Do you like to read, write, or debate? Are you interested in politics? In today’s world, many people allow party lines to dictate their views, and the art of civil discourse has been all but abandoned. If you want to be able to form and articulate your ideas in a sound fashion, you might want to study up on philosophy first. However, philosophy is a very wide, all-encompassing subject, and tackling it can seem like a daunting task. To start, here are some basics:
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Epistemology = the investigation into what distinguishes justified belief from opinion (the study of ascertaining knowledge)
Metaphysics = the branch of philosophy that deals with the building blocks of reality, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, & space
Axiom = a statement or proposition that is regarded as being established, accepted, or self-evidently true
Empiricism = the position that experience should be the main source of knowledge
A Posteriori = experience-based knowledge (mostly used for synthetic truths)
Synthetic Truth = a statement that is not implied from the subject alone (ex. this dog is brown)
Rationalism = the position that reason should be the main source of knowledge
A Priori = reason-based knowledge (mostly used for analytic truths)
Analytic Truth = a statement true by definition (ex. a bachelor is unmarried)
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Maxim = a concise expression of a fundamental moral rule or principle (ex. do not kill)
Consequentialism = the belief that the morality of an action relies on the net turnout
Utilitarianism = the consequentialist theory that society should seek to please the majority
Deontology = the belief that the morality of an action remains constant in every instance
Categorical Imperative = a maxim that compels obedience from others at all times in the name of morality (it must be universally applicable and cannot use people as a “means to an end”)
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Natural Rights = universal, inalienable rights that do not depend on a culture’s laws or customs
Legal Rights = rights bestowed onto a person by a given legal system (can be modified by laws)
Negative Rights = actions that others may not interfere with (ex. freedom of speech)
Positive Rights = services or goods that people have a duty to provide to others(ex.right to work)
State of Nature = the idea that humans are inherently bad and that without government they live in anarchy, where property rights are nonexistent and/or disregarded
Social Contract= an agreement by which the people forfeit certain freedoms, and in return, government prevents the state of nature and protects private property
Non Aggression Principle = the idea that using force to coerce or make others act in a desired manner is inherently immoral (as a result, all human interaction should be voluntary)
Written by Tula Nicholson
