Concepts and Definitions.

If you look around the ideosphere right now, there isn't much clarity or disclosure in the way that people describe and explain the way they think. As such, there's lots of confusion. Different worldviews (idea systems) use the same term different ways. As just one example, I'd like to offer up the word 'tolerance.' Without going into a long diatribe about the newer ways in which the word is being employed, it will suffice to say that in many cases now people don't mean what the dictionary says when they use the word 'tolerance.' No matter what you think of that development, asking someone to define their terms (or asking good questions that will give you a hint about how they're using it) is a fundamental part of any serious discussion.

This might sound like a waste of time. To others it might sound like a sort of arcane pursuit, totally removed from useful conversation. If everyone used the same words the same way, both of these criticisms would be exactly true. But the way things are now, those who don't ask careful questions are setting themselves up for trouble.

In addition, many current philosophical/theological positions make assumptions from previous schools and then carefully relabel an old idea with a newer, hipper name. If we can get down to the ideas that comprise a view and compare them to older ideas with a longer history, that can also be a helpful pursuit. This blog is going to explore the kinds of definitions and concepts which are prevalent in these types of discussion in an effort to provide some kind of basic grounds on which to build.

Here's a partial list of some of the ideas and concepts (building blocks) which will need to be tackled:

Three Pursuits of Philosophy:

1. Metaphysics
2. Ethics
3. Epistemology

Philosophical Systems: (aka the "-isms")

• Rationalism
• Empiricism
• Utilitarianism
• Pragmatism
• Skepticism
• Stoicism
• Deism
• Theism
• Existentialism
• Nihilism
• Logical Positivism
• Monism
• Dualism
• Hedonism

Philosophical Concepts & Laws

• a priori
• reductio ad absurdum
• ad hoc
• ad hominem
• Law of Identity
• Law of the Excluded Middle (Bivalence)
• Law of Contradiction (a.k.a Law of Non-Contradiction)