Key Words

Question 1

Pereception

Answer 1

The process by which we become aware of physical objects incl. our own body

Question 2

Premise

Answer 2

Any reason given

Question 3

Analytic

Answer 3

Describes the manner in which a proposition is true. It is true by definition - all bachelors are unmarried

Question 4

Solipsism

Answer 4

the view that all that can be known to exist is my own mind. seen as a sceptical trap into which certain ways of thinking can lead to.

Question 5

Argument

Answer 5

A series of propositions intended to support an argument

Question 6

Eschatological

Answer 6

eschatology is the study of the ‘end of things’ or the ‘last things’ as described from a religious perspective - including death, what happens after we die, the end of time etc. (used to show that religious statements can be meaningful as they can be verified if true)

Question 7

Empiricism

Answer 7

An epistemological position which holds that our beliefs and knowledge must be based on experience.

Question 8

Free will

Answer 8

also known as metaphysical freedom. The idea of free will is that the self controls aspects of its own life such a bodily movement.

Question 9

Justification

Answer 9

The support or grounds for holding a belief, which gives someone a reason for believing it. Necessary for knowledge

Question 10

Dualism

Answer 10

the claim that humans are made of two kinds of stuff - a material body and a spiritual mind

Question 11

sense data

Answer 11

What one is directly aware of in perception. The subjective elements which constitute experience.

Question 12

Theodicy

Answer 12

The attempt to justify God’s actions and why a perfect God may have created an imperfect world.

Question 13

Evil

Answer 13

Moral evil - by humans

natural evil - brought about by natural events

Question 14

Factual significance

Answer 14

statement has this if it tells us something about the real world - verificationism maintain that a sentence is only meaningful if it has factual significance

Question 15

Pantheism

Answer 15

The view that God is the same thing as the universe itself

Question 16

Ontological arguments

Answer 16

Ontology - study of existence

ontological argument is particular proof of Gods existence

Question 17

Deductive argument

Answer 17

Where the conclusion is guaranteed in the truth of the premises. If one accepts the premises, they must by logic also accept the conclusion.

Question 18

Evolution

Answer 18

Darwin - organisms gradually change over time according to changes in their environment and genetic mutations, some mutations lead to traits which are better suited to the environment and these more successful organisms have offspring that also survive and reproduce.

Question 19

Inductive argument

Answer 19

Argument where the truth of the conclusion is not fully guaranteed by the truth of the premises.
Every raven i have seen is black
so all ravens are black

Question 20

Transcendent

Answer 20

To be outside, beyond, or removed from something. To say God is transcendent is to say he exists outside his creation

Question 21

Intelligent design

Answer 21

some things are irreducibly complex - only the existence of an intelligent designer (God) can explain them

Question 22

Holy

Answer 22

Used to encapsulate everything that is special. sacred about god

Question 23

Necessary / contingent being

Answer 23

Contingent being is one that depends on something else .

Necessary being is one that does not depend upon anything else for its existence

Question 24

Direct realism

Answer 24

Common sense view of how perception works.
Physical objects have an independent existence in space, they follow the laws of physics and possess certain properties. When humans are in the presence of such objects they are able to perceive them along with all their properties

Question 25

Metaphysics

Answer 25

Metaphysics is concerned with determining what sorts of things really exist where the world comes from etc.

Question 26

necessary / sufficient condition

Answer 26

A is a necessary condition for B - you have to have A in order to have B, if you do not have B you do not have B A is a sufficient condition for B, when you have A you must have B too so having A is enough or sufficient to guarantee you have B

Question 27

idealism

Answer 27

Anti - realist theory of perception. Put forward by Berkeley, the view that matter does not exist independently of the mind and that all that exists are minds and their ideas. Physical objects are just collections of sensations appearing in our minds. Objects not currently being perceived are sustained in existence by being perceived in the mind of God

Question 28

Fallacy

Answer 28

argument which is flawed because either a mistake has been made or because has a form or structure which is always invalid

Question 29

Innate ideas

Answer 29

Ideas that exist in the mind which are not acquired from experience. Rationalists often use the doctrine of innate ideas to explain the possibility of a priori knowledge.

Question 30

Verificationism

Answer 30

a philosophical belief about the nature of meaning. Logical positivism claims that for a proposition to be meaningful it must be verifiable or true by definition.

Question 31

determinism

Answer 31

opposite of free will - all events in the universe are the necessary consequence of physical laws, these laws apply to human actions as well. May argue that humans are like complex pieces of biological machinery with no real freedom of will

Question 32

Clear and distinct ideas

Answer 32

the basic/self justifying beliefs that Descartes hopes to use as foundations for his system f knowledge. They are ideas that can be intuited in the mind by what he calls the 'light of reason' i.e. the truths of reason that can be known in the mind alone. e.g. logic or maths

Question 33

Corporeal

Answer 33

made of matter

Question 34

Reason

Answer 34

The process by which we are able to discover the truth of things by pure thought by inferring conclusions from premises.

Question 35

Agent

Answer 35

A being who is capable of action, they have the capacity to reason, make a choice between to courses of action, then do what they have chosen

Question 36

Knowledge

Answer 36

practical knowledge Knowledge by acquaintance Factual knowledge JTB

Question 37

Anti-realism

Answer 37

If you are a realist about something you believe it exists independently of our minds. If you are anti realist about something you believe it is mind dependent. Eg epistemology - anti realists about perception believe that material objects exist only in the mind

Question 38

Contingent

Answer 38

A contingent truth happens to be true, but may have not been. A truth that could logically be false.

Question 39

Indubitable

Answer 39

Not doubtable

Question 40

Necessary / contingent truths

Answer 40

Necessary - logically impossible to be false | Contingent - the opposite is logically impossible

Question 41

Teleological

Answer 41

telos - purpose, goal or end. teleological expel is a way of accounting for events by reference to their purpose or ultimate goal. Refers to the purpose or the event instead of just the physical factors leading up to the event

Question 42

Paradox

Answer 42

An apparently contradictory statement or one which goes against common sense opinion

Question 43

Infallibilism

Answer 43

The claim that we should only count as knowledge those ideas that cannot be doubted.

Question 44

Materialism

Answer 44

The view that everything in the world is made of matter and that ultimately all mental or apparently spiritual entities can be given purely a material explanation

Question 45

Reliablism

Answer 45

theory of knowledge that claims that the reliability of the process involved in generating a belief is the key factor in whether we should call it knowledge or not - Knowledge = Truth + Belief + Produced by a reliable process

Question 46

Cosmological arguments

Answer 46

argue for the existence of god by claiming that there must be some ultimate cause or reason for the existence of the universe.

Question 47

concept

Answer 47

Having a concept is what enables us to recognise it, distinguish it from other things and think about it

Question 48

Predicate

Answer 48

Statements can be divided into subject and predicate - the thing about the subject is the predicate - gives us info about the subject

Question 49

Verification principle

Answer 49

the rule put forward by verificationists that a statement can only be meaningful if it can be shown to be true empirically of it's true by definition.

Question 50

Non cognitivism

Answer 50

the position in philosophy of language that statements can be meaningful even if they do not refer to the world and the concepts of truth and falsity do not apply to them

Question 51

A posteriori

Answer 51

Describes a belief that can only be known via experience eg. Snow is white

Question 52

Coherentism

Answer 52

a view about the structure of justification which claims that no beliefs are foundational and therefore that all beliefs need justification in terms of further beliefs. Beliefs are more or less well justified to the extent that they fit in or cohere with otters beliefs in the system

Question 53

Realism

Answer 53

Belief that things exist independently of our minds

Question 54

benevolence

Answer 54

the desire and disposition to good for others

Question 55

foundationalism

Answer 55

A view about the structure of justification which claims that there are two sorts of belief - those which are basic or foundational and which require no justification and those which are built on top of the foundations and justified in terms of them

Question 56

Necessary

Answer 56

Necessary truth is one that has to be true and could not be otherwise. true in all possible worlds

Question 57

Infinite regress

Answer 57

A regress is a process of reasoning from effect to cause, or of going backwards in a chain of explanations. So a infinite regress is one where the process never stops and is repeated endlessly. Generally considered problematic in a philosophical argument

Question 58

Lemma

Answer 58

A subsidiary belief or proposition used to justify or prove another belief/proposition

Question 59

Immaterial

Answer 59

not made of matter

Question 60

Indirect realism

Answer 60

The view that the immediate objects of perception are sense data or representations and that the physical world is perceived only indirectly via these representations

Question 61

reductio ad absurdem

Answer 61

Prove a claim is false by first supporting it to be true and then drawing out the logical consequences - if absurd or false - first statement is false

Question 62

Primary and secondary qualities

Answer 62

indirect realism says physical objects have primary (eg. size and shape) and secondary qualities ( Colour and taste)

Question 63

Scepticism

Answer 63

raises doubts about our claims to now. It's purpose is to distinguish between which type of belief can be treated as known and which cannot. It tests our first knowledge claims.

Question 64

proposition

Answer 64

A sentence that makes a claim about the way the world actually is. Can be true or false

Question 65

Rationalism

Answer 65

The tendency to regard reason as apposed to sense experience as the primary source of important knowledge.

Question 66

Sensations

Answer 66

The subjective experience we have as a consequence of perceiving physical objects unloading our own bodies, such as the experience of smelling a rose or feeling hungry.

Question 67

inference

Answer 67

the move in an argument from the premises to the conclusion.

Question 68

Intuition

Answer 68

A kind of mental seeing by which rational truths can be recognised.

Question 69

Euthyphro dilemma

Answer 69

Allgemein ausgedrückt geht es um die Frage, ob etwas deswegen ethisch richtig ist, weil es dem Willen einer Gottheit entspricht, oder ob es an und für sich ethisch richtig ist und aus diesem Grund von der Gottheit gewollt wird. 1. whatever god commands is good. (so command to commit genocide is fabulous) 2. God's commands are good because they conform to some external moral law - (so we should pay attention to the moral law not God)

Question 70

Immanent `

Answer 70

to say god is immanent is to say that God continues to be present in and exist in his creation

Question 71

Atemporal

Answer 71

Outside of time - no past, present or future

Question 72

Theology

Answer 72

The study or God from a religious perspective

Question 73

Immutable

Answer 73

Something that can never change

Question 74

A priori

Answer 74

Describes knowledge that is known prior/independently from experience

Question 75

Falsificationism

Answer 75

claims that for a proposition to be meaningful we must be able to understand what would count as proving the proposition false

Question 76

Incorrigible

Answer 76

It cannot be corrected or changed. eg. Beliefs about our own sense data are often thought to be incorrigible as there appears to be no way in which i can be mistaken about my own experiences.

Question 77

cognitivism

Answer 77

a position in philosophy of language which holds that judgements must be true or false if they are to mean anything.