NET, IAS, State-SET (KSET, WBSET, MPSET, etc.), GATE, CUET, Olympiads etc.: Philosophy Glossary (Part 4 of 4)

Get unlimited access to the best preparation resource for competitive exams : get questions, notes, tests, video lectures and more- for all subjects of your exam.

  1. Punishment-Deliberate infliction of harm as a moral sanction against offenders. Punishment may be understood, designed, and applied according to any of the theories which are retributive, reformative and deterrent.
  2. completeness-A feature of formal systems whose axioms or rules of inference are adequate for the demonstration of every true proposition or for the justification of every valid argument. Thus, the addition of any unprovable formula to a complete system necessarily results in a contradiction. The propositional calculus is complete in this sense, but (as Godel showed) higher-order versions of quantification theory are not.
  3. consistency-Feature of any formal system from whose axioms no direct contradiction follows. The customary proof of consistency is to show that there is at least one interpretation of the system upon which all of its axioms are true.
  4. existential import-The distinguishing feature of propositions that assert the existence of something. In traditional interpretations of categorical logic, all propositions are taken to have existential import, but on a modern interpretation, only the particular propositions (I and O) , have existential import.
  5. naturalistic fallacy-According to G. E. Moore, the mistake of identifying moral good with any natural property. Moore argued that since any such identification gives rise to an open question, it can never be correct. This constitutes a significant reason for concluding that fact and value remain irreducibly distinct.
  6. necessary/contingent-Distinction between kinds of truth. Necessary truth is a feature of any statement that it would be contradictory to deny (Contradictions themselves are necessarily false.) . Contingent truths (or falsehoods) happen to be true (or false) , but might have been otherwise
  7. necessary/sufficient-Distinction between logical or causal conditions. In causal relations, a necessary condition for the occurence of an event is a state of affairs without which the event cannot happen, while a sufficient condition is a state of affairs that guarantees that it will happen. Thus, for example: The presence of oxygen is a necessary condition for combustion, and the flow of electrical current is a sufficient condition for the induction of a magnetic field.
  8. intuitionism-Reliance on unmediated awareness as a criterion of truth. In logic and mathematics, intuitionism denies the independent reality of mathematical objects and the principle of excluded middle. In moral philosophy, intuitionism is the metaethical theory that moral judgments are made by reference to a direct, non-inferential awareness of moral value. Ethical intuitionists usually hold that we recognize our duties in the specific features of particular moral decisions
  9. utilitarianism-Normative theory that human conduct is right or wrong because of its tendency to produce favorable or unfavorable consequences for the people who are affected by it. The hedonistic utilitarianism of Bentham, Mill, and Sidgwick maintains that all moral judgments can be derived from the greatest happiness principle. The ideal utilitarianism espoused by G. E. Moore, on the other hand, regarded aesthetic enjoyment and friendship as the highest ethical values. Contemporary utilitarians differ about whether the theory should be applied primarily to acts or rules.
  10. Reason for believing in parmanu by vaisheshika-By admitting parmanu as the eternal and indivisible parts that gives rise to world by their different combinations, vaisheshikas saved their Asatkaryavada, which is non-existence of effect in cause.
  11. Reason for having samanya as independent category by Nyayas-To maintain its realism, by which not only particulars, but universals also have objective reality. As universal can՚t exist in another universal, separate category is needed.
  12. Quantification rules-The 4 rules that dictate the conditions under which it is permissible to delete or add a quantifier: Universal Instantiation, Universal Generalization (for universal quantifiers) , Existential Instantiation and Existential Generalization (for existential quantifiers)
  13. Universal Quantification and Existential Quantification-UQ is attempt to formalize the notion that something is true for everything, while EQ is predication of a property to at least one member of the class.
  14. Duty and obligation-Obligation arises out the voluntary acts, whereas duty is something that we owe apart from any voluntary undertaking.