Western Thought I Midterm_Definitions

Epistemology

Theory of Knowledge

Christian Epistemology

Recognizes the ontological Trinity as the ultimate starting point of all knowledge, and is made known by revelation

Logic

The principles that make rational thought possible

Philosophy of Science

The study of the nature and status of scientific truth claims

Determinism

The philosophy that all events are completely determined by previous events

Free Will

The capacity to choose, some consider it the most unique and definitive quality of human beings

Ontology

The study of being, ontology, and metaphysics are used interchangeably

Absolutism

the idea that reality, truth, or morality is “absolute”

Deism

a form of Monotheism in which it is believed that one God exists, but that this God does not interfere with human life and the laws of the universew

Metaphysics

branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of existence, being, and the world

Theology

the study of the being, attributes, and works of God (“theology proper”)

Anthropology

the philosophical/theological study of man

Psychology

the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context

Cosmology

the study of (or speculation about) the universe as a whole and its history

Philosophy of History

reflection on the overall shape and direction (if any) of history

Eschatology

the study of “the end” of history, theologically, the divinely appointed consummations of the individual, race and world

Atheism

lack of a belief in gods or a belief that there is no god

Causality

the principle that there is a cause for everything that happens

Soteriology

The (theological) study of salvation

Ethics

the study of morality, right, wrong, the law of God, and related ideas

Politics

Political philosophy, related to the theories and activities associated with the governance of a country

Economics

The branch of Knowledge associated with the production, consumption, and transfer of wealth

Argument

A series of statements with the goal of persuading someone of something

Aesthetics

The quality of something that brings pleasure or delight to the sense, or satisfaction and meaning to the mind

Teleology

The doctrine that behind all things there is a final cause, and that all developements occur according to design or purpose

Empirical

Dependent on, or in some way related to experience

Conscience

a faculty of the mind that motivates us to act morally--or at least according to our most deeply held values

Critical Thinking

the ability to reflect on (and so improve) your thoughts, beliefs, and expectations

Idealism

the group of metaphysical philosophies asserting that reality, or reality as humans know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial

Pantheism

the view that the world is either identical to God, or an expression of God’s nature. “God is everything and everything is God.”

Rationalism

The epistemological view that “regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge.”

Dualism in metaphysics

The belief that there are two kinds of reality: material (physical) and immaterial (spiritual)

Humanism

a belief in the value, freedom, and independence of human beings

Scientificism

Theory or belief that all phenomena can be scientifically explained

Monism

The metaphysical and theological view that all is one, and there are no fundamental divisions

Aseity

the absolute self-sufficiency, autonomy, and independence of God

Philologist

Love of learning and literature; the branch of knowledge that deals with the linguistic, historical, interpretative, and critical aspects of knowledge

Materialism

The theory that only things that are real are objects that can be experience through the senses (seeing, hearing, feeling, touching, smelling)

Phenomenology

The study of “phenomena”: appearances of things, or things as they appear in our experience, or the ways we experience things, thus the meanings things have in our experience

Physicalism

The thesis, developed with empiricism, that every descriptive term in the language of science (in the widest sense, including social science) is connected with terms designating observable properties of things

Agency

the capacity for humans to make choices and to impose those choices on the world

A posteriori

where knowledge is possible only subsequent, or posterior, to certain sensory experiences, in addition to the use of reason (empirical)

A priori

where knowledge is possibly independently of, or prior to, any experience, and requires only the use of reason (non-empirical)

Axiom

A proposition that is not proved or demonstrated but considered to be self-evident and taken for granted

Consciousness

the faculty that perceives and identifies things that exist, and the relationship between oneself and one’s environment

Contingency

the status of facts that are not logically necessarily true or false (the possibility of something happening or not happening)

Deductive Reasoning

Reasoning that proceeds from general principles or premises to derive particular information (what follows necessarily from given premises)

Dialectic

The exchange of arguments and counter-arguments, respectively advocating propositions (theses) and counter-propositions (antitheses), in arriving at a conclusion (synthesis).

Emergence

the way complex systems and patterns arise (emerge) out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions

Entity

something that has a distinct and separate existence, although not necessarily a material existence

Essence

the attributes that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is, and that it has necessarily

Existence

the state or fact of existing or being (the continuance in being or life)

Formal Language

an organized set of symbols which can be precisely defined in terms of just the shapes and locations of those symbols, without any reference to any meanings or interpretations

Forms (Platonic Forms)

the universal concepts or ideas which make all of the phenomenal world intelligible (the essences of objects, rather than their physical forms or appearances)

Hermeneutics

the study of theories of the interpretation and understanding of texts (often the Bible)

Normative

indicative of how things should or ought to be (as opposed to positive or descriptive)

Noumenon

the intellectual conception of a thing as it is in itself, not as it is known through perception

Object

A thing, an entity or being, that can have properties and bear relations to other objects. They are usually types of particulars, but there can also be abstract objects

Phenomenon

a thing as it appears to be, as constructed by the mind and perceived by the senses

Scientific Method

the collection of data through observation and experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses

Social Contract

the idea that people give up some rights to a government and /or other authority in forming nations in order to jointly preserve or maintain social order and security

Tabula Rasa

the idea that individual human beings are born with no innate mental content, but their knowledge is built up gradually from their experiences and sensory perceptions of the outside world (literally “blank slate”)

Theodicy

an attempt to reconcile the existence of evil or suffering in a world with the belief in an omniscient, omnipotent and benevolent God