简明哲学术语英语词典.doc

简明哲学术语英语词典A BRIEF LEXICON OF PHILOSOPHICAL TERMS A BRIEF LEXICON OF SOME COMMONLY USED PHILOSOPHICAL TERMS IN THE PRESENT DAYhttp:/www.tcdsb.on.ca/external/schools/chaminade/oac-philosophy/public_html/lexicon.htmEdited and copyright 1989 by F.F. CentoreA POSTERIORI (to come after in time): That which follows upon or depends upon sense experience; a knowledge of things which cannot be arrived at or deduced from definitions alone. E.g., if it is raining today I could not know that fact simply by knowing the definitions of rain, today, etc. I must learn about it by either observing it for myself or having some other observer convey the information to me.A PRIORI (prior to in time): That which comes before sense experience; that which does not require sense knowledge to be known as true. Cf. armchair mathematicians. E.g., I know a circle is round by definition, even if I had never seen a circle in my life.ABSTRACTION (ab-trahere; to draw out): The mental concentration on one aspect of something while ignoring other aspects; contrasted with the whole, CONCRETE thing, e.g., sweetnessthis orange; humanness-Sally. It does not necessarily entail or imply the actual division or separation of the different aspects of the thing as it exists outside of the mind.ABSURD (ab-surdus; senseless): That which is selfcontradictory, impossible, e.g., a square circle; hence, meaningless, ridiculous, irrational. In 20th c. phil. the term is often used by Atheistic Existentialists, such as Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre, to refer to the human condition, i.e., the absurd man must learn to survive, without committing suicide, in a meaningless, de trop, world, one which hasnt come from anywhere and which is not going anywhere. The world and humans are surds, things without any reason for being. ACADEMIC FREEDOM: The right to do research and teach in accordance with the standards of the institution you freely chose to join and by whose moral and intellectual principles you freely agreed to abide. Hence, IF both the individual and the leaders of the institution know what they are about in the first place, there-cannot be any-conflict between ones personal,conscience and the school. If such should arise due to a change on the part of the teacher, in good conscience the teacher should voluntarily leave.AD HOMINEM (against the person): In logic, a pseudoargument directed against some personal characteristic of the opponent rather than against the substance of the position. E.g., Einstein couldnt have been right; just look at the way he combed his hair!AESTHETICS (aisthanesthai; to perceiveby the senses): Theories concerning the nature, origins, and appreciation of the beautiful.AGNOSTICISM (agnostos; unknown): In Latin, ignorance. Claiming that nothing is known concerning the answers to the ultimate questions of science, phil., theology, and life in general. Such knowledge is lacking now, but we may get it in the future. E.g., Darwin claimed that he didnt have any certain knowledge about the existence of God and human freedom.ALIENATION (alius; other): In general, the withdrawing or removing of one thing from another; to be left out; estranged. In 19th c. phil., the ForItself losing itself to the InItself, which then comes to stand over in opposition against the ForItself. In Hegel, The Absolute Spirit (God) becoming other in the form of the Material world which is determined and mechanistic in accordance with the Newtonian laws of nature. In Marx, the workers losing their profits to the capitalists; their labor, which is the source of all wealth, is alienated from themselves. In Ludwig Feuerbach and Sigmund Freud, the projection of human fatherfigure traits into the heavens so as to produce God; the losing of human nature, which is real, to divine nature, which is unreal but which nevertheless, as an obsessional neurosis, stands in opposition to man. In Sartre, the human condition of the absolute, autonomous, free will (the ForItself, non-being, nothingness) in opposition to the oppressive, inert world of physical matter (the InItself, being); inexplicably the In-Itself produces the ForItself; being recoils against itself to produce the nothingness of human consciousness; its me (my consciousness) against the world (including other people).ALTRUISM (alter; the other): Showing an unselfish love for others.ANALOGOUS USAGE: In general, the same term has a meaning thats partially the same and partially different in different contexts; very common in ordinary language. E.g., tall man, ta; tree; good flatworm, good husband; true diamond, true friend, true love; beautiful flower, beautiful building, beautiful person, etc.ANALOGY (analogos; to say again): A ratio of one thing to another; a comparison; usually meaning that two things are the same in at least one respect even though there may be differences in other respects. Main types: ATTRIBUTION: The trait belongs to only one of the things being compared but is attributed by the mind to something else, e.g., only a whole organism is really healthy but we can also call vitamin C healthy because of its relationship to health in the body. GENUS, INEQUALITY: Both a man and a dog are animals; animal is the genus to which they both belong; we can compare them by pointing out this sameness. However, although they are equally animals they are not equal animals, i.e., man is superior to dog. IMPROPER PROPORTIONALITY: Literary devices and comparisons; Pretty as a picture; The sunset was a great pool of blood lying on the horizon; My love is like a red, red rose.; etc. This sort is very important in rhetoric, poetry, persuasive speech, etc., and can add a great deal of enjoyment to our lives, but is not so useful in science, phil., and theology. PROPER PROPORTIONALITY:The most important in phil. Here there is a strict proportion of proportions; the individual terms of one proportion are not proportionate to the individual terms of the other proportion, but the whole proportion between the terms on one side is proportionate to the whole proportion between the terms on the other side of the relationship. E.g., 3/6 = 5/10; the good for a flatworm is to the nature of a flatworm as the good for a human is to the nature of a human; knowledge in God is to the essence of God as knowledge in an angel is to the essence of an angel as knowledge in a human is to the essence of a human. 3 and 5 are different numbers; goodness and knowledge are different in each of the cases mentioned. Yet, even though the numerators and denominators are not the same, the proportion holds. What the sets have in common is the same relationship within each of the respective proportions. This is very important when it comes to reasoning by analogy in phil., especially in the Phil. of Being.ANALYTIC STATEMENT: (see A Priori).ANGST (die AngstGerman; mir 1st angst-I am afraid; anxiety, anguish): Term popularized by Heidegger; the human condition when Atheistic Existentialism takes hold and we become fully aware of the meaninglessness of life. Also known as Existential or Objectless Anxiety; state of being forlorn, lost; aimless; bored.ANTHROPOMORPHISM (anthropos-morphos; human-shaped): Having human traits; attributing human traits to nonhumans, such as to animals or to the gods.APPEARANCE (ad-parere; to come forward and show yourself): That which shows itself in any way, either to the senses or to the mind. Cf. PHENOMENON (phainein; to show).ARGUMENT (argos; white; arguere; to clarify): Words arranged in such a way so as to persuade somebody of something; a proof; to make clear by spelling it out; a reasoning process which goes from the truth of some given statements to the truth of some other statement(s). Either Deductive or Inductive.ASSUMPTION (assumere; to take up): Something taken for granted without proof.ATHEISM (a-theos; godless): A denial of Gods existence; usually meaning the denial of the JudaeoChristian God of the Bible.ATOM (a-tomos; indivisible): The smallest possible unit of material reality. Atomism as a phil. of all reality was first developed by the ancient Greeks.ATTACKING A STRAW MAN: In logic, a faulty argument which misses the main point of something and instead of directing its rebuttal against the opponents true point sets up a false point (a straw man) which it then proceeds to attack as if it were the true point. E.g., the traditional religious position on human nature and freedom is that we are free but that we also have a nature (essence) which sets limits to what we are capable of doing freely (e.g., we are not free to fly by flapping our arms). Someone such as Sartre, though, claims that having a positive essence necessarily determines all of our actions so that we are not free at all. But this is to sidestep the original position which was to be argued against.AUTHENTICITY (authentikos; one who acts boldly, the master): In 20th c. phil., doing what, you want to do without making any excuses or giving any reasons; to be true to yourself by acting in opposition to others. Cf. JeanPaul Sartre: Hell is other people. Cf. his Being and Nothingness, III, 3, iii: The essence of the relations between consciousnesses is not the Mitsein; it is conflict.AUTHORITY (auctor; originator): The right to direct and rule; a moral power, not based on physical force, although force must often be used in practice. Presupposes the freedom of those commanded; only free beings can responsibly respond to an order. E.g., the difference between the government ordering the rain not to fall and ordering citizens to pay taxes.AUTONOMOUS (autonomos; self-law): In 20th c. phil., being a law unto yourself; disregarding the needs of others if you want to and not feeling guilty about it; acting without any external guidelines, rules, objective measures of whats good and bad or right and wrong. Doing your own thing.AXIOM (axios; worthy): Something obvious enough to be taken for granted.BAD FAITH: In 20th c. phil., acting in a non-authentic and non-autonomous way.BECOMING (becuman-Old English): Any motion or change; any process of passing from potency to act; any condition of being different from what something was before.BEGGING THE QUESTION: Assuming the truth of the thing to be proven; circular argument. E.g., you can tell the age of the rock strata from the fossils and we know the fossilsare of a certain age because of the rock strata in which they are found; This is an IQ test. Yes but what is IQ? It is what the IQ test tests for. Sometimes it is called a vicious circle (vitium; corrupt, vice) because of its faultiness.BEHAVIORISM: In the 20th c., philosophical Reductionism applied to the study of humans. Developed by J.B. Watson and B.F. Skinner; adopted by A.J. Ayer.BEING (esse; to be): That which is in any way whatsoever, whether in or out of the wind, whether actual or possible. A BEING: That which is in existence here and now in any way whatsoever.BEING-FOR-ITSELF: Terminology derived from Hegel. In Sartre (tre-pour-soi), the nihilation of being within each human being; the basis for consciousness of the world and selfconsciousness; that which stands out in opposition to being even though it is itself a creation of being; human nature.BEING-INITSELF: Terminology derived from Hegel. In Sartre (tre-en-soi), the non-conscious, inert, dead, inexplicable, physical nature world of being; the full world; the world without the admixture of nothingness; the world that simply is; what we will become at death.BEING OF REASON: In Latin: ens rationis; plural: entia rationis. Something which cannot exist outside the mind; it can have only mental existence; a logical being; a mental construct, but which nevertheless has a foundation in extramental reality. E.g., negations and privationstalking about something which isnt there; logical devices to deal with things as thoughtabstractions, subjects and predicates in propositions, genera and species, etc. It does not refer to simply imaginative entities, e.g., a flying horse, or the numerous Hollywood creations. (see Intention)CATEGORY (kataagora; by the town square where people congregate): A more definite arrangement of things; a narrowing down of something broad and open; a classification; putting something into a class, group, set, type, sort, etc., as set of f from other groups, classes, etc.CATHOLIC (kata-holos; in with the whole): That which is universal and allencompassing. Most usually used in The Roman Catholic Church: A universal religious organization with its HQ in Rome whose obligation it is to convey the message of Christ to all parts of the world until the end of time.CAUSE (causa): That upon which something else is dependent for its existence; that which in any way influences the being or becoming of something; the reason for the exisence of something; the principle from which something flows. Aristotles four main types of causes: MATERIAL: That out of which something is made; that which is in potency to become something else, e.g., the wood used in making a chair. AGENT orEFFICIENT: The real thing that works on the material to wake the thing, e.g., the carpenter. The agent cause must be a really existing thing; a possible carpenter cannot make anything. FORMAL: The form or nature of the thing made, e.g., its a chair rather than a table, etc. In this case it is an artifact, and so the form is accidental to the material. In the case of a natural entity, such as a human being or an oak tree, the form would be essential. FINAL: The purpose, end, goal, or reason why the thing is made. In the case of a natural thing, the Formal Cause, once in existence, acts as an Agent Cause to produce the Final product, e.g., an acorn growing into an oak tree. Thus Aristotle can treat the last three causes as one cause in natural operations. Beware of pseudocauses. Time, for instance, is not a cause of anything; it cannot heal any wounds or bring about the creation of a new species. How did you get from New York to Toronto? It took a long time. HOW did man develop from the apes? It took a long time. CENSORSHIP (censere; to tax or assess costs): In common usage, always bad and incompatible with a free society; the unjustified suppression of public expression. But this should not be confused with the justified regulation of the popular media. E.g., the control of information in time of war; the suppression of hate literature or material degrading or exploiting people, such as pornography; the control of material inciting riots, violence, and sedition; copyright laws preventing one person from stealing the work of another; laws forbidding the telling of lies about people in public, etc. Also, in any decent society self-censorship is necessary.CERTITUDE (certus; cernere; to sift out, to discern): The state of being certain and settled in ones view; a firm assent to an intelligible statement without any fear of error. To be really firm and complete (scientific) it must include a knowledge of the reasons why things are the way they are and could not be otherwise. Main types:METAPHYSICAL, MATHEMATICAL, ABSOLUTE: There is no possibility of error, e.g., 2 plus 2 is 4, a physical whole is always greater than any one of its parts or subdivisions, the diameter of a given circle is always shorter than its circumference, a world of physical things exists independently of the individuals own mind, etc. PHYSICAL: The ordinary and usual laws of nature, e.g., the laws of chemical interaction, motion, thermodynamics, aerodynamics, etc. Barring miracles, we can bet our lives on these certitudes-and do! MORAL, JURIDICAL: Beyond reasonable doubt; the ordinary kind in most societal interactions; all the evidence, from many different independent sources, all points to the same conclusion. E.g., when taking a bus downtown, it would be unreasonable to run up and down the aisle shouting that the bus was being captured by Martians. The denial of Moral Certitude is the most- usual basis for Hollywood spy movies, science fiction plots, adventure series, etc. The suspension of ordinary human expectations (i.e., being neurotic) greatly helps ones career as a novelist and screenwriter. (see Realism)COMMON SENSE: In general, knowing those things which are required in order to survive in a given society. This will vary from society to society in different parts of the world. E.g., those living in the Arctic need to know about 14 different kinds of snow; those living in London need to know not to run out into the street from between parked cars, etc. In phil., it refers to those truths known with certainty by all normal human beings, regardless of where they live. E.g., basic mathematics, the existence of the external world, that theres a difference between existential questions (Is it?) and essentialistic questions (What is it?), that water runs down hill, that what goes up (a rock, an arrow, a spear, etc.) comes down, etc. These certitudes can then be used as a basis for further philosophical and scientific reasoning.COMMUNISM: A 19th c. utopian political phil. based upon Hegels doctrine of conflicting contradictories, but reduced to a twopart disjunction in which one side is all bad and the other side all good. In theory, the 19th c. capitalists would concentrate more and more power in themselves while the working class would become larger and larger and poorer and poorer. Finally a flashpoint would be reached, revolution would break out, all capitalists would be destroyed, and the society, after a brief bloody and violent transition period, would be transformed into a new classless, stateless, godless Paradise on earth for all future generations. Abhors (in theory) GodStatism (Fascism, Nazism).CONCEPT (concipere; to conceive in the womb): Something born within the mind; an IDEA, a univer