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AP Language & Composition > Pragmatism -- Vocab > Flashcards

Pragmatism -- Vocab Flashcards

1
Q

lodger

A

a tenant in a lodge

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2
Q

enterprise

A

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

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3
Q

contemporaneous

A

existing or created in the same period of time; contemporary

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4
Q

Cimmerian (n.)

A

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

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5
Q

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!”

A

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

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6
Q

antipathy

A

aversion or repugnance toward something or someone

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7
Q

predicate (v.)

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

A

to assert or state as an attribute or quality of something

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8
Q

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.”

A

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

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9
Q

monism

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

A

characterized by one single principle, being or force

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10
Q

dogmatic

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

A

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

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11
Q

vacillation

A

changing location by moving back and forth; indecision

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12
Q

creed

A

that which is believed; accepted doctrine, especially religious doctrine

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13
Q

proclivity

A

a natural inclination; propensity

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14
Q

-ism

posivitism

A

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

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15
Q

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.”

A

belief that the universe is somewhat divine and should revered, but denies personality or transcendentalism of such God

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16
Q

eclectic

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

A

mixture of doctrines/methods/styles

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17
Q

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.”

A

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

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18
Q

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.”

A

isolated or protected to maintain innocence

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19
Q

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.”

A

ghostly

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20
Q

antipode

A

something directly opposed (on the opposite side of)

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21
Q

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?”

A

gorged, abounding; filled to the brim

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22
Q

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?”

A

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

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23
Q

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.”

A

punishing

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24
Q

vindicative

A

excessively vengeful

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25
Q

genus

“…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. “

A

within a definition, a broader category of the defined concept

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26
Q

sop

“…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. “

A

something of little or no value

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27
Q

vogue

A

popularity

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28
Q

proprietary

“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.”

A

having ownership

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29
Q

hierophant

“They are judging the universe as they have heretofore permitted the hierophants of religion and learning to judge THEM. …”

A

an ancient Greek priest who interpreted sacred mysteries

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30
Q

vacuity

“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.”

A

emptiness

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31
Q

blazon

“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.”

A

to proclaim/declare

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32
Q

imposture

“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.”

A

deception

33
Q

consummate

“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.”

A

perfect, absolute, complete

34
Q

wherewithal

“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.”

A

the means needed to accomplish something

35
Q

flagrantly

“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.”

A

blatantly; obviously and offensively

36
Q

inveterate

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

A

firmly established for a while; of long standing

37
Q

affection

“Its modes, attributes, properties, accidents, or affections,—use which term you will,—are whiteness, friability, cylindrical shape, insolubility in water, etc., etc.”

A

attributes/qualities

38
Q

friability

A

brittleness

39
Q

inhere

“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.”

A

to be an essential or instrinic part of

40
Q

-ism

nominalism

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

A

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

41
Q

spurious

“Nominalists accordingly adopt the opinion that substance is a spurious idea due to our inveterate human trick of turning names into things.”

A

false; not genuine

42
Q

-ism

scholasticism

A

a school/philosophy that combines classical philosophy with Catholic theology

43
Q

-ism

phenomenalism

A

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

44
Q

-ism

materialism

A

philosophical belief that nothing exists beyond what is physical

45
Q

-ism

naturalism

A

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

46
Q

-ism

spiritualism

A

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

47
Q

primacy

“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.”

A

excellence/supremacy

48
Q

rejoinder

“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.”

A

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

49
Q

indefeasible

“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.”

A

not liable to being annulled or declared void

50
Q

augment

“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.”

A

increase

51
Q

supererogatory

“…the wise man is he who in such a case would turn his back on such a supererogatory discussion.”

A

try-hard; doing more than is necessary

52
Q

odium

“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…”

A

hatred/dislike caused by offensiveness

53
Q

farcical

“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.”

A

ludicrous; ridiculous

54
Q

provisional

“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.”

A

temporary but with the intention of becoming permanent

55
Q

tonic

“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.”

A

restorative, rejuvinating, invigorating

56
Q

cognate

“Let me pass to a very cognate philosophic problem, the question of design in nature.”

A

of similar nature

57
Q

immemorial

“God’s existence has from time immemorial been held to be proved by certain natural facts.”

A

that is beyond memory; ancient.

58
Q

insipid

“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.”

A

flat; tasteless; boring

59
Q

-ism

determinism

A

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

60
Q

inveigh

“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.”

A

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

61
Q

imputability

“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.”

A

the character of being attributable

62
Q

ex nihilo

“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? “

A

from or out of nothing

63
Q

doughtily

“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.”

A

in a brave or bold manner

64
Q

chaplet

“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.”

A

a string (of beads)

65
Q

ad hominem

A

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

66
Q

-ism

meliorism

“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.”

A

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

67
Q

desiderate

“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.”

A

to miss; to long for

68
Q

august

“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…”

A

awe-inspiring; noble

69
Q

abreast

“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…”

A

in tandem; side by side and facing forward

70
Q

supercilious

“…he feels as if he were enjoying a great insight, and looks superciliously on all who still fall short of this sublime conception.”

A

in a haughty or overly superior manner

71
Q

presuppose

“But these sysyyems are smaller than the great acquantaince-system that they presuppose.”

A

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

72
Q

reticulate

“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.”

A

network-like in form or appearance

73
Q

concatenate

“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.”

A

to join or link together, as though in a chain

74
Q

fiat

“God’s fiat on creation’s day has figured in traditional philosophy as such an absolute cause and origin.”

A

an authoritative decree/command

75
Q

-ism

transcendental idealism

A theory of Kant

A

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

76
Q

climacteric

“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.”

A

crucial/critical; decisive

77
Q

vista

A

a site offering viewing of a distant propect

(like the ones with those coin-operated binoculars)

78
Q

teleological

“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.”

A

showing evidence of design or purpose

79
Q

noetic (adj.)

“This notion of an all enveloping noetic unity in things is the sublimest achievement in intellectualistic philosophy.”

A

of or pertaining to the mind or intellect

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