Philosophical Vocabulary for Final Exam.docx

**A Partial Glossary if Philosophical Terms** **Analytic** A proposition is said to be **analytic** when its truth can be determined by analysis, that is, without reference to experience or other evidence. Thus, "A circle is a closed plane figure, all points on the circumference of which are equidi...

**A Partial Glossary if Philosophical Terms** **Analytic** A proposition is said to be **analytic** when its truth can be determined by analysis, that is, without reference to experience or other evidence. Thus, "A circle is a closed plane figure, all points on the circumference of which are equidistant from the center" is an analytic proposition. It is highly controversial whether any propositions of philosophical interest are **analytic**. The opposite of **synthetic** and roughly equivalent to **tautology**. **A posteriori** A belief or proposition is **a posteriori** (literally, "from what comes after") to the extent that its truth can be determined only by reliance on experience and observation. The opposite of **a priori.** **A priori** A belief or proposition is **a priori** (Latin for "from what comes before") if its truth is determined intuitively and thus not by reference to experience and observation. The opposite of **a posteriori**. **Argument** One or more reasons for a belief, intended to support or give a reason for that belief. **Categorical imperative** Proposed by Immanuel Kant the **categorical** **imperative** says: Act in such a manner that the principle on which you act could be universalized (i.e., accepted by anyone else in that situation). **Cogito ergo sum** Descartes's famous Latin epigram, "I think therefore I am." **Consequentialism** A variety of ethical theories that agree in taking the actual or probable consequences (results, outcomes) of our actions as the criterion for deciding whether the action is right or wrong. The most popular form of **consequentialism** is **utilitarianism**. **Contingent** A proposition or event is **contingent** to the extent that its truth or occurrence depends on some other proposition or event, and the latter is not a necessary truth. Thus, a person's knowledge that a certain proposition is true is **contingent** on the person understanding the proposition in the first place. **Contradiction** A belief or proposition **contradicts** another belief or proposition to the extent that if either is true the other must be false.. **Deontology** From the Greek, "dei," meaning "I must"; the view that the morality of our conduct is to be determined by our intentions and the principles on which we act, not the results or consequences of our actions. A deontological approach to ethics gives pride of place to justice, the principles of right conduct, our duties and obligations; their priority, it is claimed, makes these concepts indefinable by reference to good or bad consequences. **Determinism** The belief that all human actions are caused by events over which persons have no real control, just as events in the physiocochemical world are caused by other events over which no one has any control. **Dialectic** For Plato, **dialectic** meant mainly dialogue, the back-and-forth of serious conversation and debate aimed at finding the truth about something. For Kant, **dialectic** meant the unavoidable back-and-forth of human reasoning when we grapple with things beyond any possible experience and are led to embrace what seem to be necessary but opposite conclusions. Hegel found **dialectic** in history; Marx found it in political economy. **Dualism** The doctrine of metaphysics that holds that ultimate reality consists of two fundamentally different kinds of things, usually mind and matter. **Egoism, ethical and psychological Ethical egoism** is the normative doctrine that each of us ought to pursue our own advantage regardless if its effects on others (except where those effects impinge on our interests). **Psychological egoism** is the empirical claim that we are hard-wired by our genes so that we cannot in fact act otherwise than by trying to advantage ourselves even at the expense of others. **Emotivism** A theory in metaethics to the effect that all ethical utterances are expressions of personal feeling; derisively called the Boo!-Hurrah! theory. If "wrong" in the judgment "Murder is wrong" is nothing but the venting of personal dislike for murder, then "wrong" is semantically equivalent to expletives such as "Boo!" or "Ugh!" The same holds true for "Honesty is a virtue" and "Hurrah!" **Empiricism** The doctrine associated with such British thinkers are Berkeley, Locke, and Hume. It basically holds that all propositions -- other than definitions, including logical and mathematical truths -- are such that their truth or falsity must be determined by some sort of experience or observation. Opposed to **rationalism**. **Fallacy** Loosely, any error in reason. There are a variety of formal and informal fallacies. **Hedonism** The belief that the only thing good in itself (and hence not good only because it leads to good things) is pleasure and the absence of pain. **Hypothesis** A belief or proposition whose truth is uncertain, usually owing to inadequate evidence or inconsistency with prevailing theory, but which nonetheless may be true is worth further consideration. **Idealism** Diverse metaphysical doctrines associated with Plato, Berkeley, and Hegel, according to which ideas (variously defined) are the ultimate reality. **Induction** An argument in which the premises give only some degree of probability, but not certainty, to its conclusion. The *Principle of Induction* that underlies all inductive arguments is that nature is sufficiently regular to permit the discovery of causal laws having general application. Inductive generalization is the process of arriving at general propositions from the particular facts of experience. **Intuition** A mental process to be contrasted with sensation, observation, excogitation, memory, imagination, calculation, and deliberation. Said to be the source of certain basic a priori truths in logic (the while is greater than any of its parts), ethics (let your conscience be your guide), and in other areas of philosophy. When one cannot offer an argument for a proposition, yet is certain of its truth, it is not uncommon to claim to know that proposition **intuitively**. **Logical positivism** An influential movement in Anglo-American philosophy during the middle third of the twentieth century, according to which all meaningful propositions could be sorted into the **analytic** and the **synthetic**, with the result that metaphysical propositions, belonging in neither category, were strictly meaningless. Mathematical propositions, being necessarily true, were analytic. **Materialism** The metaphysical doctrine that ultimate reality is material stuff. A version of **atomistic materialism** was defended by Democritus, Plato's rival; Marxism is **historical** and **dialectical materialism**. **Natural law** Laws concerning the nature of things and not owing their existence to any human authorities. Includes both scientific laws of nature (the laws studied in physics, chemistry, etc.) and normative laws regulating human conduct (the norms of ethics, jurisprudence, etc.). **Nominalism** Any doctrine in logic or metaphysics that claims there are no general abstract entities (the property of being red, the number 17) but only concrete particulars (the red of that red nose, the numeral "17"). **Non sequitur** Latin for "it doesn't follow." A conclusion in an argument is a **non sequitur** when it does not follow logically, that is, cannot be deduced from the argument's premises. **Prima facie** Latin for "on first appearance." A person's right might said to be **prima facie** if it is a right in its face, or at first sight. But it might not be true right (it is a right *only* **prima facie)** because it can be overridden by other moral considerations. **Proposition** The kind of assertion that can be either true or false. What a declarative sentence expresses. **Syllogisms**. are constructed out of categorical propositions, each of which in turn is built out if four concepts: A quantifier (All/None/Some) + subject term + verb (is/are) + predicate term. For example, All men are mortal. **Rationalism** The philosophy common to Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz (the so-called Continental rationalists) and their followers, which holds that some truths about the world can be known by "the light of nature," "common sense," or "intuition," that is, without prior observation or other experience. Such truths are supposed to be **a priori**. but not **analytic**., hence not trivially true. **Realism** Opposed to **idealism**., sentimentalism, romanticism. In metaphysics, **realism** is the belief that things -- physical objects, natural laws, our own bodies, perhaps entities such as numbers -- in fact exist outside and independent of our minds. **Relativism, cultural and ethical** According to **cultural relativism** ethical norms vary from culture to culture and depend for their legitimacy on how effective they are in holding a culture together. Anthropologists have shown that cultural relativism is true. **Ethical relativism**, a normative doctrine, holds that there are no objective principles of right and wrong conduct by which tone can evaluate the norms of any given culture. **Skepticism** A skeptic is one who doubts claims of knowledge on the grounds that either the available evidence is inadequate to support the claim or it is impossible in principle for the claim to be reasonably asserted or denied. Akin to **agnosticism.** **Sufficient condition**: In causal reasoning, a circumstance in whose presence an event under investigation must occur. The sufficient condition must comprise the conjunction of all the necessary conditions of the event in question. **Synthetic** The opposite of **analytic.** Thus, a sentence or proposition is **synthetic** of its truth value cannot be determined solely by analysis, that is, by reference to nothing but the meaning of its constituent terms. **Tautology** A sentence or proposition is a **tautology** if and only if it can be seen to be true by nothing more than the meaning of the terms or the syntax of the words used to state it. For example, "all wise philosophers are wise" is a **tautology** of the form "all X Y is X". Here, the meaning of the constituent terms is irrelevant. What matters is the form. ("Business is business" looks like a **tautology** because it has the form lovers of wisdom" is an implicit **tautology** because "philosophy" means "love of wisdom." All **tautologies** are **analytic.** **Teleology** Originally, an Aristotelian doctrine related to his theory of the four kinds of cause. On that theory, in addition to the formal, efficient, and material causes of things, there are also *final causes*, goals or aims (in Greek, "telos") toward which things (not just living things) strive. **Teleological** explanations account for events or the properties, that is, the way some feature if the thing contributes to its achievement of some purpose, goal, or final end. **Thesis** The **thesis** of an argument is whatever the argument is designed to affirm or deny. In Hegelian dialectic., the **thesis** affirms a proposition, the antithesis denies that proposition, and the synthesis transcends this contradiction and gives rise to a new **thesis.** **Transcendent/transcendental** A belief or proposition is **transcendent** if it refers to matters beyond any possible experience. A belief or proposition is **transcendental** if it is universally and necessarily true. Both ideas come to prominence in Kant's epistemology and metaphysics. **Utilitarianism** The ethical theory associated with the views of Jeremy Bentham (1478-1832), James Mill (1773-1836), and his son John Stuart Mill. **Utilitarianism** is the principle that we always ought to choose the act, or type of act, that will maximize the balance of good over evil for all affected. **Valid**: A deductive argument whose premises, if they are all true, would provide conclusive grounds for the truth of its conclusion. Validity is a formal characteristic that applies only to arguments (as distinguished from truth which applies to propositions). **Bonus:** **analytic philosophy**: Sometimes called Anglo-American philosophy, the predominantly English-language philosophy of the past century stemming from figures such as Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, George Edward Moore, Rudolf Carnap, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Willard Van Orman Quine that puts a premium on linguistic clarity and the relation between philosophical claims and either logic or science. John Stuart Mill -- Utilitarianism Immanuel Kant -- Epistemology (The Categorical Imperative) Clifton B. Perry -- The Philosopher as Ethics Consultant in Psychiatric Ward Kenneth Kipnis -- Ethics Consulting in a Multicultural Setting: Quality Care and the Wounds of Diversity Muriel R. Friedman -- Prescribing Viagra: Ethical Issues in Urologic Practice Aristotle -- Virtue Ethics Charles Fried -- The Lawyer as Friend Steven Wasserman -- The Philosopher as Public Defender: In defense of a Rapist William Hefferman -- The Philosopher as Prosecutor: An (Unlawful) Prosecution of Guilty Man Martin P. Golding -- The Deterrence Theory of Punishment Robert Nozick -- The Retributive Theory of Punishment John Rawls -- Reconciling the Deterrence and Retributive Theories of Punishment Herbert Morris -- Punishment Versus Therapy Bill Puka -- The Philosopher as Correction Officer Maxine Morphis -- The Philosopher as Dancer: In Consideration of Plato's Theory of Truth Alfred L. Castle -- The Philosopher as Historian: The Correspondence Approach to Truth Deni Elliot -- The Philosopher as Journalist: A Pragmatic Approach to Truth Victor Guarino -- The Philosopher as Psychologist: Truth and The Schizophrenic Patient Fr. Robert R. Gerl -- The Philosopher as Priest: Applying Proofs of God's Existence to the Case of a Dying Cancer Patient Allen I. Freehling -- The Philosopher as Rabbi: Confronting Evil in the Face of the HIV/AIDS Pandemic