Bulgaria DZI Philosophy key terms

The systematic, rational inquiry into fundamental questions about existence, knowledge, value, reason, and reality, pursued through argument and critical reflection rather than mere opinion or empirical measurement alone.

The branch of metaphysics that studies being as such: what exists, what categories of things there are, and what it means for something to be real.

The inquiry into the most general features of reality, including being, identity, causation, time, and necessity, often asking what lies beyond the reach of empirical science.

That which exists in its own right and underlies properties or changes, rather than depending on something else for its existence; a core notion in theories of what fundamentally is.

The status of something that exists or occurs but could have been otherwise; contrasted with necessity, where the opposite is impossible.

The metaphysical position that everything that exists is ultimately physical or material in nature, and that mental phenomena are either identical with or dependent on physical states.

The view that reality, or especially human beings, comprises two fundamentally distinct kinds of thing, typically mind and body, neither reducible to the other.

The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature, sources, scope, and limits of knowledge, including questions about belief, truth, and justification.

The reason or evidence that makes a belief rationally acceptable; in the standard analysis of knowledge, it is the component distinguishing mere true belief from knowledge.

The property of a statement or belief that consists in its corresponding to how things actually are, or otherwise meeting the correct standard of correctness for assertions.

The position that knowledge, or knowledge of some specified kind, is impossible or cannot be rationally justified, often supported by arguments that our evidence underdetermines our beliefs.

Descriptive of knowledge or justification that is independent of sensory experience, such as knowledge of logical or mathematical truths grasped through reason alone.

Descriptive of knowledge or justification that depends on sensory experience or empirical observation, as when we learn the temperature by feeling or measuring it.

The epistemological doctrine that all substantive knowledge derives from sensory experience, denying that reason alone can supply content about the world.

The epistemological doctrine that reason is a primary source of knowledge, capable of grasping truths independently of, or prior to, sensory experience.

A form of reasoning in which the conclusion follows necessarily from the premises, so that if the premises are true the conclusion cannot be false.

Reasoning that generalizes from observed cases to broader conclusions, or infers future cases from past ones, yielding conclusions that are probable rather than guaranteed.

The property of an argument whose conclusion follows logically from its premises, so that it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion false.

A deductive argument with two premises and a conclusion, typically structured in categorical form, in which the conclusion follows from the shared terms of the premises.

A criterion of scientific status holding that a hypothesis is scientific only if it forbids some observable occurrence and is therefore testable against experience.

In the philosophy of science, a shared framework of assumptions, methods, and exemplary achievements that defines a scientific community's problems and acceptable solutions during a period of normal science.

A method of inquiry through reasoned exchange, often proceeding by posing a claim, developing its tensions or contradictions, and arriving at a more adequate position.

A style of philosophical inquiry, associated with Socrates, that proceeds by persistent questioning to expose inconsistencies in an interlocutor's beliefs and to seek definitions.

The branch of philosophy that investigates the nature of the human being, asking what distinguishes persons from other beings and how freedom, reason, and embodiment relate.

The capacity of persons to act according to their own will or reasons, and the associated question of whether such capacity is compatible with causal determination.

The thesis that every event, including human choice, is necessitated by prior causes, so that given the past and the laws of nature there is only one possible future.

A family of views emphasizing that human existence precedes fixed essence, so individuals create meaning and values through choices made under conditions of uncertainty.

The branch of philosophy that examines moral concepts such as right, wrong, good, duty, and virtue, and seeks principles for how one ought to live and act.

Kant's supreme moral principle requiring that one act only on maxims that could be willed as universal law, and that persons be treated as ends, never merely as means.

An approach to morality that centers on the character traits of the agent, asking what kind of person one should become rather than which acts are permitted or forbidden.

Aristotle's term for human flourishing or living well, understood as the activity of the soul in accordance with virtue over a complete life, not merely a feeling of pleasure.

A theory that political authority and obligation derive from an agreement, real or hypothetical, among individuals to form a society and submit to common rules.

The principle governing the fair distribution of benefits, burdens, and rights within a society, and the proper treatment of persons by institutions and one another.

The sphere of voluntary associations, organizations, and public interaction that lies between the individual and the state, through which citizens pursue shared purposes.

The branch of philosophy that studies beauty, art, and aesthetic experience, asking what makes something art and what grounds judgments of taste.

In Aristotle's account of tragedy, the purgation or clarification of emotions such as pity and fear that spectators undergo through the dramatic representation of suffering.

A reasoned attempt to reconcile belief in an all-powerful, all-good God with the evident existence of evil and suffering in the world.

An argument for God's existence that reasons from the existence of the contingent universe, or its chain of causes, to a necessary or uncaused first cause.