Terms within explanations that are emboldened have separate glossary entries.
Absolutism In ethics, the view that certain actions are right or wrong under any circumstances or whatever the consequences.
Aesthetics The branch of philosophy concerned with the arts, including the nature and definition of works of art, the basis of aesthetic value, and the justification of artistic judgment and criticism.
Analogy A comparison of the respects in which two things resemble one another; an argument from (or by) analogy uses known similarities between things to argue for similarity in some unknown respect.
Analytic Describing a proposition that gives no more information than is contained in the meaning of the terms involved; e.g. “All stallions are male.” By contrast, a proposition that does provide significant information (“Stallions run faster than mares”) is described as synthetic.
Antirealism see Subjectivism
A posteriori see under A priori
A priori Describing a proposition that can be known to be true without recourse to the evidence of experience. By contrast, a proposition that requires such recourse is knowable a posteriori.
Consequentialism In ethics, the view that the rightness of actions should be assessed purely by reference to their effectiveness in bringing about certain desirable ends or states of affairs.
Contingent Describing something that happens to be true but might have been otherwise. By contrast, a necessary truth is one that could not have been otherwise; something that is true in any circumstances or in all possible worlds.
Deduction A form of inference in which the conclusion follows from (is entailed by) the premises; if the premises of a valid deductive argument are true, the conclusion is guaranteed to be true.
Deontology The view that certain actions are intrinsically right or wrong, irrespective of their consequences; particular emphasis is placed on the duties and intentions of moral agents.
Determinism The theory that every event has a prior cause, and hence that every state of the world is necessitated or determined by a previous state. The extent to which determinism undermines our freedom of action constitutes the problem of freewill.
Dualism In the philosophy of mind, the view that mind (or soul) and matter (or body) are distinct. Substance dualists hold that mind and matter are two essentially different substances; property dualists hold that a person has two essentially different types of property, mental and physical. Opposed to dualism are idealism or immaterialism (minds and ideas are all there is) and physicalism or materialism (bodies and matter are all there is).
Empirical Describing a concept or belief that is based on experience (i.e. sense data or the evidence of the senses); an empirical truth is one that can be confirmed as such only by appeal to experience.
Empiricism The view that all knowledge is based on, or inextricably tied to, experience derived from the senses; the denial of a priori knowledge.
Epistemology The theory of knowledge, including its basis and justification and the role of reason and/or experience in its acquisition.
Fallacy An error of reasoning. Formal fallacies, in which the fault is due to the logical structure of an argument, are usually distinguished from informal fallacies, which comprise the many other ways that reasoning can go astray.
Freewill see under Determinism
Idealism see under Dualism
Immaterialism see under Dualism
Induction A form of inference in which an empirical conclusion (a general law or principle) is drawn from empirical premises (particular observations of how things are in the world); the conclusion is only supported (never entailed) by the premises, so the premises may be true, yet the conclusion false.
Inference A process of reasoning that moves from premises to conclusion; the principal types of inference are deduction and induction. Distinguishing good and bad inferences is the aim of logic.
Libertarianism The view that determinism is false and that human choices and actions are genuinely free.
Logic see under Inference
Materialism see under Dualism
Metaphysics The branch of philosophy that deals with the nature or structure of reality, generally focusing on notions such as being, substance and causation.
Naturalism In ethics, the view that moral concepts can be explained or analyzed purely in terms of “facts of nature” that are in principle discoverable by science.
Necessary see under Contingent
Normative Relating to the norms (standards or principles) by which human conduct is judged or directed. The normative/descriptive distinction aligns with the distinction between values and facts.
Objectivism In ethics and aesthetics, the view that values and properties such as goodness and beauty are inherent in, or intrinsic to, objects and exist independently of human apprehension of them.
Paradox In logic, an argument in which apparently unobjectionable premises lead, by apparently sound reasoning, to an unacceptable or contradictory conclusion.
Physicalism see under Dualism
Rationalism The view that knowledge (or some knowledge) can be acquired other than through the use of the senses, by exercise of our unaided powers of reasoning.
Realism The view that ethical and aesthetic values, mathematical properties, etc. really exist “out there” in the world, independently of our knowing or experiencing them.
Reductionism An approach to an issue or area of discourse which aims to explain or analyze it, fully and exhaustively, in other (usually simpler or more accessible) terms, e.g. mental phenomena in purely physical terms.
Relativism In ethics, the view that the rightness or wrongness of actions is determined by, or relative to, the culture and traditions of particular social groups or communities.
Skepticism A philosophical position in which our claims to knowledge in some or all areas of discourse are challenged.
Subjectivism (or Antirealism) In ethics and aesthetics, the view that value is grounded not in external reality but in our beliefs about it or emotional responses to it.
Synthetic see under Analytic
Utilitarianism In ethics, a consequentialist system in which actions are judged right or wrong to the extent that they increase or decrease human well-being or “utility”; utility is classically interpreted as human pleasure or happiness.