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Philosophy 101 Test 2 Vocab
Vocabulary terms for chapters 9-18 in Telecourse Study Guide
39
Philosophy
Undergraduate 1
11/16/2009

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Term

Absolute Theories of Time

(Chapter 9)

Definition
View that time exists independently of things and would pass even if nothing was happening in the universe
Term

Special Theory of Relativity

(Chapter 9)

Definition

-Einstein's theory

-Concerns space/tikme and the claim that all of the laws of physics are equally valid in all nonaccelerated frames of reference;light has a constant speed and these have the consequences that the mass of an object increases as it approaches the speed of light and time slows in reference to other frames of reference

Term

General Theory of Relativity

(Chapter 9)

Definition

-Einstein's theory

-an extension of the special theory of realtivity to a geometric theory of gravitation with the principle that gravitational and inertial forces are equivalent

Term

Flow Theory of Time

(Chapter 9)

Definition
View that time is in motion and that moments of time, like water in a river, flow from the varyingly distant future into the present then recede into the more and more distant past
Term

Incompatible

(Chapter 9)

Definition
Two claims are said to be incompatible when it is not possible for both of them to be simultaneously true though they could both be simultaneously false
Term

Newtonian Physics

(Chapter 9)

Definition
Typically having to do with the theories of motion and universal graviation described by Isaac Newton
Term

Paradox

(Chapter 9)

Definition
When two apparently justified beliefs are seen to be incompatible or inconsistent
Term

Relational Theories of Time

(Chapter 9)

Definition
The view that time could not exist independently of the existence of changing things and thus time should be conceived of as a kind of dimension of changing things
Term

Twin Paradox

(Chapter 9)

Definition
Generated from the special theory of relativity in which twins are no longer the same age.  The different ages of twins results from one twin traveling away from earth at a highly accelerated speed.  Since this accelerated and thus different reference frame, according to theory, will have time slow in relationship to the reference frame on earth, the traveling twin will age slower than the earth twin
Term

Agnosticism

(Chapter 10)

Definition
The view that sufficient of persuasive evidence has not been given to atheism
Term

Atheism

(Chapter 10)

Definition
The view that sufficient or persuasive evidence has been given to believe that God does not exist
Term

Law of Inertia

(Chapter 10)

Definition
An object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an external force and a body at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an external force
Term

Ontology

(Chapter 10)

Definition
Area of study within metaphysics forcused primarily upon the nature of being and existence
Term

Ontological Argument

(Chapter 10)

Definition
An argument that appears to prove  God's existence based upon our idea of God
Term

Principle of Sufficient

(Chapter 10)

Definition
Also called: principle of universal explanation
Term

Principle of Universal Explanation

(Chapter 10)

Definition
The claim that for every positive fact of existence there is some, at least one, explanation for its existence
Term

Theism

(Chapter 10)

Definition
The belief in a God or many gods or that God is everything (pantheism)
Term

Theologian

(Chapter 10)

Definition
Systematic study of the nature and existence of God or gods
Term

Epilepsy

(Chapter 11)

Definition
A disorder of the nervous system characterized either by mild episodic loss of attention or sleepiness or by severe convulsions with loss of consciousness
Term

Ethical Test in Mysticism

(Chapter 11)

Definition
A test that determines the validity of a person's mystical experiences by whether they make the person a morally better person
Term

Extrovertive Mystical Experiences

(Chapter 11)

Definition
A sense of the world around one being transfigured and transformed giving the individual the experience of all distinctions becoming one
Term

Introvertive Mystical Experiences

(Chapter 11)

Definition
A sense of one entering into "the deepest and darkest part of oneself, detaching oneslef from one's ordinary state of consciousness."
Term

Mystical Experience

(Chapter 11)

Definition
An enraptured and indescribable state of union with a higher reality or with God
Term

Mysticism

(Chapter 11)

Definition
A tradition which focuses upon the study of and/or the having of a unique experience called a mystical experience
Term

Principle of credulity

(Chapter 11)

Definition
the view that mystical experiences should be taken at their face value when we have no positive reason to doubt them
Term

Axioms

(Chapter 12)

Definition
A proposition or truth claim held to be self-evidently true and so neither requiring nor capable of proof
Term

Contingent Truths

(Chapter 12)

Definition
Truth claims that we are descried by some philosophers as being true in a particular context or dependent upon at least one world but not all worlds.  Thus, if it is a contingent truth that there is an apple on my desk, it is contingent since there are other circumstances or worlds where it is false that there is an apple on my desk
Term

Empiricsm

(Chapter 12)

Definition
the view that all of our ideas come from experience and that no belief about any matter of fact can be known independently of experience
Term

Geometry

(Chapter 12)

Definition
The mathematical study of the properties and relationships of points, lines, angles, surfaces, and solids
Term

Innate Ideas

(Chapter 12)

Definition
The actual having or the disposition to aquire ideas or concepts such as being, substance, duration, and even God in some cases
Term

Law of Inertia

(Chapter 12)

Definition
According to Galileo and Newton, a nautral law describing hte fact that an object at rest will remain at rest, while an object in motion will remain in motion
Term

Necessary Truths

(Chapter 12)

Definition
Truth claims that are described by some philosophers as being universally true, or true in all possible worlds
Term

Proof

(Chapter 12)

Definition
A blief or set of beliefs or propositions that are offered in support of the truth of claim of another belief or proposition.  Also the act of giving reasons to believe
Term

Properties

(Chapter 12)

Definition
A quality or attribute of a thing or substance that cannot exist independent of some substance.  Example: color and beauty
Term

Pure Reasoning

(Chapter 12)

Definition
As used in this episode, it means to think or understand independent of sensory experience
Term

Rationalism

(Chapter 12)

Definition
The view that the mind has "innate" ideas or powers and that by means of this knowledge, matters of fact or reality can be had independent of sensory input
Term

Tabulara Rasa

(Chapter 12)

Definition
Literally, "the blank tablet;" philosophically, a description most often associated with empricists' views of the "empty" or "blank" mind prior to experience furnishing the mind with impressions or ideas
Term

Theorems

(Chapter 12)

Definition
Propositions or truth claims that are typically deduced using logical rules from a set or anxioms or first principles
Term

Theory

(Chapter 12)

Definition
A general and/or abstract proposition used to explain a sest of phenomena or to give an account of a confirmed hypothesis
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