MATSEC AM Philosophy key terms

Knowledge or justification that does not depend on sensory experience, such as basic logical truths or mathematical axioms grasped by reason alone.

Knowledge or justification that depends on sensory experience or empirical evidence, such as the finding that water boils at 100°C at sea level.

A statement whose truth follows from the meanings of its terms alone, so denying it produces a contradiction, for example that all bachelors are unmarried.

A statement whose truth or falsity depends on how the world actually is, beyond the meanings of its terms, for example that all swans are white.

A property of arguments where, if the premises are true, the conclusion cannot be false; validity concerns form rather than the actual truth of premises.

A property of arguments that are deductively valid and also have premises that are actually true, so the conclusion is guaranteed to be true.

The structure of an argument or sentence abstracted from its specific content, such as modus ponens, which determines whether inferences are valid.

A valid argument form: if P then Q; P; therefore Q. Affirming the antecedent guarantees the consequent follows.

A valid argument form: if P then Q; not Q; therefore not P. Denying the consequent forces denial of the antecedent.

A common pattern of reasoning that appears persuasive but is logically invalid or otherwise unreliable, such as begging the question or attacking the person.

A specific case in which the premises of an argument are true but the conclusion is false, used to demonstrate that the argument form is invalid.

A circumstance that must hold for something else to occur; without it the outcome is impossible, though it may not be sufficient on its own.

A circumstance whose presence guarantees that something else occurs, even if other conditions could also bring that outcome about.

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

The traditional analysis of knowledge as a belief that is true and supported by adequate justification, though Gettier cases challenge its sufficiency.

A challenge to the justified true belief analysis, presenting cases where a person has justified true belief yet intuitively lacks knowledge because justification is luckily connected to truth.

The view that knowledge, or knowledge of some domain, is impossible or unjustified, often supported by arguments that our evidence cannot rule out error.

Descartes' method of suspending judgement on anything that could conceivably be false, in order to find an indubitable foundation for knowledge.

Descartes' claim 'I think, therefore I am', offered as a truth that survives radical doubt because doubting itself presupposes a thinking subject.

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

The doctrine that reason, independent of experience, can yield substantive knowledge of reality, often via innate ideas or self-evident principles.

The branch of philosophy investigating the most general features of reality, including existence, identity, causation, time and the nature of substances.

The study of what exists and the categories of being, asking questions such as whether numbers, properties or possible worlds are real.

In metaphysics, a basic entity that exists in its own right and supports properties or attributes, rather than depending on something else for its existence.

The view that reality, or human nature, comprises two fundamentally distinct kinds of thing, classically mind and body or mental and physical substance.

The metaphysical view that everything that exists is physical or entirely composed of physical entities, so mental states are physical states.

The thesis that every event, including human choices, is caused by prior conditions so that only one future is possible given the past and laws of nature.

The capacity of agents to choose or act without being wholly constrained by external causes, grounding claims about moral responsibility.

The position that determinism and free will are compatible, reinterpreting freedom as acting according to one's own desires without external coercion.

The question of what makes a person the same individual over time, answered by criteria such as bodily continuity, memory or psychological connectedness.

The branch of philosophy examining moral concepts and judgements, including what makes actions right or wrong and what makes lives good.

The part of ethics that develops and defends substantive standards for right action, such as consequentialist, deontological or virtue-based theories.

The study of the nature and status of moral language and judgement, asking whether moral claims can be true and what grounds them.

A consequentialist theory holding that an action is right insofar as it maximises overall welfare or happiness for all affected parties.

The family of ethical theories judging actions solely by their outcomes, so the right action is the one producing the best overall results.

An ethical approach holding that certain acts are right or wrong in themselves, independent of consequences, grounded in duties or rules.

Kant's supreme moral principle commanding unconditionally, notably that one should act only on maxims one could will as universal law.

An approach centred on character traits and flourishing rather than rules or outcomes, asking what a virtuous person would do.

Aristotle's term for human flourishing or living well, the ultimate goal of ethical life achieved through exercising virtues over a complete life.

The metaethical view that there are moral facts or truths that hold independently of what anyone believes or feels about them.

An argument claiming that the existence of suffering is incompatible, or in tension, with an all-powerful, all-knowing and perfectly good God.

The challenge of reconciling belief in a good, omnipotent deity with the evident reality of suffering and wrongdoing in the world.

An attempt to justify God's permitting evil, for example by appeal to free will, soul-making or a greater good that requires suffering.

An a priori argument for God's existence reasoning from the concept of a greatest conceivable being to the claim that such a being must exist.

An argument inferring God's existence from the existence of the universe, typically by requiring a first cause or sufficient reason for contingency.

An argument for God's existence from apparent design or purpose in nature, often using analogies such as a watch and a watchmaker.

The position that whether God exists is unknown or currently unknowable, so belief and disbelief should both be suspended.

The position that there is no God or that belief in God is false, as distinct from mere absence of belief.