Associationism - a theory of knowledge propounded by thinkers such as Condillac in France and James Mill in England which holds that nearly all thought processes are governed by association (e.g., cause and effect, resemblance and difference, contiguity). Associationism has influenced the modern theory of conditioning and learning; it is opposed by those who believe the mind can freely create arbitrary images.
Ataraxia - a tranquil and calm state of mind.
Atheism - the belief that God does not exist.
Atman - in Hindu religion, the individual soul, in contrast to Brahman.
Atomism - the theory, as set forth by philosophers such as Democritus, that physical objects consist of minute, indivisible particles moving in a void.
Attribute - in Spinozistic philosophy (Benedict Spinoza, 1632-1677), one of the infinite aspects of Reality, such as matter or thought.
Averroism - the philosophical system of Averroes, an important medieval philosopher and contemporary of Thomas Aquinas (see Thomism). Averroes denied the immortality of the soul but thought reason to be eternal and transcultural.
Axiology - the study of values and the nature of value judgments.
Axiom - a statement that is true by definition or so obviously true that it needn't be proved. In logic, an assumption used as an unquestioned basis for a theory.
Behaviorism - a psychological theory that stresses the importance of studying overt behavior and denies the legitimacy of introspective reports of consciousness. Behaviorists see mental activities (emotions, dreams, pains) as having no scientific value.
Brahman - in Hindu religion, the power that sustains the cosmos and the soul (atman).
Buddhism - a religion of various sects (e.g., Zen, Mahayana) founded sometime in the 6th century B.C. by Siddhartha Gautama (the Enlightened One) which teaches that suffering is part of existence and that the extinction of separate consciousness is prerequisite to enlightenment. (Useful commentaries on Buddhism can be found in the highly regarded works of Christmas Humphreys, D.T. Suzuki, and Alan Watts.)
Calvinism - a religious offshoot of Protestantism known for its doctrine of predestination (the idea that every individual is predestined to either damnation or salvation).
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