IB Philosophy Core Theme Review

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the core themes of IB Philosophy, including basic isms, determinism, mind-body dualism, and metaphysical theories of reality.

Rationalism

The belief that we can establish truths by using REASON, unaided by sensory experience (though they can also be established via sensory experience).

Empiricism

The view that the only way we understand things, obtain knowledge, or establish truths is through SENSORY EXPERIENCE.

Realism

The belief that certain things, including objects and ideas, exist independently of your perception or beliefs about them.

Subjectivity

The property of belonging to or being part of the thinking subject, where thoughts, beliefs, and biases are brought to bear on something.

Solipsism

The view that nothing exists besides your own personal mind and whatever is contained within it.

Fatalism

The idea that what happens to us is fixed regardless of our actions, entailing ZERO freedom; named after the Three Fates in Greek mythology: Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos.

Hard Determinism

The view that all choices are causally determined and therefore we are never free, illustrated by the pool table analogy.

Soft Determinism

The view that although determinism is essentially true and choices are causally determined, we can still act FREELY when we do what we want to do.

Libertarianism

The belief that human beings possess free will and that free choice is incompatible with determinism, therefore determinism is false.

Free Will

The belief that we act as free agents who determine our own futures through our choices.

Existentialism

A philosophy represented by Jean-Paul Sartre which asserts that "Existence precedes essence" and "Man is condemned to be free," where even not choosing is a choice.

Materialism/Physicalism

The view that ultimate reality is physical and composed of matter and energy; it asserts that "you are your body" and the mind is dependent on it.

Platonic Dualism

The view that the mind and body are SEPARATE and DISTINCT, with Plato describing the mind as a "prisoner" in the body.

Functionalism

A theory that compares the brain to computer hardware and the mind to software, where a mental state is defined by its functional role.

Behaviorism

The view that mental language is a way of describing BEHAVIOR rather than special activities occurring within the mind.

Logical Behaviorism

A branch of behaviorism that seeks to eliminate "mental language" because it describes nothing more than behaviors.

Mind-Brain Identity

The theory that the mind is identical to the body, where mental states and events are identical to physical states and events.

Berkeley's Idealism

The philosophical position summarized by the phrase "To be is to be perceived," suggesting that if something cannot be seen, it isn't there.

Kant's Transcendental Idealism

The view that while things have physical permanence, we see them through "irremovable goggles" and cannot know "things-in-themselves" directly.

The Veil of Perception

The view that the character of our sense perceptions is SIGNIFICANTLY affected by our situation and condition.

Representative Realism

An empirical-based view that our sense impressions are caused by properties of independently existing physical entities from which we can infer truths.

Phenomenalism

The empirical view that all claims about the world must be understood in terms of our actual and possible sense perceptions or phenomena.

Relativism

The view that the truth of a statement is ALWAYS relative to the theoretical framework of a particular community.

Ontology

The branch of metaphysics that serves as the study of the nature of existence.

Ontological priority

The study of whether the external physical world or our perceptions hold priority in understanding the nature of reality.

Monism

The belief that all reality is made up of a single substance, often leading to a deterministic worldview.

Thales of Miletus

An early monist who believed that all things were made of water in different states.

Relativity theory

The scientific view that matter and energy are interchangeable and both make up the universe.