Atomism - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomism
John Locke - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke
Descartes - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descartes
Dualism - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartesian_dualism
Associationism - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associationism
Nature - Nurture - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_versus_nurture
Tabula Rasa - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_rasa
or find a topic that you were interested from the current chapter at Wiki. Tell us what your topic was and leave a brief comment about it.
I always find the nature/nurture debate to be an interesting one. Personally I feel like I have kind of a hybrid opinion, but I probably lean a little more towards the nurture side of things. I believe that the bulk of our personalities, behaviors, and thought processes are primarily the result of what we've experienced and learned throughout our lives.
I think that nature vs. nurture will always be a hot topic among societies. I don't feel we will ever come to an agreement if its either one or the other. It is ever a hard concept for me to understand and pick a side because I have agreements with both sides in a sense. However I feel that I am in more agreement and feel that my beliefs about things are more toward the nurture side. I feel that we learn many things through our personal experiences and that these experiences will shape some of our innate traits as well. So this is a hot topic that I don't know if it will ever be decided on.
I actually did my topical blog on Tabula Rasa.. The reason I chose to do that topic was because tabula rasa had actually just been mentioned to me before we read this chapter. I can't remember what my friend and I were talking about but he goes "isn't there a name for that? Tabula Rasa?"
I think it's an interesting concept but I definitely don't believe in it. I believe we are born with some innate abilities and then we obviously learn the rest. But it's kind of cool to think about being born with a completely blank slate and what our sense experience helps us to learn.
Just found it interesting.
I read about John Locke, while he is most commonly known for his Social Contract Theory (which I am very much a fan of), I focused more on his logic behind allowing religious tolerance. I think it's interesting that even so many years ago he was able to deduce that forcing people to do something they didn't care to would lead to devastating results. There are people in our world in THIS era that don't understand that. The reason that I read on this was because I was trying to find something to expand on knowledge I already had. I know of John Locke and know that he supports individuality, but to fight people on religion on that time period shows true dedication to personal freedoms.
Religion has always been a fascinating subject for me and John Locke was certainly involved in this particular area of study. His ideas on religious toleration were way beyond his time. He had lived through the horrible religious wars in Europe and no doubt was sick of it all. He was certainly right in saying that humans are flawed and do have trouble deciphering what the correct religious truth claims are. He was also very correct that one particular religion cannot and should not be forced upon everyone. That would create a lot of strife and suffering for everyone. I am a Christian personally and I do not think that this should be forced upon people, even though I do believe it to be the only way to heaven. It is a decision that people need to make on their own. John Locke was a very smart individual and a lot of people today could learn from him.
I agree with the other posts referring to the nature vs. nurture conflict. It seems that it will always be a topic which is debated because I am not sure that there is a specific right answer on either or. Personally I have a combined opinion of the two. Just stemming out of my own personal experiences. My brother and I were born and raised basically the exact same way, but we are two different people by far. (I have been blessed with and attitude and bit of a temper; he on the other hand is cooperative and somewhat quiet). So that's the part where nature comes in I think, but also nurture is important because I think if I were just left on the streets to defend myself or had been raised differently or in a differnt environment I would not be who I am presently.
I chose Nature vs. Nurture because it is a Highly discussed topic in the psychology world. Some people think Nature determines who a person is, some think nurture, and others think both play a role. I believe Both played a role and feed off of each other. What a person picks up from nature could be a wrong interpretation and needs nurturing to help correct them. Attitude I believe is nature AND nurture combined, but more nature. A bad attitude can be prevented early even if it is a trait of a kids parent, or it could grow worse or steadily as they get older so they end up just like the parent with the attitude problem.