Pluralism - the doctrine that the world is composed of many things, the source of contrary processes. Cf. monism.
Positivism - a philosophical view which recognizes only those things that can be empirically verified, or known directly by observation.
Pragmatism - the notion that truth is the practical application of an idea; a theory which emphasizes the instrumental nature of the intellect and which sees the consummation of truth in direct, successful action. The earliest pragmatist philosophers were Americans: C.S. Peirce and William James among them.
Prolegomenon - (plural: prolegomena): a critical introduction to a thesis or work; prefatory remarks.
Realism - 1. The doctrine in epistemology that the external world exists independently of perception. 2. The view that universal ideas correspond to objective realities.
Relativism - See moral relativism.
Scholasticism - a philosophical movement of medieval times characterized chiefly by speculative thought, the merging of theological conceptions with metaphysical ones (as, say, in the work of Aquinas).
Socratic Method - An approach to teaching and philosophizing pioneered by Socrates (470-399 B.C.) which consists of asking a succession of questions. The aim is to expose some weakness or inadequacy in the thinking of the interrogated. The questions serve as an impetus for further study and reflection.
Specious - an argument that seems plausible but is in fact fallacious.
Subjective - existing in thought as opposed to the "external" world.
Theism - 1. belief in a God or Gods. 2. the view that God transcends the universe but is also, in some way, immanent in it.
Transcendental - that which is beyond the reach of the senses, of ordinary experience. [literally, "to climb over".]
Transcendentalism - 1. The philosophical disposition to look for truth within oneself, as against the conventions of culture or society. 2. A form of realist metaphysical thought, esp. in Plato, which sees Truth beyond the phenomenal, material world. 3. A part of Kantian philosophy in which real knowledge is achievable when one can transcend mere empiricism and ascertain the a priori. 4. A New England movement, associated most often with Ralph Waldo Emerson, that sought to express spiritual reality and the ideal, relying exclusively on intuition.
Utilitarianism - the moral philosphy of Epicurus, and much later, of Jeremy Bentham, James Mill, and John Stuart Mill, according to which actions are considered moral which contribute to the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people. "Good" is tantamount to "pleasure," "bad" with "pain". Contrast this view with deontological ethics.
Voluntarism - the doctrine that the will is the supreme force or factor in human conduct and in the universe; this perspective received its most influential articulation in Schopenhauer's philsophy.
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