Skip to ContentGo to accessibility pageKeyboard shortcuts menu
OpenStax Logo
Introduction to Philosophy

Key Terms

Introduction to PhilosophyKey Terms
Menu
Table of contents
  1. Preface
  2. 1 Introduction to Philosophy
    1. Introduction
    2. 1.1 What Is Philosophy?
    3. 1.2 How Do Philosophers Arrive at Truth?
    4. 1.3 Socrates as a Paradigmatic Historical Philosopher
    5. 1.4 An Overview of Contemporary Philosophy
    6. Summary
    7. Key Terms
    8. References
    9. Review Questions
    10. Further Reading
  3. 2 Critical Thinking, Research, Reading, and Writing
    1. Introduction
    2. 2.1 The Brain Is an Inference Machine
    3. 2.2 Overcoming Cognitive Biases and Engaging in Critical Reflection
    4. 2.3 Developing Good Habits of Mind
    5. 2.4 Gathering Information, Evaluating Sources, and Understanding Evidence
    6. 2.5 Reading Philosophy
    7. 2.6 Writing Philosophy Papers
    8. Summary
    9. Key Terms
    10. References
    11. Review Questions
    12. Further Reading
  4. 3 The Early History of Philosophy around the World
    1. Introduction
    2. 3.1 Indigenous Philosophy
    3. 3.2 Classical Indian Philosophy
    4. 3.3 Classical Chinese Philosophy
    5. Summary
    6. Key Terms
    7. References
    8. Review Questions
    9. Further Reading
  5. 4 The Emergence of Classical Philosophy
    1. Introduction
    2. 4.1 Historiography and the History of Philosophy
    3. 4.2 Classical Philosophy
    4. 4.3 Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Philosophy
    5. Summary
    6. Key Terms
    7. References
    8. Review Questions
    9. Further Reading
  6. 5 Logic and Reasoning
    1. Introduction
    2. 5.1 Philosophical Methods for Discovering Truth
    3. 5.2 Logical Statements
    4. 5.3 Arguments
    5. 5.4 Types of Inferences
    6. 5.5 Informal Fallacies
    7. Summary
    8. Key Terms
    9. References
    10. Review Questions
    11. Further Reading
  7. 6 Metaphysics
    1. Introduction
    2. 6.1 Substance
    3. 6.2 Self and Identity
    4. 6.3 Cosmology and the Existence of God
    5. 6.4 Free Will
    6. Summary
    7. Key Terms
    8. References
    9. Review Questions
    10. Further Reading
  8. 7 Epistemology
    1. Introduction
    2. 7.1 What Epistemology Studies
    3. 7.2 Knowledge
    4. 7.3 Justification
    5. 7.4 Skepticism
    6. 7.5 Applied Epistemology
    7. Summary
    8. Key Terms
    9. References
    10. Review Questions
    11. Further Reading
  9. 8 Value Theory
    1. Introduction
    2. 8.1 The Fact-Value Distinction
    3. 8.2 Basic Questions about Values
    4. 8.3 Metaethics
    5. 8.4 Well-Being
    6. 8.5 Aesthetics
    7. Summary
    8. Key Terms
    9. References
    10. Review Questions
    11. Further Reading
  10. 9 Normative Moral Theory
    1. Introduction
    2. 9.1 Requirements of a Normative Moral Theory
    3. 9.2 Consequentialism
    4. 9.3 Deontology
    5. 9.4 Virtue Ethics
    6. 9.5 Daoism
    7. 9.6 Feminist Theories of Ethics
    8. Summary
    9. Key Terms
    10. References
    11. Review Questions
    12. Further Reading
  11. 10 Applied Ethics
    1. Introduction
    2. 10.1 The Challenge of Bioethics
    3. 10.2 Environmental Ethics
    4. 10.3 Business Ethics and Emerging Technology
    5. Summary
    6. Key Terms
    7. References
    8. Review Questions
    9. Further Reading
  12. 11 Political Philosophy
    1. Introduction
    2. 11.1 Historical Perspectives on Government
    3. 11.2 Forms of Government
    4. 11.3 Political Legitimacy and Duty
    5. 11.4 Political Ideologies
    6. Summary
    7. Key Terms
    8. References
    9. Review Questions
    10. Further Reading
  13. 12 Contemporary Philosophies and Social Theories
    1. Introduction
    2. 12.1 Enlightenment Social Theory
    3. 12.2 The Marxist Solution
    4. 12.3 Continental Philosophy’s Challenge to Enlightenment Theories
    5. 12.4 The Frankfurt School
    6. 12.5 Postmodernism
    7. Summary
    8. Key Terms
    9. References
    10. Review Questions
  14. Index
Abductive
having to do with abduction/abductive reasoning. Abduction is probabilistic form of inference in which an explanation is offered to justify and explain evidence.
Ad hominin attack
fallacy of relevance that argues against someone’s idea or suggestion by attacking the individual personally, rather than pointing out problems with the idea or suggestion.
Appeal to ignorance
a fallacy of weak induction that relies on the lack of knowledge or evidence for a thing (our ignorance of it) to draw a definite conclusion about that thing.
Argument
a set of reasons offered in support of a conclusion.
Begging the question
a fallacy of unwarranted assumption that either assumes the truth of a conclusion in the course of trying to prove it or assumes the truth of a contentious claim.
Biased sample
a fallacy of weak induction that draws a conclusion using evidence that is biased in some way.
Conclusion
the result of an argument. A conclusion is that which is meant to be proved by the reasoning and premises used in an argument.
Conditional
a logical statement that expresses a necessary and a sufficient condition. Conditionals are usually formulated as if–then statements.
Contradiction
a statement that is always false. A contradiction is the conjunction of any statement and its negation.
Counterexample
an example that proves that either a statement is false or an argument is invalid.
Deductive
having to do with deduction/deductive reasoning. Deduction is a form of inference that can guarantee the truth of its conclusions, given the truth of the premises.
Emotional appeal
fallacy of relevance that appeals to feelings (whether positive or negative) rather than discussing the merits of an idea or proposal.
Explanatory virtues
aspects of an explanation that generally make it strong; four such virtues are that a good hypothesis should be explanatory, simple, and conservative, and have depth.
Fallacy
a poor form of reasoning.
Fallacy of diversion
a general category of informal fallacies in which an arguer presents evidence that functions to divert the attention of the audience from the current subject of argument.
Fallacy of relevance
a general category of informal fallacies in which an arguer relies on reasons that are not relevant for establishing a conclusion.
Fallacy of unwarranted assumption
a general category of informal fallacies in which an arguer implicitly or explicitly relies on reasons that require further justification.
Fallacy of weak induction
a general category of informal fallacies in which an arguer’s evidence or reasons are too weak to firmly establish their conclusion.
False cause
fallacy of weak induction in which a causal relation is assumed to exist between two events or things that are not causally connected; “correlation does not equal causation”.
False dichotomy
a fallacy of unwarranted assumption in which a limited number of possibilities are assumed to be the only available options.
Hasty generalization
fallacy of weak induction that draws a conclusion using too little evidence to support the conclusion.
Hypothesis
a proposed explanation for an observed process or phenomenon.
Inductive
having to do with induction/inductive reasoning. Induction is a probabilistic form of inference in which observation or experience is used to draw conclusions about the world.
Inference
a reasoning process that moves from one idea to another, resulting in conclusions.
Invalidity
a property of bad deductive inferences. An invalid inference/argument is one in which the truth of the premises does not guarantee the truth of the conclusion.
Law of noncontradiction
a logical law that states that contradictory statements/propositions can never be true in the same sense at the same time.
Law of the excluded middle
a logical law that states that for any statement, either that statement or its negation is true.
Logical analysis
the process of determining whether the logical inferences made in an argument are good. A logical analysis determines whether the premises in an argument logically support the conclusion.
Necessary condition
X is a necessary condition for Y if and only if X must be true given the truth of Y. If X is necessary for Y, then X is guaranteed by Y—without the truth of X, Y cannot be true.
Premise
evidence or a reason offered in support of a conclusion.
Red herring
fallacy of diversion that ignores the opponent’s position and simply changes the subject.
Statement
a sentence with a truth value—a sentence that must be either true or false.
Strawman
fallacy of diversion that utilizes a weaker version of the position being argued against in order to make the position easier to defeat.
Sufficient condition
X is a sufficient condition for Y if and only if the truth of X guarantees the truth of Y. If X is sufficient for Y, then the truth of X is enough to prove the truth of Y.
Truth analysis
the process of determining whether statements made in an argument are either true or false.
Universal affirmative statement
statements that take two groups of things and claim all members of the first group are also members of the second groups.
Validity
a property of deductive arguments where the structure of an argument is such that if the premises are true, then the conclusion is guaranteed to be true. A valid inference is a logically good inference.
PreviousNext
Order a print copy

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Citation/Attribution

Want to cite, share, or modify this book? This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution License and you must attribute OpenStax.

Attribution information
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a print format, then you must include on every physical page the following attribution:
    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/introduction-philosophy/pages/1-introduction
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a digital format, then you must include on every digital page view the following attribution:
    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/introduction-philosophy/pages/1-introduction
Citation information

© Jun 21, 2022 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.