RS- key terms glossary (year 1)

socrates

• philosopher

• eventually executed for leading the young men of Athens with his often radical views

• taught Plato

• c. 470BC - 399BC

Aristotle

• student of plato

• founded the Lyceum

• ‘plato is dear to me, but the truth dearer still’

immanent

close by, within the universe

empiricism

• coming to a conclusion through observation and experimentation

• Aristotelian

rationalism

• coming to a conclusion through reason only

• platonic

theism

god/gods do exist

atheism

god/gods do not exist

tabula rasa

humans are born as a ‘blank slate’- no prior knowledge built in

agnosticism

it is impossible to know if god/gods exist

a posteriori

knowledge that comes after experience; aristotelian

a priori

knowledge that comes before experience; platonic

plato

• influential philosopher

• student of socrates, teacher of Aristotle

• founded the academy in Athens

• authored the republic, and many others

transcendent

outside/beyond the universe

idealist

• the universe is more than just its material parts- there is a spiritual aspect

• there is life after death, ideas/souls can have own existence

• platonic

polytheistic

there is more than one god

materialist

• there is nothing more to the universe than the material it is made of

• no life after death/separate existence for souls or ideas

• Aristotelian

monotheism

there is only one god

simple

• unable to be broken down into different parts/unable to change

• perfect

innatist

• we are born with some knowledge built in

• might have come from a previous life/given to us by God

• platonic

imago dei

in the image of god

ex nihilo

• from nothing

• understanding of how god created the world

ethical monotheism

choosing to believe in one god only

monolatry

worship of one

el shaddai

god almighty (lord of hosts)

exegesis

to pull out the origin of a text; find out what the original author meant

eisegesis

• putting meaning into a text

• personal

• what did the author want people to gain from a text