Philosophy is the discipline that looks for reasoned answers to certain very abstract questions,

usually left unasked in everyday life, about the nature of the universe and the place in it of
humans and everything distinctively human. These are questions that the sciences usually do not
tackle, though it may in the end turn out that scientific discoveries are relevant to answering
them.

Examples of such questions are these: is there an objective difference between right and
wrong? Is the universe sustained in existence by a god? Can we know about things that we
cannot see or touch? What is a mind? Why do words mean what they do? Why should we obey
the state?

Philosophers are not satisfied with just any old answers to these questions; for example, they
don’t just want answers that feel good. They want the answers to their questions that are likeliest
to be true, all things considered. It is because they care about truth that philosophers throughout
history have spent nearly all their time analyzing and evaluating arguments for and against
different views.

The centrality to philosophy of reasoned debate is part of what makes the study of philosophy
valuable: it cultivates various abilities that are prized in a wide variety of careers—to disentangle
complexity, to find the flaws in arguments, and to write and speak in an organized and
persuasive way.

But the study of philosophy is valuable for other reasons too. It discourages excessive
confidence in one’s own views, and encourages tolerance toward views with which one
disagrees. It is also, for students who love ideas, a source of enormous intellectual pleasure.

The Discipline of Philosophy

The main sub-fields of philosophy are these:

· Metaphysics seeks to understand what the world is like at an extremely high level of
abstraction. Do the things that exist exist independently of our thinking about them? Is the
universe ultimately governed by impersonal laws of nature? What does it mean for something to
cause something else? Is thinking just a kind of computation? Do we have free will? Are
numbers real?

· Epistemology (or theory of knowledge) investigates the nature and limits of knowledge and
justified belief. How do I know that I'm not now dreaming? Do we have any knowledge that
can’t be traced back to our senses, like sight and touch? What is knowledge, anyway? How do I
know that pain feels the same to other people as it does to me? Can we know anything about the
future?

· Moral and political philosophy tries to discover what makes actions, laws, or social institutions
right or wrong, good or bad, just or unjust. For example, are right actions right only because
they have good consequences, or are some actions right in themselves? It also investigates
metaphysical and epistemological questions about right and wrong, and good and bad. For
example, if knowledge of good and bad is possible, then is this knowledge like our knowledge
that 7+5=12 or our knowledge that tomatoes are red or our knowledge that something is
money—or is it sui generis?

· Logic is the systematic study of the difference between good reasoning and bad
reasoning. Under what conditions is it the case that, if one claim is true, some other claim must
be true? Under what conditions is a scientific hypothesis made more probable by certain
observations?

· The history of philosophy aims to discover what the great philosophers of the past took to be
the most important philosophical questions and how they sought to answer them. Important
figures in Western philosophy include Socrates (469-399 BCE), Plato (427-347 BCE), Aristotle
(384-322 BCE), Thomas Aquinas (1225-74), René Descartes (1596-1650), Baruch Spinoza
(1632-1677), Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716), John Locke (1632-1704), George Berkeley (1685-
1753), David Hume (1711-1776), Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), G.W.F. Hegel (1770-1831),
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-
1951), W.V.O. Quine (1908-2000), and David K. Lewis (1941-2001).

Though it was once true that nearly all philosophers were wealthy white men, this is no longer
the case, and MU’s Department of Philosophy aims to provide a welcoming intellectual home for
any student who is curious about philosophy.

For more on the nature and value of philosophy, please consult this useful guide to the nature and
value of philosophy, published by the American Philosophical Association.

What is Philosophy

At its simplest, philosophy (from the Greek or phílosophía, meaning ‘the love
of wisdom’) is the study of knowledge, or "thinking about thinking", although the
breadth of what it covers is perhaps best illustrated by a selection of other alternative
definitions:

 the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live (ethics); what sorts
of things exist and what are their essential natures (metaphysics); what counts as
genuine knowledge (epistemology); and what are the correct principles of
reasoning (logic) (Wikipedia)
 investigation of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values,
based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods (American Heritage
Dictionary)
 the study of the ultimate nature of existence, reality, knowledge and goodness, as
discoverable by human reasoning (Penguin English Dictionary)
 the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and
ethics (WordNet)
 the search for knowledge and truth, especially about the nature of man and his
behavior and beliefs (Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary)
  the rational and critical inquiry into basic principles (Microsoft Encarta
Encyclopedia)
 the study of the most general and abstract features of the world and categories
with which we think: mind, matter, reason, proof, truth, etc. (Oxford Dictionary
of Philosophy)
 careful thought about the fundamental nature of the world, the grounds for
human knowledge, and the evaluation of human conduct (The Philosophy Pages)

As used originally by the ancient Greeks, the term "philosophy" meant the pursuit of
knowledge for its own sake, and comprised ALL areas of speculative thought,
including the arts, sciences and religion.

Philosophical questions (unlike those of the sciences) are usually foundational and
abstract in nature. Philosophy is done primarily through reflection and does not tend
to rely on experiment, although the methods used to study it may be analogous to
those used in the study of the natural sciences.

In common usage, it sometimes carries the sense of unproductive or frivolous musings,

but over the centuries it has produced some of the most important original thought,
and its contribution to politics, sociology, mathematics, science and literature
has been inestimable. Although the study of philosophy may not yield "the meaning of
life, the universe and everything", many philosophers believe that it is important that
each of us examines such questions and even that an unexamined life is not worth
living. It also provides a good way of learning to think more clearly about a wide
range of issues, and its methods of analyzing arguments can be useful in a variety of
situations in other areas of life.

Philosophy is such a huge subject that it is difficult to know how to break it down
into manageable and logical sections. Perhaps the most basic overall split at the highest
level is geographical, between Eastern Philosophy and Western Philosophy (with,
arguably, African Philosophy as a possible third branch at this level).

This website is mainly concerned with an analysis of Western Philosophy. There are 4
common ways in which Western Philosophy can be usefully broken down or
organized:

 By Branch / Doctrine
 By Historical Period
 By Movement / School
 By Individual Philosophers

Philosophy (from Greek φιλοσοφία, philosophia, literally "love of wisdom")[1][2][3][4] is the study
of general and fundamental questions[5][6][7] about existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind,
and language. Such questions are often posed as problems[8][9] to be studied or resolved. The
term was probably coined by Pythagoras (c. 570 – 495 BCE). Philosophical methods include
questioning, critical discussion, rational argument, and systematic presentation.[10][11] Classic
philosophical questions include: Is it possible to know anything and to prove it?[12][13][14] What is
most real? Philosophers also pose more practical and concrete questions such as: Is there a best
way to live? Is it better to be just or unjust (if one can get away with it)?[15] Do humans have free
will?[16]

Historically, "philosophy" encompassed any body of knowledge.[17] From the time of Ancient
Greek philosopher Aristotle to the 19th century, "natural philosophy" encompassed astronomy,
medicine, and physics.[18] For example, Newton's 1687 Mathematical Principles of Natural
Philosophy later became classified as a book of physics. In the 19th century, the growth of
modern research universities led academic philosophy and other disciplines to professionalize
and specialize.[19][20] In the modern era, some investigations that were traditionally part of
philosophy became separate academic disciplines, including psychology, sociology, linguistics,
and economics.

Other investigations closely related to art, science, politics, or other pursuits remained part of
philosophy. For example, is beauty objective or subjective?[21][22] Are there many scientific
methods or just one?[23] Is political utopia a hopeful dream or hopeless fantasy?[24][25][26] Major
sub-fields of academic philosophy include metaphysics ("concerned with the fundamental nature
of reality and being"),[27] epistemology (about the "nature and grounds of knowledge [and]...its
limits and validity"[28]), ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, logic and philosophy of science.

Importance of Philosophy

Philosophy (from Greek φιλοσοφία, philosophia, literally "love of wisdom")[1][2][3][4] is the study
of general and fundamental questions[5][6][7] about existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind,
and language. Such questions are often posed as problems[8][9] to be studied or resolved. The
term was probably coined by Pythagoras (c. 570 – 495 BCE). Philosophical methods include
questioning, critical discussion, rational argument, and systematic presentation.[10][11] Classic
philosophical questions include: Is it possible to know anything and to prove it?[12][13][14] What is
most real? Philosophers also pose more practical and concrete questions such as: Is there a best
way to live? Is it better to be just or unjust (if one can get away with it)?[15] Do humans have free
will?[16]

Historically, "philosophy" encompassed any body of knowledge.[17] From the time of Ancient
Greek philosopher Aristotle to the 19th century, "natural philosophy" encompassed astronomy,
medicine, and physics.[18] For example, Newton's 1687 Mathematical Principles of Natural
Philosophy later became classified as a book of physics. In the 19th century, the growth of
modern research universities led academic philosophy and other disciplines to professionalize
and specialize.[19][20] In the modern era, some investigations that were traditionally part of
philosophy became separate academic disciplines, including psychology, sociology, linguistics,
and economics.
Other investigations closely related to art, science, politics, or other pursuits remained part of
philosophy. For example, is beauty objective or subjective?[21][22] Are there many scientific
methods or just one?[23] Is political utopia a hopeful dream or hopeless fantasy?[24][25][26] Major
sub-fields of academic philosophy include metaphysics ("concerned with the fundamental nature
of reality and being"),[27] epistemology (about the "nature and grounds of knowledge [and]...its
limits and validity"[28]), ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, logic and philosophy of science.

Importance of Philosophy

A philosophy is a system of beliefs about reality. It is one's integrated view of the world. It
includes an understanding of the nature of existence, man, and his role in the world. Philosophy
is the foundation of knowledge. It is the standard by which ideas are integrated and understood.

Philosophy is a necessary product of man's rational mind. To live, man must gain knowledge of
the world. To understand the world, man must form conclusions about its very nature. For
instance, to gain knowledge of particular objects, man must recognize that objects have identity.
He must recognize that conclusions are possible because the world does exist, and exists in a
particular way.

Philosophy provides the framework for which man can understand the world. It provides the
premises by which man can discover truth, and use his mind to support his life. Every man has
an understanding of the world. Every man must have a philosophy, even if it is never made
explicit.

The Importance of Philosophy in Life—

Philosophic thought is an inescapable part of human existence. Almost everyone has been
puzzled from time to time by such essentially philosophic questions as "What does life mean?"
"Did I have any existence before I was born?" and "Is there life after death?" Most people also
have some kind of philosophy in the sense of a personal outlook on life. Even a person who
claims that considering philosophic questions is a waste of time is expressing what is important,
worthwhile, or valuable. A rejection of all philosophy is in itself philosophy.

By studying philosophy, people can clarify what they believe, and they can be stimulated to
think about ultimate questions. A person can study philosophers of the past to discover why they
thought as they did and what value their thoughts may have in one's own life. There are people
who simply enjoy reading the great philosophers, especially those who were also great writers.

Philosophy has had enormous influence on our everyday lives. The very language we speak uses
classifications derived from philosophy. For example, the classifications of noun and verb
involve the philosophic idea that there is a difference between things and actions. If we ask what
the difference is, we are starting a philosophic inquiry.

Every institution of society is based on philosophic ideas, whether that institution is the law,
government, religion, the family, marriage, industry, business, or education. Philosophic
differences have led to the overthrow of governments, drastic changes in laws, and the
transformation of entire economic systems. Such changes have occurred because the people
involved held certain beliefs about what is important, true, real, and significant and about how
life should be ordered.

Systems of education follow a society's philosophic ideas about what children should be taught
and for what purposes. Democratic societies stress that people learn to think and make choices
for themselves. Nondemocratic societies discourage such activities and want their citizens to
surrender their own interests to those of the state. The values and skills taught by the educational
system of a society thus reflect the society's philosophic ideas of what is important.

The most important reason to study philosophy is that it is of enormous and enduring
interest. All of us have to answer, for ourselves, the questions asked by philosophers. In this
department, students can learn how to ask the questions well, and how we might begin to
develop responses. Philosophy is important, but it is also enormously enjoyable, and our faculty
contains many award-winning teachers who make the process of learning about philosophy
fun. Our faculty are committed to a participatory style of teaching, in which students are
provided with the tools and the opportunity to develop and express their own philosophical
views.

Critical Thinking

“It was in philosophy where I learned rigorous critical thinking, a skill that is invaluable when
creating art.”
- Donald Daedalus, BA ‘05, Visual Artist

“Philosophy taught me to think critically and was the perfect major for law school, giving me an
excellent start to law school and my career.”
- Rod Nelson, BA ‘75, Lawyer

Tools for Assessing Ethical Issues

“The courses I took for my minor in philosophy ... have provided a valuable framework for my
career work in the field of global health and have given me a strong foundation for developing a
structured, logical argument in various contexts.”
- Aubrey Batchelor, Minor ‘09, Global Health Worker
“Bioethics is an everyday part of medicine, and my philosophy degree has helped me to work
through real-world patient issues and dilemmas.”
- Teresa Lee, BA ‘08 Medical Student

“The ability to apply an ethical framework to questions that have developed in my career, in
taking care of patients ... has been a gift and something that I highly value.”
- Natalie Nunes, BA ‘91, Family Physician Analytic Reasoning

“... philosophy provided me with the analytical tools necessary to understand a variety of
unconventional problems characteristic of the security environment of the last decade.”
- Chris Grubb, BA ‘98, US Marine

“Philosophy provides intellectual resources, critical and creative thinking capacity that are
indispensable for success in contemporary international security environment “
- Richard Paz, BA ‘87, US Military Officer

Understanding Others’ Perspectives

“... philosophy grounds us in an intellectual tradition larger than our own personal opinions. ...
*making+ it is easier to be respectful of and accommodating to individual differences in clients
(and colleagues)...”
- Diane Fructher Strother, BA ‘00, Clinical Psychologist

“... comprehensive exposure to numerous alternative world/ethical views has helped me with my
daily interaction with all different types of people of ethnic, cultural, and political orientation
backgrounds.”
- David Prestin, BA ‘07, Engineer

Evaluating Information

“Analyzing information and using it to form logical conclusions is a huge part of philosophy and
was thus vital to my success in this position.”
- Kevin Duchmann, BA ‘07, Inventory Control Analyst

Writing Skills

“My philosophy degree has been incredibly important in developing my analytical and writing
skills.”
- Teresa Lee, BA ‘08, Medical Student
Different School of Thoughts

General schools of thought:

– Empiricism: a doctrine which stipulates that all knowledge comes from experience.

See the philosophy of Hume or Locke

– Rationalism: a theory which states that the human mind has principles or a priori
knowledge, independent of experience.

See the philosophy of Descartes or Leibniz

– Idealism: a philosophical doctrine that denies the existence of the outside world, and
reduces it to representations of subjectivity.

See the philosophy of Plato, Kant, Hegel, Fichte

– Positivism: the principle of positivism is to refute any metaphysical sense to man’s

existence, focusing instead on science and objective and seeking human laws.

See the philosophy of Auguste Comte

– Stoicism: Stoicism is both a theory of the universe and of morality. Stoic wisdom is
defined as knowledge of the Cosmos.

See the philosophy of Cicero, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Sextus Empiricus, Zeno

– Structuralism: for structuralists, the existence of underlying structures can explain all
social activities. To uncover these, structuralism aims to go beyond empirical facts.

See the philosophy of Levi-Strauss

– Phenomenology: a current that focuses on providing a descriptive study of a set of phenomena.

Phenomenology proceeds from a critique of traditional metaphysics (both empiricism and
idealism), in a movement to bring philosophy back to concrete phenomena. Phenomenology is
defined as a rigorous science of essences.

See the philosophy of Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre, Heidegger

– Materialism: this theory stands as a materialist ontological doctrine that holds that there is no
other substance than matter. It parallels the bet365 bonus code in that it generally rejects the
existence of God, the soul, and the afterlife. Consciousness, in the materialist credo, is merely a
secondary phenomenon, an attempt to attach itself to and explain the material world.
See the philosophy of Epicurus and Marx

– Existentialism: Existentialism is basically betting on man (rather than on a philosophy of

ideas). It is a philosophy of existence that rejects the priority of the
essence. Existentialism considers man as a self-guided production, alone in a universe
without God. Existential philosophy seeks to uncover the metaphysical meaning of man.

See the philosophy of Pascal, Kierkegaard, Sartre, Camus, Heidegger.

– Scepticism: Scepticism is a position of denial. A refusal to rule on the existence of objects. It

holds that all judgement is suspended the permanent shadow.

See the philosophy of Diogenes Laertius, Hume and Berkeley

– Cynicism: Cynicism is primarily a moral doctrine, which consists in rejecting the commonly
accepted social and moral conventions. The cynical life must therefore be based on a very ascetic
virtue.

See the philosophy of Diogenes

– Romanticism: epitomized by the exaltation of nature, the romantic nostalgia seeks to

describe the attitude of authentic human consciousness. In romanticism, nature is seen as a
mediator between man and divinity and the nation as a source of access to religion. It also
constitutes a move to rehabilitate the feelings of freedom, as exemplified in the romantic
works of art and literature.

See the philosophy of Hegel, Schelling and Fichte.

Political schools of thought:

Communism: a social doctrine advocating the sharing of all goods and the abolition of
private property for the liberation of man and the end of the system (i.e. withering away of
the state)

See the philosophy of Plato, Marx and Engels, Fourier

Socialism: in Marx, socialism is understood as the intermediate state (between capitalism

and communism), a stage characterised by the dictatorship of the proletariat. Socialism
realizes the interest of individuals with a common interest.

See philosophy of Proudhon

Liberalism: the economic side of liberalism asserts that the state must give way in favor of
the market, while the political side defends the view that the principle of freedom is at the
core of society, and therefore that the state must protect individual liberty.
See the philosophy of Rawls, Locke, Montesquieu

Libertarianism: the doctrine of radical liberals advocates the demise of the state as a
system based on coercion, for the benefit of cooperation between free individuals.

See the philosophy of Nozick

Contractualism: a political theory that stipulates that individuals must leave the state of
nature, give up their natural rights, to join in freedom and equality (as illustrated in the
works of Rousseau on democracy, Locke, Kant, or Hobbes minus the absolutist ideal)

See the philosophy of Rousseau, Kant, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke

Anarchism: Anarchism is characterised by the refusal of any power or authority, the only
value is the individual’s own, self-determined values.

See the philosophy of Bakunin or Nietzsche

Humanism: Humanism holds that man is the only source of values

See Sartre’s philosophy

Feminism: Feminism is a philosophical movement that seeks the total emancipation of

women, both political and social

See the philosophy of De Beauvoir

Utilitarianism: a doctrine that regards as useful all that can bring pleasure. Human life
must be based on a calculation of pleasures versus pain – the ideal being to maximize the
former and minimize the latter.

A List of Philosophical Schools Of Thought

Analytic Philosophy - A broad philosophical tradition characterized by an emphasis on clarity and
argument (often achieved via modern formal logic and analysis of language) and a respect for the
natural sciences. The more specific set of developments of early 20th-century philosophy that were the
historical antecedents of the broad sense: e.g., the work of Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, G. E.
Moore, Gottlob Frege, and logical positivists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytic_philosophy

Argumentation theory - The interdisciplinary study of how conclusions can be reached through logical
reasoning; that is, claims based, soundly or not, on premises. It includes the arts and sciences of civil
debate, dialogue, conversation, and persuasion. It studies rules of inference, logic, and procedural rules
in both artificial and real world settings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argumentation_theory

Behaviorism - an approach to psychology that combines elements of philosophy, methodology, and

theory. It emerged in the early twentieth century as a reaction to "mentalistic" psychology, which often
had difficulty making predictions that could be tested using rigorous experimental methods. The primary
tenet of behaviorism, as expressed in the writings of John B. Watson, B. F. Skinner, and others, is that
psychology should concern itself with the observable behavior of people and animals, not with
unobservable events that take place in their minds. The behaviorist school of thought maintains that
behaviors as such can be described scientifically without recourse either to internal physiological events
or to hypothetical constructs such as thoughts and beliefs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behaviorism

Connectionism - A set of approaches in the fields of artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, cognitive
science, neuroscience, and philosophy of mind, that models mental or behavioral phenomena as the
emergent processes of interconnected networks of simple units. The term was introduced by Donald
Hebb in the 1940's. There are many forms of connectionism, but the most common forms use neural
network models.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectionism

Constructivism - a theory of knowledge (epistemology) that argues that humans generate knowledge
and meaning from an interaction between their experiences and their ideas. It has influenced a number
of disciplines, including psychology, sociology, education and the history of science. During infancy, it
was an interaction between human experiences and their reflexes or behavior-patterns. Jean Piaget
called these systems of knowledge schemata. Constructivism is not a specific pedagogy, although it is
often confused with constructionism, an educational theory developed by Seymour Papert, inspired by
constructivist and experiential learning ideas of Piaget.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_%28philosophy_of_education%29

Constructionism - A theory inspired by the constructivist theory that individual learners construct
mental models to understand the world around them. Constructionism advocates student-centered,
discovery learning where students use information they previously know to acquire more knowledge.
This is done through participation in project-based learning where students are able to make
connections between different ideas and areas of knowledge that the teacher helps them to form: “In
the constructionist paradigm, the teacher’s role is not to lecture or provide structured activities that
guide students, step by step...Instead, teachers in a constructionist classroom are called to function as
facilitators who coach learners as they blaze their own paths toward personally meaningful goals.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructionism_%28learning_theory%29

Dialectical Materialism - a philosophy of science and nature, based on the writings of Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels, and developed largely in Russia and the Soviet Union. It was inspired by dialectic and
materialist philosophical traditions. The main idea of dialectical materialism lies in the concept of the
evolution of the natural world and the emergence of new qualities of being at new stages of evolution.
As Z. A. Jordan notes, "Engels made constant use of the metaphysical insight that the higher level of
existence emerges from and has its roots in the lower; that the higher level constitutes a new order of
being with its irreducible laws; and that this process of evolutionary advance is governed by laws of
development which reflect basic properties of 'matter in motion as a whole'."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_materialism

Dualism - In philosophy of mind, dualism is a view about the relationship between mind and matter
which claims that mind and matter are two ontologically separate categories. Mind-body dualism claims
that neither the mind nor matter can be reduced to each other in any way. Western dualist
philosophical traditions (as exemplified by Descartes) equate mind with the conscious self and theorize
on consciousness on the basis of mind/body dualism. In philosophy of science, dualism often refers to
the dichotomy between the "subject" (the observer) and the "object" (the observed).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dualism

Epistemology - The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge and is also
referred to as "theory of knowledge". It questions what knowledge is and how it can be acquired, and
the extent to which knowledge pertinent to any given subject or entity can be acquired. Much of the
debate in this field has focused on the philosophical analysis of the nature of knowledge and how it
relates to connected notions such as truth, belief, and knowledge as the justification of true beliefs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemology

Essentialism - A belief that things have a set of characteristics that make them what they are, and that
the task of science and philosophy is their discovery and expression. It is the view that, for any specific
entity (such as an animal, a group of people, a physical object, a concept), there is a set of attributes
which are necessary to its identity and function. In Western thought the concept is found in the work of
Plato and Aristotle. Platonic idealism is the earliest known theory of how all known things and concepts
have an essential reality behind them (an "Idea" or "Form"), an essence that makes those things and
concepts what they are.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essentialism

Empiricism - The theory that all knowledge is derived from sense-experience. Stimulated by the rise of
experimental science, it developed in the 17th and 18th centuries, expounded in particular by John
Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism

Evolutionary Epistemology (growth of knowledge) - a theory that applies the concepts of biological
evolution to the growth of human knowledge, and argues that units of knowledge themselves,
particularly scientific theories, evolve according to selection. In this case, a theory—like the germ theory
of disease—becomes more or less credible according to changes in the body of knowledge surrounding
it. One of the hallmarks of evolutionary epistemology is the notion that empirical testing does not justify
the truth of scientific theories, but rather that social and methodological processes select those theories
with the closest "fit" to a given problem. The mere fact that a theory has survived the most rigorous
empirical tests available does not, in the calculus of probability, predict its ability to survive future
testing. All theories are true only provisionally, regardless of the degree of empirical testing they have
survived.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolutionary_epistemology

Existentialism - A term applied to the philosophy of certain late 19th- and 20th-century thinkers who,
despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the
human subject — not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual. In
existentialism, the individual's starting point is characterized by what has been called "the existential
attitude", or a sense of disorientation and confusion in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd
world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existentialism

Fallibilism - the philosophical principle that human beings could be wrong about their beliefs,
expectations, or their understanding of the world, and yet still be justified in holding their incorrect
beliefs. The recognition that there are no authoritative sources of knowledge, nor any reliable means of
justifying knowledge as true. Some fallibilists argue that absolute certainty about knowledge is
impossible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallibilism

Falsificationism- A scientific philosophy based on the requirement that hypotheses must be falsifiable in
order to be scientific; if a claim is not able to be refuted it is not a scientific claim. Falsifiability or
refutability of a statement, hypothesis, or theory is an inherent possibility to prove it to be false. A
statement is called falsifiable if it is possible to conceive an observation or an argument which proves
the statement in question to be false.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability#Falsificationism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsifiability

Formal Logic - The use and study of valid reasoning. The study of logic features most prominently in the
subjects of philosophy, mathematics, and computer science.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logic

The Frankfurt School - A school of social theory and philosophy associated in part with the Institute for
Social Research at the Goethe University Frankfurt. Founded during the interwar period, the School
consisted of dissidents who felt at home in none of the existent capitalist, fascist, or communist systems
of the time. Many of these theorists believed that traditional theory could not adequately explain the
turbulent and unexpected development of capitalist societies in the twentieth century. Critical of both
capitalism and Soviet socialism, their writings pointed to the possibility of an alternative path to social
development.

Although sometimes only loosely affiliated, Frankfurt School theorists spoke with a common paradigm in
mind; they shared the Marxist Hegelian premises and were preoccupied with similar questions. To fill in
the perceived omissions of classical Marxism, they sought to draw answers from other schools of
thought, hence using the insights of anti-positivist sociology, psychoanalysis, existential philosophy, and
other disciplines. The school's main figures sought to learn from and synthesize the works of such varied
thinkers as Kant, Hegel, Marx, Freud, Weber, Simmel, and Lukács.

Following Marx, they were concerned with the conditions that allow for social change and the
establishment of rational institutions. Their emphasis on the "critical" component of theory was derived
significantly from their attempt to overcome the limits of positivism, materialism, and determinism by
returning to Kant's critical philosophy and its successors in German idealism, principally Hegel's
philosophy, with its emphasis on dialectic and contradiction as inherent properties of human reality.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurt_School

Functionalism - a theory of the mind in contemporary philosophy, developed largely as an

alternative to both the identity theory of mind and behaviorism. Its core idea is that mental states
(beliefs, desires, being in pain, etc.) are constituted solely by their functional role – that is, they are
causal relations to other mental states, numerous sensory inputs, and behavioral
outputs. Functionalism is a theoretical level between the physical implementation and behavioral
output.Therefore, it is different from its predecessors of Cartesian dualism (advocating
independent mental and physical substances) and
Skinnerian behaviorism and physicalism (declaring only physical substances) because it is only
concerned with the effective functions of the brain, through its organization or its "software
programs".

Since mental states are identified by a functional role, they are said to be realized on multiple levels;
in other words, they are able to be manifested in various systems, even perhaps computers, so long
as the system performs the appropriate functions. While computers are physical devices with
electronic substrate that perform computations on inputs to give outputs, so brains are physical
devices with neural substrate that perform computations on inputs which produce behaviors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functionalism_(philosophy_of_mind)

Idealism - An approach to philosophy that regards mind, spirit, or ideas as the most fundamental kinds
of reality, or at least as governing our experience of the ordinary objects in the world. Idealism is
opposed to materialism, naturalism, and realism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idealism

Informal logic - An attempt to develop a logic that can assess and analyze the arguments that occur in
natural language (“everyday,” “ordinary language”) discourse.A branch of logic whose task is to develop
non-formal standards, criteria, procedures for the analysis, interpretation, evaluation, criticism and
construction of argumentation. Informal logic is associated with critical thinking and the interdisciplinary
inquiry known as argumentation theory.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informal_logic
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-informal/

Logical Positivism - A 20th century philosophical movement holding that all meaningful statements are
either analytic or conclusively verifiable or at least confirmable by observation and experiment and that
metaphysical theories are therefore strictly meaningless —called also logical empiricism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_positivism

Marxism - A philosophical worldview and method of societal analysis that focuses on class relations and
societal conflict, that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, and a dialectical view
of social transformation. Marxist methodology uses economic and sociopolitical inquiry and applies that
to the critique and analysis of the development of capitalism and the role of class struggle in systemic
economic change.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism

Materialism - The position that nothing exists except matter — things that can be measured or known
through the senses. Materialists deny the existence of spirit, and they look for physical explanations for
all phenomena.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materialism

Mathematical logic - a subfield of mathematics exploring the applications of formal logic to

mathematics. Topically, mathematical logic bears close connections to metamathematics, the
foundations of mathematics, and theoretical computer science. The unifying themes in mathematical
logic include the study of the expressive power of formal systems and the deductive power of formal
proof systems.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_logic

Memetics - A theory of mental content based on an analogy with Darwinian evolution. Proponents
describe memetics as an approach to evolutionary models of cultural information transfer. The meme,
analogous to a gene, was conceived as a "unit of culture" (an idea, belief, pattern of behaviour, etc.)
which is "hosted" in the minds of one or more individuals, and which can reproduce itself, thereby
jumping from mind to mind. Thus what would otherwise be regarded as one individual influencing
another to adopt a belief is seen as an idea-replicator reproducing itself in a new host. As with genetics,
a meme's success may be due to its contribution to the effectiveness of its host.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memetics

Metaphysics - a traditional branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of
being and the world that encompasses it, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally,
metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms: What is ultimately
there? What is it like?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysics

Methodological Nominalism - Karl Popper splits the ambiguous term realism into essentialism and
realism. He uses essentialism whenever he means the opposite of nominalism, and realism only as
opposed to idealism. Popper himself is a realist as opposed to an idealist, but a methodological
nominalist as opposed to an essentialist. For example, statements like "a puppy is a young dog" should
be read from right to left, as an answer to "What shall we call a young dog"; never from left to right as
an answer to 'What is a puppy?'.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essentialism
Moral Fallibilism - a specific subset of the broader epistemological fallibilism (see above). In the debate
between moral subjectivism and moral objectivism, moral fallibilism holds out a third plausible stance:
that objectively true moral standards may exist, but that they cannot be reliably or conclusively
determined by humans. This avoids the problems associated with the flexibility of subjectivism by
retaining the idea that morality is not a matter of mere opinion, whilst accounting for the conflict
between differing objective moralities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallibilism

Naturalism - the "idea or belief that only natural (as opposed to supernatural or spiritual) laws and
forces operate in the world." Adherents of naturalism (i.e., naturalists) assert that natural laws are the
rules that govern the structure and behavior of the natural universe, that the changing universe at every
stage is a product of these laws.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalism_%28philosophy%29

Nihilism - A philosophical doctrine that suggests the negation of one or more reputedly meaningful
aspects of life. The Greek philosopher and Sophist, Gorgias (C. 485 BCE-380 BCE), is perhaps the first to
consider the Nihilistic belief. Existential nihilism argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose,
or intrinsic value. Moral nihilists assert that morality does not inherently exist, and that any established
moral values are abstractly contrived. Nihilism can also take epistemological or ontological/metaphysical
forms, meaning respectively that, in some aspect, knowledge is not possible or that reality does not
actually exist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihilism

Nominalism - A metaphysical view in philosophy according to which general or abstract terms and
predicates exist, while universals or abstract objects, which are sometimes thought to correspond to
these terms, do not exist. There are at least two main versions of nominalism. One version denies the
existence of universals – things that can be instantiated or exemplified by many particular things (e.g.,
strength, humanity). The other version specifically denies the existence of abstract objects – objects that
do not exist in space and time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominalism

Objectivism - One of several doctrines holding that all reality is objective and external to the mind and
that knowledge is reliably based on observed objects and events. An emphasis on objects rather than
feelings or thoughts in literature or art.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objectivity_%28philosophy%29

Ontology - The philosophical study of the nature of being, becoming, existence, or reality, as well as the
basic categories of being and their relations. Traditionally listed as a part of the major branch of
philosophy known as metaphysics, ontology deals with questions concerning what entities exist or can
be said to exist, and how such entities can be grouped, related within a hierarchy, and subdivided
according to similarities and differences. In computer and information science, an ontology is a formal
framework for representing knowledge. This framework names and defines the types, properties, and
interrelationships of the entities in a domain of discourse. The entities are conceptualizations (limited
abstractions) of phenomena. An ontology compartmentalizes the variables needed for some set of
computations, and establishes the relationships between them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology_%28information_science%29

Philosophy of language - A branch of philosophy concerned with four central problems: the nature of
meaning, language use, language cognition, and the relationship between language and reality. For
continental philosophers, however, the philosophy of language tends to be dealt with, not as a separate
topic, but as a part of logic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_language

Philosophy of science - a branch of philosophy concerned with the foundations, methods, and
implications of science. The central questions concern what counts as science, the reliability of scientific
theories, and the purpose of science. This discipline overlaps with metaphysics, ontology and
epistemology, for example, when it explores the relationship between science and truth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_science

Positivism - A philosophical system that holds that every rationally justifiable assertion can be
scientifically verified or is capable of logical or mathematical proof, and that therefore rejects
metaphysics and theism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positivism

Postmodernism - A broad movement that developed in the mid- to late 20th century across philosophy,
the arts, architecture and criticism which marked a departure from modernism. While encompassing a
broad range of ideas, postmodernism is typically defined by an attitude of skepticism, irony or distrust
toward grand narratives, ideologies and various tenets of universalism, including objective notions of
reason, human nature, social progress, moral universalism, absolute truth, and objective reality. Instead,
it asserts to varying degrees that claims to knowledge and truth are products of social, historical or
political discourses or interpretations, and are therefore contextual or socially constructed. Accordingly,
postmodern thought is broadly characterized by tendencies to epistemological and moral relativism,
pluralism, irreverence and self-referentiality.

The term postmodernism has been applied both to the era following modernity and to a host of
movements within that era (mainly in art, music, and literature) that reacted against tendencies in
modernism. Postmodernism includes skeptical critical interpretations of culture, literature, art,
philosophy, history, linguistics, economics, architecture, fiction, feminist theory, and literary criticism.
Postmodernism is often associated with schools of thought such as deconstruction and post-
structuralism, as well as philosophers such as Jean-François Lyotard and Jacques Derrida, Frederic
Jameson.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism

Pragmatism - An approach that assesses the truth of meaning of theories or beliefs in terms of the
success of their practical application. Pragmatism is a rejection of the idea that the function of thought is
to describe, represent, or mirror reality. Instead, pragmatists develop their philosophy around the idea
that the function of thought is as an instrument or tool for prediction, action, and problem solving.
Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics — such as the nature of knowledge, language,
concepts, meaning, belief, and science — are all best viewed in terms of their practical uses and
successes rather than in terms of representative accuracy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatism
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pragmatism/

Rationalism - A belief or theory that opinions and actions should be based on reason and knowledge
rather than on religious belief or emotional response. The theory that reason rather than experience is
the foundation of certainty in knowledge. A theory that reason is in itself a source of knowledge
superior to and independent of sense perceptions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationalism

Realism (aka Philosophical Realism) - An approach to philosophy that regards external objects as the
most fundamentally real things, with perceptions or ideas as secondary. Realism is thus opposed to
idealism. Materialism and naturalism are forms of realism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_realism

Realism (aka Platonic Realism) - the theory of reality developed by Plato, and explained in his theory of
Forms. Platonic realism states that the visible world of particular things is a shifting exhibition, like
shadows cast on a wall by the activities of their corresponding universal Ideas or Forms. Whereas the
visible world of particulars is unreal, the Forms occupy the unobservable yet true reality and are real.
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_realism

Relativism - (1) The concept that points of view have no absolute truth or validity, having only relative,
subjective value according to differences in perception and consideration. (2) The doctrine that
knowledge, truth, and morality exist in relation to culture, society, or historical context, and are not
absolute. (3) The philosophical position that all points of view are equally valid, and that all truth is
relative to the individual. This means that all moral positions, all religious systems, all art forms, all
political movements, etc., are truths that are relative to the individual. (4) Relativism is sometimes
identified (usually by its critics) as the thesis that all points of view are equally valid. In ethics, this
amounts to saying that all moralities are equally good; in epistemology it implies that all beliefs, or belief
systems, are equally true. Critics of relativism typically dismiss such views as incoherent since they imply
the validity even of the view that relativism is false.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativism
http://www.iep.utm.edu/relativi/
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/

Scientism - A belief in the universal applicability of the scientific method and approach, and the view
that empirical science constitutes the most authoritative worldview or most valuable part of human
learning to the exclusion of other viewpoints.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism

Semiotics - The study of meaning-making, the philosophical theory of signs and symbols. This includes
the study of signs and sign processes, indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism,
signification, and communication. Semiotics often is divided into three branches: (1) Semantics: relation
between signs and the things to which they refer; their meaning (2) Syntactics: relations among signs in
formal structures, and (3) Pragmatics: relation between signs and sign-using agents.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotics

Skepticism - the theory that certain knowledge is impossible. One of the main tasks of epistemology is to
find an answer to the charge of some extreme skeptics that no knowledge is possible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skepticism

Solipsism - the theory that the self is all that can be known to exist. As an epistemological position,
solipsism holds that knowledge of anything outside one's own mind is unsure; the external world and
other minds cannot be known, and might not exist outside the mind. As a metaphysical position,
solipsism goes further to the conclusion that the world and other minds do not exist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solipsism
Subjectivism - The philosophical tenet that "our own mental activity is the only unquestionable fact of
our experience". In other words, subjectivism is the doctrine that knowledge is merely subjective and
that there is no external or objective truth. The success of this position is historically attributed to
Descartes and his methodic doubt. Subjectivism accords primacy to subjective experience as
fundamental of all measure and law. In extreme forms like Solipsism, it may hold that the nature and
existence of every object depends solely on someone's subjective awareness of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjectivism

Universal Darwinism - A term that refers to a variety of approaches that extend the theory of Darwinism
beyond its original domain of biological evolution on Earth. Universal Darwinism aims to formulate a
generalized version of the mechanisms of variation, selection and heredity proposed by Charles Darwin,
so that they can apply to explain evolution in a wide variety of other domains, including psychology,
economics, culture, medicine, computer science and physics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Darwinism

Verificationism - The doctrine that a proposition is only cognitively meaningful if it can be definitively
and conclusively determined to be either true or false (i.e. verifiable or falsifiable). It is also know as the
Verifiability Criterion of Meaning or the Verification Principle. See also Logical Positivism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verificationism