Philosophy Terms

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Ability Hypothesis

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The belief that knowing what an experience is like is an ability, not a matter of possessing a piece of factual information.

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Act utilitarianism

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prescribes that on every occasion we do the act that yields the best possible consequences for the greatest number of people of the actions available.

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Affective mental phenomena

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Mental phenomena such as moods and emotions.

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Categorical Imperative

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Kant's name for the moral law that commands everyone always without exception.

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Cognitive mental phenomena

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Mental phenomena such as belief, knowledge, information, and memory.

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Compatibilism

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The view that the thesis of determinism and the free will thesis are not mutually exclusive.

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Conditional Freedom

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The view that one is free if, had one chosen to do otherwise, she would have done otherwise.

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Consequentialism

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The ethical stance that judges the goodness or rightness of actions solely on the value of the consequences that an action brings.

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Deontology (in general)

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Any ethical theory that has moral constraints on certain actions and prohibits those actions.

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Determinism (thesis of)

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The view that absolutely every event in the universe is caused by previous events and conditions in such a way that it was the only event that could have happened (i.e. the previous cause was a sufficient one and there is always ever only one possible future).

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Doctrine of Clear and Distinct Perceptions

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Whatever is clearly and distinctly perceived must be true.

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Ethical Egoism

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The moral theory that holds that the right thing to do is whatever is the best thing for the agent.

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Experiential mental phenomena

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Mental phenomena that is had passively and by means of the senses, such as the way things look, taste, and smell.

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First Person Authority

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The view that a person has special access to the contents of their own mind such that no one else can know them better.

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Formula from Humanity (CI)

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Act only so as to treat all of humanity as an end in itself and never merely as a means.

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Formula from Universality (CI)

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Act only such that you can rationally will that your maxim be made a universal law of nature.

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Functionalism

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A doctrine concerning the nature of mental states, holding that what makes something a mental state of a particular type does not depend on its internal constitution, but instead on the role it plays, in conjunction with other mental states, in the system of which it is a part.

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Hard determinism

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The view that determinism is true and, therefore, we do not have free will.

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Heteronomy

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The phenomena of having mixed motives where reason prescribes that an action be done, but it is done instead from some compatible inclination.

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Hypothetical Imperative

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The rule that says, if you want X, then you ought to do Y.

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Idealism (substance)

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The ontological view that all that exists are minds and their mental content (ideas).

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Identity of Indescernibles (Leibniz)

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If x and y are indescernible from one another, x=y.

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Indescernibility of identicals

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If x=y, then x is indescernible from y.

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Identity Theory

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The view that the mind is identical to the brain and nothing above and beyond it.

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Imperfect duties

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Kant's term for the duties we should try to fulfill but may fulfill as much or as little as we are able and on certain occasions. If these conflict with perfect duties, we are required to fulfill the perfect duty.

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Incompatibilism

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The view that the thesis of determinism and the free will thesis are mutually exclusive.

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Libertarianism

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The view that determinism would preclude free will, but we actually do have free will.

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Logical construction

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An entity that exists only in the sense of being definable in terms of other entities that are more basic.

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Mere Accordance With Duty

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When an agent does what the moral law or categorical imperative would have prescribed, but does it for the reason given by some inclination (see Heteronomy).

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Metaphysical Monist

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One who believes that there is only one thing (or sometimes one kind of thing) that exists.

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Metaphysics

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The study of reality beyond nature or physics. The study of aspects of reality that cannot be demonstrated empirically.

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Mind/Body dualism

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The mind and the body (physical substances) are distinct types of substances that somehow interact.

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Mind/body problem

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The difficulty in explaining how an immaterial mind that is distinct from the body can interact with it.

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Moral Relativism

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The view that no moral objective principles exist, and that any moral statement is true according to one/some moral frameworks and false according to others (yet none is, in fact, true universally).

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Moral Worth

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Kant's term for actions that are morally right and done from a motive of respect for duty (i.e. for the sake of duty and nothing else).

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Multiple realizability

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The view that the mind could be realized in multiple ways; that is, the mind could come to be by virtue of more than one type of material and perhaps in more than one specific way.

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Pantheist

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One who believes that all is God and God is everywhere.

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Perfect duties

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those that Kant says must always be obeyed without any liberty as to how much to obey them. These are often expressed negatively (for example, to not lie, since you can always do it and there aren't many ways to do it).

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Problem of Divine Foreknowledge

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The apparent conflict that results from holding that God is omniscient and that humans have free will (i.e. how can we be able to do otherwise if God knows (infallibly) what we will do?).

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Quale (singular)/ Qualia (plural)

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The mental/qualitative phenomena of how some experience seems. include colors, feelings, etc.

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Reductive behaviorism

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the view that the mind is a logical construction out of various states and dispositions of matter.

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Rule utilitarianism

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prescribes that we follow whichever set of rules the following of which yields the best consequences overall (not necessarily on one occassion).

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Soft determinism

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The view that both determinism and the free will thesis are, in fact, true.

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Utilitarianism

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Consequentialist moral theory that holds that what makes an action right is that it yields the best consequences in terms of units of pleasure and happiness for the greatest number of people.