Philosophical Concepts 1-24
23 entries in the Philosophical Concepts compendium.
A priori and a posterioriTwo categories of knowledge: independent of or dependent on experience.AbstractionProcess of generalizing rules from specific examples.AestheticsBranch of philosophy studying beauty, art, and taste.Analytic philosophyA style emphasizing analysis, logic, and the linguistic turn.ArgumentPremises directed toward a logical conclusion.BeliefA subjective attitude that something is true.Common senseA shared capacity for sound judgment, debated since Aristotle.ConceptFundamental cognitive units that classify entities and encode shared features.ConscienceCognitive process eliciting emotion based on moral philosophy or value system.ContradictionA proposition unconditionally false, central to logical proof.Critical thinkingAnalyzing facts and arguments to form rational judgments.DeterminismMetaphysical view that all events occur only one possible way.DialecticA method of reasoning through resolving contradictions.EmpiricismKnowledge derives from sensory experience and empirical evidence.EpistemologyPhilosophical study of knowledge, its sources, and its limits.EthicsPhilosophical study of moral phenomena and normative questions.ExistenceExistence is the state of being real, studied in ontology.ExperienceConscious events and the knowledge they produce.FactA fact is a true datum about a circumstance or occurrence.FallacyFaulty reasoning that renders an argument logically unsound.Free willA capacity for choice central to moral responsibility debates.HypothesisA proposed explanation requiring testable and reproducible prediction.IdealismReality is fundamentally mind, spirit, or consciousness.
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