PHI 101
Kant's Essence of Evil
"If now we attend to ourselves on occasion of any transgression of duty, we shall find that we in fact do not will that our maxim should be a universal law, for that is impossible for us. On the contrary, we will that the opposite should remain a universal law, only we assume the liberty of making an exception in our own favor."
Arete
"a settled disposition of the mind determining the choice of actions and emotions, consisting essentially in the observance of the mean relative to us, this being determined by principle, that is, as the prudent man would determine it."
Morality
"deals basically with humans and how they relate to other beings, both human and nonhuman. It deals with how humans treat other beings so as to promote mutual welfare, growth, creativity, and meaning as they strive for what is good over what is bad and what is right over what is wrong."
40. Novum Organum
("new instrument of science") a philosophical work by Francis Bacon, published in 1620, in which he details a new system of logic he believes to be superior to the old ways of syllogism; finding the essence of a thing was a simple process of reduction, and the use of inductive reasoning. The title is a reference to Aristotle's work Organon, which was his treatise on logic and syllogism.
1. Philosophy
"love of wisdom;" the academic discipline that deals primarily with metaphysics, logic, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, and socio-political theory.
Virtue
"the quality of moral excellence, righteousness, and responsibility... a specific type of moral excellence or other exemplary quality considered meritorious; a worthy practice or ideal."
Ressentiment
(Fr. Latin intensive prefix 're', and 'sentir' "to feel") is a sense of one form of resentment or hostility directed at that which one identifies as the cause of one's frustration, that is, an assignment of blame for one's frustration.
42. Eratosthenes
Ancient Greek mathematician and astronomer who first determined The Earth's circumference within a margin of between 2% and 20% in 240 BCE.
14. Sir Thomas Hobbes
English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy. His 1651 book Leviathan established social contract theory, the foundation of most later Western political philosophy.
Slave Morality
Nietzschean concept also called "herd morality" of the system of morality developed in the West, but especially Christianity, which is based on re-sentiment or inverting the values held by the nobler beings.
Master Morality
Nietzschean concept of "individual morality," ideally that of an Übermensch, which involves a transvaluation of all values, and based on sentiment, and noble virtues.
35. Philosophy of science
a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and implications of science. The central questions of this study concern what qualifies as science, the reliability of scientific theories, and the ultimate purpose of science. This discipline overlaps with metaphysics, ontology, and epistemology, for example, when it explores the relationship between science and truth.
2. Metaphysics
a branch of philosophy that studies Reality and asks questions about reality.
Utilitarianism
a broad school of normative ethical philosophy, which argues that moral action is that which maximizes pleasure, happiness, well-being, etc., and minimizes pain/unhappiness for the largest amount of people as possible.
48. Pseudo-science
a claim, belief or practice which is incorrectly presented as scientific, but does not adhere to a valid scientific method, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status.
Eternal Recurrence
a concept formulated by Nietzsche which holds the idea that with infinite time and a finite number of events, events will recur again and again infinitely...
18. Causality
the relation between one event and a second event, where the first event is understood to be responsible for the second.
Will to Power
A prominent concept developed by Nietzsche; it describes what Nietzsche may have believed to be the main driving force in humans - namely, achievement, ambition, and the striving to reach the highest possible position in life.
33. Unconscious
A region of the mind that includes unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories.
25. Baruch Spinoza
Dutch philosopher of Sephardi Portuguese origin who was excommunicated from both Judaism and Christianity (a religion he did not belong to) for his belief that God and Nature are one-in-the-same.
34. Id, Ego, Superego
Freud's tripartite theory of the psyche (mind) with Id being: base drives and instincts, the Superego being: the internalized rules, laws, and regulations of society, and the Ego: the [concept of] "Self."
Übermensch
German, meaning "Overman," is a central concept to the philosophy of Nietzsche of the "future" goal for humanity to strive to become, beings who overcome the "tragic" and create their own values.
Eudaimonia
Greek word meaning, "well-being, happiness, or "human flourishing."
A posteriori
Latin phrase used in philosophy to refer to knowledge with or after.
A priori
Latin phrase used in philosophy to refer to knowledge without or before experience.
51. Sign
Signified/Signifier: In Structuralist Linguistics, the "word" (sign) is composed of two dependent parts the "signifier:" the word-image, and the "signified:" the concept of the word-image.
54. Social Construction of Technology (SCOT)
Theory within the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) that argues "technology does not determine human action, but rather, human action shapes technology;" and that "the ways a technology is used cannot be understood without understanding how that technology is embedded in its social context."
8. Subjectivity
a central philosophical concept, related to consciousness, agency, personhood, reality, and truth, which has been variously defined as, the quality or condition of: Something being a subject, narrowly meaning an individual who possesses conscious experiences, such as perspectives, feelings, beliefs, and desires. Something being a subject, broadly meaning an entity that has agency, meaning that it acts upon or wields power over some other entity (an object). Some information, idea, situation, or physical thing considered true only from the perspective of a subject or subjects.
12. Free Will
a conception of "Will" that states it is autonomous and free from any deterministic factors.
38. Experiment
a controlled interaction with nature designed to yield observations that will help confirm or disconfirm some hypothesis about the way the world is.
43. Geocentric model
a description of the cosmos in which Earth is at the orbital center of all celestial bodies. This model served as the predominant cosmological system in many ancient civilizations such as ancient Greece including the noteworthy systems of Aristotle (see Aristotelian physics) and Ptolemy.
46. Heliocentric universe
a description of the cosmos in which the Sun is at the orbital center of all celestial bodies. This model originated via the work of Copernicus and lead to the Scientific Revolution.
50. Cultural Studies
a form of Critical Theory which defines itself as, "a discursive formation, that is, a 'cluster (or formation) of ideas, images and practices, which provide ways of talking about, forms of knowledge and conduct associated with, a particular topic, social activity or institutional site in a society.'"
55. Postmodernism
a late twentieth century movement that was a departure from modernism, which includes skeptical interpretations of culture, literature, art, philosophy, history, economics, architecture, fiction, and literary criticism. The term has been applied to a host of movements, mainly in art, music, and literature, which reacted against tendencies in modernism, and are typically marked by revival of historical elements and techniques.
39. Scientific method
a method or procedure that has characterized natural "philosophy" since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation, measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.
49. Paradigm Shift
a phrase popularized by Thomas Kuhn in his influential book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), and used to describe a change or "revolution" in the basic concepts of a scientific discipline. According to Kuhn, "A paradigm is what members of a scientific community, and they alone, share." Unlike a normal scientist, Kuhn held, "a student in the humanities has constantly before him a number of competing and incommensurable solutions to these problems, solutions that he must ultimately examine for himself."
15. Will
a property of the mind, and an attribute of acts intentionally committed.
32. Psychoanalysis
a set of psychological and psychotherapeutic theories and associated techniques, created by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud
36. Francis Bacon
a sixteenth century English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator, essayist and author who served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. He remained extremely influential through his works, especially as philosophical advocate and practitioner of the scientific method during the scientific revolution.
21. Dualism
a view about the relationship between mind and matter which claims that mind and matter are two ontologically separate categories.
17. Determinism
a view much that states that the future is always immutably fixed in such a way that there is nothing anyone could ever do to alter the course of events; human actions and choices are links in causal chain. Every event is caused, but the cause may be extremely complex.
Metaethics
an approach to ethics that "goes beyond" both descriptive and normative ethics, and asks questions about the nature of ethical properties, statements, attitudes, judgments, and the logic and language of ethics in general
Virtue Ethics
an approach to ethics that emphasizes individual character?
Normative or Prescriptive Ethics
an approach to ethics that makes moral judgments, and prescribes moral precepts that one ought to follow.
9. Consciousness
an awareness or perception of an inward psychological or spiritual fact: intuitively perceived knowledge of something in one's inner self; inward awareness of an external object, state, or fact; concerned awareness: INTEREST, CONCERN -- often used with an attributive noun. The state or activity that is characterized by sensation, emotion, volition, or thought: mind in the broadest possible sense: something in nature that is distinguished from the physical. The totality in psychology of sensations, perceptions, ideas, attitudes and feelings of which an individual or a group is aware at any given time or within a particular time span.
37. Isaac Newton
an eighteenth century English physicist and mathematician and natural philosopher who is widely recognized as one of the most influential scientists of all time and as a key figure in the scientific revolution. His book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), 1687, laid the foundations for classical mechanics.
47. Falsifiability
an inherent possibility to prove it to be false. A statement is called falsifiable if it is possible to conceive an observation or an argument which proves the statement in question to be false. In this sense, falsify is synonymous with nullify, meaning not "to commit fraud" but "show to be false."
3. Empiricism
branch of epistemology which holds that knowledge comes from sense-data.
2. Rationalism
branch of epistemology which holds that knowledge comes from the use of rationality and/or innate ideas.
5. Ontology
branch of metaphysics that studies Being.
7. Metaphysics
branch of philosophy (sometimes referred to as "first philosophy") which deals with fundamental Reality and questions about reality.
3. Epistemology
branch of philosophy that deals with knowledge and questions about knowledge, and how we know.
4. Epistemology
branch of philosophy that deals with knowledge and questions about knowledge, and how we know.
5. Ethics
branch of philosophy that deals with questions about the "good life," virtue, justice, and morality.
1. Logic
branch of philosophy that deals with the use of clear and valid reasoning.
4. Logic
branch of philosophy that deals with the use of clear and valid reasoning.
6. Philosophy of mind
branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness, and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain."
41. Oedipus Complex
conceptualization of Sigmund Freud which aims to explain the emotions and ideas that the mind keeps in the unconscious, via dynamic repression, that concentrates upon a child's desire to have sexual relations with the parent of the opposite sex (i.e. males attracted to their mothers, and females attracted to their fathers, etc...)
Ayn Rand
controversial philosopher believed that morality is to be based on rational self-interest.
28. Immanuel Kant
eighteenth century German philosopher who announced a Copernican Revolution in philosophy, founder of Transcendental Idealism, and who is considered the central figure of contemporary philosophy.
Act Consequentialism
ethical theory states that a person's act is morally right if and only if it produces at least as much happiness as any other act that the person could perform at that time.
Rule Utilitarianism
ethical theory states that an action is right as it conforms to a rule that leads to the greatest good, or that "the rightness or wrongness of a particular action is a function of the correctness of the rule of which it is an instance."
Psychological Egoism
ethical theory that states, "Humans always-already do act in their own self-interest?"
20. Fatalism
extreme variation of determinism.
19. Phenomenon
from the Greek phainómenon meaning, "that which appears;" any occurrence that "arises" to consciousness.
10. Qualia
from the Latin adjective quālis meaning "of what sort" or "of what kind;" individual instances of subjective, conscious experience.
52. Discourse
from the Latin discursus, meaning "running to and from;" generally refers to "written or spoken communication or debate."
44. The Scientific Revolution
historical changes in thought and belief, to changes in social and institutional organization, that unfolded in Europe between 1550-1700; beginning with Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543), who asserted a heliocentric (sun-centered) cosmos, and ending with Isaac Newton (1642-1727), who proposed universal laws and a Mechanical Universe.
Gender Essentialism
holds the view that, "for any specific human body assigned as 'male' or 'female,' there is a set of attributes which are necessary to its identity and function"
29. The Five Skandhas
in Buddhist thought, five types of phenomena that serve as objects of clinging and bases for a sense of self; 1) form or matter, 2) sensation or feeling, 3) perception, 4) mental formations or impulses, 5) consciousness
Deduction
is a logical method used to demonstrate that one truth claim (or theory) follows validly (necessarily) from one or more other truth claims (or theories.)
Descriptive Ethics
is an empirical approach to ethics within the social sciences used to collect data, and simply describe human behavior/conduct.
Teleological Ethics
refers to a class or set of ethical theories that stress that the consequences of one's actions determine the moral stance (rightness or wrongness) of those actions.
Value-Theory (Axiology)
refers to a variety of approaches to questions about how, why, and to what degree people place value(s) upon things: objects, actions, etc.
Nonmoral
refers to being outside of the realm of morality altogether?
Immoral
refers to being without moral sense, or being indifferent to right and wrong?
Epicureanism
school of Ancient Greek philosophy was the first to include a consequentialist ethical theory
45. Reductionism
several related but different philosophical positions regarding the connections between phenomena, or theories.
Categorical Imperative
states that one should "act according to a maxim that one would will to become a universal law."
Principle of Utility
states that, "If an act or rule is right, it will produce the greatest happiness or the greatest good for the greatest number of people?"
26. Pantheism
the belief that the Universe (or Nature as the totality of everything) is identical with divinity, or that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent God.
Ethics
the branch of philosophy that deals with questions about the "good life," virtue, justice, and morality.
Metaphysics
the branch of philosophy that deals with questions about the nature and structure of reality.
16. Agency
the capacity of an entity (a person or other entity, human or any living being in general, or soul-consciousness in religion) to act in any given environment.
Categorical Imperative
the name given by Immanuel Kant to his fundamental principle of morality.
Golden Mean
the name given to Aristotle's desirable middle between two extremes
Is/Ought Problem
the name of the concept "discovered" by David Hume, which states that there is a significant difference between descriptive statements and prescriptive statements, and that there is no coherent or logical move from descriptive statements to prescriptive statements.
31. Phenomenology
the philosophical study of the structures of experience and consciousness. As a philosophical movement it was founded in the early years of the 20th century by Edmund Husserl
30. Intentionality
the power of minds to be about, to represent, or to stand for, things, properties and states of affairs; refers to the ability of the mind to form representations.
22. The Mind-Body Problem
the problem of explaining how our mental states, events and processes—like beliefs, actions and thinking—are related to the physical states, events and processes in our bodies, given that the human body is a physical entity and the mind is non-physical.
6. Socio-political philosophy
the study of questions about social behavior and interpretations of society and social institutions in terms of ethical values placing emphasis on understanding the social contexts for political, legal, moral, and cultural questions, and to the development of novel theoretical frameworks, from social ontology to care ethics to cosmopolitan theories of democracy, human rights, gender equity and global justice. The study of topics such as politics, liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why (or even if) they are needed, what, if anything, makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it should take and why, what the law is, and what duties citizens owe to a legitimate government, if any, and when it may be legitimately overthrown, if ever.
23. Idealism
the theory that everything in the universe is either minds or else ideas in minds. Bodies are simply particular collections of ideas.
24. Psycho-Physical Dualism
the theory that minds are one kind of substance and bodies are another kind of substance. The defining characteristic of the mind is consciousness or thought. The defining characteristics of body is spatial extension.
13. Materialism
the view that the world is entirely composed of matter. (Now termed "Physicalism" by some.)
Deontology
theory states that "humans have an obligation or duty to be ethical agents."
Ethical Egoism
theory states that, "humans ought to act in their own self-interest?"
27. Bundle theory
theory which holds that an object consists of its collection of properties and nothing more; there is no substance in which the properties are inherent.
53. Michel Foucault
twentieth century French philosopher, historian of ideas, social theorist, philologist and literary critic. His theories addressed the relationship between power and knowledge, and how they are used as a form of social control through societal institutions.
11. Monism
view which holds that exactly one concrete object token, substance, or substratum exists (i.e./e.g. the One).