Philosophy Vocabulary

The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and appreciation of art, beauty and good taste.

The branch of philosophy that studies valuation within ethics and aesthetics.

The doctrine that all actions are determined by the current state and immutable laws of the universe, with no possibility of choice.

A doctrine which holds that the only or, at least, the most reliable source of human knowledge is experience, especially perception by means of the physical senses.

The branch of philosophy that studies the nature, origin, and limits of human knowledge.

The branch of philosophy that studies principles relating to right and wrong conduct.

A twentieth-century philosophical movement emphasizing the uniqueness of each human existence in freely making its self-defining choices.

The branch of philosophy that studies argumentation and reason.

In its strictest sense, the doctrine that holds that absolutely everything — even things we normally think of as physical — is mental.

The branch of philosophy that studies reality and being.

The doctrine that some skills or abilities are innate and not learned.

The doctrine that the world can be understood in scientific terms without recourse to spiritual or supernatural explanations.

A philosophy that attempts to define all scientific concepts in terms of specified operations or procedures of observation and measurement.

The philosophical doctrine that abstract concepts exist independent of their names.

The branch of philosophy that studies government.

The idea that beliefs are identified with the actions of a believer, and the truth of beliefs with success of those actions in securing a believer's goals; the doctrine that ideas must be looked at in terms of their practical effects and consequences.

The doctrine that (since certainty is unattainable) probability is a sufficient basis for belief and action.

The doctrine that knowledge is acquired by reason without resort to experience.

The theory, especially in ethics or aesthetics, that conceptions of truth and moral values are not absolute but are relative to the persons or groups holding them.

A philosophical theory of the functions of signs and symbols.

The idea that the self is all that exists or that can be proven to exist.

A school of philosophy popularized during the Roman Empire that emphasized reason as a means of understanding the natural state of things, or logos, and as a means of freeing oneself from emotional distress.

The doctrine that knowledge and value are dependent on and limited by your subjective experience.

The study of the purpose or design of natural occurrences.

The doctrine that life involves some immaterial "vital force", and cannot be explained scientifically.