Nominalism

Any view which analyzes a given subject-matter in terms of words or language, derived from the Latin ‘nomen’ meaning ‘name’, ‘term’ or ‘word’. A nominalist view of universals (see Platonism) says they are neither substantive realities (realism) nor mental concepts (conceptualism). Rather, they are simply words which we apply to a group of objects; the

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Non-cognitivism

Theory that there is no such thing as knowledge of truths in a certain sphere because there are no such truths to be known. The sphere normally intended by the term is ethics, and non-cognitivists adopt a speech act theory when analyzing what appear to be moral or value statements, emotivism and prescriptivism are forms of non-cognitivism, while descriptivism is a form

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No-ownership theory of the mind

Theory that states of consciousness exist in their own right and are not owned by some substantive entity such as a mind, a person, or even a body (or brain). The theory fits with a bundle theory of the self. Source: P F Strawson, Individuals (1959), ch. 3; critical Ownership is the state or fact of exclusive

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Objective idealism

Associated with Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel(1770-1831) and his followers, notably in England Francis Herbert Bradley (1846-1924). Also see: coherence-theory-of-truth.php. This is a form of idealism whereby reality, though mental or spiritual, does not depend on the human mind in particular but comprises a single spiritual entity: the absolute (hence the name ‘absolute idealism’ also given to this view). Reality is

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Objectivism

Any theory saying of a given subject-matter that it contains objects existing independently of human beliefs or attitudes, or that there are similarly independent truths in the area, or that there are methods of studying the area and arriving at truths within it which are not arbitrary and do not depend on the approach

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Objectivism (2)

Ayn Rand named her philosophy “Objectivism” and described it as a philosophy for living on earth. Objectivism is an integrated system of thought that defines the abstract principles by which a man must think and act if he is to live the life proper to man. Ayn Rand first portrayed her philosophy in the form

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Occasionalism

The idea is attributed to Louis de la Forge (1632-1666) in his Treatise on the Spirit of Man (1665), but the chief occasionalist was Nicolas Malebranche(1638-1715). Also see: psychophysical-parallelism.php and pre-established harmony. Occasionalism says that there is only one true cause, God, who causes what seem to be effects to appear on the occasions when what

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One over many principle

Principle which expresses the motivation underlying Plato’s theory of forms and similar doctrines. Where there are a number of objects of the same kind, or sharing a single property, it seems that there must be a single something which is this kind or property, and which therefore gets treated as an abstract non-material substance. Strictly, the

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Ontology

Generally, either the study of being, or a particular theory of what there is (as in ‘Smith’s ontology contains classes but not propositions’, meaning that Smith believes there are such things as classes but not such things as propositions). More specifically, part of the logical system underpinning the mereology of Polish logician Stanislaw Lesniewski (1886-1939). The

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Operationalism / operationism

Theory due to American physicist Percy Williams Bridgman (1882-1961) and saying that scientific concepts must be defined in terms of the operations by which they are measured or applied. The theory is akin to the verifiability principle in its strongest form, identifying meaning with method of verification; but applies to concepts rather than sentences or propositions,

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Organicism

A version of (or perhaps little more than an alternative name for) holism, emphasizing the analogy with living organisms, whose parts only are what they are because of, and can only be understood in terms of, their contributions to the whole. Also see: organic unities Organicism is the philosophical position which states that the universe and its

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Principle of organic unities

Principle that a whole may have a value which is different from, and not predictable on the basis of, the values of its parts. The attractiveness, for example, of a picture cannot normally be predicted from that of each color-patch taken separately. The principle was made much of by George Edward Moore (1873-1958), who distinguished his

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Origins of life (Antiquity- )

The theory or theories that seek to explain how biomolecules, subcellular structures, and ultimately living cells came into existence. Many myths, stories and hypotheses have been proposed. Some are still under investigation, while others remain contested or persist as statements of religious faith. Also see: DYNAMIC STATE THEORY, ‘LITTLE BAGS’ THEORY OF EVOLUTION, MINERAL

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Orphism

Name for a complex strand in Ancient Greek religious thought, contrasting with the more familiar strand of the Olympian deities (Zeus, Apollo, and so on). A body of religious writings from the 7th and succeeding centuries BC was attributed to the mythical singer Orpheus and his followers. In Classical times, Orphic ideas were connected

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Panpsychism

Literally, ‘all-soulism’. The view that matter is intrinsically alive, or is made up from basic entities which are so. Various forms of such a view are found in the philosophies of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716), Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), and John McTaggart Ellis McTaggart (1866-1925) among others. Also see: hylozoism Overview Etymology For a definition of the word “panpsychism”,

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Pantheism

Literally, ‘all-godism’. The view that God and the universe are identical; or that there is no transcendent God outside the universe who created it, but the universe itself is divine. Among philosophers, Baruch de Spinoza (1632-1677) is a prominent exponent of such a view, and it appears also in Stoicism. The term itself was coined in 1705

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Paraconsistency

View that there are important paraconsistent logical theories; that is theories that do not allow (as classical logic does: see relevance logics) that a contradiction has every proposition among its logical consequences. A system which contains contradictory proposition is inconsistent. But if it does not also contain every proposition (as it would for classical logic)

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Paradigmatism

View that where one or more objects are of a certain kind or have a certain property, this is to be explained by postulating a non-material abstract entity to serve as a paradigm of which they are copies; in other words, universals (see Platonism) are to be regarded as (or replaced by) paradigms. The term

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Principle of parsimony

Also called Ockham’s Razor. Principle that one should not multiply entities unnecessarily, or make further assumptions than are needed, and in general that one should pursue the simplest hypothesis. Adoption of this principle, though seemingly obvious, leads to problems about the role of simplicity in science, especially when we are choosing between hypotheses that are

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Particularism

The view that only particulars exist, and more specifically that the properties and relations of particulars are themselves particulars, not universals (see Platonism). A particular has a certain unity in space and time. It cannot appear as a whole at separated places simultaneously (though its parts may be scattered, as when an object is dismantled

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