What does a complete list of general philosophical terms consist of?

March 7, 2007 5:46 PM

Would you consider this list of philosophical terms relatively comprehensive for lay persons seeking a general overview?

I want to create a glossary of philosophical terms. The glossary is intended for a book that is not written by philosophers, nor is it for an audience of philosophers. The glossary is meant as a very broad overview for a curious layperson with generalized curiousity about philosophy. I have a list I've assembled that is most definitely incomplete. I am curious to see what you would add to it. Feel free to provide a short definition along with your term, should you like to do so.

The list so far:

aesthetics

analytic philosophy

atomism

Cartesianism

conceptualism

cosmology

critical philosophy

Cynicism

deduction

deontology

dialectic

empiricism

Epicureanism

epistemology

ethics

existentialism

humanism

idealism

induction

inference

logic

logical positivism

metaphysics

monism

Neoplatonism

objectivism

ontology

phenomenalism

Platonism

positivism

pragmatism

rationalism

realism

relativism

scholasticism

Sophistry

Stoicism

subjectivism

Thomism

posted by The Straightener to Religion & Philosophy (28 answers total)

Best answer: maybe 'Continental philosophy' to contrast it with analytic (unless that pops up somewhere else with a different name)
posted by phaedon at 5:49 PM on March 7, 2007

id also suggest 'ergon' - maybe a little too general?
posted by phaedon at 5:51 PM on March 7, 2007

how about eliminative materialism. not quite as popular a heavy-weight like "cartesianism" but hey... an open mind is a good thing
posted by phaedon at 5:56 PM on March 7, 2007

Best answer: Excellent list. Might add postmodernism and theology.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 5:56 PM on March 7, 2007

Or, if postmodernism icks you out, you could add something about deconstruction.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 5:57 PM on March 7, 2007

Best answer: Dualism, Marxisim and Deontology?
posted by econous at 6:03 PM on March 7, 2007

nihilism

hedonism

deism
posted by amtho at 6:03 PM on March 7, 2007 [1 favorite]

syllogism / syllogistic form
posted by amtho at 6:06 PM on March 7, 2007

philosophy of language is another good topic, although (as with almost all the fields) it can definitely overlap with some of the ones you do have listed (my phil language class overlapped with both my logic and metaphysics classes, for example).

not sure what -ism I'd recommend though - Fregeianism?
posted by chndrcks at 6:17 PM on March 7, 2007

Might add: philosophy of mind, mind-body problem, qualia, a priori/a posteriori or analytic/synthetic, causation, knowledge (in the technical sense; maybe you've covered this as "epistemology" but a layman's gotta know what epistemology's about in the first place), consequentialism, utilitarianism, paternalism, normative, fallacy, dualism, the various technical uses of `is', intrinsic/extrinsic properties, moral relativism, necessary and sufficient conditions, skepticism (or scepticism, as some write it).
posted by msbrauer at 6:35 PM on March 7, 2007

Oops... Forgot my favorite from philosophy of mind: zombies! Not particularly a philosophical term, but very often very useful for doing philosophy.
posted by msbrauer at 6:37 PM on March 7, 2007

Best answer: Here's a short list of things I could come up with off of the top of my head. My apologies if there is a repeat of anything that's been mentioned already.

metaethics
philosophy of mind (general)
physicalism
dualism (another name for Cartesianism at least)
utilitarianism
consequentialism
phenomenology
axiology
a priori
a posteriori
emotivism
modality
causation
skepticism
epiphenomenalism
philosophy of social science
intentionality
rationality
fallacy
validity
soundness
posted by inconsequentialist at 6:44 PM on March 7, 2007

I'd add "determinism" and "free will."
posted by ArcAm at 6:44 PM on March 7, 2007

Oooh, and identity.
posted by inconsequentialist at 6:45 PM on March 7, 2007

You'd probably want to mention major historical figures as well.
posted by inconsequentialist at 6:48 PM on March 7, 2007

Best answer: If you've got "analytic philosophy" and "phenomenalism," I think it's only fair to include "continental philosophy" and "phenomenology."
posted by treepour at 7:00 PM on March 7, 2007

An abridged list of general philosophical terms consists of 400 pages and 3000 entries.
posted by mendel at 7:23 PM on March 7, 2007

Best answer: Hmm.. I think everyone's given you pretty good additions. I might add:

solipsism
teleology
causation
abductive/abduction
naturalism (all the rage where I went to school)
reductionism
universal
particular
anti-realism

It may make it easier on you to refer to Blackburn's Dictionary of Philosophy when making your list. Pretty accessible, actually.
posted by ontic at 7:35 PM on March 7, 2007

necessary and sufficient conditions
posted by smorange at 8:00 PM on March 7, 2007

"argument" should be in there, because it has a different meaning in philosophy and in casual conversation.
posted by easternblot at 8:03 PM on March 7, 2007

validity and soundness
posted by philomathoholic at 8:36 PM on March 7, 2007

truism

tautology
posted by amtho at 8:58 PM on March 7, 2007

I think it might be useful to clarify the purpose of the glossary. Is the glossary intended to complement the text of the book (i.e. to be used as a reference by the reader) or is the glossary intended to stand alone as an overview? If it is the former, then surely the list of terms to be defined will fall out of the text itself, while if it is the latter, I would suggest that a glossary is a poor format for an overview of philosophy. It would be much easier to gain some sort of understanding of the field by briefly considering some of the main problems that philosophers have grappled with and the approaches they have taken to deal with them (those would be the listed isms). It might be instructive to find one definitive problem for each sub-field (ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, logic, etc.) and go from there.
posted by ssg at 9:52 PM on March 7, 2007

Best answer: I've been impressed with the Penguin Dictionary of Philosophy.
posted by Jahaza at 10:10 PM on March 7, 2007

That's the Layperson's list?

I feel Dumb.
posted by conch soup at 10:24 PM on March 7, 2007

discourse?
posted by kch at 10:37 PM on March 7, 2007

I agree with ssg... some of your words can (and maybe should) be grouped together. Stoicism/Platonism = Greek, Utilitarianism/Consequentialism = Ethics, etc. The least confusing way to give an overview would be to start with broad headings and define terms from that subject under the heading. Doing it in alphabetical order like a normal glossary will make little sense, unless it's a glossary on the end of a text.
posted by cardamine at 2:39 AM on March 8, 2007

Response by poster: Sorry I'm a little late getting back to this, I marked a bunch of them best but really every response was extremely helpful.

Thank you!
posted by The Straightener at 5:04 AM on March 8, 2007