NOTE: I’m not strictly a philosopher, so this glossary isn’t up to spec to my normal rigor. If you see anything misstated, wrongly defined, poorly clarified, categorized inaccurately, or worse, please email me ASAP about it.
Philosophy – A broad field of things concerning knowledge and where knowledge comes from, which gets meta because it questions its own methods. Has a wide variety of extremely useful sub-disciplines (e.g., science, logic, math).
Broadly, the table of contents:
- Metaphysics: reality, existence, being, big meta stuff
- Epistemology: Knowledge, knowing, understanding, values
- Ethics: Values about right and wrong
- Axiology: Values that connect with purpose
- Aesthetics: values about beauty and art
- Political Science: How everyone should live together
- Philosophy’s Culture: Broad matters of how philosophers approach their craft
See also: Religions
Metaphysics
Metaphysics/Ontology – The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of reality.
How many parts is reality made of?
Dualism – Things have fundamentally different natures, usually between mental and physical.
- Cartesianism/Substance dualism – The mind is a metaphysical non-physical thing, totally separate from the body. Opposite of physicalism.
- Epiphenomenalism – Physical events cause mental effects, but mental events don’t cause physical effects.
- Mentalism – Though they interact with one another, the mind and brain are different things.
- Realism – Reality doesn’t require perception to be real, and things have attributes no matter what anyone thinks. Opposite of acosmism.
- Naïve/Direct/Perceptual/Common-sense realism – The senses provide us with direct awareness of objects as they really are. Opposite of sensualism.
Monism – There is only one principle, essence, substance or energy.
- Dynamism – Forces and interactions are essential parts of matter.
- Idealism – A broad view that reality or knowledge is founded on mental experiences (ideas). Depending on those ideals, it may be the same as materialism or realism.
- German idealism – The things we perceive in objects are part of our perceptions, not in the thing itself.
- Objective idealism – In an important way, there’s only 1 perceiver, which contains everything that the perceiver observes.
- Subjective idealism – Only minds and things in the mind exist.
- Materialism – The only thing that exists is matter, and all “non-material” things are just material interactions.
- Christian materialism – The only thing that “exists” are the material things, which are an extension of Jesus.
- Dialectical materialism – Ideas and arguments can only exist as matter, so the subconscious state of humanity doesn’t exist.
- Historical materialism – People exist because their social group defines them, not because they are conscious in their mind.
- Naturalism/Metaphysical naturalism – Values, souls, and anything else “supernatural” is merely part of the natural.
- Physicalism – Everything is physical, and thus scientifically knowable.
- Eliminative materialism – Some of the weird things people believe in don’t exist.
- Emergent materialism – The mind is certainly unique from everything else, but studying mental events should be separate from the other sciences.
- French materialism – Associationism (see below) can coexist with emanationism (see below).
- Reductive materialism/Reductionism/Type physicalism/Type identity theory/Mind-brain identity theory/Identity theory of mind – Some of the weird things people believe in do exist, but not the way they think it does.
- Revisionary materialism – Some of the weird things people believe in do exist, but probably not the way they think it does.
Pluralism – There are many kinds of things in reality that can’t be lumped together.
- Holism – The whole of something is more than just all its parts combined. Opposite of reductionism.
- Organicism – Reality can best be defined as an organic whole. Close to holism.
- Reductionism – Things can be completely broken down into their components and assembled together again with no change in their value. Opposite of holism.
- Hegelianism – Everything can be broken up into rational categories. Transcendental idealism (see below) mixed with reductionism.
- Ontological reductionism – Everything that exists is made of smaller, consistent things. Contrasts to monism.
Does reality exist?
Absolutism – Facts are absolute, not relative. Opposite of relativism.
- Necessitarianism – Everything either is or isn’t, so there’s no such thing as possibility.
Accidentalism – Cause-and-effect is merely an illusion.
Conceptualism – Universals exist only within the mind, but not in external reality. Middle ground between nominalism and realism.
Eternalism – Everything has existed for all of eternity.
Illusionism – Everything is just a collection of illusions made by human consciousness.
- Acosmism – The entire universe is a complete illusion. Opposite of realism.
Nominalism – Universals and mental concepts have no objective reality, but are merely words or names.
Philosophical presentism – Neither the future nor the past exists, as they are only in our memories and imagination. Opposite of eternalism.
Relativism – Facts have no absolute, so everything is relative to context. Opposite of absolutism.
What is reality made of?
Anti-realism – We can’t know about some things, or they don’t exist.
- Modal realism – Imaginary things are as possible as real things.
Atomism – Everything in the universe is made of small elements.
- Buddhist atomism – The universe is made of small, momentary atoms that flash in and out of existence.
- Greek atomism – The universe is made of small, indestructible elements that last eternally.
Constructivism – Reality, or our knowledge of it, is a subjective framework filled with values instead of us passively taking in objective things.
Determinism – Absolutely everything is caused by an unbroken chain of previous events. Opposite of indeterminism.
- Biologism/genetic determinism/biological determinism – Our genetics or environment determine everything about people.
- Finalism/Teleology – Any event is already defined by the end result, so all events are shaped retroactively by it.
- Hereditarianism – People inherit mental elements like personality and intelligence from their parents.
- Historical determinism – Every event in time is directly caused by other events before it, so those events can predict what will happen.
- Historicism – Every event in time is directly caused by other events before it, so everything can be explained by principles.
Emanationism – Reality must come out from a first principle/God.
- Occasionalism – Created things can’t be efficient causes of events, since they were created, so it must come from God.
- Ontologism/Onto-theology – God and Divine ideas are the first part of our intelligence, so knowing God is our first act of knowing.
Essentialism – Each and every thing has a theoretically finite list of attributes that are necessary for it to exist, and that thing must abide by that list to stay as that thing.
Hylozoism – All matter is alive, or at least some physical things have life.
- Vitalism – Life can’t be explained solely by physical causes. Opposite of mechanism.
- Panpsychism – All parts of matter involve mind, or the whole universe has a mind.
Immaterialism – All reality is the structure of a flawed perception, and there are no material objects.
Indeterminism – At least some events have no cause. Opposite of determinism.
Intrinsicism – Values are completely separate things from objects, and can still exist even if the physical thing doesn’t.
- Platonism (metaphysics)/Platonic realism/Form theory – There are abstract universals/forms in a special perfect realm, and everything is generally imitating them.
Optimism – This reality is the best of all possible realities. Opposite of pessimism.
Pessimism – This reality is the worst of all possible realities. Opposite of optimism.
Physicalism – Everything has a physical part to it.
- Mechanism – Everything can be explained by physical causes. Opposite of vitalism.
Voluntarism – The will has the most impact on everything.
Who runs reality?
Animism – A broad, vague idea that non-physical forces control everything.
Nontheism – A broad belief set that says a deity doesn’t exist or is unknowable. A subset of anti-realism.
- Agnosticism – We can’t know about a deity’s existence.
- Agnostic theism – We don’t know if a deity exists and it’s probably unknowable, but still worth believing in.
- Weak/implicit/empirical/negative agnosticism – We don’t know if deities exist, but it’s not necessarily unknowable.
- Strong/explicit/positive agnosticism – It’s impossible for people to know whether deities exist.
- Atheism – There is no deity.
- Methodological naturalism – Every other possible explanation should apply before saying a deity caused something.
- Weak/implicit/negative atheism – There’s no evidence of a deity.
- Strong/explicit/positive/hard/gnostic atheism – Deities in no way exist.
- Agnostic atheism – We don’t know if a deity exists and it’s probably unknowable, it’s unimportant, or claiming non-knowing is the best way to live.
- Darwinism – All life came from the same living ancestor through small changes over a long time.
- Ignosticism/Igtheism – Questioning the existence of God is meaningless because the word “God” is vaguely defined.
- Theological noncognitivism – Religious language like “God” have no meaning, and can’t be proved without connections to other things, so they don’t exist.
Theism – A deity or deities exist, and may be involved in maintaining/creating the universe.
- Creationism – Everything was made by a deity, either from nothing or by making order from chaos.
- Evolutionary creationism/Theistic evolution – Modern scientific beliefs are compatible with Christian religious teachings about God.
- Day-age/Old Earth creationism – Every “day” in the Bible’s Genesis account was a long evolutionary era.
- Gap creationism/Restitution creationism/Ruin-Reconstruction – There’s a big gap in between Day 1 and the other days in the Bible’s creation story.
- Day-age/Old Earth creationism – Every “day” in the Bible’s Genesis account was a long evolutionary era.
- Young Earth creationism – God made everything sometime between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago.
- Omphalos creationism – Since God could have made everything at any age he wanted, any scientific study about the history of the universe is irrelevant.
- Evolutionary creationism/Theistic evolution – Modern scientific beliefs are compatible with Christian religious teachings about God.
- Monotheism – A single, universal, all-encompassing deity made the universe.
- Augustinianism – People are subject to hereditary sin and God’s condemnation, so physical things are sometimes good. Opposite of Platonism.
- Classical theism – God is an absolute, eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect being, and caused the universe and morality, but is unaffected by the world and its time-based things.
- Deism – One God exists, but is uninvolved with this world’s actions, so miracles don’t exist.
- Monistic theism – A broad idea that God is a universal being, the universe is part of God, or God is part of the universe.
- Pantheism/Cosmotheism – Everything is part of an all-encompassing God, or God and the universe are the same thing.
- Panentheism – God is part of the universe, but also the force behind the universe and the cause of morality.
- Pandeism – Everything is part of an all-encompassing God, or God and the universe are the same thing, but this God is uninvolved in this world’s actions.
- Substance monotheism – God is different persons/deities, but all of the same essence.
- Transtheism – God is impersonal essence, not related to anything else that exists.
- Philosophical theism – God exists, either from a philosophical reason or a religious faith that’s not supported by a rational argument.
- Polytheism – Multiple deities, typically part of a pantheon, created the universe. Usually has myths and rituals involved.
- Henotheism/Inclusive monotheism/Monarchial polytheism – While there are multiple deities, each person will only live well by worshiping only one.
- Kathenotheism – While there are multiple deities, only one is worth worshiping at a time.
- Monolatrism – While there are multiple deities, only one specific one is worth worshiping.
- Henotheism/Inclusive monotheism/Monarchial polytheism – While there are multiple deities, each person will only live well by worshiping only one.
- Substantialism – Aware entities make unexplained events happen.
Epistomology
Epistemology – The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge.
What is knowledge?
Behaviorism – Presuming materialism (see above), the mind isn’t significant to anything else, so it can be researched scientifically without considering inner mental states.
- Logical/analytical behaviorism – Mental concepts can be explained as behavioral concepts.
- Computationalism – thoughts are merely calculated, computed things without any additional elements to them
- Methodological behaviorism – Psychological data must be outwardly measurable, so only what people do can be measured or controlled.
- Psychological behaviorism – People learn by things beyond normal animal understanding, since we have a remarkable learning ability.
- Radical/Skinner behaviorism – Human behaviors are learned, so even people’s thoughts can be measured or controlled.
- Post-Skinnerism/Teleological behaviorism – Human behaviors are learned, so large groups can be measured (close to macroeconomics).
Conventionalism – Some fundamental universals of existence are grounded on agreements in society, not strictly on reality.
Dialetheism – Some statements can be both true and false at the same exact time.
Empiricism/Experimentalism – All knowledge comes from experiences, so there’s no innate understanding about the world. Opposite of rationalism.
- Associationism – Mental processes are connected to other mental processes.
- Verificationism – We tend to verify what we experience, so what we’ve verified is effectively truth.
Externalism – The conscious mind isn’t only what’s going inside, but also things happening outside it. Opposite of internalism.
Externism – Only outside experience is certain, and there’s nothing certain inside the mind. Opposite of solipsism.
Ethnocentrism – People view their environment through their culture.
- Methodological relativism – A researcher must suspend their cultural biases to understand other beliefs and behaviors.
- Polylogism – People think differently because of the groups they’re in.
Innatism – The mind is born with ideas or knowledge, so not all of it comes from experiences. Contrasts against empiricism.
Internalism – Actions are always caused by desires and beliefs, never facts about the world. Opposite of externalism.
Linguistic determinism – Our language determines how we understand things.
- Descriptivism – The meanings of names are the descriptions that the speakers give, and the things they point to are just the objects that satisfy those descriptions.
- Linguistic relativism – Since everyone thinks differently from different languages, they have different ideas for the same things.
Logical atomism – There are pieces of thought that can’t be divided into smaller pieces of thought.
Phenomenalism – Physical objects aren’t things themselves, and are simply bundles of sensory data.
Positivism – The only true knowledge is scientific knowledge from sensory information.
Presuppositionalism – assuming God exists, understanding comes through revelation and not through logic.
Rationalism – Reasoning can be the source of all knowledge. Opposite of empiricism.
Sensualism – Senses and perception are the most basic and important parts of understanding.
Solipsism – Only direct mental experience is certain, and there’s nothing certain outside the mind. Opposite of externism.
- Transcendental idealism – Presuming idealism (see above), human experiences aren’t things as they are, but are simply the things inside the mind.
How much can we know?
Critical realism – Some information we perceive represents reality outside our mind, while other information doesn’t.
Deconstructionism – Everything is too impossibly complicated or unstable to determine.
- Existentialism – Deep down, all existence is a bunch of “themes” (e.g., love, freedom, etc.) that we can’t further clarify or understand.
- Christian existentialism – While we can’t clarify or understand our themes, the God of the Bible can help us with them.
- Christian existential humanism – People can make free will choices through Jesus’ teachings.
- Interpretivism – Knowledge is strictly a matter of interpretation.
- Perspectivism – Since our perceptions, experience, and thoughts are relative to experience, nothing we perceive is true.
Disjunctivism – Assuming Naïve/Direct/Perceptual/Common-sense realism, our senses are wrong about some things.
Fallibilism – Absolute certainty about anything we know is impossible except logically consistent things of the mind, like math and logic.
Infinitism – Knowledge can be confirmed by an infinite chain of reasons behind it.
Intuitionism/Neointuitionism – Math is a merely a mental construct of the mind that allows people to make more elaborate calculations than anything in nature. Opposite of preintuitionism.
- Logicism – Math is merely an extension of logic, so all math can distill to logical statements (has theoretically been proven by computers).
Operationalism/Operationalization – We can define values through specific observations.
Preintuitionism – Math exists in the world around us, so understanding math is to increase understanding of existing things. Opposite of intuitionism.
Relationalism – Things can only be defined in relationship to other things. Opposite of substantivalist.
Reliablism – A belief is only knowledge if it came through a reliable method.
Representationalism – People can’t perceive the world directly, and instead only see their ideas or interpretations of the world.
Substantivalism – Things like space and time are entities in their own right, independent of anything else or how they’re defined. Opposite of relationalism.
Tautology – A statement that’s universally true.
Ethics
Ethics – The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of moral values.
Cognitivism – Ethical statements can only be true or false. Opposite of non-cognitivism.
- Moral realism – Moral judgments express beliefs, which can only be true or false, so objective moral values exist.
Emotivism/Hurrah-boo theory – We make ethical statements based on our attitude about other statements, not as stand-alone ideas.
- Universal prescriptivism – Ethical statements always have a purpose-based part to them (e.g., “Killing is bad” always means “You shouldn’t kill”).
Expressivism – Moral statement (e.g., “wrongness”, “goodness”) never state real, metaphysical things. Thus, moral statements don’t directly apply to truth. A middle ground between cognitivism and non-cognitivism.
Non-cognitivism – Ethical statements don’t state facts or beliefs, so they’re not matters of truth. Opposite of cognitivism.
Quasi-realism – Ethical statements aren’t facts or beliefs, but do project emotional viewpoints as if they were real.
Value pluralism – Two or more moral values may be equally true, but also in conflict.
Why are things good or bad?
Ascriptivism – Even if determinism (see above) is true, people are still responsible for their actions.
Consequentialism – The consequences from deicisions determine whether something was the right decision. Opposite of deontologism.
- Eudaimonism – Actions are good to the degree that they produce human flourishing.
- Situationalism/Situation ethics – Moral principles, while generally true, can be cast aside in certain situations if it’s the most loving action.
Deontologism/Non-consequentialism – All moral values come from principles, so consequences never dictate morality. Opposite of consequentialism.
- Extrinsicism – External laws and precepts are more important than principles to determine moral conduct.
- Kantiamism – Morality is a matter of duty to “categorical imperatives”, not feelings or purposes.
Humanism – A broad range of ethics that says humanity is the source of values.
- Meliorism – Progress is a real value, made by humans, that transcends natural things.
- Posthumanism – There’s no special place for humanity in the universe.
- Secular/scientific humanism – Ethics and reason are the only legitimate means of gaining knowledge, with some supplementation from the arts.
- Transcendentalism – People must find a spiritual state to transcend their physical state.
- Neo-Platonism – People must use philosophy to find a mystical union with the divine.
- Transhumanism/>H/H+ – Science and technology can overcome human limitations and improve the human condition.
- Extropianism – Science and technology will someday let people live functionally forever.
- Singularitarianism – A technological singularity with smarter-than-human intelligence is possible, and its coming must be preserved.
- Religious humanism – Religious rituals/beliefs harmonize with centering on human needs, interests, and abilities.
- Christian humanism – Christian rituals/beliefs harmonize with centering on human needs, interests, and abilities.
Moral absolutism – We can judge moral questions against absolute standards, so some things are universally right/wrong irrespective of the context. Opposite of moral relativism.
Moral relativism – Presuming relativism (see above), morality is completely relative to indviduals or their culture. Opposite of moral absolutism.
Moral universalism/Universalism – Moral statements can apply universally. A middle ground between moral absolutism and moral relativism.
Axiology
Axiology – The branch of philosophy concerned with the concept of “value“.
How do we find purpose?
Absurdism – Reality doesn’t give us meaning, so we must accept that fact to find purpose.
Nihilism – Absolutely everything has zero meaning, purpose, knowable truth, or value.
- Fatalism – Because determinism (see above) is true, thinking and doing anything is pointless to determine events.
Anthropomorphism – People tend to make human-like qualities for non-human things, including animals and deities.
Egoism (descriptively) – Everything people do consciously is inherently self-interested.
- Cynicism – Everyone is likely doing things for self-interested reasons.
- Psychological egoism – Everyone is always motivated by self-interest, consciously or subconsciously.
Freudianism – People psychologically repress experiences, it gets mixed up with sexual desire, and the very act of talking about bad experiences will often fix them.
Hedonism (descriptively) – People are motivated to seek pleasure and avoid pain.
Where should we place our purposes?
Amor fati – Everything that happens is either good or at least necessary.
Anthropocentrism/Homocentrism – Human beings are the central reason/fact/purpose for the universe.
Immortalism – People are able to, at least theoretically, live forever.
Pragmatism – The practical use or consequences of something gives it meaning and truth.
Teleologism – There’s an inherent design/purpose/principle/clarity in reality’s patterns.
How should we gain knowledge?
Coherentism (coherence theory of truth) – Someone’s beliefs are only true if they’re consistent with at least most of their other beliefs.
Coherentism (coherence theory of justification) – We can be certain of beliefs when they’re consistent with at least most other beliefs that person has. Opposite of foundationalism.
Critical rationalism – To keep their value, all elements of science should be constantly criticized and questioned.
- Pancritical rationalism – All elements of science or truth should be constantly criticized and questioned, irrespective of any authority’s justifications.
Deism – Reasoning is the only basis for knowledge. Thus, someone should only believe in God through reason, not tradition or gained insight.
Experientialism – Knowledge should be measured by experiences and first-hand accounts.
Foundationalism – We can be certain of beliefs when when they’re based on self-evident basic beliefs that are based on non-belief things like experiences. Opposite of coherence theory of justification.
Functionalism – Since reductive materialism (see above) and logical behaviorism (see above) are wrong, we must consult beliefs, desires, and emotions to understand people. The opposite of coherence theory of justification.
Falsificationism/Deductivism – Things are only scientific if there’s a possibility they could be wrong.
Inductionism – We can use inductive reasoning on sets of information to create theories and laws to live by.
- Inductivism – The body of science is guided by previous scientific data, so it’s always advancing toward truth.
- Psychologism – We can only grow in understanding via philosophical study.
- Scientism – We can best grow in understanding via scientific study.
Instrumentalism – Knowledge doesn’t need to be true, but must be useful.
Irrealism – We should swap phenomenalism (see above) with physicalism (see above) back-and-forth to understand things from the best perspective.
Kierkegaardianism – While truth may be absolute, finding the things that are subjective is the most important thing.
Methodological reductionism/Scientific reductionism/Occam’s razor – Explaining things should be continually reduced to the very simplest they can get, but no simpler.
- Greedy reductionism – Too many people reduce too much to too little.
Logical positivism – Philosophy should have the same rigor as science, with strict rules for judging sentences as true, false, or meaningless.
- Comtism – All metaphysics and theology should be replaced by a hierarchy of sciences that start with math at the bottom to sociology at the top.
Phenomenal conservatism – It’s reasonable to assume things are as they appear unless there’s a good reason to doubt it.
Skepticism – Doubt things that are held as knowledge.
- Postmodernism – Question absolutely everything.
- Probabiliorism – While knowledge is impossible, strong beliefs for likely things is a good idea. Opposed to probabilism.
- Probabilism – While knowledge is impossible, strong beliefs for practical things is a good idea. Opposited to probabiliorism.
- Pyrrhonism/Pyrrhonian skepticism – All things are unprovable, so learn to be comfortable knowing nothing for certain.
Structuralism – All elements of human culture are connected to a broader system.
Subjectivism – Things are subjective, and they either don’t independently exist or it doesn’t matter.
- Post-structuralism – Since all elements of human culture are relative, there’s no certain connection between any of them.
Syncretism – Contradicting things can be converged and unified into one harmonizing thought pattern.
What is the most moral thing to do (greatest good)?
Altruism – People are morally required to serve the “greater good”.
Antinatalism – Giving birth is a morally bad thing.
Antinomianism – Nobody has to follow moral laws, typically referring to theology.
Asceticism – The good life requires refraining from pleasurable things in this world.
Careerism – The greatest good comes in someone advancing their career, even if it risks them growing in other areas of life.
Collectivism – People should serve the interests of the group, not the self. Opposite of egoism.
Consumerism – The greatest good is attachment to physical things.
Defeatism – The greatest good is to give up without a fight.
Egoism (normatively)/Ethical egoism – People should serve their own self-interests, not the group. Opposite of collectivism.
Emotionalism – Focusing on feelings is the greatest good.
Hedonism (ethics) – Pleasure is the greatest good.
- Epicureanism – Happiness comes from success in avoiding all forms of pain, in both mental worry and physical discomfort. Opposite of Stoicism.
- Utilitarianism – An act is moral when it maximizes the most wellness for the most people.
Humanistic naturalism – assuming naturalism (see above), humans are extensions of nature, so living naturally is the best way to live, which is against industry and technology.
Immoralism – Since morality doesn’t matter, people should strive for an aesthetic (see below) that imitates living forever.
Intellectualism – Assuming rationalism (see above), reasoning is the best way to gain understanding.
Irrationalism – Science is inferior to intuition, and the ultimate transcendence of humanity comes through art and conquering aesthetics.
Mysticism – A good life comes from a direct experience that creates conscious awareness of ultimate reality, divinity, spiritual truth, or God.
Objectivism – At least some actions are universally right or wrong.
Pacifism – Peace is the greatest good.
Perfectionism – People live the good life to the degree that they successfully do things that are part of their nature.
Randianism – People are best as heroic beings morally focused on self-happiness, focused on productivity foremost, with their only absolute being reason. Often called objectivism by Randians.
Role ethics – People are best defined by their role in a family.
Stoicism – Self-control of all types creates inner strength that builds harmony with the universe. Opposite of Epicureanism. Has largely been disproven by psychology.
Do we have free will?
Compatibilism/Soft determinism – Because we can imagine and our environment profoundly impacts our decisions, determinism (see above) and free will can coexist. Opposite of incompatibilism.
Incompatibilism – Free will and determinism (see above) cannot logically coexist.
Libertarianism (metaphysics) – Free will exists. Generally opposed to determinism.
Open theism/Openness theology/Free will theism – Since God and humans have free will, God’s knowledge and providing are flexible.
Personalism – Only people are real, have value, and have free will.
How can mankind be morally saved by an all-knowing God?
Soteriology – The theological study of salvation (soteria).
- Arminianism – Man’s faith, empowered by God’s grace, gives the condition for salvation. Jesus saves everyone who wants him, but people can resist the Holy Spirit.
- Calvinism/Janesenism – God’s grace, empowering man, gives the condition for salvation. Jesus saves everyone by his decree, and people can’t resist the Holy Spirit.
- Fideism/Solifidianism – Reasoning is only somewhat relevant to religious belief.
- Gnosticism – Salvation depends on some degree of reasoning.
- Molinism – God has 3 types of knowledge: a permanent and immutable knowledge, condition-based knowledge, and free knowledge that can move around and he doesn’t have to know everything all at once.
- Pelagianism – People are always able to choose good or evil, irrespective of any sin nature.
- Semipelagianism – People must make the first step toward God, then God will complete their salvation.
Aesthetics
Aesthetics – The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste values.
What should we define as quality?
Aestheticism – Art should be beautiful, but not necessarily have a purpose.
Formalism (aesthetics) – Things should be assessed by their inherent created quality or qualities, not by the social or historical context that it was made in or how much it evokes a feeling.
Romanticism – Art is an emotional experience based on the consumers’ feelings.
How should we create?
Automatism/surrealist automatism – Spontaneously creating without any conscious self-censorship.
Classicism – Creating with a high regard for classical antiquity. A type of aesthetic absolutism. Contrasts against romanticism.
Expressionism – Creating by over-exaggerating to create an emotional effect. Contrasts to moral realism.
Modernism – Borrowing from humanism (see above), create with an emphasis on science and technology.
Primitivism – Pushing against intellectualism (see above), create with an emphasis on low-technology experience and feelings.
Surrealism – Creating by using the element of surprise and unrelated things. Most of the creators tend to declare that they made a philosophical movement first and the works were just its byproduct.
Symbolism – Creating by using representations that carry particular meanings and patterns, which allow broader interpretation than literal representations would.
Government/Politics
Can we understand politics and society?
Behavioralism – Political activity can be measured and explained with a scientific, unbiased approach.
Formalism (economic anthropology) – Far-reaching principles of economics can apply to all humanity.
Interactionism – Large-scale elements of society form through social interaction.
Social atomism – Every group of people should be assessed by each individual, since their collective purposes constitute the entire group’s actions.
What’s wrong with society?
Anarchism – Remove rulers/governors.
- Anarcho-primitivism – The shifts from technology created a hierarchy, so we must remove specialization and technology to create fairness.
- Anarcho-syndicalism – Replace capitalism, wages, private property, and the state with labor unions for everything.
Environmentalism – High-technology humanity destroys nature, so low-technology living is the solution.
Feminism – Females should never be unequal to males.
Marxism – Because of dialectical materialism (see above), all social classes will eventually be destroyed as the weaker gain more power through social darwinism (see above).
- Communism – Abolish all private property.
- Distributism – Whenever anyone makes things, everyone gets a portion of it, with no central control over it.
- Neo-Marxism – A broad term for things that adapt the Marxist theory to fit new social standards (e.g., critical race).
- Socialism – Specific collectives control everything. It’s often claimed as the transitionary stage into communism.
Mohism – People are unevenly loving toward others, and should balance it more fairly.
Reconstructivism – Society should continually rebuild and remake itself to become more perfect.
Who should have power in society?
Communalism – The government should focus on protecting cultures and groups. Opposite of individualism.
Communitarianism – Because society forms identity and personality, the individual and the community must be protected.
Conservatism – Traditions and cultures should be cherished.
Egalitarianism/Equalitarianism – Everyone should be treated as equals.
Individualism – The government should focus on protecting individuals. Opposite of communalism.
Liberalism – Individuals should be free to do as they please.
- Libertarianism – Individuals should be free to do as they please, without large group intervention.
Mercantilism/Colbertism – A society should concern aim for the best interests of its own people.
- Fascism – Everyone should be loyal to their nation, more than anything else.
Nativism – Presuming ethnocentrism (see above), the original culture of a group has more important values than the culture of people joining the group.
Contractarianism/Social contract – People give up some of their power to governments to protect the rest of their rights or maintain order.
Social Darwinism – Some people are more fit to rule society than others.
- Critical race – Some racially-divided groups of people are so powerful that other groups are destined to always lag behind, so rulers must help those weaker races.
Speciesism – Social status should be based on species membership, usually implying that humans have more value than other animals.
Techno-progressivism/Democratic transhumanism – Everyone should equally access transhuman technologies.
Youthism – Young people should have the same rights as adults.
How should we pick our leaders?
Capitalism/laissez-faire economy/free market economy/free enterprise system/economic liberalism/economic individualism – Everyone owns stuff and a free market sets the prices of everything.
- Anarcho-capitalism/Voluntaryism – The private sector’s free market, not the natural monopoly of the government, should control everything.
Democracy – The subjects should choose their rulers.
- Associationalism/Associative democracy – Voluntary and democratically self-governing associations should run as much of society as possible.
Political absolutism – One person should hold all the power.
- Enlightened absolutism – One person who does things that benefit the subjects should hold all the power.
Secularism – The government shouldn’t include religion in its rule.
Theocracy – The government should rule by a specific religion’s doctrine.
- Islamism – Everyone must abide by the Qu’ran’s Sharia Law.
How should we enforce laws?
Authoritarianism – Leaders’ power should be used with extreme force, in domains that the subjects will often not like.
- Totalitarianism/Statism – The government should control nearly every part of public and private behavior.
Formalism (legal) – The fairness of the process is more important than its outcomes.
Individualism (politics) – Governments should protect the best interests of individuals, not groups.
Legal interpretivism – Laws are not a set of facts or data, but frameworks made by lawyers, and completely open to interpretation. They also dictate morality. The opposite of natural law.
Legal positivism/Positive law – Human beings made laws, so they’re not necessarily ethical or moral. Distinct from natural law.
- Legal naturalism – Natural law itself is simply made by society.
Natural law – There are specific, unaltered patterns in human nature that laws must conform with to be ethical. Distinct from positive law.
- Legal realism – Laws should reflect the natural laws of science.
Legalism – Making laws should follow a mechanical, logical way of interpreting laws from previous rulings, regardless of the context those laws were made in.
- Original intent/Originalism – The laws should be interpreted by the purpose the law-writers were trying to achieve.
Philosophy’s Purpose and Culture
Aristotelianism/Perpatetic school/Scotism – Start with the facts that experience gives things.
- Neo-Aristotelianism – See things the way the creators originally saw it.
Cognitivism – Sentences people say come from their brain, and can be declared as logically true or false.
Contextualism – People can only understand something within the context where something happens.
Eclecticism – To fully understand things, you need more than 1 set of assumptions and have to look at it from different viewpoints. Syncretism, but more broad.
Particularism – Ask “what do I know?” before “how do I know?”
Platonic school – Start with the ideals, then work downward into the experiences.
Scholasticism/Dialectical method – Use conversations between opposing views to draw distinctions and resolve contradictions.
Sophism (ancient) – Teaching with a heavy emphasis on virtue.
Sophism/Sophistry (modern) – Giving an illogical argument, especially to deceive.
Thomism – Someone should accept truth, no matter how they found it.
Truth claim – A logical sentence stated as either true or false, and claimed to be true.