Human Living, Freedom, Interhuman Relations, and Death

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering philosophical perspectives on human freedom, interpersonal relationships, political social contracts, and views on death across various philosophers and traditions.

Freedom

The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without interruption or limit.

Jean-Paul Sartre's View on Freedom

The perspective that a human person creates meanings through actions, becoming responsible not only for oneself but also for others and ultimately for humanity.

Immanuel Kant's View on Freedom

The concept that freedom is not doing whatever one wants, but acting autonomously for the sake of duty imposed upon oneself in agreement with moral laws.

First Sense of Responsibility (Iris Marion Young)

To be guilty or at fault for an act committed, making the agent deserving of blame and/or punishment.

Second Sense of Responsibility (Iris Marion Young)

To carry out a task morally or legally required of a person by virtue of his/her position, authority, or power.

Martin Buber

A philosopher who views the human person in his/her wholeness, totality, concrete existence, and relatedness to the world through interpersonal relations.

I-Thou Relation

A person-to-person relationship defined by Martin Buber involving mutual sharing of selves, acceptance, sincerity, and authentic dialogue where a human person is a subject.

I-It Relation

A person-to-thing or subject-to-object relationship described by Martin Buber.

We Relation

The social dimension represented by Karol Wojtyla/ St. John Paul II where a human person relates with others and shares in communal life for the common good.

Participation (Karol Wojtyla)

The concept explaining the essence of a person through sharing in the humanness of others and communal life.

Social Contract

The hypothetical agreement in which people surrender their natural rights to the sovereign in return for their protection.

Totalitarianism (Thomas Hobbes)

A political view based on the state of nature where everyone is at war with everyone, requiring people to surrender their rights to the state for protection.

State of Nature (Thomas Hobbes)

The condition where there is no government, enabling humans to desire the same things and resulting in competition, distrust, and perpetual war.

Democracy (John Locke)

A form of society and government where sovereignty resides in the people, governed by natural law among rational, free, and equal individuals.

General Will (Jean Jacques Rosseau)

The collective body in political society that members are bound to, protecting lives and rights, through which a person achieves moral freedom.

Law of Entropy

The scientific principle stating that anything that comes also goes, and nothing remains the same forever.

Death

A human event that is a permanent stop of physical life.

Materialist View on Death

The belief that a human person is purely a material entity without a spirit or soul, ending completely when the body dies.

Atomists' View on Death

A subset of materialism believing that the disintegration of atoms during human death gives rise to the formation of other entities.

Plato's View on Death

The view that a human person is a soul in a body, and upon physical death, the soul continues to live and is liberated from the trap of the body.

Christian View on Death

The belief that a human person is composed of body and soul/spirit, and death ushers the journey of the soul back to its Creator in Heaven with God.

Atman

The human soul in Hinduism that is either reincarnated into another being or reunited with Brahman depending on one's state of mind.

Brahman

The Supreme Being in Hinduism with whom the atman can be reunited upon death.

Buddhist View on Death and Soul

The perspective rejecting a permanent soul, holding that belief in an enduring soul is a product of ignorance causing human suffering.

Viktor Frankl's View on Death

The position that death does not render life meaningless, but rather makes it possible to discover meanings, create values, and actualize potentials.

Aristotle's View on Life and Potency

The concept that life is a potency converted into an act through living, making life a process of becoming that attains being in death.

One's own (Martin Heidegger)

A characteristic of death stating that no one can die on another person's behalf and proxy is impossible.

Non-relational (Martin Heidegger)

A characteristic of death stating that an individual has to face death alone.

Cannot be outstripped (Martin Heidegger)

A characteristic of death stating that a person cannot escape death.

Certain (Martin Heidegger)

A characteristic of death stating that death will surely happen.

Indefinite (Martin Heidegger)

A characteristic of death stating that we do not know when our death is.