Midterm Study Guide: Key Concepts in Philosophy

Philosophy

Etymology - philo‑sophia literally means 'love of wisdom.'

Metaphysics

Questions about reality, being, causation, space & time.

Epistemology

The nature of knowledge, belief, truth and justification.

Logic

Principles of correct reasoning, argument forms, fallacies.

Ethics / Value Theory

Morality, virtue, right action, value, well‑being.

Aesthetics

Art, beauty, taste and artistic value.

Political Philosophy

Authority, justice, rights, the good society.

Socratic Method

Cooperative question‑and‑answer probing definitions and exposing contradictions.

Argument Structure

Premises give reasons; the conclusion is what those reasons support.

Valid vs. Sound

A deductive argument is valid when the form guarantees truth‑preservation; it is sound when valid and its premises are true.

Inductive Argument

Goes from specific instances to a general claim, meaning it is either strong or weak, but the conclusion is not guaranteed.

Reflective Equilibrium

Revising principles and judgments until they cohere.

"Biting the Bullet"

Consciously accepting an uncomfortable implication to preserve consistency.

Correlation ≠ Causation

Beware the false‑cause fallacy.

Propaganda

A deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognition, and direct behaviour to further the propagandist's agenda.

Conspiracy Theory

Explains significant events or social phenomena by positing a clandestine plot by powerful actors acting in secret and in coordination.

Confirmation Bias

A cognitive bias that involves favoring information that confirms existing beliefs.

Anchoring Effect

A cognitive bias that occurs when individuals rely too heavily on the first piece of information encountered.

Availability Heuristic

A mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a person's mind.

Tribalism / In-group Bias

The tendency to favor one's own group over others.

Sunk-cost Fallacy

The phenomenon where individuals continue a behavior or endeavor as a result of previously invested resources.

Dunning-Kruger Effect

A cognitive bias wherein individuals with low ability at a task overestimate their ability.

Socrates

Said 'The unexamined life is not worth living'; known for dialectical questioning.

Plato

Known for the Theory of Forms - timeless, perfect universals; knowledge as recollection.

Aristotle

Identified Four Causes - material, formal, efficient, final.

René Descartes

Known for methodical skepticism, substance dualism, and the mind-body problem; famously stated 'Cogito, ergo sum.'

John Stuart Mill

Advocated for free‑speech defense and the 'marketplace of ideas'; warned of the danger of dogma.

Confucius

Promoted Five constant virtues - ren, yi, li, zhi, xin; emphasized filial piety and the ideal person = junzi.

Ubuntu

A philosophy of relational personhood: 'I am because we are.'

John Locke

Argued that personal identity is grounded in continuity of memory.

Ship of Theseus

Raises the problem of qualitative vs. numerical identity.

Locke's Memory Theory

States that identity persists through overlapping consciousness.

Determinism

The view that every event is causally fixed by prior events.

Libertarianism

The belief that genuine freedom requires indeterminism.

Compatibilism

The view that one is free when action flows from internal states even in a deterministic world.

Justified True Belief (JTB)

classic analysis of knowledge proposed by Plato.

Gettier Problem

cases where JTB is satisfied yet knowledge seems absent.

Propositions

belief‑contents that are truth‑apt ('Snow is white').

A priori vs. A posteriori

knowable independent of experience vs. through experience.

Skepticism

global (doubt all) or local (targeted domains).

Epistemic Injustice

prejudice leads to deflated credibility.

Hermeneutical Injustice

social gaps leave groups without the concepts to express experiences.

Rationalism

Reason alone can yield substantive, certain knowledge; affirms innate ideas and favors deductive methods (Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza).

Empiricism

All ideas and knowledge originate in sensory experience; mind begins as a tabula rasa and builds knowledge through observation and induction (Locke, Berkeley, Hume).

Foundationalism

the view that all justified beliefs ultimately rest on a set of foundational, basic beliefs.

Coherentism

the view that justification, and thus knowledge, is structured not like a house but instead like a web.

Plato's Metaphysics

reality divided between changing sensory world and timeless transcendent Forms.

Aristotle's Metaphysics

form and matter are blended in concrete substances; no separate realm of Forms.

Plato's Epistemology

knowledge via rational recollection of Forms, accessible through dialectic.

Aristotle's Epistemology

knowledge begins with sense‑experience and is built by induction, abstraction, and logic.

Cosmological Argument

the universe requires a first cause.

Teleological / Design Argument

order and purpose suggest an intelligent designer.

Ontological Argument (Anselm)

God, defined as the greatest conceivable being, must exist in reality because existence is a perfection.

Common Informal Fallacies

straw man, ad hominem, appeal to emotion, false dichotomy, post hoc, hasty generalization, slippery slope.

Premise / Conclusion Indicators

since, because, for, therefore, thus, hence, so.

Clifford's Core Principle

It is morally wrong to believe anything on insufficient evidence.

Clifford's Ship‑Owner Parable

Clifford's story of a negligent owner who 'trusts Providence' without inspecting his vessel shows that even if the ship never sinks, he is blameworthy for gambling with passengers' lives.

Positive Duty

We must diligently investigate, gather evidence, and proportion belief to proof; cultivating intellectual honesty protects the public good.

********

Speaker is indifferent to whether statements are true or false; main goal is impression management or persuasion.

Lying

Speaker deliberately asserts what they believe is false, thus still tracking truth even as they try to conceal it.

Key Distinction between ******** and Lying

The liar misrepresents the truth; the bullshitter disregards it, making ******** a deeper threat to honest discourse.