The following is a selection of terms used in this book, gathered here
for quick reference. For more information on each of them, please refer
to the relevant index entry.
-
Behaviourism the view that the mind can be understood
in temis of physical activity
-
Blik a particular way of seeing something, used especiaily of religious
language
-
Categorical imperative sense of moral obligation;
the basis of Kant's moral argument for the existence of God
-
Cosmological (arguments) arguments for the existence of God, based
on observation of the world
-
Deconstruction the process of examining a text in
the context of the linguistic and social structures within which it was
put together (see also structuralism)
-
Deductive argument an argument based on logical principles, rather
than on the assessment of evidence
-
Dualism the view that mind and matter are distinct and separate
(of importance for the mind/body probiem, but also for epistemology)
-
Empiricism a theory of knowledge based on sense
experience
-
Epiphenomenalism the theory that the mmd is a product of complex
physical processes
-
Epistemology the theory of knowledge
-
Idealism the claim that the world, as we experience it, is fundamentally
mental.
-
Inductive method the process of coming to a conclusion
based on the assessment of evidence
-
Interactionism the general term for theories of the mmd in which
mmd and body are distinct (dualism) but interact
-
Intuitive knowledge direct knowledge which is not the result of
conscious reasoning or experience
-
Materialism reality is material (for example the
self' is a way of describing the body and its actions)
-
Metaphysics the study of theories concerning the nature, structure
and general characteristics of reality
-
Modernism a general term for the self-conscious approach to philosophy
and the arts, developed particularly in the first half of the 20th century.
-
Natural selection Darwin's theory of evolution,
by which only the strongest examples of a species survive to breed
-
Numinous the 'holy', beyond rational definition (term used by Rudolph
Otto)
-
Ontological (argument) argument for the existence
of God, based simply on a proposed definition of God and independent of
evidence
-
Panentheism belief that God exists within everything
(implied by theism, but not the same as pantheism)
-
Pantheism the idea that God is identical with the material universe
-
Phenomenology the study of what people actually experience (a theory
developed by Husserl)
-
Postmodernism a modern, 'continental' approach to philosophy and
the arts, rejecting the modernist concept of a self-conscious, authentic,
creative self in favour of a direct appreciation of symbols and texts in
their cultural context (see also structuralism)
-
Pragmatism the idea that a theory should be assessed according to
its practical use, its implications for other areas of knowledge and its
coherence with other beliefs
-
Rationalism the theory that all knowledge is based
on, and shaped by, the process of thinking
-
Reductionism the tendency to reduce everything to its component
parts; the 'nothing but' view of complex things
-
Schema a cluster of rational terms by which the
'holy' is understood and described (the process is called schematisation')
-
Structuralism an approach to philosophy, developed within the 'continental'
school in the second half of the 2Oth century, which interprets the meaning
of a text, a word or an idea in the context of the structures of thought
within which it is found
-
Theism belief in the existence of God
-
Utilitarianism the ethical theory that evaluates
actions in temis of their predicted results ('the greatest good to the
greatest number')
-
Verification checking the validity of a statement,
used especially of logical positivist and other empirical approaches to
language
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