GLOSSARY
Argument An exchange in which people articulate opposing views. Alternatively (in logic), a series of premises leading towards a conclusion.
Capitalism An economic system in which private owners employ/exploit others in order to make profit in the marketplace.
Debate A form of argument in which opposing views are put forward and assessed (often with a vote). Participants ‘win’ if they successfully defend their original position.
Democracy A political system where decision-making is ultimately done by the public or ‘demos’. ‘Deliberative democracy’ is a democratic mode that foregrounds public deliberation.
Despotism A type of government in which a single individual (a despot) rules with absolute power.
Dialogue A conversational exchange between two or more people.
Discourse Written or spoken communication.
Egalitarian A term used to describe the view that all people are equal and deserving of equal rights and opportunities.
Enlightenment A controversial term used to describe the period of intellectual development in the West in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Epistemology The branch of philosophy that deals with what we know and how we know it (from the Greek ‘episteme’, meaning ‘knowledge’).
Himpathy A blending of ‘him’ and ‘sympathy’ to describe inappropriate sympathy for male perpetrators of violence.
Metaphysics The branch of philosophy that examines the structure of reality and what things exist.
Misogyny The hatred of and/or ingrained prejudice against women.
Modernism An intellectual movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century which responded to the societal shifts caused by the Industrial Revolution.
No-platforming The practice by which individuals are denied the opportunity to speak on certain platforms.
Paternalism The policy, practice or attitude in which one group organizes the interests of those groups that are dependent upon them.
Patronization An attitude in which an individual or group patronizes – treats condescendingly – another.
Pedagogy The theory of teaching.
Post-modernism An intellectual movement characterized by its critique of Modernist notions of truth, rationality and reality.
Relativism The view that things like truth, beauty and goodness are relative to a frame of reference and not absolute.
Signal boosting A process by which political messages are amplified for a wider audience to hear.
Snowflake A term used to refer to apparently ‘overly sensitive’ individuals (who ‘melt’ at the slightest provocation).
Speech act A verbal utterance that both conveys information and performs an action.
Torpified subject Someone who has been paralysed by panic in the face of their own prejudices.
Totalitarianism A dictatorial system of government that demands citizens be totally subservient to the state.
White supremacy A political system that uses the concept of ‘race’ to systematically privilege and empower white people over everyone else.