324 Terms
Your guide to philosophical terms, concepts, and schools of thought
Knowledge derived from sensory experience or empirical observation. Contrasts with a priori (rational) knowledge.
Knowledge that can be known independently of experience, through reason alone. Contrasts with a posteriori (empirical) knowledge.
A disinterested, non-conceptual mode of perception focused purely on the formal qualities of an object for its own sake rather than utility.
The branch of philosophy dealing with beauty, art, and taste.
One who holds that the existence or non-existence of God or ultimate reality is unknowable or unprovable through human reason or experience.
The philosophical position that human knowledge cannot determine whether God or ultimate reality exists, as such matters lie beyond empirical verification.
Greek term for truth as "unconcealment"; Heidegger's interpretation of truth as disclosure.
Nietzsche's "love of fate"βembracing everything that happens as necessary.
The systematic decomposition of complex concepts, arguments, or phenomena into constituent elements to understand their structure and relationships.
Tradition emphasizing logical analysis, clarity of language, and rigorous argumentation.
Existential anxiety arising from awareness of freedom, mortality, and life's uncertainty.
A philosophical position that rejects or opposes traditional logical principles, often embracing contradiction as a fundamental aspect of reality.
The ethical position that assigns a negative value to birth, holding that it is morally wrong to bring sentient beings into existence due to suffering.
A contradiction between two equally rational but opposing conclusions; central to Kant's critique.
A fundamental existential condition of human finitude, characterized by the confrontation with possibilities, nothingness, and the burden of freedom.
Stoic freedom from destructive passions; equanimity through rational control.
The boundless, indefinite principle that Anaximander identified as the primordial source from which all determinate things emerge and to which they return.
Necessarily true; demonstrably certain beyond doubt.
A theological approach that describes the divine through negation, emphasizing what God is not rather than what God is.
A state of puzzlement or impasse; in Socratic dialogue, the productive confusion that spurs inquiry.
The mind's conscious awareness of its own perceptual and cognitive processes, involving self-reflective knowledge of mental states and activities.
Greek term for origin or first principle; what the Pre-Socratics sought as reality's basis.
Greek term for excellence or virtue; fulfilling one's function or potential.
Philosophy based on Aristotle: empiricism, virtue ethics, and the golden mean.
A person who practices severe self-discipline and abstains from worldly pleasures to achieve spiritual purification or enlightenment.
The practice of severe self-discipline and abstention from worldly pleasures to achieve spiritual purification or enlightenment.
The process by which an individual or group adopts the dominant culture's values, practices, and identity, often losing their original cultural traits.
Greek term for tranquility or freedom from disturbance; the Epicurean and Skeptic ideal.
One who lacks belief in the existence of any deity or positively asserts that no gods exist.
Ancient theory that reality consists of indivisible atoms moving in void.
Hegel's term for dialectical sublation: canceling, preserving, and elevating.
Living according to one's own values and choices rather than conforming to external pressures.
Sartre's concept of self-deceptionβdenying one's freedom by pretending to be determined.
Heidegger's 1927 masterwork analyzing the meaning of Being through Dasein.
Heidegger's concept that human existence is always already engaged with its environment.
A Sanskrit text narrating Krishna's life and teachings, emphasizing devotional worship (bhakti) as the path to spiritual liberation.
The German concept of self-cultivation through education, culture, and moral development to achieve one's fullest human potential and social responsibility.
The study of ethical issues arising from advances in biology, medicine, and technology.
Eastern philosophy teaching the Four Noble Truths and path to enlightenment.
Kant's supreme moral principle: act only according to rules you could will to be universal laws.
In Kant, the fundamental concepts (like causality, substance) that structure all experience.
The relationship between cause and effect; the principle that every event has a cause.
Ancient Stoic philosopher who systematized Stoic logic and ethics, developing propositional logic and the theory of conditional statements.
Descartes' "I think"βthe self-aware thinking subject as foundation of knowledge.
"I think, therefore I am"βDescartes' foundational certainty that doubt itself proves existence.
Sensible qualities of objects that exist only in perception, not inherently in external things themselves, according to medieval scholastic philosophy.
The empathetic recognition of suffering in others coupled with the moral motivation to alleviate or prevent that suffering through action.
The view that free will and determinism can coexist; freedom is acting on one's desires.
Chinese tradition emphasizing social harmony, filial piety, and moral cultivation.
A proposition or hypothesis tentatively advanced without sufficient evidence or rigorous proof, serving as a starting point for further inquiry.
The subjective, first-person experience of being aware of one's mental states, sensations, and surroundings.
Ethical theory judging actions solely by their outcomes or consequences.
Tradition including phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, and critical theory.
That which happens to be true but could have been otherwise; dependent on circumstances.
Argument for God's existence from the need for a first cause of the universe.
The philosophical study of the universe's origin, structure, fundamental nature, and ultimate purpose or meaning.
Frankfurt School approach analyzing society to reveal domination and emancipation.
Kant's masterwork examining the limits and possibilities of human knowledge.
Ancient school rejecting conventional desires for wealth and power; living simply according to nature.
The fundamental principle underlying all existence in Chinese philosophy, representing the ineffable source and natural order that governs the universe.
Heidegger's term for human existence; "being-there"βbeings who question their own being.
Derrida's method of revealing hidden assumptions and contradictions within texts.
Reasoning from general premises to a specific conclusion; if premises are true, conclusion must be true.
Belief in a creator God who does not intervene in the universe after creation.
Pertaining to Gilles Deleuze's philosophy emphasizing immanence, multiplicity, and rhizomatic thinking over hierarchical structures and transcendent categories.
The problem of distinguishing genuine science from pseudoscience or other forms of knowledge through specific criteria or methodological principles.
A system of government where political power derives from and is exercised by the citizenry, typically through elected representatives and majority rule.
Ethical theory judging actions by their adherence to rules or duties, not consequences.
The doctrine that all events, including human actions, are ultimately determined by prior causes.
Mother of sage Kapila in Hindu philosophy, representing the devoted seeker who receives divine wisdom about Sankhya philosophy and spiritual liberation.
A method of argument through dialogue, or the process of thesis-antithesis-synthesis in Hegelian philosophy.
A method of reasoning through contradictory ideas to reach higher understanding by synthesizing opposing thesis and antithesis.
Marxist philosophy applying Hegelian dialectic to material and economic conditions.
A division into two mutually exclusive or contradictory groups or categories.
Derrida's term for the play of difference and deferral in meaning.
Relating to the primal, irrational, and ecstatic aspects of human nature that embrace chaos, passion, and instinctual drives over rational order.
A systematic set of principles or beliefs that forms the theoretical foundation of a philosophical, religious, or political system.
Asserting beliefs without adequate justification or openness to criticism.
The view that mind and body are two fundamentally different kinds of substance or reality.
Ethical theory that self-interest is the foundation of morality.
A hypothetical vital force or life principle that animates living matter and distinguishes it from inorganic matter, proposed by Henri Bergson.
The view that common-sense mental concepts (beliefs, desires) don't refer to real things.
The view that complex systems have properties not reducible to their components.
Based on or derived from observation and experience rather than theory.
School holding that all knowledge derives from sensory experience.
The absence of inherent, independent existence in all phenomena, meaning things arise only through interdependence and lack fixed essence.
The 18th-century intellectual movement emphasizing reason, empirical knowledge, and individual rights over traditional authority and religious dogma.
A logical relationship where one proposition necessarily follows from another.
A philosophical doctrine advocating the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain as the highest good, emphasizing simple living and tranquility.
Ancient school identifying pleasure (especially tranquility) as the highest good, achieved through moderation.
The view that mental states are byproducts of physical processes with no causal power.
Relating to knowledge, the conditions for its acquisition, justification, and the distinction between belief and truth.
The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature, sources, and limits of knowledge.
Suspension of judgment; in phenomenology, bracketing assumptions to examine pure experience.
The principle that all persons possess inherent equal moral worth and deserve fair treatment regardless of contingent characteristics.
The fundamental nature of a thing; the properties that make it what it is.
The view that things have essential properties that make them what they are.
Nietzsche's thought experiment: live as if your life will repeat infinitely.
The branch of philosophy concerned with moral principles, right conduct, and the good life.
Greek term for flourishing or well-being; Aristotle's highest human good.
The state of being real or actual; in existentialism, precedes and defines essence.
Movement emphasizing individual existence, freedom, choice, and the search for meaning.
The view that mental content is partly determined by factors outside the mind.
In existentialism, the given facts of one's situation that limit but don't determine choices.
An error in reasoning that renders an argument invalid or unsound.
Popper's criterion that scientific theories must be capable of being proven false.
The principle that scientific theories must be testable and potentially disprovable by empirical evidence to be considered genuinely scientific.
The belief that all events are predetermined and inevitable.
Philosophy examining gender, power, and the exclusion of women from tradition.
The view that faith is independent of or superior to reason.
The condition of being limited, especially human mortality and bounded knowledge.
Plato's eternal, perfect archetypes of which physical things are imperfect copies.
The view that knowledge rests on basic beliefs that don't require justification.
Critical theorists (Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse) analyzing culture, capitalism, and domination.
The capacity to choose between different courses of action unimpeded by prior causes or divine intervention.
Theory that mental states are defined by their functional roles, not physical makeup.
German for "spirit" or "mind"; central to Hegel's philosophy.
Post-Kantian movement (Fichte, Schelling, Hegel) developing systematic idealist philosophies.
An organized whole perceived as more than the sum of its parts.
The systematic rules and principles governing the structure, formation, and meaningful arrangement of linguistic expressions within a language system.
Three fundamental qualities of nature in Hindu philosophy: sattva (purity/harmony), rajas (activity/passion), and tamas (inertia/darkness).
A state of balanced proportionality and ordered unity among diverse elements that creates aesthetic, moral, or metaphysical coherence within a whole.
The view that pleasure is the highest good or proper aim of human life.
German idealist philosopher who developed a dialectical system of logic where contradictions drive historical progress through thesis-antithesis-synthesis.
Philosophy following Hegel's dialectical method and absolute idealism.
The theory and methodology of interpretation, especially of texts and human expression.
A classical poetic meter consisting of six metrical feet, traditionally dactyls and spondees, most famously used in ancient Greek and Latin epic poetry.
The view that ideas and values must be understood in their historical context.
The view that systems should be understood as wholes, not just as collections of parts.
Philosophy emphasizing human values, dignity, and rational capacity.
Aristotle's doctrine that things are composed of matter (hyle) and form (morphe).
School holding that reality is fundamentally mental or spiritual in nature.
The quality of existing or operating within; divine presence in the world.
The fundamental principle that all phenomena, experiences, and states of being are transitory and subject to constant change and eventual cessation.
The view that free will and determinism cannot both be true.
The philosophical condition where truth values, meanings, or properties of statements or objects cannot be definitively established or determined.
The view that not all events are causally determined; some are genuinely random.
Reasoning from specific observations to general conclusions; conclusions are probable, not certain.
The process of deriving conclusions from premises through reasoning.
The view that theories are tools for prediction, not descriptions of reality.
The capacity of consciousness to be directed toward or about something; "aboutness" of mental states.
Shared understanding between subjects; the social dimension of consciousness.
The view that moral truths are known through direct intuition, not reasoning.
The view that reality or human nature cannot be fully grasped by reason.
The absence, rejection, or indifference toward religious belief, practice, and institutional authority in matters of faith and spirituality.
A Sanskrit concept denoting primordial matter or mud from which the physical universe emerges, representing the material substrate of creation.
Plural worlds or universes in ancient Greek philosophy, particularly in Democritus's atomism, representing infinite cosmic systems.
Relating to Jacques Lacan's psychoanalytic theory emphasizing language's role in unconscious structure and subject formation through symbolic order.
Husserl's "lifeworld"βthe pre-theoretical world of everyday experience.
The view that humans have free will incompatible with determinism.
The study of valid reasoning and the principles of correct inference.
Russell's view that the world consists of independent facts expressible in logic.
20th-century movement holding that only verifiable statements are meaningful.
Greek term meaning reason, word, or principle; the rational structure of reality.
Philosophy analyzing capitalism, class struggle, and historical materialism.
The view that only matter exists and all phenomena, including consciousness, can be explained physically.
The formal study of abstract structures, patterns, and relationships through logical reasoning and symbolic representation.
Descartes' 1641 work establishing the cogito and mind-body dualism.
The study of parts and wholes and their relationships.
French phenomenologist who emphasized embodied perception and the body as the primary site of knowing the world.
The study of the nature, scope, and meaning of moral judgments.
The branch of philosophy examining the fundamental nature of reality, including existence, time, causation, and possibility.
Descartes' practice of doubting all beliefs to find certain knowledge.
A Buddhist philosophical approach that avoids extremes of indulgence and asceticism, seeking balance between opposing views or practices.
Logic dealing with possibility, necessity, and related concepts.
Leibniz's simple, windowless substances that constitute reality.
The view that reality consists of only one fundamental substance or principle.
The view that moral facts exist independently of human beliefs or attitudes.
The view that moral judgments are not objectively true or false but relative to particular cultures, societies, or individual perspectives.
The systematic study of principles distinguishing right from wrong conduct and the standards governing human behavior in society.
A foundational Madhyamaka Buddhist text by Nagarjuna examining emptiness and dependent origination through logical analysis of phenomena.
The view that everything can be explained by natural causes and laws.
The error of defining moral properties in terms of natural properties.
Quine's view that epistemology should be part of natural science.
That which must be true in all possible circumstances; cannot be otherwise.
I cannot provide a philosophical definition as Neil Finn is a musician and songwriter from New Zealand, not a recognized philosophical term or concept.
Late 19th-century revival of Kant's critical philosophy.
A newly coined word or expression, or an existing word used in a novel sense, often created to articulate emerging concepts or ideas.
Late ancient synthesis of Plato with mysticism; reality emanates from a transcendent One.
Aristotle's treatise on virtue, happiness, and the good life.
The rejection of all religious and moral principles, often based on the belief that life is meaningless.
The ultimate state of liberation from suffering and the cycle of rebirth, characterized by the extinguishing of desire, attachment, and ignorance.
The view that universals are merely names; only particular things exist.
The view that moral statements don't express beliefs but attitudes or commands.
The philosophical view that ultimate reality is undifferentiated unity, where apparent distinctions between subject and object are illusory.
Pertaining to things as they exist independently of human perception or cognition, beyond the realm of empirical experience.
Kant's "thing-in-itself"βreality as it exists independently of our perception.
Greek term for intellect or mind; the highest faculty of rational understanding.
The view that truth and values exist independently of subjective opinion.
The view that God is the only true cause; apparent causes are mere occasions.
Principle that entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.
Argument for God's existence from the concept of a perfect being.
The branch of metaphysics dealing with the nature of being, existence, and reality.
Mid-20th century approach (Wittgenstein, Austin) solving problems through analyzing everyday language.
In phenomenology, that which is not the self; alterity and difference.
A Roman poet whose "Metamorphoses" explored themes of transformation, change, and flux that influenced later philosophical thought on identity and becoming.
The view that consciousness or mind is a fundamental feature of all matter.
The belief that God and the universe are identical; all is divine.
A framework of concepts and practices that defines a field; Kuhn's term.
A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true, or reveals limitations in logic.
Individual, concrete things that exist in space and time, as opposed to abstract universals.
Restricting freedom for someone's own good, like a parent over a child.
An utterance that performs an action (e.g., "I promise"); Austin's term.
Followers of Aristotle; named after the walkway (peripatos) where he taught at the Lyceum.
The effect an utterance has on the hearer; what we do by saying something.
The philosophical problem of what makes a person the same over time.
Philosophy emphasizing the significance and value of persons.
Nietzsche's view that all knowledge is from particular perspectives.
One who holds that reality is fundamentally characterized by suffering, evil, or negative conditions that outweigh any positive aspects.
The study of structures of consciousness and how things appear to us in experience.
Hegel's 1807 work tracing consciousness's development to absolute knowing.
Things as they appear to consciousness; in Kant, reality as shaped by our perception.
Practical wisdom; Aristotle's virtue of knowing how to act well in particular situations.
The view that everything that exists is physical or supervenes on the physical.
Philosophy based on Plato: eternal Forms, immortal soul, and knowledge as recollection.
The view that reality, truth, or value consists of multiple irreducible kinds.
The view that reality consists of multiple fundamental substances, entities, or principles rather than a single underlying unity.
The systematic study of concepts, principles, and institutions governing political power, authority, justice, and the ideal organization of society.
School limiting knowledge to what can be scientifically verified through observation.
Hypothetical complete ways reality could have been; used in modal logic.
Movement questioning fixed meanings and structures; emphasizing difference and instability.
An intellectual movement rejecting fixed meanings and stable structures, emphasizing the instability of language, knowledge, and identity.
In Aristotle, the capacity of something to become actual or realized.
Concerned with practical consequences rather than theoretical principles.
American school judging ideas by their practical consequences and usefulness.
The primordial matter or nature in Samkhya philosophy from which all material phenomena manifest through interaction with consciousness (purusha).
Practical action informed by theory; in Marxism, revolutionary activity.
In logic, what is said about the subject; a property or relation attributed.
Properties inherent in objects (size, shape); Locke's distinction from secondary.
The metaphysical principle that accounts for what makes individual entities distinct from others of the same type or universal essence.
The claim that everything must have a reason or cause for being as it is.
The challenge of explaining evil's existence given an omnipotent, good God.
Whitehead's view that reality consists of processes, not static substances.
A mental state (belief, desire) directed at a proposition.
The eternal, conscious, inactive spiritual principle or soul in Samkhya philosophy, distinct from prakriti (primordial matter).
Ancient skepticism advocating suspension of judgment on all matters.
The subjective, conscious experiences of sensationsβwhat it is "like" to see red or feel pain.
A discrete, indivisible unit of energy, matter, or action that represents the smallest possible measurable quantity in physical systems.
School holding that reason, not experience, is the primary source of knowledge.
The quality of being based on or agreeable to reason.
The view that objects exist independently of our perception or thought.
The view that complex things can be fully explained by simpler components.
The relationship between a word or expression and what it denotes.
The process of demonstrating that an argument, theory, or claim is false or invalid through logical reasoning or empirical evidence.
An infinite series of reasoning steps, often seen as problematic.
The belief that after death, the soul or consciousness is reborn into a new physical form, continuing through successive lives until spiritual liberation.
The view that truth, morality, or knowledge exists only in relation to culture, society, or context.
A philosophical movement emphasizing human dignity, individual potential, and classical learning that emerged in 14th-16th century Europe.
The deliberate abandonment of worldly attachments, desires, or social roles in pursuit of spiritual enlightenment or philosophical wisdom.
The view that we perceive reality through mental representations.
Nietzsche's term for the resentment of the weak that inverts values, making weakness virtue.
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A German philosopher and playwright who explored the relationship between aesthetic experience, moral freedom, and human dignity through art.
Medieval school combining Christian theology with Aristotelian logic and metaphysics.
A systematic method of acquiring knowledge through empirical observation, hypothesis formation, and experimental testing to understand natural phenomena.
The view that empirical science alone provides reliable knowledge and should be the standard for all rational inquiry and belief.
Properties dependent on perception (color, taste); Locke's distinction.
Awareness of oneself as an individual distinct from others and world.
The study of meaning in language and symbolic systems.
The immediate objects of perception; what we directly experience.
A figure representing the absurd human condition of endless, futile struggle against meaninglessness, condemned to repeat purposeless tasks eternally.
School questioning the possibility of certain knowledge; suspending judgment to achieve tranquility.
Nietzsche's term for morality born of resentment, valuing weakness.
Theory that political authority rests on agreement among individuals.
The view that only one's own mind is sure to exist; external reality and other minds cannot be known.
Heidegger's "care"βthe fundamental structure of human existence.
An argument is sound if it is valid and has true premises.
An utterance that performs an action; Austin's theory of language use.
Ancient school teaching virtue, reason, and acceptance of fate; emotions arise from false judgments.
Rigid constraints or limitations that restrict philosophical inquiry, argument, or the scope of acceptable reasoning within a given framework.
Movement analyzing cultural phenomena through underlying structures and systems of signs.
A late 18th-century German literary and artistic movement emphasizing emotional intensity, individualism, and rebellion against Enlightenment rationalism.
The view that truth or value depends on individual perspectives.
The quality of experience, knowledge, or reality being dependent on an individual's personal perspective, consciousness, or mental states.
That which exists independently and underlies properties; the fundamental stuff of reality.
The subjective experience of physical or psychological distress that motivates avoidance and is central to existential and ethical inquiry.
A relation where higher-level properties depend on lower-level ones.
Derrida's term for what is added to complete but also threatens presence.
A form of deductive reasoning with two premises and a conclusion (e.g., All men are mortal...).
The meaningful coincidence of causally unrelated events that appear connected through significance rather than causation, as conceived by Carl Jung.
Relating to the formal rules and structure of language or systems.
The systematic study of the formal structure and rules governing the arrangement of symbols in logical and linguistic expressions.
Kant's category of knowledge that is both informative and knowable without experience.
"Blank slate"βLocke's view that the mind begins empty, shaped entirely by experience.
Chinese philosophy teaching harmony with the Tao (Way)βthe natural order of the universe.
A fundamental principle or element of reality in Indian philosophy, representing the basic constituent categories that comprise existence and experience.
A statement true by virtue of its logical form alone.
The study of purpose or design in nature; explanation of phenomena by their ends or goals rather than causes.
Greek term for end, purpose, or goal; the final cause in Aristotelian philosophy.
Camus's concept of the conflict between human desire for meaning and the universe's silence.
17th-18th century intellectual movement emphasizing reason, science, and individual rights.
Early Greek philosophers before Socrates who sought natural explanations for reality.
Plato's dialogue on justice, the ideal state, and the philosopher-king.
Ancient Greek teachers of rhetoric and argument; often criticized for moral relativism.
A defense of God's goodness despite the existence of evil.
Ancient Greek philosopher and botanist, successor to Aristotle, known for systematic plant classification and character studies.
Kant's noumenon; reality as it exists independent of perception.
Philosophy following Thomas Aquinas, synthesizing Aristotle with Christianity.
Heidegger's concept that we find ourselves already in a situation not chosen.
Nietzsche's philosophical novel introducing the Γbermensch and eternal return.
Ancient Greek skeptical philosopher who developed Pyrrhonian skepticism, advocating suspension of judgment (epochΓ©) to achieve tranquility (ataraxia).
A particular instance of a type; this specific occurrence.
Derrida's term for the absent presence that haunts all meaning.
Wittgenstein's early work on logic, language, and the limits of thought.
Existence or being beyond the ordinary range of experience.
In Kant, the conditions that make experience possible; precedes and structures all knowledge.
American movement (Emerson, Thoreau) emphasizing intuition and nature.
The property of a statement being either true or false.
A Buddhist doctrine distinguishing between conventional reality (everyday experience) and ultimate reality (the true nature of phenomena).
Nietzsche's "Overman"βone who creates new values and affirms life beyond conventional morality.
Abstract properties or relations that can be instantiated by multiple particular things (e.g., "redness").
Ethical theory holding that the right action maximizes overall happiness or well-being.
An imagined perfect society; from More's 1516 work.
An argument is valid if the conclusion follows necessarily from premises.
Rawls' thought experiment for choosing just principles without bias.
The process of confirming a statement's truth through empirical observation or logical demonstration within epistemology and philosophy of science.
The view that meaningful statements must be empirically verifiable.
Early 20th-century group of philosophers developing logical positivism and scientific philosophy.
Classical Roman poet who serves as Dante's guide through Hell and Purgatory, symbolizing human reason and natural wisdom's limits before divine grace.
Ethical approach focusing on character and virtues rather than rules or consequences.
A comprehensive worldview or philosophy of life.
Nietzsche's concept of the fundamental drive to assert and enhance one's existence.
The spirit or mood of a particular historical period.
Supreme deity in Greek mythology representing divine authority, cosmic order, and patriarchal power in ancient philosophical cosmologies.