Philosophy Key Terms Ch 1

Front 1

Abrahamic religeons

Back 1

The Western monotheisms: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Front 2

agnosticism

Back 2

he refusal to believe either that God exists or that He does not exist, usually on the grounds that there can be no sufficien

Front 3

anthropomorphic

Back 3

Humanlike. An anthropomorphic conception of God ascribes human attributes to Him.

Front 4

atheism

Back 4

the belief that there is no God. A person who believes that there is no God is an atheist.

Front 5

Bhagavadgita ("Gita")

Back 5

The "Song of God" of ancient Hinduism; the epic poem of Krishna, who is God incarnate.

Front 6

Brahma ("Brahman")

Back 6

Precursor of God in Hindu theism; the idea of the One, the unity underlying all things.

Front 7

Buddha

Back 7

"The awakened one"; the historical founder of Buddhism.

Front 8

cosmological argument

Back 8

An argument that tries "prove" that God existsbecause there must have been a first cause or a reason fortheuniverse (cosmos)

Front 9

deism

Back 9

A variation of the Judeo-Christian religion that was extremely popular in the science-minded eighteenth century. Deism holds that God must have existed to create the universe with all of its laws (and thereby usually accepts some form of the cosmological argument) but also holds that there is no justification for our belief that God has any special concern for humankind, any concern for justice, or any of those anthropomorphic attributes for which we worship Him, pray to Him, and believe in biblical stories about Him.

Front 10

dharma

Back 10

In Hinduism, righteousness, the way of the good.

Front 11

faith

Back 11

In the popular sense, believing in something for which you have inadequate evidence or little good reason. In theology, faith usually refers to the trust that a believer should have in God's ultimate grace and fairness. Sometimes, faith is defended as a rational belief in God (for example, in Kant). More often, faith is defended against rationality (as in Kierkegaard)

Front 12

Four Noble Truths

Back 12

Among the most important teachings of the Buddha: "All is suffering (and transitory)," the need to eliminate desire, the way to eliminate desire, and the right path to the good.

Front 13

God

Back 13

In traditional Judeo-Christian theology, that being who created the universe and exists independently of it, who is all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere at once, and concerned with justice and the ultimate welfare of humankind. When spelled with a small g the word refers to any supernatural being worthy of worship or at least extraordinary respect.

Front 14

illusion

Back 14

A false belief motivated by intense wishes. According to Marx, religion is an illusion that is intended to compensate for an intolerable social situation. According to Freud, religion is an illusion that attempts to hold onto our childhood desires for fatherly protection and security.

Front 15

ineffable

Back 15

Indescribable

Front 16

karma

Back 16

In Hinduism, the tendency of any course of action to be repeated; the limitation of one's free will by one's own habits and dispositions (even into the next life).

Front 17

mysticism

Back 17

he belief that one can come to grasp certain fundamental religious truths (the existence of God, the oneness of the universe) through direct experience, but of a very special kind, different from ordinary understanding and often at odds with reason.

Front 18

nihility

Back 18

"the nothing," "nothingness

Front 19

omnipotent

Back 19

all powerful

Front 20

omnipresent

Back 20

everywhere at once

Front 21

omniscient

Back 21

all knowing

Front 22

ontological argument

Back 22

An argument (or set of arguments) that tries to "prove" the existence of God from the very concept of "God." For example, "God," by definition, is that being with all possible perfection; existence is a perfection; therefore, God exists.

Front 23

pantheism

Back 23

The belief that God is identical to the universe as a whole, that everything is divine, or that God is in everything. Spinoza, for example, was a pantheist. Hinduism is a form of pantheism in that it includes a conception of the divine in all things, rather than as a separate Creator.

Front 24

problem of evil

Back 24

The dilemma that emerges from trying to reconcile the belief that God is omnipotent, omniscient, and just with the suffering and evil in the world.

Front 25

subjective truth

Back 25

In Kierkegaard, the "truth" of strong feelings and commitment

Front 26

sufism

Back 26

Islamic mysticism

Front 27

teological argument

Back 27

An argument that attempts to "prove" that God exists because of the intricacy and "design" of nature. It is sometimes called the argument from design because the basis of the argument is that because the universe is evidently designed, it must have a designer. The analogy most often used is our inference from finding a complex mechanism on the beach (for example, a watch) that some intelligent being must have created it.

Front 28

theism

Back 28

Belief in God

Front 29

transcendent

Back 29

Independent of. In the philosophy of religion, a transcendent God is one who is distinct and separate from the universe He created. This is contrasted to the concept of an immanent God, for example, in pantheism, where God is identical with His creation, or, to take a different example, in certain forms of humanism, in which God is identical with humankind. (Hegel argued such a thesis.)