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105 Cards in this Set

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absolutism
The thesis that there is but one correct view of reality. Opposed to relativism (See relations of ideas).
analytic (of a sentence or truth)
Demonstrably (and necessarily) true by virtue of the logical form or the meanings of the component words. Introduced by Kant, who defined it in terms of a sentence (he called it a "judgment") in which the "predicate was contained in the subject" and "added nothing to it." Kant also says that the test for analytic sentences is contradiction"an analytic sentence is one for which denial yields a self-contradiction. See the full glossary for an example."
analytic philosophy
The movement in twentieth-century philosophy, particularly in the United States and Britain, that focuses its primary attention on language and linguistic analysis. Also called "linguistic philosophy.""
a posteriori (knowledge)
"After experience," or empirical. (See empirical.)"
appearance
The way something seems to us, through our senses. Usually philosophers worry about something"s being a mere appearance, such that it bears no faithful resemblance to the reality of which it is the appearance."
a priori (knowledge)
"Before experience" or more accurately, independent of experience. A priori knowledge is always necessary, for there can be no imaginable instance that would refute it and no intelligible doubting of it. One might come to know something a priori through experience (e.g., you might learn that parallel lines never cross by drawing thousands of parallel lines) but what is key is that no such experience is needed. Knowledge is a priori if it can be proven independently of experience. The most obvious examples of a priori knowledge are analytic sentences."
association of ideas
A central idea of empiricist philosophy, according to which all knowledge is composed of separate ideas that are connected by their resemblance to one another (e.g., "this one looks exactly like that one"), by their contiguity in space and time (e.g., "every time I see this, I see that as well"), and by their causality (e.g., "every time a thing of that sort happens it is followed by something of this sort"). (The three different "associations" here are Hume"s.)"
categories
Kant"s word (borrowed from Aristotle) for those most basic and a priori concepts of human knowledge, for example, "causality," and "substance.""
causal theory of perception
The view that our experience (our sensations and ideas) are the effects of physical objects acting upon our sense organs (which are thereby the causes)."
causation or causality
The relation of cause and effect, one event"s bringing about another according to natural law. In Hume, (1) one event"s following another necessarily (or so it seems to us) and (2) one type of event regularly following another (see association of ideas)."
cause
That which brings something about. On the hard determinist interpretation, a cause is an antecedent condition that, together with other antecedent conditions, is sufficient to make the occurrence of some event necessary, according to the laws of nature. On a weaker interpretation, a cause may be an event or condition that regularly precedes another event and thus can be used to predict when the latter will occur. E.g., if we say "a cause of forest fires is lightning," we mean "when lightning strikes a sufficiently dry forest, fire will occur.""
cause (in Aristotle)
In Aristotle, "cause" means something like "reason." He distinguishes 4 different kinds of "causes" of a change"(1) the formal cause, the principle or essential idea according to which a change comes about (e.g. a blueprint for a building), (2) the material cause, the matter that undergoes the change (e.g. the raw materials for building a house"lumber, bricks), (3) the efficient cause, that which initiates the change (the construction workers and their tools), (4) the final cause, or the purpose of the change (to build a place to live)."
cogito, ergo sum
Or "I think, therefore I am" is Descartes" only principle that he finds "beyond doubt" and "perfectly certain." ("Think" here refers to any kind of idea or experience in the mind, not just what we would call "thinking.") It is the premise of his entire philosophy."
coherence theory of truth
A statement or a belief is true if and only if it "coheres" with a system of statements or beliefs. A truth of mathematics is "true" because it forms part of the nexus in the complex of mathematical truths. A geometrical theorem is "true" because it can be proven from other theorems (axioms, definitions) of the geometrical system. A "factual" statement is "true" insofar as other "factual" statements, including general statements about experience that are logically relevant to the original statement, support it. Since we can never get "outside" our experience, the only sense in saying that a belief is true (according to this theory) is that it "coheres" with the rest of our experience."
conceptual truth
A statement that is true and that we can see to be true by virtue of the meanings of the words (or we should say, the "concepts") that compose it. For example, "a horse is an animal" is a conceptual truth because anyone who speaks English and knows the meaning of the words "horse" and "animal" knows that such a statement must be true"part of the definition of the word horse is "an animal." In Plato, a conceptual truth is a truth about Forms. In Aristotle, a conceptual truth is a matter of describing the essence of a thing. (See essence, Form.)"
constitute
To put together, "set up," or synthesize experience through categories or concepts. First used by Kant, later by Husserl."
contingent (truth)
Dependent on the facts"neither logically necessary nor logically impossible. A contingent state of affairs could have been otherwise. One test to see if a state of affairs is contingent is to see if it is conceivable that it could be other than it is. It is contingent, for example, that heavy objects fall toward the earth, since it is easily imaginable what it would be like if they did not. This is so even though, in another sense, we say that it is (physically) necessary that heavy objects fall. The philosophical terms contingent and necessary refer to logical possibility, not to the factual question whether a statement is true or not."
correspondence theory of truth
A statement or belief is true if and only if it "corresponds" with "the facts." Even when restricting our attention to statements of fact, however, this commonsensical "theory" gets into trouble as soon as it tries to pick out what corresponds to what. How can we identify a "fact," for example, apart from the language we use to identify it? And what does it mean to say that a statement "corresponds" to a fact?"
criterion
The test or standard according to which a judgment or an evaluation can be made. For example, a test for a substance"s being an acid is whether or not it turns litmus paper red. Or, a sure mark or standard. In ancient skepticism, a sufficient guarantee of truth."
datum
Latin, literally, "what is given." (plural, data)"
dialectic
Argument through dialogue, disagreement, and successive revisions, out of which comes agreement. Alternately, a "logic" developed by Hegel in which different forms or philosophies are arranged according to increasing sophistication and scope. The "logic" is a development from one form, whose inadequacies are demonstrated, to another, which corrects these inadequacies, and so on. Marx borrows this "dialectic" and gives it a social interpretation. (The "logic" need not be anything like the form "thesis-antithesis-synthesis.")"
empirical (knowledge)
Derived from and to be defended by appeal to experience. Empirical knowledge can only be so derived and so defended (as opposed to a priori knowledge, which need not be)."
empiricism
The philosophy that demands that all knowledge, except for certain logical truths and principles of mathematics, comes from experience. British empiricism is often used to refer specifically to the three philosophers Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. It is still very much alive, however, and includes Bertrand Russell in the twentieth century and a great many philosophers of the past fifty or so years who have called themselves "logical empiricists" (better known as logical positivists)."
emptiness
In Buddhism, in Na-ga-rjuna, being without substance"the proper understanding of being as without substance."
epistemology
The study of human knowledge, its nature, its sources, its justification."
explanation
An account"usually a causal account"of something. It is opposed to justification, which also defends. One can, for example, explain one"s action (say, by claiming that he or she was drunk) without thereby justifying it, that is, showing it to be right. Hume ultimately explains our knowledge but does not justify it."
generalization from experience (or inductive generalization)
Inference from observation, experience, and experiment to a generalization about all members of a certain class. For example, in a laboratory, a researcher finds that certain experiments on tobacco plants always have the same result. He or she generalizes, through induction, from experimental observations to a claim (or hypothesis) about all tobacco plants. But notice that this generalization is never certain (like the generalization in geometry from a proof of a theorem about this triangle to a theorem about all triangles). It might always turn out that there was a fluke in the experiment or that he or she chose a peculiar sample of plants."
hermeneutics
The discipline of interpretation of texts. Broadly conceived (as by Heidegger, Gadamer) it is the "uncovering" of meanings in everyday life, the attempt to understand the signs and symbols of one"s culture and tradition in juxtaposition with other cultures and traditions."
historicism
A philosophy that localizes truth and different views of reality to particular times, places, and peoples in history. It is generally linked to a very strong relativist thesis as well, that there is no truth apart from these various historical commitments."
Humes fork
Hume"s insistence that every belief be justified either as a "relation between ideas" or as a "matter of fact.""
Idea
In epistemology, almost any mental phenomenon (not, as in Plato, with existence independent of individual minds). The terminology varies slightly"Locke uses "idea" to refer to virtually any "mental content" while Hume reserves "idea" for those mental atoms that are derived by the mind from impressions. In Plato, a Form."
impression
Hume"s word for sensations or sense-data, that which is given to the mind through the senses."
induction, inductive reasoning, inductive generalization
Induction is the process of inferring general conclusions (for example, "all swans are white") from a sufficiently large sample of particular observations ("this swan is white, that swan is white, and that one, and that one, and that one . . . "). It is usually contrasted with deduction, in that, while deductive reasoning guarantees that the conclusion shall be as certain as the premises, induction never gives us a conclusion as certain as the premises. Its conclusions are, at most, merely probable. ("There might always be some black swan somewhere""and there are, in Western Australia.) (See "A Brief Introduction to Logic," pp. 20"37.)"
innate ideas
Ideas that are "born into the mind," i.e. knowledge that is "programmed" into us from birth and need not be learned. Experience may be necessary to "trigger" such ideas, but they are already "in" all of us. In Plato, innate ideas are part of a theory of the immortality of the soul. Locke"s attack on such ideas took them to be literally ideas that all men share from birth. The thinkers he was attacking, however, had a more sophisticated notion"that we are born with certain innate capacities and dispositions, which develop with proper education."
intuition
Immediate knowledge of the truth, without the aid of any reasoning and without appeal to experience. Intuition, as rational intuition (there are other kinds), is a central concern of the rationalist philosophers, who consider intuition one of the main functions of reason. But because of its very nature, intuition cannot be argued for, nor can it be defended by experience. Accordingly, many philosophers, especially empiricists, reject the notion of intuition and accept it only when absolutely unavoidable. In the twentieth century, Edmund Husserl defended the appeal to intuition in his phenomenology."
justification
An attempt to defend a position or an act, to show that it is correct (or at least reasonable). (Compare with explanation.)"
law of contradiction
That basic rule of logic that demands that a sentence and its denial cannot both be true. "Not (P and not P)." This law is used by many philosophers (Kant, Leibniz, and Hume, for example) as criterion for analyticity or analytic truth."
law of the excluded middle
The rule of logic that says either a sentence or its denial must be true""Either P or not P." In formal logic, it forms the basis of many arguments. Many logicians are now reconsidering this law. Consider the famous example "the King of France is bald" (when there is no king of France)"is that true or false? It isn"t true, but neither can it be false, for there is no king of France who is not bald. Or what of "green ideas sleep furiously"? Many would say that these are neither true nor false, thus rejecting the law of the excluded middle."
logical truth
A sentence that can be shown to be true by virtue of its logical form alone (by virtue of the connectives, "and," "or," etc.)."
masculinist
From the point of view of men"s interests and advantage, as opposed to those of women."
matter of fact (in Hume)
An empirical claim, to be confirmed or falsified through experience."
necessary (truth)
Cannot be otherwise and cannot be imagined to be otherwise. In philosophy, it is not enough that something be "necessary" according to physical laws (for example, the law of gravity), or "necessary" according to custom or habit (for example, the "necessity" of laws against rape or the felt necessity of having a cigarette after dinner). Necessary allows for not even imaginary counter-examples. Thus it is a necessary truth that two plus two equals four. Not only do we believe thus with certainty and find ourselves incapable of intelligibly doubting it, but we cannot even suggest what it might be for it to be false, no matter how wild our imaginations."
necessary and sufficient conditions
A is necessary and sufficient for B when A is both logically required and enough to guarantee B ("A if and only if B")."
necessity
In accordance with a necessary truth."
perception
A kind of knowledge, sense experience."
phenomenology
A contemporary European philosophy, founded by the German-Czech philosopher Edmund Husserl, that begins with a "pure description of consciousness." Originally developed as an answer to certain questions of necessary truth in the foundations of arithmetic, it was later expanded to answer more general philosophical questions and, in the hands of its later practitioners, it became a "philosophy of man" as well as a theory of knowledge."
pragmatic theory of truth
A statement or a belief that is true if and only if it "works," that is, if it allows us to predict certain results and function effectively in everyday life, and if it encourages further inquiry and helps us lead better lives."
pragmatism
A distinctly American philosophical movement founded by Charles Sanders Peirce at the turn of this century and popularized by William James and John Dewey. Its central thesis is obvious in its name, that truth (etc.) is always to be determined by reference to practical (pragmatic) considerations. Only those metaphysical distinctions that make some difference in practice are worth considering, and the only ultimate defense of any belief is that "it works.""
primary qualities
In Locke, those properties ("qualities") that inhere in the object."
principle of induction
The belief that the laws of nature will continue to hold in the future as they have in the past. (Crudely, "the future will be like the past".)"
principle of universal causation
The belief that every event has its cause (or causes). In scientific circles, it is usually added, "its sufficient natural cause," in order to eliminate the possibility of miracles and divine intervention (which are allowed in Leibniz"s similar but broader Principle of Sufficient Reason)."
probable
Likely, or supported by the evidence (but not conclusively). The empiricist"s middle step between the extremities of certainty and doubt. (Probability is the measure of how probable something is.)"
quality
In Locke (and other authors), a property."
rational
rational In accordance with the rules of effective thought"coherence, consistency, practicability, simplicity, comprehensiveness, looking at the evidence and weighing it carefully, not jumping to conclusions, and so forth. Rationality may not guarantee truth"all of the evidence may point to one conclusion, while later generations, who know things that we do not, may see that our conclusion was incorrect. Yet it would still be, for us, the rational conclusion. Rationality points to the manner of thinking rather than its ultimate conclusions."
rationalism
The philosophy that is characterized by its confidence in reason, and intuition in particular, to know reality independently of experience. (See reason and intuition.) Continental rationalism is usually reserved for three European philosophers, Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz."
realism
The thesis that reality exists in itself and it is independent of our consciousness of it."
reason
The ability to think abstractly. In rationalism, the faculty that allows us to know reality, through intuition. In empiricism the ability to recognize certain principles that are "relations of ideas," e.g., trivial truths ("a cat is an animal") and principles of arithmetic and geometry. Empiricists think that reason tells us only relations between ideas. In metaphysics, however, reason often has a more controversial meaning, namely, the human ability to go beyond experience to determine, through thought alone, what reality is really like."
relations of ideas
In empiricism, knowledge that is restricted to the logical and conceptual connections between ideas, not to the correspondence of those ideas to experience or to reality. Such knowledge can therefore be demonstrated without appeal to experience. Arithmetic and geometry were taken to be paradigm examples of "relations of ideas.""
relativism
The thesis that there is no single correct view of reality, no single truth. Relativists often talk about the possibility of "different conceptual frameworks," "alternative lifestyles," and various "forms of consciousness." They are opposed, often violently, to realists and absolutists. Also, the thesis that morals are relative to particular societies, particular interests, particular circumstances, or particular individuals."
rule of inference
A generally accepted principle according to which one may infer one statement from another. Those rules of logic according to which validity is defined. All such rules are analytic, but there is considerable disagreement whether all are so by virtue of their own logical form or whether some are so because they are derived from other, more basic rules. There is also the following question"Given that these rules define correct logical form, how is it possible to say that they have correct logical form?"
secondary qualities
In Locke, those properties ("qualities") that are caused in us by objects, but do not inhere in the objects themselves (for example, color)."
semantics
The meanings of a sentence and its various components. Also, the study of those meanings. (So, we can talk about the semantics of a sentence, and we can talk about doing semantics.) "Merely semantic" is a nasty way of referring to conceptual truths, analytic sentences that are true just by virtue of meanings."
semantic theory of truth
A formal theory, best known from the work of Alfred Tarski, that defines "true" in terms of a technical notion of satisfaction. According to the theory, every sentence in the language is either satisfied or not by a distinct class of individuals. This is adequate, however, only for artificially constructed languages. Generalizing the theory to natural language (for example, American English), we can say that the theory suggests that we (but not each of us personally) set up the rules according to which our sentences do or do not "correspond with the facts" of the world."
sensation
The experimental result of the stimulation of a sense organ, for example, seeing red, hearing a ringing noise, smelling something burning. The simplest of mental phenomena."
sense-data
That which is given to the senses, prior to any reasoning or organization on our part."
skepticism
A philosophical belief that knowledge is not possible, that doubt will not be overcome by any valid arguments. A philosopher who holds this belief is called a skeptic. Again, skepticism is not mere personal doubt"it requires systematic doubt with reasons for that doubt."
subjective idealism
The view that only ideas and mind exist, and that there are no substances, matter, or material objects. In particular, the philosophy of Bishop Berkeley."
substance
A "unit" of existence, a being. Something that "stands by itself." The essential reality of a thing or things that underlies the various properties and changes of properties. Its most common definitions are "that which is independent and can exist by itself" and "the essence of a thing which does not and cannot change." In traditional metaphysics, substance is the same as "ultimate reality," and the study of substance is that branch of metaphysics that studies reality, namely, ontology. In Descartes, a thing that so exists that it needs no other thing in order to exist (God). Created substances need only the occurrence of God to exist."
synonym
"Meaning the same." Two words are synonymous if they are interchangeable in a sentence, without losing the meaning of the sentence. For example, "criminal" and "felon" are synonyms in most contexts. The test of a supposedly conceptual truth is to replace certain words with synonyms and then see if its denial yields a self-contradiction. In other words, substituting synonyms turns a conceptual truth into an analytic truth. For example, "ferns are plants." Substituting for "fern" its synonym (or, in this case, also its definition) "a primitive plant that bears spores, etc." we have "a plant is a plant," whose denial is a contradiction ("a plant is not a plant") and thus is analytic."
synthetic (statement)
A noncontradictory proposition in which the predicate is not entailed by the subject. A synthetic sentence cannot be shown to be true by appeal to the logical form or the meanings of the component words. Kant defined a synthetic sentence as one that "adds an idea to the subject which is not already contained in it." E.g., "a horse is the source of a large income for some people" is a synthetic sentence. No appeal to the meaning of "horse" will help you find out whether it is true, and its denial does not result in self-contradiction."
synthetic a priori knowledge
Knowledge that is necessary and known independently of experience(and thus a priori), but that does not derive its truth from the logic or meaning of sentences (thus synthetic). This is the focal concept of Kant"s philosophy."
system
An orderly formulation of principles (together with reasons, implications, evidence, methods, and presuppositions) that is comprehensive, consistent, and coherent and in which the various principles are interconnected as tightly as possible by logical implications."
tabula rasa
In Locke"s philosophy, the "blank tablet" metaphor of the mind, in opposition to the doctrine that there are innate ideas. In other words, the mind is a "blank" at birth, and everything we know must be "stamped in" through experience."
tautology
A trivial truth that is true by virtue of logical form alone and tells us nothing about the world. (Popularly, a bit of repetitive nonsense, for example, "a rose is a rose is a rose." Technically, [in logic] a sentence that can be shown to be true no matter what the truth or falsity of its component parts.)"
transcendental
Referring to the basic rules of human knowledge, usually with an absolutist suggestion that there can be but a single set of such basic rules. Thus Kant"s "transcendental deduction" attempted to deduce the one possible set of basic rules for human understanding, and Husserl"s transcendental phenomenology attempted to lay bare the one set of basic ("essential") laws of human consciousness. Contemporary philosophers sometimes talk about "the transcendental turn" in philosophy, in other words, the attempt to move beyond claims that might apply only to ourselves and our way of viewing things to the way that things must be viewed."
transcendental deduction
Kant"s elaborate attempt to prove that there is but one set of categories (basic rules or a priori concepts) that all rational creatures must use in constituting their experience."
truth of reason
In traditional rationalism, a belief that can be justified solely by appeal to intuition or deduction from premises based upon intuition. Arithmetic and geometry were, for the rationalists as for the empiricists, a paradigm case of such truths. They disagreed mainly on the scope of such truths, and the restrictions to be placed on the problematic appeal to intuition."
bad faith
Sartre"s characterization of a person"s refusal to accept himself or herself. This sometimes means not accepting the facts that are true about you. More often it means accepting the facts about you as conclusive about your identity, as in the statement "Oh, I couldn"t do that, I"m too shy."."
continuity (spatiotemporal continuity)
The uninterrupted identifiability of an object over time in the same location or in a sequence of tangent locations."
criterion
The test or standard according to which a judgment or an evaluation can be made. For example, a test for a substance"s being an acid is whether or not it turns litmus paper red. Or, a sure mark or standard. In ancient skepticism, a sufficient guarantee of truth."
deconstruction
Initiated by Jacques Derrida, a current school of philosophical thought (especially popular among some feminist and African-American thinkers) that encourages critical reading for "cultural bias" and that rejects the idea of the "unified self.""
dualism
In general, the distinction between mind and body as separate substances, or very different kinds of states and events with radically different properties."
empirical ego
All those characteristics of a person that can be discovered through experience and that distinguish each of us from other persons qualitatively. That which makes each of us a particular man or woman and gives us a particular "character." Compare transcendental ego."
essence (or an essential property)
The necessary or defining characteristics or properties of a thing. The essence of a person is that without which we would not say one is that particular person (Fred rather than Mary, for example). In Husserl"s writings, "essence" or "essential intuition" refers to those ideal objects and laws that constitute necessary truths. The term essence is borrowed from Aristotle (and the medieval philosophers) and used in much the same way, except that Husserl"s notion of essence is always tied to "intuition" and consciousness."
existentialism
The modern movement in philosophy that puts great emphasis on individual choice and the voluntary acceptance of all values. In Sartre"s terms, existentialism is the philosophy that teaches that "man"s existence precedes his essence." That is, people have no given self-identity, they have to choose their identities and work for them through their actions. (Neglect and omission, however, are also actions. One can be a certain type of person just by not bothering to do the appropriate activities.)"
facticity
Sartre"s term (borrowed from Heidegger) for the totality of facts that are true of a person at any given time."
immediate
For certain and without need for argument."
incorrigibility
Impossible to correct. Cannot be mistaken. It has long been argued that our claims about our own mental states are incorrigible"we cannot be mistaken about them."
resemblance
Having the same features. All people resemble each other (or at least most do) in having one and only one head. You resemble yourself five years ago in (perhaps) having the same texture hair, the same color eyes, the same fear of spiders, and the same skill at chess."
self consciousness
Being aware of oneself, whether "as others see you" (looking in a mirror or "watching yourself play a role" at a party) or just "looking into yourself " (as when you reflect on your goals in life or wonder, in a moment of philosophical perversity, whether you really exist or not.) Self-consciousness requires having some concept of your "self." Accordingly, it is logically tied to questions of self-identity."
self identity
The way you characterize yourself, either in general (as a human being, as a man or as a woman, as a creature before God, or as one among many animals) or in particular (as the person who can run the fastest mile, as an all-"C" student, or as the worst-dressed slob in your class). Self-identity, on this characterization, requires self-consciousness. The self-identity of a person, in other words, is not merely the same as the identity of a "thing," for example, the identity of a human body."
transcendental ego
The bare, logical fact of one"s own self-consciousness"Descartes" "I think." The self "behind" all of our experiences. The mental activity that unifies our various thoughts and sensations. (The term comes from Kant"s Critique of Pure Reason.)."
unconscious
Freud"s way of referring to the fact that there are ideas, desires, memories, and experiences in our minds to which we do not have access, which we may be wrong about, and which may be more evident to other people than to ourselves. He also distinguishes a preconscious. Preconscious ideas can be made conscious simply by being attended to. (For example, you do know what the capital of California is, but you weren"t conscious of it before I mentioned it"it was preconscious.) Unconscious ideas, however, cannot be made conscious.
John Locke wrote what essay?
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
What is epistemology?
The study of human knowledge.
What is substance?
Is that which underlies all of the various properties of a thing and it is the properties never the substance itself that are experienced by us.
Who wrote The Problems of Philosophy?
Bertrand Russel.
What is the Problems of Philosophy?
The distinction between appearance and reality between what thing seem to be and what they are.
What are rationalists?
They believe human reason gives us knowledge of reality.
Who are THE rationalists?
Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza.
What is empiricism?
Belief that the data of experience is the source of all knowledge.
Who are the empiricists?
Locke, Berkeley, Hume.
What is a datum?
Plural for data. A bit of given information.
What is sense data?
Information immediately given by the senses. This used by empiricists.
Bertrand Russel associates knowledge with:
perception or sense data.