Pragmatism -- Vocab

Question 1

lodger

Answer 1

a tenant in a lodge

Question 2

enterprise

Answer 2

an undertaking, venture, or project, especially a daring and courageous one

Question 3

contemporaneous

Answer 3

existing or created in the same period of time; contemporary

Question 4

Cimmerian (n.)

Answer 4

(from Greek mythology) a mythical person who inhabits a land of perpetual darkness

Question 5

to relieve

“The founder of pragmatism himself recently gave a course of lectures at the Lowell Institute with that very word in its title-flashes of brilliant light relieved against Cimmerian darkness!”

Answer 5

to make (something) stand out; to bring into relief

Question 6

antipathy

Answer 6

aversion or repugnance toward something or someone

Question 7

predicate (v.)

“More simple and massive than are usually the men of whom the terms are predicated.”

Answer 7

to assert or state as an attribute or quality of something

Question 8

arbitrary

“For every sort of permutation and combination is possible in human nature; and if I now proceed to define more fully what I have in mind when I speak of rationalists and empiricists, by adding to each of those titles some secondary qualifying characteristics, I beg you to regard my conduct as to a certain extent arbitrary.”

Answer 8

(usually of a decision) based on individual discretion or judgment; not based on any objective distinction, perhaps even made at random

Question 9

monism

“Rationalism is always monistic. It starts from wholes and universals, and makes much of the unity of things.”

Answer 9

characterized by one single principle, being or force

Question 10

dogmatic

“The rationalist finally will be of dogmatic temper in his affirmations, while the empiricist may be more sceptical and open to discussion.”

Answer 10

sticking to a theoretical/hypothetical principle rather than truths based on evidence/deduction

Question 11

vacillation

Answer 11

changing location by moving back and forth
by extension: indecision

Question 12

creed

Answer 12

that which is believed; accepted doctrine, especially religious doctrine

Question 13

proclivity

Answer 13

a natural inclination; propensity

Question 14

-ism

posivitism

Answer 14

of positivism: the philosophical belief that all genuine knowledge is true or positive (from logic or reason gathered from sensory experience)

Question 15

pantheistic

“By the more radical wing of religious philosophy I mean the so-called transcendental idealism of the Anglo-Hegelian school, the philosophy of such men as Green, the Cairds, Bosanquet, and Royce. This philosophy has greatly influenced the more studious members of our protestant ministry. It is pantheistic, and undoubtedly it has already blunted the edge of the traditional theism in protestantism at large.”

Answer 15

Pertaining to pantheism:
The belief that the universe is somewhat divine and should revered, but denies personality or transcendentalism of such God

Question 16

eclectic

“It is eclectic, a thing of compromises, that seeks a modus vivendi above all things.”

Answer 16

mixture of doctrines/methods/styles

Question 17

gothic

“In point of fact it is far less an account of this actual world than a clear addition built upon it, a classic sanctuary in which the rationalist fancy may take refuge from the intolerably confused and gothic character which mere facts present.”

Answer 17

barbarous, rude, unpolished, belonging to the “Dark Ages”, medieval as opposed to classical

Question 18

cloistered

“So we find men of science preferring to turn their backs on metaphysics as on something altogether cloistered and spectral, and practical men shaking philosophy’s dust off their feet and following the call of the wild.”

Answer 18

isolated or protected to maintain innocence

Question 19

spectral

“So we find men of science preferring to turn their backs on metaphysics as on something altogether cloistered and spectral, and practical men shaking philosophy’s dust off their feet and following the call of the wild.”

Answer 19

ghostly

Question 20

antipode

Answer 20

something directly opposed (on the opposite side of)

Question 21

replete

“And this immense space, surrounding all this region, … may be replete with happiness and glory. … What now becomes of the consideration of our Earth and of its denizens?”

Answer 21

gorged, abounding; filled to the brim

Question 22

denizen

“And this immense space, surrounding all this region, … may be replete with happiness and glory. … What now becomes of the consideration of our Earth and of its denizens?”

Answer 22

an inhabitant of a place; one who dwells in a certain place

Question 23

punitory

“This justice is founded in pure fitness, which finds a certain satisfaction in the expiation of a wicked deed. The Socinians and Hobbes objected to this punitive justice, which is properly vindictive justice and which God has reserved for himself at many junctures.”

Answer 23

punishing

Question 24

vindicative

Answer 24

excessively vengeful

Question 25

genus ## Footnote "...the smaller is the number of 'samples' of the **genus** 'lost-soul' whom God throws as a sop to the eternal fitness, the more unequitably grounded is the glory of the blest. "

Answer 25

within a definition, a broader category of the defined concept

Question 26

sop ## Footnote "...the smaller is the number of 'samples' of the genus 'lost-soul' whom God throws as a **sop** to the eternal fitness, the more unequitably grounded is the glory of the blest. "

Answer 26

something of little or no value

Question 27

vogue

Answer 27

popularity

Question 28

proprietary ## Footnote "And the mind of mankind-not yet the mind of philosophers and of the **proprietary** class-but of the great mass of the silently thinking and feeling men, is coming to this view."

Answer 28

having ownership

Question 29

hierophant ## Footnote "They are judging the universe as they have heretofore permitted the **hierophants** of religion and learning to judge THEM. ..."

Answer 29

an ancient Greek priest who interpreted sacred mysteries

Question 30

vacuity ## Footnote "It cannot be glozed over or minimized away by all the treatises on God, and Love, and Being, helplessly existing in their haughty monumental **vacuity**."

Answer 30

emptiness

Question 31

blazon ## Footnote "And what it **blazons** to man is the ... imposture of all philosophy which does not see in such events the consummate factor of conscious experience."

Answer 31

to proclaim/declare

Question 32

imposture ## Footnote "And what it blazons to man is the ... **imposture** of all philosophy which does not see in such events the consummate factor of conscious experience."

Answer 32

deception

Question 33

consummate ## Footnote "And what it blazons to man is the ... imposture of all philosophy which does not see in such events the **consummate** factor of conscious experience."

Answer 33

perfect, absolute, complete

Question 34

wherewithal ## Footnote "And such, tho possibly less tensely charged with feeling, is the verdict of every seriously inquiring amateur in philosophy to-day who turns to the philosophy-professors for the **wherewithal** to satisfy the fulness of his nature's needs."

Answer 34

the means needed to accomplish something

Question 35

flagrantly ## Footnote "What the system pretends to be is a picture of the great universe of God. What it is—and oh so **flagrantly**!—is the revelation of how intensely odd the personal flavor of some fellow creature is."

Answer 35

blatantly; obviously and offensively

Question 36

inveterate ## Footnote "A pragmatist turns his back resolutely and once for all upon a lot of** inveterate** habits dear to professional philosophers."

Answer 36

firmly established for a while; of long standing

Question 37

affection ## Footnote "Its modes, attributes, properties, accidents, or **affections**,—use which term you will,—are whiteness, friability, cylindrical shape, insolubility in water, etc., etc."

Answer 37

attributes/qualities

Question 38

friability

Answer 38

brittleness

Question 39

inhere ## Footnote "But the bearer of these attributes is so much chalk, which thereupon is called the substance in which they **inhere**. So the attributes of this desk **inhere** in the substance 'wood,' those of my coat in the substance 'wool,' and so forth."

Answer 39

to be an essential or instrinic part of

Question 40

# -ism nominalism ## Footnote "**Nominalists **accordingly adopt the opinion that substance is a spurious idea due to our inveterate human trick of turning names into things."

Answer 40

a doctrine in which universals don't exist except as names of classes of concrete objects

Question 41

spurious ## Footnote "Nominalists accordingly adopt the opinion that substance is a **spurious** idea due to our inveterate human trick of turning names into things."

Answer 41

false; not genuine

Question 42

# -ism scholasticism

Answer 42

a school/philosophy that combines classical philosophy with Catholic theology

Question 43

# -ism phenomenalism

Answer 43

The doctrine that physical objects exist only as perceptual phenomena or sensory stimuli

Question 44

# -ism materialism

Answer 44

philosophical belief that nothing exists beyond what is physical

Question 45

# -ism naturalism

Answer 45

philosophy which refers the phenomena of nature as a blind force or forces acting necessarily or according to fixed laws, excluding origination or direction by a will

Question 46

# -ism spiritualism

Answer 46

aoctrine opposing materialism that claims transcendency of the divine being, the altogether spiritual character of reality and the value of inwardness of consciousness

Question 47

primacy ## Footnote "Matter is gross, coarse, crass, muddy; spirit is pure, elevated, noble; and since it is more consonant with the dignity of the universe to give the **primacy** in it to what appears superior, spirit must be affirmed as the ruling principle."

Answer 47

excellence/supremacy

Question 48

rejoinder ## Footnote "To an abstract objection an abstract **rejoinder** suffices; and so far as one's opposition to materialism springs from one's disdain of matter as something 'crass,' Mr. Spencer cuts the ground from under one."

Answer 48

a comeback or a retort (often witty) in a debate/argument

Question 49

indefeasible ## Footnote "The actually experienced world is supposed to be the same in its details on either hypothesis, 'the same, for our praise or blame,' as Browning says. It stands there **indefeasibly**: a gift which can't be taken back."

Answer 49

not liable to being annulled or declared void

Question 50

augment ## Footnote "Calling matter the cause of it retracts no single one of the items that have made it up, nor does calling God the cause **augment** them."

Answer 50

increase

Question 51

supererogatory ## Footnote "...the wise man is he who in such a case would turn his back on such a **supererogatory** discussion."

Answer 51

try-hard; doing more than is necessary

Question 52

odium ## Footnote "There are accordingly many materialists about us to-day who, ignoring altogether the future and practical aspects of the question, seek to eliminate the **odium** attaching to the word materialism..."

Answer 52

hatred/dislike caused by offensiveness

Question 53

farcical ## Footnote "It would be **farcical** at this day to make complaint of it for what it IS for 'grossness.' Grossness is what grossness *does*—we now know *that*."

Answer 53

ludicrous; ridiculous

Question 54

provisional ## Footnote "A world with a God in it to say the last word, may indeed burn up or freeze, but we then think of him as still mindful of the old ideals and sure to bring them elsewhere to fruition; so that, where he is, tragedy is only **provisional** and partial, and shipwreck and dissolution not the absolutely final things."

Answer 54

temporary but with the intention of becoming permanent

Question 55

tonic ## Footnote "And those poets, like Dante and Wordsworth, who live on the conviction of such an order, owe to that fact the extraordinary **tonic** and consoling power of their verse."

Answer 55

restorative, rejuvinating, invigorating

Question 56

cognate ## Footnote "Let me pass to a very cognate philosophic problem, the *question* of *design in nature*."

Answer 56

of similar nature

Question 57

immemorial ## Footnote "God's existence has from time **immemorial** been held to be proved by certain natural facts."

Answer 57

that is beyond memory; ancient.

Question 58

insipid ## Footnote "Without nature's stupendous laws and counterforces, man's creation and perfection, we might suppose, would be too **insipid** achievements for God to have designed them."

Answer 58

flat; tasteless; boring

Question 59

# -ism determinism

Answer 59

fatalism; the doctrine that all actions are determined by the current state and immutable laws of the universe, with no possibility of choice

Question 60

inveigh ## Footnote "So both free-will and determinism have been **inveighed** against and called absurd, because each, in the eyes of its enemies, has seemed to prevent the 'imputability' of good or bad deeds to their authors."

Answer 60

to complain loudly, to give voice to one's censure or criticism

Question 61

imputability ## Footnote "So both free-will and determinism have been inveighed against and called absurd, because each, in the eyes of its enemies, has seemed to prevent the '**imputability**' of good or bad deeds to their authors."

Answer 61

the character of being attributable

Question 62

*ex nihilo* ## Footnote "If a 'free' act be a sheer novelty, that comes not *from* me, the previous me, but ***ex nihilo***, and simply tacks itself on to me, how can I, the previous I, be responsible? "

Answer 62

from or out of nothing

Question 63

doughtily ## Footnote "The chaplet of my days tumbles into a cast of disconnected beads as soon as the thread of inner necessity is drawn out by the preposterous indeterminist doctrine. Messrs. Fullerton and McTaggart have recently laid about them **doughtily** with this argument."

Answer 63

in a brave or bold manner

Question 64

chaplet ## Footnote "The **chaplet** of my days tumbles into a cast of disconnected beads as soon as the thread of inner necessity is drawn out by the preposterous indeterminist doctrine. Messrs. Fullerton and McTaggart have recently laid about them doughtily with this argument."

Answer 64

a string (of beads)

Question 65

*ad hominem*

Answer 65

a false objection to an argument, often with an attempt to argue against an opponent's idea by discrediting the opponent themselves

Question 66

# -ism meliorism ## Footnote "The general 'uniformity of nature' is presupposed by every lesser law. But nature may be only approximately uniform; and persons in whom knowledge of the world's past has bred pessimism (or doubts as to the world's good character, which become certainties if that character be supposed eternally fixed) may naturally welcome free-will as a ***melioristic*** doctrine."

Answer 66

the view or doctrine that the world can be improved through human effort (often understood as an intermediate outlook between optimism and pessimism)

Question 67

desiderate ## Footnote "Surely the only *possibility* that one can rationally claim is the possibility that things may be *better*. That possibility, I need hardly say, is one that, as the actual world goes, we have ample grounds for **desiderating**."

Answer 67

to miss; to long for

Question 68

august ## Footnote "See then how all these ultimate questions turn, as it were, up their hinges; and from looking backwards upon principles, upon an *erkenntnisstheoretische Ich*, a God, a *Kausalitaetsprinzip*, a Design, a Free-will, taken in themselves, as something **august** and exalted above facts..."

Answer 68

awe-inspiring; noble

Question 69

abreast ## Footnote "When a young man first conceives the notion that the whole world forms one great fact, with all its parts moving **abreast**, as it were, and interlocked, he feels as if he were enjoying a great insight..."

Answer 69

in tandem; side by side and facing forward

Question 70

supercilious ## Footnote "...he feels as if he were enjoying a great insight, and looks **superciliously** on all who still fall short of this sublime conception."

Answer 70

in a haughty or overly superior manner

Question 71

presuppose ## Footnote "But these sysyyems are smaller than the great acquantaince-system that they **presuppose**."

Answer 71

to assume without proof for the purposes of reaching a conclusion based on that assumption

Question 72

reticulate ## Footnote "Loosely speaking, and in general, it may be said that all things cohere and adhere to each other *somehow*, and that the universe exists practically in **reticulated** or concatenated forms which make of it a continuous or 'integrated' affair."

Answer 72

network-like in form or appearance

Question 73

concatenate ## Footnote "Loosely speaking, and in general, it may be said that all things cohere and adhere to each other *somehow*, and that the universe exists practically in reticulated or **concatenated** forms which make of it a continuous or 'integrated' affair."

Answer 73

to join or link together, as though in a chain

Question 74

fiat ## Footnote "God's ***fiat*** on creation's day has figured in traditional philosophy as such an absolute cause and origin."

Answer 74

an authoritative decree/command

Question 75

# -ism transcendental idealism | A theory of Kant

Answer 75

the claim that all empirical objects, space, and time are merely formal features of how we perceive objects, not things in themselves that exist independently of us

Question 76

climacteric ## Footnote "They co-operate, according to the degree of their development, in collective or tribal purposes, larger ends thus enveloping lesser ones, until an absolutely single, final and **climacteric** purpose subserved by all things without exception might conceivably be reached."

Answer 76

crucial/critical; decisive

Question 77

vista

Answer 77

a site offering viewing of a distant propect | (like the ones with those coin-operated binoculars)

Question 78

teleological ## Footnote "Vaguely and generally, much of what was purposed may be gained; but everything makes strongly for the view that our world is incompletely unified **teleologically** and is still trying to get its unification better organized."

Answer 78

showing evidence of design or purpose

Question 79

noetic (adj.) ## Footnote “This notion of an *all enveloping **noetic*** unity in things is the sublimest achievement in intellectualistic philosophy.”

Answer 79

of or pertaining to the mind or intellect