Key Words Flashcards
Analytic
Describes the manner in which a proposition is true. It is true by definition - all bachelors are unmarried
Anti-realism
If you are a realist about something you believe it exists independently of our minds. If you are anti realist about something you believe it is mind dependent. Eg epistemology - anti realists about perception believe that material objects exist only in the mind
A posteriori
Describes a belief that can only be known via experience eg. Snow is white
A priori
Describes knowledge that is known prior/independently from experience
Argument
A series of propositions intended to support an argument
Atemporal
Outside of time - no past, present or future
Agent
A being who is capable of action, they have the capacity to reason, make a choice between to courses of action, then do what they have chosen
benevolence
the desire and disposition to good for others
Clear and distinct ideas
the basic/self justifying beliefs that Descartes hopes to use as foundations for his system f knowledge. They are ideas that can be intuited in the mind by what he calls the ‘light of reason’ i.e. the truths of reason that can be known in the mind alone. e.g. logic or maths
cognitivism
a position in philosophy of language which holds that judgements must be true or false if they are to mean anything.
Non cognitivism
the position in philosophy of language that statements can be meaningful even if they do not refer to the world and the concepts of truth and falsity do not apply to them
Coherentism
a view about the structure of justification which claims that no beliefs are foundational and therefore that all beliefs need justification in terms of further beliefs. Beliefs are more or less well justified to the extent that they fit in or cohere with otters beliefs in the system
concept
Having a concept is what enables us to recognise it, distinguish it from other things and think about it
Contingent
A contingent truth happens to be true, but may have not been. A truth that could logically be false.
Corporeal
made of matter
Cosmological arguments
argue for the existence of god by claiming that there must be some ultimate cause or reason for the existence of the universe.
Deductive argument
Where the conclusion is guaranteed in the truth of the premises. If one accepts the premises, they must by logic also accept the conclusion.
Dualism
the claim that humans are made of two kinds of stuff - a material body and a spiritual mind
Empiricism
An epistemological position which holds that our beliefs and knowledge must be based on experience.
Eschatological
eschatology is the study of the ‘end of things’ or the ‘last things’ as described from a religious perspective - including death, what happens after we die, the end of time etc. (used to show that religious statements can be meaningful as they can be verified if true)
Euthyphro dilemma
In what way are God’s commands good?
- whatever god commands is good. (so command to commit genocide is fabulous)
- God’s commands are good because they conform to some external moral law - (so we should pay attention to the moral law not God)
Evil
Moral evil - by humans
natural evil - brought about by natural events
Evolution
Darwin - organisms gradually change over time according to changes in their environment and genetic mutations, some mutations lead to traits which are better suited to the environment and these more successful organisms have offspring that also survive and reproduce.
Factual significance
statement has this if it tells us something about the real world - verificationism maintain that a sentence is only meaningful if it has factual significance
Fallacy
argument which is flawed because either a mistake has been made or because has a form or structure which is always invalid
Falsificationism
claims that for a proposition to be meaningful we must be able to understand what would count as proving the proposition false
foundationalism
A view about the structure of justification which claims that there are two sorts of belief - those which are basic or foundational and which require no justification and those which are built on top of the foundations and justified in terms of them
Free will
also known as metaphysical freedom. The idea of free will is that the self controls aspects of its own life such a bodily movement.
determinism
opposite of free will - all events in the universe are the necessary consequence of physical laws, these laws apply to human actions as well. May argue that humans are like complex pieces of biological machinery with no real freedom of will
Holy
Used to encapsulate everything that is special. sacred about god
idealism
Anti - realist theory of perception. Put forward by Berkeley, the view that matter does not exist independently of the mind and that all that exists are minds and their ideas. Physical objects are just collections of sensations appearing in our minds. Objects not currently being perceived are sustained in existence by being perceived in the mind of God
Immanent `
to say god is immanent is to say that God continues to be present in and exist in his creation
Immaterial
not made of matter
Immutable
Something that can never change
Incorrigible
It cannot be corrected or changed. eg. Beliefs about our own sense data are often thought to be incorrigible as there appears to be no way in which i can be mistaken about my own experiences.
Indirect realism
The view that the immediate objects of perception are sense data or representations and that the physical world is perceived only indirectly via these representations
Indubitable
Not doubtable
Inductive argument
Argument where the truth of the conclusion is not fully guaranteed by the truth of the premises.
Every raven i have seen is black
so all ravens are black
Infallibilism
The claim that we should only count as knowledge those ideas that cannot be doubted.
inference
the move in an argument from the premises to the conclusion.
Infinite regress
A regress is a process of reasoning from effect to cause, or of going backwards in a chain of explanations. So a infinite regress is one where the process never stops and is repeated endlessly. Generally considered problematic in a philosophical argument
Innate ideas
Ideas that exist in the mind which are not acquired from experience. Rationalists often use the doctrine of innate ideas to explain the possibility of a priori knowledge.
Intelligent design
some things are irreducibly complex - only the existence of an intelligent designer (God) can explain them
Intuition
A kind of mental seeing by which rational truths can be recognised.
Justification
The support or grounds for holding a belief, which gives someone a reason for believing it. Necessary for knowledge
Knowledge
practical knowledge
Knowledge by acquaintance
Factual knowledge
JTB
Lemma
A subsidiary belief or proposition used to justify or prove another belief/proposition
Materialism
The view that everything in the world is made of matter and that ultimately all mental or apparently spiritual entities can be given purely a material explanation
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is concerned with determining what sorts of things really exist where the world comes from etc.
Direct realism
Common sense view of how perception works.
Physical objects have an independent existence in space, they follow the laws of physics and possess certain properties. When humans are in the presence of such objects they are able to perceive them along with all their properties
Necessary
Necessary truth is one that has to be true and could not be otherwise. true in all possible worlds
Necessary / contingent being
Contingent being is one that depends on something else .
Necessary being is one that does not depend upon anything else for its existence
Necessary / contingent truths
Necessary - logically impossible to be false
Contingent - the opposite is logically impossible
necessary / sufficient condition
A is a necessary condition for B - you have to have A in order to have B, if you do not have B you do not have B
A is a sufficient condition for B, when you have A you must have B too so having A is enough or sufficient to guarantee you have B
Ontological arguments
Ontology - study of existence
ontological argument is particular proof of Gods existence
Pantheism
The view that God is the same thing as the universe itself
Paradox
An apparently contradictory statement or one which goes against common sense opinion
Pereception
The process by which we become aware of physical objects incl. our own body
Predicate
Statements can be divided into subject and predicate - the thing about the subject is the predicate - gives us info about the subject
Premise
Any reason given
Primary and secondary qualities
indirect realism says physical objects have primary (eg. size and shape) and secondary qualities ( Colour and taste)
proposition
A sentence that makes a claim about the way the world actually is. Can be true or false
Rationalism
The tendency to regard reason as apposed to sense experience as the primary source of important knowledge.
Realism
Belief that things exist independently of our minds
Reason
The process by which we are able to discover the truth of things by pure thought by inferring conclusions from premises.
reductio ad absurdem
Prove a claim is false by first supporting it to be true and then drawing out the logical consequences - if absurd or false - first statement is false
Reliablism
theory of knowledge that claims that the reliability of the process involved in generating a belief is the key factor in whether we should call it knowledge or not - Knowledge = Truth + Belief + Produced by a reliable process
Scepticism
raises doubts about our claims to now. It’s purpose is to distinguish between which type of belief can be treated as known and which cannot. It tests our first knowledge claims.
Sensations
The subjective experience we have as a consequence of perceiving physical objects unloading our own bodies, such as the experience of smelling a rose or feeling hungry.
sense data
What one is directly aware of in perception. The subjective elements which constitute experience.
Solipsism
the view that all that can be known to exist is my own mind. seen as a sceptical trap into which certain ways of thinking can lead to.
Teleological
telos - purpose, goal or end. teleological expel is a way of accounting for events by reference to their purpose or ultimate goal. Refers to the purpose or the event instead of just the physical factors leading up to the event
Theodicy
The attempt to justify God’s actions and why a perfect God may have created an imperfect world.
Theology
The study or God from a religious perspective
Transcendent
To be outside, beyond, or removed from something. To say God is transcendent is to say he exists outside his creation
Verificationism
a philosophical belief about the nature of meaning. Logical positivism claims that for a proposition to be meaningful it must be verifiable or true by definition.
Verification principle
the rule put forward by verificationists that a statement can only be meaningful if it can be shown to be true empirically of it’s true by definition.
