemy to them. If you read the scripture literally is opposed Copernican view.

 

 

 

Arguments for earths motion – if the rotational and orbital motion is natural motion, the earth will not disintegrate. And gravity is a natural inclination, that God bestowed on things to make them combine into spheres and not fly off?

 

 

 

He said no stellar parallax is observed, so that stars must be incredibly far away, and must also be enormous given their apparent diameters,distance, and brightness

 

 

 

He said the earth would orbit the sun once a year and rotate on its axis every 24 hours. His model has more epicylces that Ptolemy.

 

 

 

Term

8. Summarize Leibniz’s argument against substantivalism on the basis of the principle of sufficient reason.

 

Definition

8.     Leibniz’ principle stating that everything must have a reason or cause. Leibniz thought that space is not a thing in itself, but rather something like a conceptual construct out of spatial relations. Your position relation of space compared to that of another object in another position.

 

Term

9. Summarize Newton’s ‘bucket experiment’.  Give Mach’s response.  Is it satisfactory?  Explain.

 

Definition

8.    Newtons experiment. Basically 4 steps to prove that there is space. 1st bucket is neutral on both water and bucket, 2nd step bucket spins and water is still, 3rd step both are spinning, 4th step water spins and bucket stays still. The water is rotating to space itself, its behavior depends on absolute motion, with respect to space. This is a substantivalist view, and all explanations are due to forces that are a type of motion. And this force explains the concavity in the water.

 

Mach response – we can say that water is moving in respect to the fixed stars, the stars will be at rest while the water is moving which will explain the motion.

 

Term

12.  Explain the two-slit experiment, and why it is puzzling. 

 

Definition
.  are electrons more like waves or particles? If you close 1 slit, the light that is blasted into the slit shows a bullet pattern type image on the paper behind the slits. If you open 2 slits, you will get an interference that makes 2 waves collide and fuse together displaying a full image on the paper behind the slits. Now if you put an electron detector, it seems like the light knows that you want to mess with them and find their true nature. So they will still shoot as a bullet pattern if you detect them. So with the detectors on with both slits open, they will only go through 1 slit and have the bullet pattern, if you turn off the detector, they make the interference pattern
Term

 

14.  Explain the EPR thought experiment, and what EPR believed that it showed.  Summarize the impact of Bell’s theorem on the possibility of hidden-variable theories, or more generally theories that suppose that things have determinate properties whether they are observed or not.

 

Definition

 

so Everett said that when u make a measurement, u would spilt the universe in two, for example the cat being dead in one universe while in the other one the cat is alive. So Einstein and other decide to prove sense into him by their experiment.  They said that they would have a machine that would shoot out light from 2 sides and get received by absolute detectors that measure there exact momentum, if the light hit one side with 15 momentum, then it would also hit 15 in the other, and so on a million times every time both sides would get the same. So if you look at one after shooting light, you can assume that the other will be the same. The positions and momentum are perfectly correlated. So they indeed have definite values for both momentum and position.

 

 

 

Term
Lamarck
Definition

Jean batista lamarck

 

presented a much more detailed theory for evolution than Erasmus. He later developed that new life forms gradually arise through change, spontaneously

 

1. general tendency towards progression up the scale of being

2. secondary tendency to adapt to environment

 

complex forms arose from simpler ones as a consequences of these 2 actions.

 

"the ones that arose from the muk 1st, are more developed now"

 

 

 

 

Known for presenting a much more detailed theory of evolution than Erasmus. He was assigned to the Paris museum of natural history, where he was to classify the invertebrates and initially believed that species were fixed. He noticed that some invertebrates have no specialized organs.  They were sufficiently simple, he thought, to have arisen spontaneously.  More complex forms arose from simple ones as a consequence of two types of forces:

This secondary tendency resulted from the fact that from either use or disuse, some bodily parts would increase in size and complexity or gradually disappear.  Such developments are then inherited by subsequent generations.   This is the important doctrine of the inheritance of acquired characteristics.

Term
species   
Definition

inner breading. if they can bread theyre in the same species... natural selection

 

darwinian view

 

in the case of natural selection, you had a variety between species. the environment selects/affects the organisms. the variety of species is random, mutation and DNA creates random characteristics among species. and populations exists because of natural selection.

 

 

I believe this term is relating more to the problem of the definition of species. No one definition has satisfied all naturalists; yet every naturalist knows vaguely what he means when he speaks of a species.”


Prior to Darwin, naturalists saw species as a generalized or ideal version of a specimen bearing all the traits of a species.


For Darwin, species are what they appear to be, he defined species as those animals which are able to breed successfully with one another whereas


Lamarck thought those animals which relevantly resembled one another constituted a species. Ideas which are provisionally useful for naming groups of interacting Individuals.  


Essentially, they are a “population of organisms that have a high level of genetic similarity.”

Term
Big Bang model
Definition
The description of a universe that expanded and contracted in a cyclic manner was first put forward in a poem published in 1791 by Erasmus Darwin.
Term
Wallace
Definition

 

Alfred russel Wallace : sent Darwin an essay with a similar theory in 1858. This forced Darwin to publish his theory before he had planned to.



Came from a poorer background then Darwin, similarly believed that new species could emerge but had no idea how, because he was not part of the upper class and had no “in” in the scientific community he sent Darwin his theory to be passed on to be published. Spent a number of years sailing around the world collecting specimens and making observations about whether species could change over time.

 

 

 

Term
homologies vs. analogies
Definition

1.   Homology : within a type of the same basic structure is used to perform a variety of very different tasks. This fact makes plausible common origin , since the evolutionary process would “have to” work with the tools that it had. they do share common ancestors but have different roles.

example= wings of a bat, hand of a human, and whales fin..all have 5 inner bone like structures.


2. analogy : structures that plays analogous roles in different organisms, but do not share common ancestral structures.


wings of a fly and wings of a bat.


 

 

 

Term
incompatibilism
Definition

is the view that a deterministic universe is completely at odds with the notion that people have a free will; that there is a dichotomy between determinism and free will where philosophers must choose one or the other.

 

An incompatibilist holds that determinism, that the past and laws of nature determine the future (everything that occurs is a necessary result of them), and free will, with real options, are incompatible. This stands in contrast to a combatibilist.


An incompatibilist, consequentially, is an indeterminist, one who believes that the future cannot be explained or predicted, so everything that occurs is 'accidental' so to speak.


Remember that whereas classical physics holds to a deterministic model, quantum physics is indeterministic.

Term
Aristotle’s four causes
Definition
  •  A thing's material cause is the material of which it consists. (For a table, that might be wood; for a statue, that might be bronze or marble.)
  • A thing's formal cause is its form, i.e. the arrangement of that matter.
  • A thing's efficient or moving cause[4] is "the primary source of the change or rest." An efficient cause of x can be present even if x is never actually produced and so should not be confused with a sufficient cause.[5] (Aristotle argues that, for a table, this would be the art of table-making, which is the principle guiding its creation.)[2]
  • A thing's final cause is its aim or purpose. That for the sake of which a thing is what it is. (For a seed, it might be an adult plant. For a sailboat, it might be sailing. For a ball at the top of a ramp, it might be coming to rest at the bottom.)

 

 

Material cause:  the stuff out of which something is made
Formal cause:  the structure or form that something has
Efficient cause:  what produced the thing
Final cause:  the purpose or end of the thing     

Term
reductionism   
Definition

an approach to understanding the nature of complex things by reducing them to the interactions of their parts, or to simpler or more fundamental things

 

 

 

reinforced by natural selection

 

“has no fixed meaning, central image that reduces science to lower level terms; don’t think of it pejoratively (in a belittling or negative sense). Reductionists tend to think that everything can be explained without skyhooks, while greedy reductionists think everything can be explained without cranes

Term
meme
Definition

A meme is simply some item produced by humans that has the capacity to be used again and again, and competes for use with other items. So long as such items ‘reproduce’ at different rates depending upon environmental circumstances, some will continue to survive indefinitely, while others may become ‘extinct’, forgotten.

Dawkins defines memes as units of cultural transmission, or units of imitation.




concept for discussion of evolutionary principles in explaining the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena. Examples of memes given in the book included melodies, catch-phrases, fashion and the technology of building arches.

Term
inheritance of acquired characters
Definition

acquired characteristics are passed on through generations

 

demarkian evolution

 

giraffe example. there was a population of giraffes and they would reach throughout their lives and increase an inch or so, and they would pass that on to their offspring and so on.

 

Organisms acquire or lose traits or aspects of their genetic makeup that they use or disuse for survival in their environment. These characteristics are then passed down to offspring. For example, Giraffe’s neck is long because it had to reach for leaves, and therefore it literally stretched its neck in the process. The giraffe’s offspring, over time, has been born with longer necks because of this.   

Term
many-worlds interpretation
Definition

when you make a measurement, it splits into sub universes (identical clones of itself) "parallel universers"

 

cats alive in 1 universe, and cats dead in anothe universe. this is what happens with quantum measurements. every quantum measures a universesplitting

Term
Platonic Form   
Definition

there is for example the form of a horse, so you can recognize a horse easily if you see it, but there is no perfect form of a horse, just a normal unperfect form to be recognized as a horse,

 

ideas known to us through sensations which gives us the most fundamental kind of reality.

 

According to Plato, everything in the empirical world is an imperfect version of a Form in a realm that transcends space and time, the ether. For example, there is the form TRIANGLE, which is what mathematicians actually study. Any physical triangle is only an approximation to the genuine Form. Similarly, there is the form HORSE, which all and only horses exemplify.  No ordinary horse is a perfect copy of the Form

Term
natural kind
Definition

it is something that a set of things (objects, events, beings) has in common which distinguishes it from other things as a real set rather than as a group of things arbitrarily lumped together by a person or group of people.

 

 

Way of dividing up world. Possible solution to the Grue Paradox. A philosophy by W.V. Quine in his essay “Natural Kinds.”
    Grue Paradox - An object (say, an emerald) is Grue if it is blue before (say) 2015, and green afterwards. Clearly, we expect objects which were blue before 2015 to remain blue afterwards; however we do not expect the objects which were found to be grue before 2015 to be grue after 2015, since it would then be green.
    Quine seeks to explain this paradox by defining “blue” as a natural kind, a privileged predicate which can be used for induction, while “grue” is not a natural kind and using induction with it leads to error.
Essentially, Natural Kinds are natural groupings. A set of things that has in common which distinguishes it from other things as a real set rather than as a group of things arbitrarily lumped together by a person, or group of people. A great example of this is Gold.
    Quine particularly uses his example of “ravens” and “black” as an example of a natural kind, because any black raven constitutes at least some evidence that all ravens are black. However, a “nonblack nonraven” is an extremely wide category, created arbitrarily, and does not provide evidence that all nonblack things are nonraven.

Term
Chain of Being
Definition

 

according to this doctrine, all life forms fall somewhere on a linear hierarchy. Man is at the top of the chain.

 

Charles bonnet is a well-known advocate of both the germ theory (embryonic development ) and of the chain of being.

 

Ex. Russian dolls

 

Bonnet was impressed by the apparent asexual repodruction of aphids.




According to this doctrine, all life forms fall somewhere on a linear hierarchy.  Man is at the top of the chain. Charles Bonnet is a well-known advocate of both the germ theory and of the chain of being.  Bonnet was impressed by the apparent asexual reproduction of aphids.  Eventually Bonnet was led to adopt a "progressive" chain of being rather than a static one. Different kinds of germs were scheduled to grow at different periods of history. 

 

Term
herring gull example
Definition

The European Herring Gull, which lives primarily in Great Britain and Ireland, can hybridize with the American Herring Gull , (living in North America), which can also hybridize with the Vega or East Siberian Herring Gull , the western subspecies of which, Birula's Gull, can hybridize with Heuglin's gull , which in turn can hybridize with the Siberian Lesser Black-backed Gull . All four of these live across the north of Siberia. The last is the eastern representative of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls back in north-western Europe, including Great Britain.


The Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Herring Gulls are sufficiently different that they do not normally hybridize; thus the group of gulls forms a continuum except where the two lineages meet in Europe.

Term
mitochondrial Eve
Definition

In the field of human genetics, Mitochondrial Eve refers to the matrilineal most recent common ancestor (MRCA) of modern humans. In other words, she was the most recent woman from whom all living humans today descend, on their mother's side, and through the mothers of those mothers and so on, back until all lines converge on one person.



In all of our cells, there are organisms (or ‘organelles’) called mitochondria.  Mitochondria contain their own DNA, separate from the nuclear DNA.  Our mitochondria are inherited from our mothers.  Mitochondrial Eve is the last female who is an ancestor of every human being on Earth.All of our mitochondrial DNA descended from this one female. Exactly when and where she lived is controversial, and difficult to settle.

Term
Cambrian ‘explosion’
Definition

The Cambrian explosion, or Cambrian radiation, was the relatively rapid appearance, around 530 million years ago, of most major animal phyla, as demonstrated in the fossil record,accompanied by major diversification of organisms including animals, phytoplankton, and calcimicrobes.

 

the rate of evolution seemed to accelerate and the diversity of life began to resemble what exists today.


In 1859, Charles Darwin believe this discovery to be one of the main objections that could be made against his theory of evolution by Natural Selection.

Term
Galapagos Islands
Definition

The islands are geologically young and famed for their vast number of endemic species, which were studied by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle. His observations and collections contributed to the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.

 

This is where Darwin found most of his research that led him to create his theory of natural selection/evolution.

Mockingbirds on different islands of the galapagos would have different sized beaks (with the reason hypothesized as an adaptation to handle the different sized/shaped nuts from each island.)

 

Since these species can not interbreed due to being on different islands, they have become two entirely different species in essence.


Darwin wants to individuate species based upon whether or not they can interbreed.

Term
correspondence vs. coherence theories of truth
Definition

correspondence- true is it corresponds to reality. its true if it corresponds to the facts or describes how things really are.

 

 

coherence - ties with other beliefs. they state that to be true is to cohere with some other class of beliefs.

 

 

According a correspondence theorist, what makes a statement true is that it ‘corresponds to the facts’, or ‘describes how things really are’. Most correspondence theorists think that the way things really are is by and large causally independent of the way human beings think things are. On one version of such a view, the world actually consists of ‘facts’.

Coherence theories have it that to be true is to ‘cohere’ with some other class of beliefs. How the rest of the class is determined, along with the notion of ‘coherence’, determines varieties of coherence theories. ‘Coherence’ often just means ‘logical coherence’, the absence of logical contradictions within the resulting system of beliefs. More complex accounts might add other coherence constraints having to do with simplicity of the overall system, beauty of the overall theory, or what have you.

 

Term
5.  ‘A partly working eye is useless.  So how could the eye evolve?’  The various parts of an organism, or even an individual organism, must work in nearly perfect harmony for the organ to fulfill its purpose.  Yet how could all of the parts independently evolve in just the right way?  Explain Dawkins’ response to this form of argument, the ‘continuous path problem’, using the evolution of the eye or some other organismic feature as an example. 
Definition
  • Dawkins agrees that the second sort of difficulty is more respectable, and requires solution in particular cases.
  • What is required is
    • 1.  a reasonably continuous series of changes, each small, such that
    • 2.  each an ‘improvement’ over the previous stage,
    • 3.  leading to the current stage.
  • For example, in order to satisfactorily account for the development of mammalian eyes with their current complexity, we need to show how there might have been a sequence of less ‘perfect’ eyes that gradually converge to the present structure.
  • Dawkins considers the possibility of such a sequence in chapter 4.
  • A very  blurry or faint image is better than none at all.
  • Various very simple structures are capable of obtaining some information about the environment.
  • Similarly for insect ‘camouflage’.
    • Looking slightly more like a stick, for instance, will make an insect slightly less visible under certain conditions, and so will help the insect to survive and reproduce.
    • (Of course, there are other, countervailing evolutionary pressures against looking like a stick.  Otherwise, all insects would by now look like sticks!)

 

Term
6.  Explain the six or seven features that Cromer believes were present in Ancient Greece, which allowed for the rise of ‘objective thinking’ there.  Which factors are the most important, and why?  Does Cromer leave any important features out?  Explain/defend your answer.
Definition
Factors leading to Greek objectivity:
1. Democratic assembly and open debate: introduces both rational exchange of ideas and competition; further development of sophisticated reasoning techniques
2. A maritime economy prevented geographic isolation and helped avoid parochialism in thinking
3. A wide-spread Greek speaking world around which to travel
4. A merchant class who could afford to hire and support teachers, a class of specialists in learning, and methods of sophisticated reasoning (early capitalism)
5. The great epics of the Illiad and the Odyssey, which Cromer thinks are ‘paradigms of rational thought’
6. A literary religion not dominated by priests (allowing for open skepticism, no ‘unquestionable’ sources of knowledge)
7. The persistence of all of the above factors for around 1000 years. 
Term
7.  Explain why, according to Cromer, science as we know it (or ‘objective thinking’) did not arise in 1.  China, 2.  the Islamic world, or 3.  among the ancient Hebrews.  (One of these cultures will be considered in a question on the exam.  You will be asked to outline reasons why the selected culture did not give rise to science as we know it, according to Cromer.)  Is Cromer correct in his assessments?  Explain/defend your answer.
Definition
  • China:  Stability and practicality vs. theory
    • The Chinese invented paper, the printing press, and made other technological breakthroughs that seem crucial to the rise of Modern Science in the West.
    • But they used the printing press to publish the ‘classic’ works of Confucius and others, and did not use it for wide dissemination of novel ideas.
    • Joseph Needham has written the best-known account of sociological differences between China and Medieval Europe that may help to explain why the Chinese did not develop science as we know it, in spite of their technological brilliance.
    • A very quick summary of the view is that the Chinese valued political/social stability greatly, perhaps due to the great civil wars that they experienced in their early history.
    • Their philosophical views, literature, and social/political structures were designed to ensure such stability, and did not allow for the rise of a powerful merchant class, nor for the free exchange of novel ideas.
    • In addition, a focus on learning the classic works, understanding the Ancient Wisdom, which itself focused on practical affairs rather than theoretical/explanatory matters, may have led most of the brightest intellects in a different direction.
  • Islamic World
    • The Islamic world was in many respects in a position to continue in the Greek tradition, and pass beyond it, as the Europeans did during the ‘Renaissance’.
    • However, there were various obstacles.
    • If we take another look at the seven factors that Cromer lists, perhaps the greatest obstacle was a culture of prophetic revelation, rather than free debate of ideas.
    • Around the turn of the millennium, in particular, a general tendency to be suspicious of philosophy in particular, and free thought and science more generally, thoroughly dominated the civilization.
    • According to some authors, the first ‘universities’ in the western European sense did not arise in the Islamic world until about one century ago.  
    • [The schools of the Islamic world had tended to be religious schools.  Even today, the many ‘Madrasas’ appear to be primarily religious indoctrination centers.]
  • Hebrews
    • Cromer notes that free debate is hardly even raised as a possibility within the Old Testament.
    • Further, the source of the most important knowledge to be obtained was prophecy, what is said by prophets via direct communication from God. (p. 67)
    • Cromer observes that the Old Testament and the Koran, for example don’t even contain the words ‘normally associated with debate’:  reason, credible, impossible.

 

Term
8.  Outline Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, and of the origin of new species.
Definition
  • At any time, there is variation among a variety of characteristics in an interbreeding population.
  • Some of these characteristics give their owners a competitive advantage in the struggle for survival.
  • On the average, individuals with favorable characteristics tend to leave more offspring.
  • Gradually the relative frequency of such favorable characteristics  increases.
  • This explains how species adapt.  But it does not explain how two species can arise from one.
  • New species originate when some subpopulation is isolated from the rest.
    • The two subpopulations then evolve independently, and after many generations they are no longer able to interbreed, and so form a new species.

 

Term
9.   Explain three or four early scientific objections to Darwin’s theory (e.g., gaps in the fossil record, age of the Earth, ‘swamping’ of variation, etc.), and summarize Darwin’s responses to them or how more recent developments are relevant to the objections.
Definition
  • "Gaps" in the fossil record
    • The fossil record contains species arising "suddenly", and remaining the same for a long time, often millions of years.
    • There is no known (even today) absolutely continuous sequence of fossils that exhibit a transition from one species to another.  (?)
    • Darwin argued that the fossil record was radically incomplete.
    • Some species would never be fossilized at all, because of their location or the structure of their bodies.
    • Even among species that could fossilize, only a very few would actually be fossilized, and many of those fossils would be destroyed.
    • Even among those individuals that were fossilized and not destroyed, scientists have not discovered, and may never discover, many.   
  • The Age of the Earth
    • Kelvin calculated a maximum age of approximately 100 million years.
    • Early in the twentieth century, physicists showed that radioactive decay accounted for additional heating of which Kelvin was unaware.
  • Similarity of Independently Evolved Structures
    • The eye of the octopus is similar in large-scale structure to that of mammals, but has supposedly evolved independently.
    • Darwin responded that the general structure of an efficient eye is dictated by the laws of optics.  Furthermore, the smaller-scale structure is very different.  
  • Swamping of Variation
    • If an individual with some very different but adaptive characteristic arose, because of blending inheritance, there would be no significant effect on the population.
    • Darwin was confused by this issue, but later developments (particularly in genetics) showed that this was a pseudoproblem.

 

Term
10.  Summarize advantages that Darwinian theory has over Lamarckian theory.  Mention coloration of insects, and the possibility of stasis.
Definition

1. The Possibility of Stasis: On Darwin's theory, species will not necessarily change through time.  The fossil record is in agreement with this (e.g. "living fossils").  Could Lamarckians account for this?


    2.  Geographic Distribution: Radically different forms existed in the same climate, and very similar forms existed in radically different climates.  An explanation of distribution in terms of perfect adaptation seemed implausible.

 

    Australian Fauna: The prevalence of marsupials in Australia, in spite of their rarity elsewhere, is well accounted for by Darwin's theory, but very mysterious on a creationist account.

 

 

camoflauge, hipbones..

Term
11.  Explain the notion of a Platonic Form, Aristotle’s notion of a ‘natural kind’, and how these notions made the concept of ‘evolution of species’ unintelligible.  What is a species, according to modern biologists?
Definition

 

  • According to Plato, everything in the empirical world is an imperfect version of a Form in a realm that transcends space and time.
    • For example, there is the form TRIANGLE, which is what mathematicians actually study.
    • Any physical triangle is only an approximation to the genuine Form.
  • Similarly, there is the form HORSE, which all and only horses exemplify.  No ordinary horse is a perfect copy of the Form.
  • Aristotle moved the Forms into the natural world, but retained the idea that different members of a given species shared a common Form that is immutable.
  • On Darwin’s view, there is no hard and fast distinction between species.
    • Varieties are more or less similar, and it is largely a matter of stipulation when a genuinely new species has arisen, as opposed to a mere variety or subspecies.

 

 

modern biologists? ”a population of organisms that have a high level of genetic similarity.”  those animals which are able to successfully reproduce with one anotherAlthough there is variation within species, certain essential  properties are shared by all members. Essential properties are shared by all members of a given species.

Term
12.  Summarize Lamarck’s theory of evolution.  Stress similarities and differences with Darwin’s theory.
Definition
  • This is what Lamarick actually postulated in his theory, it’s different (I think on all accounts) Than Darwin’s
  • Change through use and disuse vs. Natural Selection (Variation)
    • organisms changed their behaviors to their environments
    • offspring inherited this trait
    • Different from variation proposed by Darwin, species have natural variation within a set. Naturally advantageous variations will increase in relative frequency.
  • Transmission of Acquired Characteristics vs. Inheritance and microevolution
    • Organisms transmit characteristics to offspring
    • Different from Darwin because darwin proposed inheritance, not transmission.
  • Organisms driven to greater complexity vs. driven arbitrarily by the “will to survive”
    • Organisms are driven to increasingly complex forms
    • Different from darwin because natural selection and variation within species are only driven by the will to survive
    • There actually are no more complex forms
  • Evolution by Natural Processes
    • life occured through natural processes and not miracuous interventions
    • Species can go extinct rather than change into new forms (Different from Darwin in that darwin postulated new species could arrive from older ones by isolation and natural selection)

 

Supporting users have an ad free experience!