Phil Vocab

Question 1

Reductio ad absurdum

Answer 1

attempts to establish a claim by showing that the opposite scenario would lead to absurdity or contradiction eg.

Question 2

Substance dualism

Answer 2

mind and the body are composed of different substances and that the mind is a thinking thing that lacks the usual attributes of physical objects

Question 3

Particularism about conspiracy theories

Question 4

Validity and soundness (for arguments)

Answer 4

premise must support conclusion for it to be valid, then if the premise is true or false in actuality, true for it to be sound.

Question 5

Problem of Evil

Answer 5

If God is omnipotent and wholly good evil cannot exist, yet it does.

Question 6

Principle of non-contradiction

Answer 6

if something is true, the opposite has to be false

Question 7

Theistic notion of God

Answer 7

highest being, metaphysically complete, omni-properties (omnipotent, omnibenevolent, omniscient), Transcendent, creator, and moral agent

Question 8

Necessary condition

Answer 8

X if only Y - y is necessary for X

Question 9

Sufficient condition

Answer 9

X if Y -y is sufficient for X

Question 10

Deductive argument

Answer 10

arguments that guarantee their conclusion - if their premises are true, the conclusion must be true

Question 11

Counter-example

Answer 11

example of a belief that is true and has justification and still does not seem like knowledge

Question 12

The fallacy of begging the question

Answer 12

when an argument’s premises assume the truth of the conclusion, instead of supporting it

Question 13

The ‘JTB’ account of knowledge

Answer 13

must believe it to be true, the proposition must actually be true, and they must have a good reason for believing it to be true

Question 14

Gettier problem

Answer 14

person who has a belief that is both true and justified, but their belief is based on a faulty or unreliable premise

Question 15

Ataraxia

Answer 15

achieving “unperturbedness”

Question 16

Equipollence

Answer 16

method of achieving Ataraxia–> by opposing judgments to appearances, put all judgments
(beliefs) in equipollence, equally (and oppositely) weighted (with respect to probability), so that the beliefs are suspended.

Question 17

Problem of the criterion

Answer 17

On what basis can we distinguish between truthful experiences and unreliable ones, so that the former serve as a standard for knowledge (proof needs proof etc)

Question 18

A priori (truth or proof)

Answer 18

knowledge or justification that is independent of experience eg. bachelors are unmarried

Question 19

Contingent truth

Answer 19

proposition or statement that happens to be true, but could have been false based on experience eg. it is raining outside

Question 20

Constant conjunction

Answer 20

a relationship between two events, where one event is invariably followed by the other

Question 21

Testimony

Answer 21

statements conveying information that are supposed to convey as evidence for it

Question 22

Consciousness

Question 23

Cogito argument

Answer 23

this proposition, I am, I exist, is necessarily true whenever it is our forward by me or conceived in my mind –> conclusion: I am (exist), does not allow for any doubt

Question 24

Body-to-mind causation

Answer 24

physical events and processes in the body can influence mental states and processes

Question 25

Mind-to-body causation

Answer 25

physical events and processes in the body can influence mental states and processes

Question 26

The causal pairing problem

Answer 26

Archer A causes Balloon A to pop but not Balloon B- to pair events causally, there needs to be a spatial framework that coordinates and relates the events

Question 27

The strong program in Artificial Intelligence

Answer 27

aims to create intelligent machines that are indistinguishable from the human mind.

Question 28

The Luminous room argument

Answer 28

A response to Searles Chinese room thought experiment, in where the conditions of producing light from a magnet are not recreated (speed)

Question 29

Ontological reduction

Question 30

Physicalism (about the mind)

Answer 30

minds reduce completely to brains

Question 31

Demarcation problem

Answer 31

identify the necessary and sufficient conditions that distinguish scientific theories from non-scientific ones.

Question 32

The floating man argument

Answer 32

if human were created in such an instance that the limbs were separated from one another and he could not see them or feel them and they did not touch one another he would not know his organs exist bur he would know he exists as a uniquely single thing despite not knowing everything else - we can know ourselves without any sensory input from the body