D - Philosophy
The theory of biological evolution developed by English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce. See also History of evolutionary thought.[7]^
A type of Old Earth creationism, it is an effort to reconcile Creation as presented in Genesis with modern scientific theories on the age of the Universe. It holds that the six days referred to in Genesis are not ordinary 24-hour days, but are much longer periods, thus interpreting Genesis as cosmic evolution.
A school and a set of methods of textual criticism aimed at understanding the assumptions and ideas that form the basis for thought and belief. Also called "deconstruction", its central concern is a radical critique of the metaphysics of the Western philosophical tradition, in which it identifies a logicentrism or "metaphysics of presence" which holds that speech-thought (the logos) is a privileged, ideal, and self-present entity, through which all discourse and meaning derive. This logocentrism is the primary target of deconstruction.
A philosophy that holds that scientific inquiry proceeds by formulating a hypothesis in a form that could conceivably be falsified by a test on observable data.
The acceptance of and contentedness with defeat without struggle. In everyday use, defeatism has negative connotation, and is often linked to treason and pessimism. The term is commonly used in the context of war: a soldier can be a defeatist if he or she refuses to fight because he or she thinks that the fight will be lost for sure or that it is not worth fighting for some other reason. The term can also be used in other fields, like politics, sports, psychology and philosophy.
The view that reason, rather than revelation or tradition, should be the basis of belief in God. Deists reject both organized and revealed religion and maintain that reason is the essential element in all knowledge. For a "rational basis for religion" they refer to the cosmological argument (first cause argument), the teleological argument (argument from design), and other aspects of what was called natural religion. Deism has become identified with the classical belief that God created but does not intervene in the world, though this is not a necessary component of deism. A form of monotheism in which it is believed that one god exists. However, a deist rejects the idea that this god intervenes in the world. Hence any notion of special revelation is impossible, and the nature of god can only be known through reason and observation from nature. A deist thus rejects the miraculous, and the claim to knowledge made for religious groups and texts.
A transhumanist philosophy that is generally socially progressive. It also encompasses radical democratic political views.
An ethical theory considered solely on duty and rights, where one has an unchanging moral obligation to abide by a set of defined principles. Thus, the ends of any action never justify the means in this ethical system. If someone were to do their moral duty, then it would not matter if that duty had negative consequences. Because of this reasoning, consequentialism is sometimes considered the philosophical antithesis of deontologism.
Also called the descriptivist theory of names.
A view of the nature of the meaning and reference of proper names, generally attributed to Gottlob Frege and Bertrand Russell. The theory consists essentially of the idea that the meanings of names are identical to the descriptions associated with them by speakers, while their referents are determined to be the objects that satisfy these descriptions.
The philosophical proposition that every event, including human cognition, decision, and action, is causally determined by an unbroken chain of prior occurrences.
The view that ideas and arguments can only exist as matter and that the subconscious protohuman does not exist. It is often considered the philosophical basis of Marxism.
A metaphysical doctrine according to which there are true contradictions.
A direct realist view that rejects the existence of some sense data.
A cooperative economic theory in which productive property is distributed among all individuals, rather than being held by the state or in common (as in socialism) or by the few (as in capitalism).
A belief or doctrine or philosophical position established by a religion, ideology, philosophical movement, or any kind of organization held to be authoritative and above dispute or doubt such that it is not to be diverged from. A dogmatic position is "established" only according to a particular point of view, and therefore of doubtful foundation.
A set of beliefs that begins with the claim that the mental and the physical have a fundamentally different nature. It is contrasted with varying kinds of monism, including materialism and phenomenalism. Dualism is one answer to the mind-body problem. Pluralism holds that there are even more kinds of events or things in the world.
A cosmological framework developed by Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716). The idea behind Dynamism in metaphysical cosmology is that the material world can be explained in terms of active, point-like forces, with no extension but with action at a distance. Dynamism describes that which exists as simple elements, or for Leibniz, Monads, and groups of elements that have only the essence of forces. It was developed as a reaction against the passive view of matter in philosophical mechanism.