System and Theory

• Epistemology

  A branch of philosophy concerned with theories of knowledge
• Empiricism


  Admits no trustworthy information than the data of experience
• Rationalism


  Claims that reason as a special faculty is more important
• Empiricism


  We gain knowledge through sensory experience
• Rationalism


  We gain knowledge through reasoning
• A priori knowledge


  Knowledge that is operational from birth, a natural outcome of the unique structural and functional properties of the nervous systems
• Deduction


  Syllogism, Modus ponendo ponens, Modus tollens
• Induction


  Make observations, apply theories, apply statistical analysis, make conclusions, generalize
• A posteriori knowledge


  Knowledge derived from experience
• Criteria by which we claim to know the truth: Authority, Abuse of authority
• Aestheticism


  A commitment to the belief that the principles of beauty are applicable to other arenas of thought
• Pragmatism


  Emphasized theories and propositions that can be tested, emphasized the practical consequences of theories, definitions, ideas and concepts
• Causality (Aristotle)


  • Efficient cause, Material cause, Final cause, Formal cause
• Free will


  The philosophical position that assumes that human beings make choices that are, to some degree, independent if antecedent conditions
• Determinism


  There are causes, both known and unknown, for every behavior or experience
• Mind-body problem


  An ontological study of the nature and relations of being
• Philosophical positions on mind-body problem

  • Materialism
  • Idealism
  • Double-Aspect Monism
  • Epiphenomenalism
  • Dualism
  • Interactionism
  • Psychophysical Parallelism
  • Emergentism