Concept used by existential philosophers to highlight that to be human is to be condemned to seek meaning in what is meaningless, to seek order in what is chaotic.
Concept used by existential philosophers to indicate a way of being in the world that confronts what it means to be human.
From auto (“self”) and nomos (“law”), typically understood to mean “self-legislating,” but can have very different meanings depending on whether “self” is understood to be only the rational self (as in Kant) or the desiring self (as in everyday usage).
Philosophical position that holds that the actions of an individual are caused by someone or something other than that individual.
Philosophical position that holds that reality is actually composed of two separate realities, most often associated with mind/body dualism, or the division of mental reality from physical reality.
Area of philosophy that deals with questions about what is and is not knowable (e.g., What is knowledge? What is the difference between facts and opinions?).
Area of philosophy that deals with questions about how humans should and should not live (e.g., What is the good life? Should we act on the basis of principles or of likely consequences?).
Philosophical theory that is primarily focused on what it means to be human and, in particular, on what it means to live as finite creatures who are capable of knowing that we are finite creatures.
Concept that is typically used to mean that humans are not determined in some way, such as ethically (e.g., to be autonomous rather than heteronomous) or politically (e.g., to be a citizen rather than a slave).
Philosophical theory that can be traced back to the Enlightenment, focused on the promotion of human-centric values (e.g., autonomy) as opposed to religious values (e.g., faith).
Concept used by existential philosophers to indicate a way of being in the world that rejects or evades what it means to be human.
Area of philosophy that deals with questions about the ultimate foundations of experiential reality (e.g., Why is there something rather than nothing? What is the being of beings?).
Wanting complicated ideas reduced to one sentence made easily available in the back of a book.
Philosophical theory that holds that reality is objectively knowable through the scientific method of verificationism (i.e., factual claims can be verified through observation and claims that cannot be so verified are not factual).
Term often used more to denigrate philosophical positions rather than to promote them, but as a philosophical position it is often used to refer to the view that meanings are not objective facts but are social constructions.
Philosophical position that holds that anything taken to be true is true only for the person who believes it; for example, moral relativism holds that moral values have different meanings for different people and so have no universal meaning applicable for all people for all time that would justify one group of people with one set of values judging the morality of a different group of people with a different set of values.
The belief that science can and should solve all problems, which, when taken to the extreme, becomes a religious faith in science that, hypocritically, rejects all traditionally recognized religious faiths as unscientific.