Philosodata: Abridged Philosophy Glossary

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:

  1. Metaphysics: reality, existence, being, big meta stuff
  2. Epistemology: Knowledge, knowing, understanding, values
  3. Ethics: Values about right and wrong
  4. Axiology: Values that connect with purpose
  5. Aesthetics: values about beauty and art
  6. Political Science: How everyone should live together
  7. 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.
    • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.

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.