History Midterm Terms

the discipline that deals with theory of knowledge.

recognizes ontological Trinity as ultimate starting point of all knowledge, every fact must be recognized as created fact, or it can’t be properly known.

science of correct reasoning; it builds from fundamental laws of reality and truth, the principles that make rational thought possible.

study of nature and status of scientific truth claims, and of the methods of science that lie behind those claims.

philosophy that all events, whether involving inanimate matter or conscious beings like humans, are completely determined by previous events.

capacity to choose, people thruout history have considered it the most unique and definitive quality of human beings, the one that supposedly shows we have souls, or consciousness, and makes us morally responsible and free.

the study of being, ontology and metaphysics are used interchangeably. Both study being as being or the real as real. They are the disciplines that deal with ultimate reality.

the idea that reality, truth, or morality is “absolute”— the same for everybody, everywhere, and every-when, regardless of individual culture or cognition, or different situations or contexts.

is a form of Monotheism in which it is believed that one God exists, but that this God does not intervene in the world, or interfere with human life and the laws of the universe.

branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of existence, being and the world. Arguably, metaphysics is the foundation of philosophy: Aristotle calls it "first philosophy" (or sometimes just "wisdom"), and says it is the subject that deals with "first causes and the principles of things."

the study of the being, attributes, and works of God (i.e., ‘theology proper’)

the philosophical/theological study of man.

the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context.

the study of (or speculation about) the universe as a whole and its history.

reflection on the overall shape and direction (if any) of history

the study of ‘the end’ of history, theologically, the divinely appointed consummations of the individual, race and world.

lack of a belief in gods or a belief that there is no god.

the principle that there is a cause for everything that happens.

the (theological) study of salvation

the study of morality, right, wrong, the law of God, and related ideas

political philosophy, related to the theories and activities associated with the governance of a country.

The branch of knowledge concerned with the production, consumption and transfer of wealth.

A series of statements with the goal of persuading someone of something.

The quality of something that brings pleasure or delight to the senses, or satisfaction and meaning to the mind through its appearance, value, usefulness, or desirability; in the theological sense, this quality is exhibited by God and instilled in creation.

The doctrine that behind all things there is a final cause, and that all developments occur according to design or purpose.

Dependent on, or in some way related to experience.

is a faculty of the mind that motivates us to act morally—or at least according to our most deeply held values.

is the ability to reflect on (and so improve) your thoughts, beliefs, and expectations.

is the group of metaphysical philosophies which assert that reality, or reality as humans can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial.

is the view that the world is either identical to God, or an expression of God's nature. “God is everything and everything is God.”

is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification"

Dualism in metaphysics is the belief that there are two kinds of reality:

is a belief in the value, freedom, and independence of human beings.

Theory or belief that all phenomena can be scientifically explained.

the metaphysical and theological view that all is one, and there are no fundamental divisions.

is the absolute self-sufficiency, autonomy and independence of God.

Love of learning and literature; the branch of knowledge that deals with (the linguistic, historical, interpretative, and critical aspects of).

The theory that the only things that are real are objects that can be experienced through the senses (seeing, hearing, feeling, touching, smelling).

the study of “phenomena”: appearances of things, or things as they appear in our experience, or the ways we experience things, thus the meanings things have in our experience.

The thesis, developed within empiricism, that every descriptive term in the language of science (in the widest sense, including social science) is connected with terms designating observable properties of things.

the capacity for humans to make choices and to impose those choices on the world.

where knowledge is possible only subsequent, or posterior, to certain sensory experiences, in addition to the use of reason (empirical).

where knowledge is possible independently of, or prior to, any experience, and requires only the use of reason (non-empirical).

a proposition that is not proved or demonstrated but considered to be self-evident and taken for granted.

the faculty which perceives and identifies things that exist, and the relationship between oneself and one's environment.

the status of facts that are not logically necessarily true or false (the possibility of something happening or not happening).

reasoning that proceeds from general principles or premises to derive particular information (what follows necessarily from given premises).

the exchange of arguments and counter-arguments, respectively advocating propositions (theses) and counter-propositions (antitheses), in arriving at a conclusion (synthesis).

the way complex systems and patterns arise (emerge) out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions.

something that has a distinct and separate existence, although not necessarily a material existence.

the attributes that make an object or substance what it fundamentally is, and that it has necessarily.

the state or fact of existing or being (the continuance in being or life).

an organized set of symbols which can be precisely defined in terms of just the shapes and locations of those symbols, without any reference to any meanings or interpretations.

the universal concepts or ideas which make all of the phenomenal world intelligible (the essences of objects, rather than their physical forms or appearances).

the study of theories of the interpretation and understanding of texts (often the Bible).

indicative of how things should or ought to be (as opposed to positive or descriptive).

the intellectual conception of a thing as it is in itself, not as it is known through perception (c.f. Phenomenon).

a thing, an entity or a being, that can have properties and bear relations to other objects. They are usually types of particulars, but there can also be abstract objects.

a thing as it appears to be, as constructed by the mind and perceived by the senses.

the collection of data through observation and experimentation, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses.

that idea people give up some rights to a government and/or other authority in forming nations in order to jointly preserve or maintain social order and security.

the idea that individual human beings are born with no innate mental content, but their knowledge is built up gradually from their experiences and sensory perceptions of the outside world (literally, "blank slate").

an attempt to reconcile the existence of evil or suffering in the world with the belief in an omniscient, omnipotent and benevolent God.