French Sensationalism – Ch6 | Test Bank – 6th Edition

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Chapter 6

Sensationalism and Positivism: The French Tradition

Chapter Objectives:

• Review the history of France as an organized and centralized nation state.
• The role of the Académie des Sciences in promoting advances in the natural sciences through empirical demonstration.
• Survey the initial response to Descartes by reductionism to sensationalism.
• The reaction by Maine de Biran.
• Positivism and Comte: An accommodation to sensationalism.

CHAPTER SUMMARY

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries marked the ascendancy of French political power, literary success, and scientific achievement. In the natural sciences, such investigators as Lagrange, Laplace, and Lavoisier gave mathematical and empirical support to the modern basis of chemistry, physics, and biology. In a parallel movement, philosophical discourses on psychology led to a reinterpretation of Descartes' formulation so as to focus on sensation. Condillac, Bonnet, and La Mettrie progressively argued for the equation of mental operations with sensory input and worked to articulate the physiological mechanisms of sensation. In so doing, they logically reduced psychology to sensation. Helvétius and Cabanis attempted to back off from such extremism by asserting the mediating role of a central ego, although both remained committed to sensory physiology. Biran and Comte recognized the consequences of reducing psychology to mere sensory physiology, but each worked out quite separate solutions. Biran rejected sensationalism as completely inadequate, suggesting a total view of individuality based upon the immediate data of consciousness expressing the dynamics of the will. In contrast, Comte ultimately accepted the conclusions of sensationalism and dismissed psychology. Human activity of the individual should properly be studied by physiology; the individual behaving in a group is the province of sociology. Comte, however, did advocate a spirit of objective observation that was eventually useful to psychology. Thus, the successors to Descartes in France left psychology in a somewhat tenuous position, removed from recognition as a formal discipline.

Suggested topics and issues for class discussion and/or short examination questions:

1. Describe the political climate of the France of Louis XIV and Louis XV. How did this period contribute to French ascendancy in intellectual pursuits?

2. How did research by such scientists as Lagrange, Lavoisier, and Laplace contribute to the basis of empiricism?

3. Who were the philosophes and how did they influence the intellectual climate of France?

4. In general, what is sensationalism and how is this position related to Descartes's views?

5. How did Condillac derive mental activity from a single sensory capacity?

6. In what way can Condillac's psychology be called materialistic?

7. How did Bonnet extend Condillac's views on psychology?

8. What was the extreme materialistic position of La Mettrie and how did his work represent a final development in the progression among Descartes, Condillac, and Bonnet?

9. What elements of Helvétius's writings represented a retreat from the extreme position of La Mettrie?

10. How did Cabanis revive the need for some agency of mental activity?

11. Describe the need for a discipline of psychology, in addition to physiology, from the views of both Helvétius and Cabanis.

12. Describe the evolution of Biran's thought over his entire life.

13. What did Biran mean by his definition of psychology as the study of intentionality?

14. What is meant by "consciousness" in the context of Biran's psychology?

15. Both Biran and Comte rejected the psychology of sensations for quite different reasons. What were the alternative solutions proposed by each scholar?

16. Why are Comte's views somewhat tainted in the history of science?

17. What did Comte mean by positivism, in terms of the contrast to more primitive theological and metaphysical stages of intellectual inquiry?

18. Compare Comte's notion of positivism with empiricism practiced in the natural sciences.

19. How did Comte deal with psychology in his system? Relate his views on psychology to his proposed hierarchy of sciences.

20. Summarize the French tradition in terms of its reaction Descartes's dualism.

Objective Questions:

1. The relatively tranquil period of the long reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV left France with

A. a firmly established Protestant Church.

B. an advanced educational system and an intellectual enlightenment.

C. a stifled educational system available only to the rich.

D. little need for censorship of scholarly work.

E. an educational system completely independent of Church control.

2. A prominent person in the development of mechanical relationships based upon algebra and calculus, as well as devising the metric system, was

A. Joseph Lagrange. B. Jean d'Alembert.

C. Karl Shule. D. Antoine Lavoisier. E. Pierre Laplace.

3. A French mathematician who advanced the study of applied mathematics in the study of physics was

A. Joseph Lagrange. B. Jean d'Alembert.

C. Karl Shule. D. Antoine Lavoisier. E. Pierre Laplace.

4. A scientist who devised the chemical basis of physiological processes, especially the role of oxygen in animal respiration, was

A. Joseph Lagrange. B. Jean d'Alembert.

C. Karl Shule. D. Antoine Lavoisier. E. Pierre Laplace.

5. A prominent person in the development of the mathematical basis of astronomy and the theory of probability was

A. Joseph Lagrange. B. Jean d'Alembert.

C. Karl Shule. D. Antoine Lavoisier. E. Pierre Laplace.

6. The group of scholars, who worked clandestinely around the state censorship system, was known as the

A. philosophes. B. theologiens. C. Jesuits.

D. scolastiques. E. "underground".

7. The major theme of the French tradition developed into the study of sensations at the expense of

A. perceptual processes.

B. physiological processes.

C. the activities of the mind.

D. materialism.

E. the nervous system.

8. Condillac proposed a psychology of sensations derived from

A. mental activity.

B. the intellect and the will.

C. the nervous system

D. a single sensory capacity.

E. memory.

9. The "statue analogy" of the acquisition of human experience was proposed by

A. Condillac. B. Bonnet. C. La Mettrie.

D. Helvétius. E. Cabanis.

10. Bonnet extended Condillac's sensationalistic psychology by

A. assuming mental activity.

B. his belief in innate ideas.

C. proposing physiological mechanisms.

D. opposing materialism.

E. his use of deductive experiments.

11. One of the earliest statements of specific nerve energies was proposed by

A. Condillac. B. Bonnet. C. La Mettrie.

D. Helvétius. E. Cabanis.

12. La Mettrie's work, L'Homme Machine, contributed to the French sensationalistic tradition by its

A. opposition to materialism.

B. clear statement of materialism.

C. studies of mental activity.

D. clear support of dualism.

E. justification of the study of psychology.

13. The principle that motivation of human activity is governed by the seeking of pleasure was proposed by

A. Condillac. B. Bonnet. C. La Mettrie.

D. Helvétius. E. Cabanis.

14. Helvétius salvaged a semblance of mental activity by proposing that

A. the mind contains innate ideas.

B. specific nervous energies are the sole mechanism of thought.

C. the mind is synonymous with physiological processes.

D. cartesian dualism is correct.

E. human intelligence mediates environmental influences.

15. The extension of human motivation to environmental influences was proposed by

A. Condillac. B. Bonnet. C. La Mettrie.

D. Helvétius. E. Cabanis.

16. Cabanis's less extreme sensationalism advocated

A. the need for a central mind agent contained in the brain.

B. a complete identification of the mind with specific nerve fibers.

C. a reliance on materialism.

D. innate ideas of the mind.

E. a reliance on cartesian dualism.

17. A central, coordinating ego of the brain as part of a unified sensory system was proposed by

A. Condillac. B. Bonnet. C. La Mettrie.

D. Helvétius. E. Cabanis.

18. During his initial intellectual phase, Biran belonged to a group called the

A. Jesuits. B. philosophes. C. Ideologists.

D. theologiens. E. sensationalists.

19. In breaking with the "fiber" psychologists' emphasis on sensationalism, Biran argued for

A. innate ideas of the mind.

B. a reliance on materialism.

C. thought processes as an aggregate of sensation.

D. thought processes as a unified, whole entity.

E. a mechanical view of the acquisition of human experience.

20. By his third phase, Biran defined psychology as the study of

A. sensations.

B. the intentionality of the self.

C. intelligence.

D. perceptual information dependent on the environment.

E. the physiological mechanisms of thought processes.

21. Biran's major interest in human activity focused on the

A. importance of sensations.

B. role of brain interactions with environmental input.

C. neural pathways of motor behavior.

D. importance of innate ideas.

E. creative, unpredictable character of human activity.

22. Comte's positivism was

A. based on innate ideas.

B. consistent with French sensationalism.

C. inconsistent with French sensationalism.

D. consistent with cartesian dualism.

E. actually a justification for the study of psychology.

23. The data of positivistic science for Comte were based upon

A. perceptions. B. social interactions.

C. ethics. D. brain coordination.

E. observables.

24. According to Comte, science is

A. noncausal. B. absolute knowledge.

C. relative knowledge. D. based upon metaphysics.

E. based upon theology.

25. French positivism was a consistent type of

A. empiricism. B. mentalism.

C. metaphysics. D. dualism. E. causality.