Fundamental Terms in Mind, Behavior, and Evolution
Intelligence
The faculty unique to human beings that allows them to abstract from their immediate environment, contemplate the world, and strive to understand it.
Rationale
Derived from the Latin word logos (knowledge, science, reason), rationale refers to the provision for natural discourse without the aid of formal scientific methods.
Ethology
The scientific study of animal behavior in their natural environment.
Reason
The faculty of understanding and forming discourse.
Conscience
The inner awareness that distinguishes between right and wrong, guiding us to do good and avoid evil.
Unconscious
A set of behaviors performed without conscious awareness, thought, intention, or knowledge of their underlying motivation.
Unconsciousness
A state in which an individual lacks awareness of the precise scope of their words and actions; a general lack of awareness.
Censorship
The act of noting, correcting, or rectifying something, often by suppressing or altering objectionable parts.
Ideal of Self
A moral stance or set of internalized standards, often formed during early childhood, that defines one’s aspirations and values.
Psychic Conflict
Inner unrest and confusion that can manifest in or contribute to certain human psychological conditions, such as neurosis or psychosis.
Instinct
An internal stimulus that drives unlearned actions or behaviors, common to all individuals of the same species, and resulting from evolutionary adaptation.
Psychism
The totality of an individual’s psychic characteristics and functions.
Affect
A set of phenomena related to emotions, including feelings like love, affection, and other emotional states.
Rationalization
The action or effect of reducing something to rational standards and concepts (based on reason).
Gregariousness
The tendency to associate with a group, identifying with it and often acting in accordance with the majority.
Fanaticism
The excessive and passionate zeal of a fanatic, often characterized by over-zealous support for religious beliefs or opinions.
Dualism
A philosophical and religious system that explains the origin of the universe through the interaction of two distinct and opposing principles.
Materialism
A philosophical doctrine that accepts only material substance as real, denying spirituality and the immortality of the human soul.
Spiritualism
A philosophical system that upholds the spiritual essence and immortality of the soul, standing in opposition to materialism.
Behaviorism
A psychological doctrine based solely on the observation of behavior for scientific study.
Functionalism (Psychology)
A psychological doctrine that reduces the mind to a set of functions originating from the brain (a view defended by Aristotle).
Emergentism
A psychological doctrine that views the mind as an emergent phenomenon resulting from the increasing organization of matter.
Functionalism (Philosophy of Mind)
An attitude or theory that posits the mind is not a substance but rather a set of brain functions.
Philosophical Anthropology
The branch of philosophy that investigates humanity as the transcendental horizon of knowledge.
Creationism
A doctrine that asserts the world was created ex nihilo (out of nothing) by the free will of God.
Fixism
A doctrine (derived from the Greek concept that the world is eternal) which posits that species were not created but are fixed and unchanging.
Lamarckism
An evolutionary conception stating that the evolution of species is due to the development of organs based on needs, conditioned by environmental change (the principle that ‘function creates the organ’), and the inheritance of acquired characteristics.
Natural Selection
The mechanism by which the environment selects, in each case, the individuals best adapted for survival and reproduction.
Synthetic Theory of Evolution
An evolutionary conception that posits evolution is fundamentally the result of interactions between mutations and natural selection.
Reductionism
The desire to demonstrate the genetic determinants of all social behavior (both in animals and humans), effectively reducing sociology (and social phenomena) to genetics.
Anthropic Principle
The principle suggesting that nature evolved in a way that enabled the appearance of humans, implying humanity as a real goal of this cosmic process.
Anthropocentrism
The philosophical viewpoint that places humanity at the center of the universe, asserting its primacy over all other species.
Bipedalism
A process consisting of a series of successive changes that led our ancestors to walk on two legs, thereby freeing their forelimbs and facilitating their use for handling tools.
Encephalization
A significant and rapid increase in brain size, a key process in hominization.