* This list is restricted
to terms from the beginning of the course (Greek philosophy) through the material
to be covered by the midterm. Another glossary installment will be made after
the midterm.
argument
A set of one or more propositions, called premises advanced as proof or evidence for another proposition called the conclusion.
ethical objectivism
The objectivist holds that there are true (and false) moral statements, as well as morally right and commendable acts in contrast with morally reprehensible ones, whether or not anyone (any subject) is aware of them. The objectivist believes that ethical criteria are to be found in the nature of people's acts and states of character. Socrates appears to be an ethical objectivist.
ethical particularism
The view that one has special duties and responsibilities to certain persons that one does not owe to others. Both Socrates and Confucius appear to be ethical particularists.
ethical universalism
An ethical view can be "universalist" in several different senses:
(i) in contrast with ethical particularism, a universalist view does not differentiate degrees of moral responsibility owed to different people (e.g. "each counts for one, and none for more than one," Jeremy Benthem; or agapism);
(ii) the view that right action entails the universalizability of the principle or maxim that guides the action ("it can't be right for John to do X if it would be wrong for Jim, in the same circumstances, to do X").
ethical skepticism
The view that there are no true moral statements, or (in a weaker form) that no moral statement can be shown to be true or justified.
ethical subjectivism
The subjectivist holds that the truth or falsity of moral statements depends upon subjective states, such as approval or disapproval, or certain emotions.
ethical conventionalism
The view that not only is the meaning of moral terms determined by conventions obtaining in a given society, but also that the truth of moral judgments (or statements) is determined by the mores (the "ethical customs") that obtain in a society.
ethical relativism
1. Ethical conventionalism.
2. A moral skepticism according to which there are no moral truths because ethical meaning and standards are determined by societal mores, that is to say, by the diverse and conflicting mores found in societies worldwide.
elenchus (consult overhead)
logos (consult overhead)
knowledge (for Plato)
A person S knows a proposition p if and only if
(1) p is true,
(2) S believes p, and
(3) S is warranted in believing p as shown by S's being able to provide a relevant logos.
philosophy
The discipline concerned with claims about what there is (metaphysics), how we know (epistemology), and how we should live (ethics) as well as other values (e.g., beauty, in aesthetics). Philosophy also includes evaluative efforts concerning the most general or abstract concepts and claims of other disciplines including individual sciences and religious systems and purported ties among them. A first task of philosophy is phenomenological, or descriptive (understanding views articulated by Plato, Confucius, et cetera), but the properly philosophical task is evaluative.
proposition
The bearer of the truth-values (a) truth and (b) falsity; the information conveyed by a declarative sentence.
Bhagavad Gita
"Song of the Lord," an episode of the epic poem, the Maha-bharata.
Maha-bharata
The Great Indian Epic; a poem of more than 100,000 verses in which the major episode is a battle between the Kurus and Pauravas over the inheritance of a throne. Arjuna, a central character of many stories including the Gita, is the third of five Paurava brothers, and a famous archer. Krishna, another central character, is the ruler of a neighboring land.
soteriology
Theory of enlightenment or salvation, of a person's "supreme personal good"
mysticism
Teachings concerning direct experience of a spiritual reality such as God, Brahman, or "Emptiness."
The Absolute, the One, God in much Hindu thought (Brahman, in distinction to the classical Western concept of God, is not thought to create ex nihilo, but to be rather the Ground of all being).
monism
A metaphysical view according to which all reality is of a single nature. Materialism holds that all reality is made of matter. Spiritual monism holds that all reality is spirit or consciousness.
theism
A metaphysical view according to which God is the supreme reality.
polytheism
A view that there is more than one divine being.
henotheism
The view found in the Veda and several Indian religious works that there is one God who appears as (or is conceived in) several divine forms, for example, as the gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon, Vishnu, Shiva, and so on.
Upanishads
Mystic and speculative treatises regarded as sacred by many Hindus and forming the source texts for the classical Indian philosophic schools of Vedanta (q.v.).
Vedanta
Originally an epithet for the Upanishads; in the classical period, any of several schools defending Upanishadic views and views of the Gita, e.g. Advaita (a spiritual monism) and Indian theism.
Advaita Vedanta
Non-Dual Vedanta; a prominent school of classical Indian philosophy based on scriptures called Upanishads; a monistic view (``All is Brahman''), including the seemingly individual consciousness or self; sometimes called Illusionism because of its claim that all appearance of fundamental diversity is illusory.
Indian theism
Also called theistic Vedanta. Hindu and classical Indian views holding forth God as the Divine Reality, and usually purporting to be grounded teachings of the Gita as well as various Upanishads.
emanationism
The theory of Divine creation that the world emerges or emanates out of God's own self.
dharma
"Law," duty." The key ethical concept in Hinduism, "right practice."
karma
"Action"; psychological dispositions to act in a certain manner accrued through previous actions; habit; sacrifice.
karma-yoga
The mystic discipline of action and inner sacrifice or giving.
avatara
God incarnate; a Divine individual. According to much Indian theism, God takes birth as a divine man or woman whenever world events demand, e.g., Krishna in the Gita.
Samkhya
"Analysis"; an early school of Indian philosophy concerned with achieving a "supreme personal good" through psychological disidentification. A prime feature of this school is its dualistic metaphysics of "conscious beings" apart from Nature.
guna
"Strand" or quality. According to Samkhya philosophy, all nature is comprised three such strands: sattva, light and intelligence; rajas, passion and activity; tamas, darkness and inertia.
samadhi
"mystic trance"; "enstacy." The ability to hold one's thoughts and emotions still; a state of supreme self-awareness, according to the Yogasutra.
maya
"Illusion," cosmic illusion; finite delimitation.
nirvana
Literally, "extinction" or "blowing out." In Buddhism, the experience thought to be the personal summum bonum revealing "Emptiness"; enlightenment, salvation.
yoga
Self-discipline, mystic discipline. (cf. overhead on raja-yoga).
Mahayana Buddhism
The ``Great Vehicle.'' Northern Buddhism.
The Buddhist doctrine that there is no self or soul underlying states of consciousness
interdependent origination
The Buddhist doctrine that everything in the universe arises together, interdependently
According to Mahayana Buddhism, an enlightened person (a Buddha) who turns back to the world in a spirit of compassion.
jen
(Chinese, pronounced ren) The virtue of love and humanity; fellow-concern.
li
rule, principle, ceremony, ritual.
tao
The "suprarational" Way of both Heaven and Earth, according to the ancient Chinese teaching of Lao Tsu. The Tao though unknowable in thought is considered immanent in all things. With Confucius and Confucianists, tao seems to mean moral system or moral truth.
te
In classical Chinese philosophy, a thing's "virtue" in the sense of its deeply individual power and nature.
chi
A vital force important in Taoist mysticism
wu-wei
"non-action"; with Chuang Tzu and other Taoists, the principle of passive perfection, of perfect response as opposed to original action.