Ultimate Questions: Thinking About Philosophy (Fourth Edition) - Key Vocabulary

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the core concepts, theories, and philosophical terms presented across chapters 1 through 9 of Nils Ch. Rauhut's Ultimate Questions: Thinking About Philosophy (4th Edition).

Philosophy

The academic discipline, deriving from the Greek words philia ('love') and sophia ('wisdom'), that attempts to develop a comprehensive, big-picture view of the universe with the help of reason.

Metaphysics

The branch of philosophy that studies ultimate reality, including the nature of existence, what entities really exist, and how those entities relate to one another.

Epistemology

The branch of philosophy that investigates the nature, scope, and limits of human knowledge.

Ethics

The branch of philosophy concerned with clarifying questions of value and determining how human beings ought to act.

Aesthetics

The branch of philosophy that studies questions concerning the nature of art, beauty, and aesthetic experience.

Logic

The foundational field of philosophy that clarifies the nature of arguments and provides standards for distinguishing good arguments from bad ones.

Logical Consistency

A property of a set of claims wherein it is possible for all claims in the set to be true at the same time.

Contradiction

A statement that simultaneously asserts and denies that something is the case; a sentence that is necessarily false in all possible circumstances.

Definiendum

The specific term that is to be clarified through a definition.

Definiens

The sentence, phrase, or set of words that provides the clarification of the definiendum in a definition.

Necessary Condition

A condition $q$ where it is impossible for something to be $p$ without being $q$.

Sufficient Condition

A condition whose realization guarantees that a term applies or that another condition obtains.

Causal Possibility

A state of affairs that does not violate the established physical laws of nature.

Logical Possibility

A state of affairs that does not entail a contradiction and can be conceived without self-contradiction.

Deductive Argument

An argument whose premises aim to provide conclusive support for the truth of the conclusion.

Validity

A property of a deductive argument such that if all of its premises are true, its conclusion must necessarily be true as well.

Sound Argument

A deductive argument that is both logically valid and possesses premises that are, in fact, true.

Inductive Argument

An argument whose premises aim to show that the conclusion is probable or likely to be true, rather than conclusively guaranteed.

Cogent Argument

An inductive argument that is strong and contains premises that are, in fact, true.

Ockham's Razor

The methodological principle, named after William of Ockham, asserting that an explanation is better if it is simpler and requires fewer independent assumptions.

Proposition

The underlying assertive content expressed by a declarative sentence.

Factivity of Knowledge

The essential feature of knowledge stating that one can know a proposition only if that proposition is true.

Classical Definition of Knowledge

The tripartite view originating with Plato that defines knowledge as justified true belief.

Global Skepticism

The philosophical position holding that no genuine knowledge of any kind about any subject matter is possible.

Method of Doubt

René Descartes' epistemological strategy of deliberately withholding assent from every belief that can be doubted to discover beliefs that are entirely indubitable.

Solipsism

The epistemological position asserting that one can know only the contents of one's own mind.

Empiricism

The theory of knowledge maintaining that beliefs are best justified in light of sensory evidence derived from what we see, hear, smell, touch, or taste.

Tabula Rasa

The empiricist concept (Latin for 'blank slate') indicating that the human mind begins without innate ideas and acquires all concepts through experience.

Naïve Realism

The theory of perception claiming that the mind-independent physical world is exactly as it appears to our senses.

Indirect Realism

The theory of perception holding that the objective world possesses only primary properties and differs fundamentally from how it appears to human senses.

Primary Properties

Objective properties of physical objects—such as size, shape, and motion—that exist in the physical entities themselves.

Secondary Properties

Mind-dependent properties—such as color, taste, and felt temperature—that are produced within the observer rather than existing independently in the physical objects.

Idealism

The metaphysical doctrine, famously articulated by George Berkeley as 'Esse est percipi', holding that mind-independent physical objects do not exist and that physical objects are ultimately perceptions.

Problem of Induction

The puzzle, formulated by David Hume, questioning how an empiricist can justify inferring universal laws and future regularities strictly from past observed experiences without begging the question.

Principle of the Uniformity of Nature

The assumption that nature operates consistently and that regularities that have occurred in the past will also continue to hold in the future.

Rationalism

The theory of knowledge asserting that our foundational beliefs can be best justified in light of pure reason and a priori reflection.

A Priori Justification

Epistemic justification that can be established prior to or independently of consulting any particular sensory experience.

A Posteriori Justification

Epistemic justification that requires reference to specific, observational experiences of the physical world.

Analytic Truth

A proposition whose truth can be known entirely by analyzing the linguistic meanings of the words involved.

Synthetic Truth

A proposition whose truth value is not determined simply by definitions, but depends on empirical facts about the actual world.

Determinism

The theory that the future is strictly fixed by the past and the laws of nature, such that given a specific past, only one future is causally possible.

Hard Determinism

The incompatibilist position holding that determinism is true and, because a determined future is incompatible with free will, free will is an illusion.

Fatalism

The view that certain future events are fated to happen regardless of what actions an individual takes.

Principle of Sufficient Reason

The philosophical principle stating that everything that happens does so for a definite and sufficient reason.

Indeterminism

The view that not all events are causally determined by events in the past, meaning the past has only limited control over the future.

Traditional Compatibilism

The position that an action is free as long as it is caused by the internal will of the agent and performed without external constraints.

Deep Self-Compatibilism

The theory developed by Harry Frankfurt asserting that an agent possesses free will only when acting on authentic desires they have consciously chosen and identify with.

Principle of Alternative Possibilities (PAP)

The incompatibilist principle asserting that an individual acts freely and is morally responsible only if they had the power to do otherwise.

Libertarianism

The incompatibilist view that determinism is false, the future is open, and agents possess special causal powers allowing them to exercise free will.

Agent Causation

The causal power attributed to agents by libertarians to originate an action spontaneously without prior physical events determining it.

Qualitative Identity

The relation between two or more things that share the exact same physical or qualitative properties and look alike.

Numerical Identity

The relation of an entity being one and the very same individual thing across different moments in time.

Illusion Theory of Personal Identity

The position claiming that there is no permanent self that persists through time, because humans undergo continuous and ceaseless qualitative change.

Body Theory (Animalism)

The theory of personal identity holding that a person persists through time if and only if they retain the numerically same functionally organized biological body.

Soul Theory of Personal Identity

The metaphysical view that a person persists through time if and only if they continue to have the numerically same nonphysical, immaterial soul.

Memory Theory of Personal Identity

John Locke's theory that personal identity reaches as far back into the past as a person's conscious memory can be extended to past experiences.

Quasi-Memory

Sydney Shoemaker's technical concept of an apparent memory that was in fact experienced by someone and caused by that experience, designed to prevent circularity in memory theories.

Narrative Conception of Personal Identity

The view that a self consists of a set of life experiences unified into a coherent autobiographical story that connects past, present, and future.

Substance Dualism

René Descartes' theory that reality consists of two fundamentally distinct substances: physical bodies that occupy space, and nonextended thinking minds.

Leibniz's Law

The logical principle asserting that two entities are identical if and only if every property possessed by one is also possessed by the other.

Intentionality

A distinctive property of mental states whereby they represent, stand for, or are 'about' objects or states of affairs outside themselves.

Problem of Interaction

The central objection against substance dualism that questions how an immaterial, nonextended mind could causally influence or be influenced by an extended physical body.

Category Mistake

Gilbert Ryle's term for the semantic and logical error of treating a concept as if it belonged to an entirely incorrect logical category.

Logical Behaviorism

The physicalist theory defended by B. F. Skinner which claims that all mental terms can be eliminated from science by translating them into descriptions of dispositions to behave.

Identity Theory

The physicalist view holding that mental states are strictly identical to physical brain states.

Functionalism

The theory of mind holding that mental states are functional states defined by their causal role in mediating between sensory inputs, other mental states, and behavioral outputs.

Turing Test

Alan Turing's proposed test to determine whether a machine possesses artificial intelligence based on whether a human tester cannot distinguish its conversational replies from those of a human.

Chinese Room Argument

John Searle's thought experiment designed to refute functionalism by demonstrating that formal symbol manipulation (syntax) cannot produce genuine understanding of meanings (semantics).

Qualia

The subjective, qualitative, phenomenal sensations of conscious mental experiences, such as the painfulness of an ache or the scent of a rose.

Eliminative Materialism

The radical physicalist theory advocating the abandonment of common-sense mental concepts and claiming that mental states do not exist.

Classical Theism

The traditional conception of God embraced by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, viewing God as a personal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, and eternal creator separate from the universe.

Fideism

The view that religious beliefs are strictly a matter of faith and the heart and should not be scrutinized by or subordinated to the standards of reason.

Principle of Credulity

Richard Swinburne's principle asserting that if an apparent experience of an object $X$ occurs, one has rational justification to believe $X$ exists unless there is positive reason to deem the experience unreliable.

Cosmological Argument

An argument that infers the existence of God by reasoning that the existence of the cosmos requires a sufficient reason, best provided by a necessary being.

Necessary Being

A self-existent, uncreated, and eternal being that contains the reason for its own existence in itself and cannot fail to exist.

Contingent Being

A being whose existence depends on outside conditions and factors, meaning it could easily fail to exist.

Design Argument

The inductive argument inferring that the intricate order, adaptation, and complexity found in living organisms must have been produced by an intelligent designer.

Ontological Argument

St. Anselm's a priori argument deducing that God exists necessarily because God is defined as the greatest being one can think of, and existing in reality is greater than existing merely in the understanding.

Pascal's Wager

Blaise Pascal's pragmatic argument showing that under uncertainty, choosing to believe in God produces an infinitely high expected utility compared to nonbelief.

Theodicy

A philosophical theory or theological explanation attempting to explain why an omnipotent, omniscient, and all-good God permits innocent beings to suffer.

Ethical Subjectivism

The relativist theory holding that moral claims depend entirely on the individual tastes, preferences, and personal convictions of the person making them.

Cultural Relativism

The normative ethical position holding that an action is morally right if and only if the culture in which it takes place approves of it.

Ethical Objectivism

The philosophical view that objective moral values exist and that certain ethical norms are true for all human beings at all times.

Divine Command Theory

The ethical theory asserting that an action is morally right if it is in accordance with God's commands and morally wrong if in conflict with them.

Utilitarianism

The normative consequentialist ethical theory asserting that an action is morally right if it produces the greatest balance of pleasure over pain for the greatest number of sentient beings.

Supererogatory Actions

Actions that are morally praiseworthy and admirable to perform, but are not strictly obligatory or required by moral duty.

Deontology

Immanuel Kant's duty-based ethical framework asserting that actions are morally good based on the autonomous motive of duty behind the will rather than their consequences.

Categorical Imperative

Immanuel Kant's fundamental moral law commanding rational beings to act only according to maxims that can simultaneously be willed as universal laws.

Principle of Humanity

The second formulation of Kant's categorical imperative commanding agents to treat humanity, in oneself or another, always as an end and never merely as a means.

Virtue Ethics

An agent-centered ethical approach that shifts focus away from abstract moral rules toward cultivating an excellent moral character and living a flourishing human life.

Virtue

A deep-seated, stable character trait that enables a person to act, feel, and deliberate well; in Aristotle's ethics, a mean between two vices.

Doctrine of the Mean

Aristotle's moral principle stating that moral virtues are character states that lie intermediate between two extreme vices: a vice of excess and a vice of deficiency.

Practical Wisdom

The seasoned intellectual capacity to understand human affairs and discern the appropriate course of action and degree of feeling across concrete moral situations.

Annihilation

The view that physical death is the absolute end of our existence, resulting in the complete and permanent cessation of all perceptions, thoughts, and consciousness.

Symmetry Argument

Lucretius' argument that because we do not experience fear or sorrow concerning the infinite period of nonexistence prior to our birth, we should not fear the nonexistence following our death.