Philosophical Concepts: Definitions and Explanations

Philosophical Concepts

• Abstraction

  Intellectual process that involves extracting the common properties of a series of objects.

• Accidental Property

  Quality that completes or perfects an object or being.

• Acculturation

  Process by which the members of a culture incorporate the features of a different culture.

• Aesthetic Attitude

  The way in which a person looks at a work of art.

• Aesthetic Experience

  Experience that takes place when an individual is in the presence of an aesthetic object.

• Aesthetic Judgement

  To give an aesthetic quality to an object.

• Aesthetic Object

  Perceived to have aesthetic qualities.

• Aesthetic Taste

  Human ability to detect the artistic value of a work of art.

• Aesthetics

  Philosophical discipline which deals with beauty in humans.

• Alienation

  Marx said, in capitalist societies workers are not owners of their work, they are being dispossessed of their most authentic selves.

• Analysis

  Rational procedure that involves breaking something complex down into its simple parts.

• Antecedent

  Statement preceding the connective, regardless of whether.

• Anthropocentrism

  Doctrine that positions human beings at the centre of philosophical reflection.

• Anthropologic Dualism

  Claims that all living beings are made up of two realities.

• Anthropomorphism

  Attribution of human characteristics and properties.

• Appearance

  External look of something.

• Arche

  According to the first ancient Greek philosophers, this substance originated everything found in nature.

• Argumentation

  Oral or written exposition in which reasons are given in order to defend a particular position.

• Art

  Human activity that aims to achieve an aesthetic purpose.

• Atomic Proposition

  Simple statement that cannot be divided further without losing meaning.

• Authority

  Ability of certain people or social institutions to influence and direct other people using orders.

• Beauty

  Aesthetic quality found in natural and man-made objects.

• Being

  Leaves aside any specific quality that can be used to specify its meaning.

• Big Bang Theory (BBT)

  This cosmological theory states that the universe began at a particular point in time.

• Bipedalism

  Anatomical and morphological change undergone by certain hominid species.

• Body

  The body is the visible, material entity that humans possess.

• Bravery

  Ethical term used to describe the virtue.

• Business Ethics

  Moral reflection in a business context.

• Business Philosophy

  Discipline that deals with the business world in a philosophical manner.

• Business Project

  Strategic decisions and actions to reach an object.

• Butterfly Effect

  Small change in an initial scenario.

• Capitalism

  System of economic and social organization based on private ownership.

• Categorimatic Term

  Word or element of language that has meaning on its own.

• Casual Law

  Scientific law that establishes a relationship between phenomena.

• Chance

  Event that occurs in a random manner.

• Chaos Theory

  Universe as a dynamic system.

• Character

  Behavior of a human.

• Code of Ethics

  Document compiling a set of norms.

• Coherence

  Logical relationship between a system of propositions.

• Common Good

  Good and beneficial for all members of a human society.

• Concept

  Mental representation of a reality.

• Conditional

  Links two statements.

• Conjunction

  Joins two statements.

• Consciousness

  Mental activity that enables humans to be aware of their existence.

• Consensus

  Agreement reached by several people in relation to a question or problem.

• Cosmology

  Discipline that studies the universe.

• Creativity

  Ability to create.

• Criticism

  Epistemological doctrine that maintains that knowledge is the combined result of experience.

• Culture

  Complex group of products.

• Death

  Loss of all the characteristics of living.

• Deism

  Philosophical doctrine of God the creator.

• Democracy

  System of government in which the responsibility belongs to the political community.

• Deontological Ethics

  Discourse around the notion of duty.

• Deontology

  Discipline that studies the responsibilities related to existence.

• Dignity

  Quality found in human beings, rational and free.

• Dispositio

  Organization of different elements that compose a discourse.

• Dystopia

  Type of utopia society, not a perfect model.