Behaviorism
From the Dictionary of the Philosophy of Mind: A class of theories according to which behavior is the proper subject matter of psychology and/or the denotation of meaningful psychological vocabulary. Behaviorists typically repudiate inner mental states on methodological, ontological, or semantic grounds.
Excerpt from an essay by Jesse Prinz:
Historically, behaviorism had two mains forms:
Psychological behaviorists claim that the proper domain of psychology is the study of behavior. Appeals to unobservable inner states are both methodologically intractable (e.g. the inconsistent first person reports of introspectionists) and unnecessary (we can control and predict behavior by appeal to external variables that systematically induce behavioral responses as a consequence of conditioning or reinforcement)...
In its strongest form, philosophical behaviorism (also called `analytic behaviorism' and `logical behaviorism') is the view that psychological terms can be translated without loss of meaning into behavioral terms...
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Cognitivism
From the Computer Supported Collaborative Learning website:
Based on the thought process behind the behavior. Changes in behavior are observed, but only as an indicator to what is going on in the learner's head.
Site Includes:
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Brief Introduction; - The scope of this CSCL project |
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Psychological theories; A brief survey of the changing views of learning |
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CSCL; - Summary of the main points in the class CSCL literature |
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CSCL Links; - Projects, articles, software etc. |
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Collaboration a la Salamon |
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Concepts & References |
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Graphical overviews - Find the way.. |
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Constructivism
In the Constructivism verses Instructivism debate.
Articles include:
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Resources for computer usage Education teachers k-12 tcams This page will connect you to others regarding issues in using computers in the classroom, constructivism, learning, Papert "the children Machine", special education, and more… |
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Applications of Fuzzy Logic to Educational Practice, Research, and Evaluation Suzanne Damarin a research proposal that may lead to better clarity in education - assessment and objectives. |
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Mr. C's Philosophy and Pedagogy: Constructivism Constructivism - defined and links to other great resources - such as: ILTweb: Publication |
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Learning Theories - Funderstanding Web site that has an array of resources and information on learning - including: How people learn; what should be learned - curriculum issues, learning design - instruction; how will we know learning has occurred - assessment; and how should schools be designed - organizational theory. |
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Some Thoughts About Applying Constructivist Theories of Learning to Guide Instruction Yuan Feng - University of Washington - Paper discussing the constructivism revolution and theories involved |
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Educational PsychologyA GREAT resource for research in Psychology and learning with interesting links |
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SEDLETTER: The Practice Implications of ConstructivismEssay on Practicing constructivism and resources (Be sure to search NEXT!) |
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Discovery Learning"Theory and Technology: Design consideration for hypermedia/discovery learning environments" - paper on hypermedia and instructional design with links to many resources and other papers on constructivism and use of hypermedia within education. |
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Essays on constructivism and educationList collected by Maryland Collaborative for Teacher Preparation |
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Dr. Holton from USC gives his bit |
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Darwinism
From the Darwin and Darwinism website.
Site Includes:
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Books |
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Debates on Evolutionary Theory |
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Evolution on the WWW |
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Creationism and Evolution |
Archives of Charles Darwin:
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On the Origin of Species |
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The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals |
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The Voyage of the Beagle |
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The Descent of Man |
Archives of Alfred Russel Wallace:
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On the Law that has Regulated |
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the Introduction of New Species (1855) |
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On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely |
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From the Original Type (1858) |
Thomas Henry Huxley
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Autobiography and Selected Essays |
Andrew Dickson White
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History of the Warfare of Science With
Theology in Christendom |
William James
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The Varieties of Religious Experience:
A Study in Human Nature |
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Deism
This website is by the World Union of Deists.
Site includes:
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Deism vs. Atheisism & Christianity |
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Deism Defined |
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Thomas Paine |
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Tax Religions! |
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Think |
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Stump the BiBible Thumpers |
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Free Thinkers' Yellowow Pages & Book Offers |
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World Union of Deists |
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Quotes |
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Dualism
From the Dictionary of the Philosophy of Mind: Most generally, the view that reality consists of two disparate parts. In philosophy of mind, the belief that the mental and physical are deeply different in kind: thus the mental is at least not identical with the physical. See occasionalism, doctrine of preestablished harmony, substance dualism, property dualism, Cartesian interactionist dualism, mind-body problem, monism.
There's a short essay on Dualism at this site by Chris Eliasmith.
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Empiricism
From the Dictionary of the Philosophy of Mind: In its strong form, the thesis that there is no reality behind appearances. Thus, it is the job of science to catalog the formal relations which hold between appearances without claims of describing reality. See phenomenalism.
A weaker form of empricism admits of the existence of a reality which is, however, trans-empirical. The transcendent nature of reality determines that we can have no knowledge of it and thus must simply catalog the formal relations between appearances.
Empricism is very much like phenomenalism. However, empiricism is a term more commonly used in philosophy of science than philosophy of mind. In either case, these positions are most commonly contrasted with realism.
By Chris Eliasmith
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British Empiricism on the PRB.
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Epicureanism
This web page introduces Epicureanism to both the serious student of philosophy and to anyone seeking useful and inspiring ideas. Epicurus helped lay the intellectual foundations for modern science and for secular individualism, with many aspects of his system still highly relevant some twenty-three centuries after they were first taught to Epicurus's students in the Garden at Athens. Follow the links below to learn more about Epicurus and his philosophy!
Site Includes:
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What are the beliefs of Epicureans? |
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How is Epicureanism related to other Greek philosophies? |
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What is the history of Epicurus and his school? |
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Where can I find classical Epicurean texts? |
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Where can I find other Epicurean resources? |
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Part of the Philosophy Research Base.
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Hedonism
The Hedonistic Imperative: Site by David Pearce, BLTC Research.
Excerpt:
The Hedonistic Imperative outlines how genetic engineering and nanotechnology will abolish suffering in all sentient life.
This project is ambitious but technically feasible. It is also instrumentally rational and ethically mandatory. The metabolic pathways of pain and malaise evolved only because they once served the fitness of our genes. They will be replaced by a different sort of neural architecture. States of sublime well-being are destined to become the genetically pre-programmed norm of mental health. The world's last aversive experience will be a precisely dateable event.
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HEDWEB |
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HI Abstract |
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HI Table of Contents |
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The Hedonistic Imperative |
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Idealism
From the Dictionary of the Philosophy of Mind: A brand of monism, first forwarded by Berkeley, in which everything is mental, as contrast to materialism. See also phenomenalism.
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Instructivism
In the debate between Construtivism and Instructivism.
Artiles on Instructivism:
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Educational Reform "Instruction: the tyranny of dogma" - an essay supporting instuctivism and the criticism of constructivism |
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Direct Instruction: making waves by Elizabeth Duffrin; a critique of Direct Instruction |
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What the Data Really Show: Old FashionedTeaching Works! |
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The Informed Instruction Project: Preliminary Findings and Implications for Future Research in Mathematics for Students with Learning Disabilities by John Woodward |
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From the Philosophy Research Base.
Page includes:
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Study Guide for The Communist Manifesto |
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Fredric Jameson- A Bibliography |
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Marxist Media Theory |
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A Short History of the Marxist Literary Group |
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Introduction to Marxism |
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Contemporary Marxist Materials |
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Voice of the Shuttle- Marxist Theory |
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Mediations |
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Marxism and Socialism Links |
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Marxist Glossary |
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The Marxist-Leninist Theory of History |
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Texts online |
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Materialism
Philosophical Materialism, essay by Richard C. Vitzthum.
Excerpt:
Materialism is the oldest philosophical tradition in Western civilization. Originated by a series of pre-Socratic Greek philosophers in the 6th and 5th centuries before the Christian era, it reached its full classical form in the atomism of Democritus and Epicurus in the 4th century BCE. Epicurus argued that ultimate reality consisted of invisible and indivisible bits of free-falling matter called atoms randomly colliding in the void. It was on this atomic hypothesis that the Roman poet Lucretius wrote the first masterpiece of materialist literature around 50 BCE, the 7400-line philosophical poem De Rerum Natura, or, as it's usually translated, The Nature of Things.
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Monism
From the Dictionary of the Philosophy of Mind: The thesis that all of reality is of one kind. In philosophy of mind, monism is usually contrasted with the dualist position that mind and matter are deeply different. Thus, monism is the claim that mind and matter essentially the same. However, this 'sameness' has come in a number of different and contradictory varieties. For example, Hobbes felt that the mental is merely and epiphenomena of the physical, thus the physical is the one real substance (Contemporary materialism is also a form of physicalistic monism (see Churchland, 1996). In direct contrast, Berkeley postulated that the physical is just a collection of ideas (hence, idealism) and thus the mental is the only thing that really exists. Finally, there are a number of positions similar to Spinoza's property dualism, often referred to as dual-aspect theory. Spinoza held a position in which the mental and the physical are simply two modes of a more basic substance (it should be noted that strictly speaking, Spinoza was not a property dualist as he held that the mental and the physical were two of a possible infinite number of modes of the basic substance, nevertheless he is typically labelled as one). For Spinoza, this basic substance was God. Thus the only real thing is God, who is neither physical nor mental. Spinoza's position is similar to that of Russell's neutral monism, however the latter is not committed to the belief that a supreme being is the more basic substance.
See materialism, idealism, neutral monism, dualism.
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