Key Philosophical Concepts and Definitions
History
Human life is not merely vegetative or sensitive. It is not a simple fact, chore, task, event, or something that merely happens and develops; it is, therefore, essentially historical. Ortega y Gasset states that “man has no nature but has a history.” Man is fundamentally a project directed toward the future, but rooted in a past. Man is never final but is always becoming.
The historical character of human life implies responsibility and authenticity. To be in the process of becoming is to be forced to choose from one’s circumstances. One is responsible for their choices. It is also vital that this project conforms to what one truly is.
Horizon
The horizon is the line that limits the visible land area, where the sky appears to meet the earth. In a more rigorous philosophical sense, the term “horizon” refers to the scope of “the magnitude of skills and knowledge for the subject.” Twentieth-century philosophy, particularly phenomenology and related schools, has extensively developed the term “horizon” to refer to the self and the surrounding world. The horizon encompasses the set of possibilities presented to an individual. It is the limit of all things, real or imagined, that constitute the world. However, unlike the world, the horizon is open and mobile, not closed and fixed.
Illusive
Fictitious, devoid of reality, invented by the subject.
Individual
That which is undivided and indivisible.
Immanent
Opposite of transcendent. It refers to any activity that remains within the agent performing the task. It applies to everything that is contained within itself. Ortega applies the term “immanent” to the field of biology because the biological existence of each individual (bodily development) begins and ends with the individual, not extending beyond it.
Insaculation
The action of putting ballots, cards with numbers, or names of people or things into a bag, jar, or urn, and then drawing one or more at random.
Inveterate
Old, deeply rooted.
Litigant, Litigate
Litigation; to prosecute a dispute over something.
Malebranche
A Cartesian philosopher (1638-1715), born in Paris, who synthesized Cartesian and Augustinian thought. He is known for his defense of two theories: ontologism and occasionalism. Regarding occasionalism, Malebranche argued that the relationship between soul and body, which are two completely different substances, occurs through divine intervention. It is not the soul that directly moves the body, but God, on the occasion of the soul’s desire. Conversely, it is not the body that conveys a sensation to the soul, but God, on the occasion of the body’s condition. Body movements and changes in the soul are merely occasions for divine action. Concerning ontologism, Malebranche stated that the soul knows the ideas of things not from the things themselves, but directly from God. Ideas are modifications of the soul, and as changes in the soul are occasional causes of divine action, we see the ideas of things in God.
World
In a broad sense, “world” means the set of all things. In a more rigorous philosophical sense, it means the totality of things that surround an individual and make sense to them. In a way, each person, each era, and each culture has its own world. Because this is a set endowed with a certain organization, the world appears to us as closed and fixed, but it can, in fact, change if the subject’s intentions change.
Drowsiness
A state of mental obscurity; perceiving something as if through a cloud.