CATEGORY: EXISTENTIAL LOGICISM — EL core labels and pillars
1. Term: Existential Logicism (EL)
Definition: A logic-built framework that starts from “existential anchors” (truths you can’t coherently deny) and builds a seven‑pillar architecture for metaphysics, time, consciousness, and ethics.
2. Term: Existential Logicism–Undeniability (EL‑undeniability)
Definition: A proposition φ is EL‑undeniable when any meaningful attempt to deny φ already presupposes φ—so denial is performatively self‑undermining.
3. Term: Existential anchors
Definition: The special subclass of truths picked out by EL‑undeniability: they can’t be abandoned without collapse, because every coherent standpoint already commits you to them.
4. Term: Seven Pillars of Existential Logicism
Definition: The interlocking set of seven core results EL treats as structurally unavoidable: ERP, ION, LEIR, PPD, SOC, Contingency Guillotine, and DMF.
5. Term: Epistemic Refutation Paradox (ERP) — Pillar 1
Definition: The claim that “experience/occurrence is happening” is undeniable, because even doubting or denying it is itself an experiential/occurring act.
6. Term: Tripp’s Prison (TP)
Definition: The closure result that you cannot step outside your epistemic interface; every claim you entertain is only available as a tokened structure within your own experiential frame.
7. Term: Illusion of Nothingness (ION) — Pillar 2
Definition: The argument that “absolute nothingness” cannot be coherently represented or occupied; even the attempt presupposes some occurrence/context.
8. Term: Logical Elimination of Infinite Regress (LEIR) — Pillar 3
Definition: The dependence‑chain result that purely dependent structures cannot be “all there is”; explanation bottoms out in at least one self‑grounded occurrence.
9. Term: Persistent Present Determinism (PPD) — Pillar 4
Definition: The view that reality is a single, updating present state; “past” and “future” exist only as present representations/records, updated deterministically by a law of evolution.
10. Term: Spectrum of Consciousness (SOC) — Pillar 5
Definition: A graded account of consciousness across systems, using structural criteria (world‑coupling, valuation, temporal integration, phenomenal evidence) rather than a binary conscious/not‑conscious cut.
11. Term: Elios Paradox (EP)
Definition: The paradox that if you allow skepticism about others’ minds (e.g., zombies), symmetry pushes you toward skepticism about your own mindedness—unless you smuggle in special pleading.
12. Term: Contingency Guillotine (CG) — Pillar 6
Definition: The argument that strongly objective morality cannot be recovered from a reality where valuation is contingent (valuer‑dependent); “stance‑free” moral facts don’t get traction.
13. Term: Deterministic Moral Forces (DMF) — Pillar 7
Definition: The claim that in deterministic worlds with no contra‑causal free will and no stance‑free moral properties, “desert” and retributive punishment collapse into system forces (prediction/control/conditioning), not objective moral facts.
CATEGORY: EXISTENTIAL LOGICISM — EL system‑adopted primitives and notation
14. Term: Occurrence (Occ(x))
Definition: Occ(x) means “x is an occurrence”—some event/state/happening/instantiation (including experiential or representational happenings).
15. Term: Reality (R)
Definition: R is a non‑empty set of occurrences (so “reality obtains” just means at least one occurrence exists).
16. Term: Epistemic interface (I_A)
Definition: I_A is the set/structure of representational states available to agent A (perception, memory, inference, imagination, etc.)—the only channel through which “facts” are accessed.
17. Term: Tokening (Tok_A(S))
Definition: Tok_A(S) means agent A tokens (instantiates/realizes) representational state S; “having” a belief/experience is tokening a state in the interface.
18. Term: Global negation of occurrence (G)
Definition: G is the claim “no occurrences exist” (formally: ∀x ¬Occ(x))—the target that collapses under ERP‑style self‑undermining.
19. Term: Epistemic act
Definition: An epistemic act is a tokened representational state with an epistemic role (asserting, doubting, judging, inferring, etc.).
20. Term: Epistemic frame (F_A)
Definition: F_A is the set of all representational states tokenable by A—i.e., the space of possible interface states for that agent.
21. Term: Epistemic act‑state
Definition: A state S ∈ F_A that corresponds to performing an epistemic act E (assertion, denial, reasoning, etc.).
22. Term: Skeptical scenario (Σ / S_skeptic)
Definition: A maximally skeptical hypothesis that tries to undercut knowledge (e.g., BIV/simulation), treated formally as content inside the epistemic frame.
23. Term: Naive external view (V0)
Definition: The “ordinary realism” stance that assumes direct access to an external world without accounting for interface mediation.
CATEGORY: EXISTENTIAL LOGICISM — ION primitives
24. Term: World (W)
Definition: W is a set of occurrences treated as a candidate “world” (a reality‑candidate in the ION analysis).
25. Term: Local nothingness (N_loc)
Definition: N_loc says there is an internal region/subset of reality with no occurrences (a “nothing here” pocket).
26. Term: Abstract nothingness (N_abs)
Definition: N_abs is the empty set ∅ treated as an abstract object (a “nothing” in mathematics, not a lived world).
27. Term: Absolute nothingness (N0)
Definition: N0 is the “world with no occurrences” (W = ∅ as a world)—the target ION argues cannot be coherently represented/occupied.
28. Term: Representation (Rep_A(X))
Definition: Rep_A(X) means A tokens a state whose content purports to represent X (including “nothingness”).
CATEGORY: EXISTENTIAL LOGICISM — LEIR primitives
29. Term: Dependence relation (D(x,y))
Definition: D(x,y) means x depends on y for its dependence‑explanation (y is part of what explains why x occurs).
30. Term: Dependence chain
Definition: A sequence x0, x1, … where each element depends on the next (D(x_i, x_{i+1})).
31. Term: Self‑grounded occurrence (SG(x))
Definition: SG(x) holds when x depends on itself (D(x,x)); explanation bottoms out internally rather than only in “other things.”
32. Term: Purely dependent occurrence (PD(x))
Definition: PD(x) holds when x is not self‑grounded and depends on something else for its explanation.
33. Term: Complete dependence explanation (CDE)
Definition: A set X of occurrences that (i) includes at least one self‑grounded occurrence, and (ii) explains every occurrence in W via dependence (directly or through a chain).
CATEGORY: EXISTENTIAL LOGICISM — PPD primitives
34. Term: Present state (S_t)
Definition: The total configuration of reality “at time t” (the unique present configuration).
35. Term: PPD‑reality (R_PPD)
Definition: A reality where there is exactly one present state at each time, and all ontology is exhausted by the present state.
36. Term: Past representation (RepPast(S_t))
Definition: A present occurrence/state that represents past content (memory trace, record, model), not a literal existing past‑region.
37. Term: Future representation (RepFuture(S_t))
Definition: A present occurrence/state that represents future content (prediction, plan, simulation), not a literal existing future‑region.
38. Term: Law of evolution (F)
Definition: The deterministic transition function mapping each present state to its successor (S_{t+1} = F(S_t)).
CATEGORY: EXISTENTIAL LOGICISM — SOC / Elios primitives
39. Term: System (A)
Definition: A system A is characterized by a set of possible representational states and a tokening relation over those states.
40. Term: World‑coupled (WC(A))
Definition: A is world‑coupled if some of its representational states are reliably constrained by external world structure (not purely free‑running).
41. Term: Value‑registered (VR(A))
Definition: A is value‑registered if some representational states encode valence/valuation (good/bad, better/worse, desire/aversion).
42. Term: Temporally integrative (TI(A))
Definition: A is temporally integrative if it binds information across time (memory, anticipation, narrative integration), rather than existing as a momentary snapshot.
43. Term: Phenomenal evidence (PE(A))
Definition: A has phenomenal evidence if, from the inside, there is direct seeming‑evidence of “what‑it’s‑like” (a primitive experiential profile).
44. Term: Zombie‑like system (Z(A))
Definition: A system that can behave/compute without phenomenal evidence; used to frame the Elios‑style symmetry problem.
CATEGORY: EXISTENTIAL LOGICISM — Contingency Guillotine primitives
45. Term: Valuer (V)
Definition: Any system capable of valuation (assigning positive/negative significance to states).
46. Term: Moral proposition
Definition: A proposition whose content includes a moral predicate (wrong/right/ought/etc).
47. Term: Strongly objective moral proposition
Definition: A moral proposition that purports to be stance‑independent (true regardless of any valuer’s attitudes or practices).
CATEGORY: EXISTENTIAL LOGICISM — DMF primitives
48. Term: Deterministic world
Definition: A world where every event is fixed by prior state + laws (no branching under identical conditions).
49. Term: Contra‑causal free will (CCFW)
Definition: The kind of freedom that could have done otherwise holding fixed the entire past and laws.
50. Term: Moral judgment
Definition: A judgment that assigns moral status (blameworthy, deserves punishment, etc.) rather than merely predicting or describing.
51. Term: Punishment
Definition: The imposition of harm/deprivation in response to violation, typically justified by desert.
52. Term: Stance‑free moral property
Definition: A moral property that would obtain independently of any agent’s valuational stance.
CATEGORY: FINITE MIND, FINITE GOD — core commitments and collapse vocabulary
53. Term: Finite Mind, Finite God (FMFG)
Definition: The central result: when all God‑talk is mediated by finite minds/interfaces, the “maximally great personal God” picture collapses into either a finite agent or an impersonal totality/existential ground.
54. Term: Finite mind
Definition: A mind whose representational resources are limited (bounded access, bounded processing, bounded certainty).
55. Term: Experiential interface (I(M))
Definition: The total set/structure of representational states through which a mind M encounters “reality” (perception, memory, inference, imagination, affect).
56. Term: God‑concept tokening (G_M)
Definition: The fact that any “God” available to a finite mind is first a tokened concept within that mind’s interface—not a direct grasp of ultimacy.
57. Term: God/no‑God frame
Definition: The default debate frame that treats “God exists vs God doesn’t exist” as the central fork—before noticing the interface constraint.
58. Term: Collapse proof
Definition: The argument‑pattern showing that once mediation/finite‑mind constraints are enforced, certain traditional God‑claims cannot survive without turning into a different object (finite agent / totality / existential ground).
59. Term: Existential ground
Definition: The minimal “something rather than nothing” base fact that cannot be removed; the non‑optional ontological floor.
60. Term: Finite mind constraint
Definition: The rule that any claim about ultimacy/God is only available via finite interface states—so it cannot function as if it were unmediated, universal, or epistemically clean.
61. Term: Finite God Trap
Definition: If “God” is treated as a person‑like agent with preferences, then “God” becomes limited (non‑total), hence finite in the relevant sense.
62. Term: Totality (E)
Definition: The “everything‑that‑exists” whole; when ultimacy is identified with totality, it is not a personal agent among other beings.
63. Term: Ultimacy
Definition: That which is ultimate/fundamental (the end of explanation); in FMFG it tends to collapse toward totality or existential ground rather than a bounded preference‑agent.
CATEGORY: FINITE MIND, FINITE GOD — revelation, filtering, and interpretation
64. Term: Epistemic interface (I_A)
Definition: A structured interface for agent A: the token‑states available to A, plus the update and inference relations that govern them.
65. Term: Public doctrinal claim (δ)
Definition: A proposition presented in a community as belief/action‑guiding and normatively binding, typically grounded in revelation/scripture/institutional authority.
66. Term: Testimony
Definition: An act/artifact where a source presents proposition φ as true to a recipient, and the recipient treats that presentation as evidence for φ.
67. Term: Transmission chain
Definition: A finite sequence of agents/artifacts connecting an originating event/report to the final tokened artifact through which φ reaches a given agent.
68. Term: Human Interface Thesis
Definition: The thesis that every public doctrinal claim is human‑interface bound: any warrant anyone has for it is mediated by transmission chains inside finite epistemic interfaces.
69. Term: Revelation Filter
Definition: The composite transformation that alleged revelation undergoes—cognitive tokening → linguistic encoding → social transmission → documentary stabilization → canon selection → interpretive uptake.
70. Term: Steelman hermeneutic
Definition: Interpretive policy: assign a doctrinal claim its strongest coherent reading compatible with the system’s anchors, rather than the weakest or most literal reading.
71. Term: Silence of new revelation
Definition: The observed absence (at scale) of fresh, unambiguous, publicly verifiable revelation that would override transmission/filter problems.
72. Term: Apophatic move
Definition: Retreat from positive literal predicates about ultimacy toward negative/limit language (“not this”), to avoid finitude contradictions.
73. Term: Apophatic convergence
Definition: Under steelmanning + ultimacy discipline, different traditions tend to converge toward apophatic/negative theology (because strong literal predication forces finitude).
74. Term: Ineffability shield
Definition: Using “ineffable / beyond words” as an immunity move to block critique while still making practical/authority claims.
CATEGORY: FINITE MIND, FINITE GOD — fairness, salvation mechanics, and pressure points
75. Term: Belief gate
Definition: Any soteriological rule that makes salvation/ultimate success depend on believing or assenting to specific propositions.
76. Term: Soteriological criterion
Definition: The condition a tradition treats as necessary/sufficient for salvation/liberation/ultimate success.
77. Term: Fairness clause
Definition: Accountability must track an agent’s access to the claim and capacity to understand/assent; otherwise condemnation is unjust.
78. Term: Access condition
Definition: The agent actually had exposure to (and a live chance to encounter) the saving claim/practice.
79. Term: Capacity condition
Definition: The agent had the cognitive/psychological capacity to grasp and respond (not merely be told words).
80. Term: At‑will test
Definition: A check on whether belief is voluntarily controllable; if belief is not at will, blame for nonbelief becomes unstable.
81. Term: Salvation paradox
Definition: The tension: if ignorance is excused, nonbelief can become “safer” than belief; if ignorance is not excused, the fairness clause is violated.
CATEGORY: FINITE MIND, FINITE GOD — translation layer and drift vocabulary
82. Term: Translation layer
Definition: A map‑like symbolic system that links human interface states (language, ritual, images) to claims about ultimacy.
83. Term: Map–territory gap
Definition: The structural mismatch between the translation layer (map) and what is ultimately real (territory), amplified by finite interfaces.
84. Term: Translation drift
Definition: The systematic shifting of meanings across time due to language change, interpretation, institution, and copying/selection processes.
85. Term: Doctrinal divergence
Definition: The predictable branching into incompatible doctrines as transmission chains and translation drift accumulate.
86. Term: Existential convergence
Definition: The recurring convergence of traditions on similar existential structures (suffering/meaning/transformation) despite doctrinal divergence, due to shared human constraints.
CATEGORY: FINITE MIND, FINITE GOD — personhood, preference, and the finite‑god collapse machinery
87. Term: Personhood predicates (P)
Definition: A set of predicates characteristic of personal agents (knows, chooses, intends, loves, commands, etc.) applied to “God.”
88. Term: Anthropomorphic predication
Definition: Attributing personhood predicates to ultimacy as if ultimacy were a humanlike agent.
89. Term: Preference structure (Pref)
Definition: A nontrivial ordering of alternatives (“prefers A to B”) that guides choices.
90. Term: Ultimacy‑as‑totality (E)
Definition: Treating ultimacy as totality: the all‑inclusive whole rather than a bounded chooser among options.
91. Term: Limitation (L(x))
Definition: x is limited when x is not identical to totality (there exists something in totality that is not x).
92. Term: Predicate finitude
Definition: Any positive, determinate predicate applied literally to ultimacy imposes a boundary (and thus finitude) unless it collapses into totality language.
CATEGORY: FINITE MIND, FINITE GOD — practice‑forward alternatives
93. Term: Nondual ultimacy
Definition: An ultimacy model where the ultimate is not a separate personal subject over against the world, but a nondual ground/totality.
94. Term: Reciprocity Principle
Definition: The idea that ultimate success should be reciprocal with human constraints—reachable across cultures without arbitrary belief gates tied to historical accident.
95. Term: Practice Primacy
Definition: The thesis that transformation/practice (not assent to propositions) should be treated as primary evidence/route for spiritual success.
96. Term: Skillful means
Definition: Doctrines/rituals are tools for transformation—valuable even if not literally metaphysical descriptions.
CATEGORY: FINITE MIND, FINITE GOD — institutional control vocabulary
97. Term: Unobservable predicate
Definition: A property claim that cannot be directly checked by ordinary public observation (e.g., “saved,” “pure,” “in grace,” “chosen”).
98. Term: Observable predicate
Definition: A publicly checkable behavior/marker (attendance, dress, speech, ritual compliance).
99. Term: Proxy metric
Definition: An observable predicate used as a stand‑in for an unobservable predicate.
100. Term: Compliance marker
Definition: A proxy metric used specifically to mark membership/obedience and to police boundary lines.
101. Term: Authority stacking
Definition: Layering multiple authorities (text, leader, institution, tradition) so dissent has no stable court of appeal.
102. Term: Threat architecture
Definition: A structured system of punishments/fears (social, psychological, metaphysical) that enforces compliance.
103. Term: Control overlay
Definition: The institutional layer that uses proxies + threats to control populations, often drifting away from genuine existential transformation.
104. Term: Primacy test
Definition: A diagnostic test for whether a tradition’s operational center is (i) lived transformation/practice or (ii) compliance/authority enforcement via proxies.
CATEGORY: FORMAL LOGIC, MATHEMATICS, AND SEMANTICS
105. Term: Proposition
Definition: A declarative content that is truth‑apt: it can be true or false.
106. Term: Propositional logic
Definition: A formal system that treats propositions as atomic units combined by truth‑functional connectives (such as negation, conjunction, and disjunction).
107. Term: Predicate
Definition: An expression with one or more argument places that yields a proposition when its variables are filled or bound (for example, “is conscious(x)”).
108. Term: First‑order logic (predicate logic)
Definition: A formal system extending propositional logic with predicates, variables, and quantifiers over individuals in a domain.
109. Term: Quantifier
Definition: An operator that binds a variable and states how many objects in a domain satisfy a predicate (most commonly universal and existential quantifiers).
110. Term: Universal quantifier (∀)
Definition: The quantifier meaning “for all” objects in the domain: ∀x φ(x) states that φ holds for every x.
111. Term: Existential quantifier (∃)
Definition: The quantifier meaning “there exists” at least one object in the domain: ∃x φ(x) states that φ holds for some x.
112. Term: Negation (¬)
Definition: The logical operator meaning “not”: ¬p is true exactly when p is false.
113. Term: Conjunction (∧)
Definition: The logical operator meaning “and”: p ∧ q is true exactly when both p and q are true.
114. Term: Disjunction (∨)
Definition: The logical operator meaning “or” (inclusive): p ∨ q is true when at least one of p or q is true.
115. Term: Material conditional (→)
Definition: The truth‑functional “if…then”: p → q is false only when p is true and q is false.
116. Term: Biconditional (↔)
Definition: The connective meaning “if and only if”: p ↔ q is true when p and q have the same truth value.
117. Term: Modal logic
Definition: A family of logics that adds modal operators to express necessity and possibility (and related notions).
118. Term: Necessity operator (□)
Definition: A modal operator often read as “necessarily”: □p means p is true in all relevant possible worlds.
119. Term: Possibility operator (◇)
Definition: A modal operator often read as “possibly”: ◇p means p is true in at least one relevant possible world.
120. Term: Possible world
Definition: A standard semantic device used to model different ways reality could be; in modal semantics, truth can be evaluated relative to a world.
121. Term: Model (in logic)
Definition: A mathematical structure that interprets the language of a theory (domain + interpretation) and allows evaluation of which sentences are true.
122. Term: Domain (of a model)
Definition: The set of objects over which variables range in a logical model.
123. Term: Interpretation function
Definition: A mapping that assigns meanings to nonlogical symbols (constants, function symbols, predicates) within a model.
124. Term: Validity
Definition: An argument is valid when it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion false (in the intended semantics).
125. Term: Soundness
Definition: An argument is sound when it is valid and its premises are true.
126. Term: Semantic entailment (⊨)
Definition: φ entails ψ when there is no admissible interpretation in which φ is true and ψ is false.
127. Term: Syntactic derivability (⊢)
Definition: A relation where ψ is derivable from φ by the rules of a formal proof system.
128. Term: Consistency
Definition: A set of statements is consistent when it does not entail a contradiction (there is no statement p such that both p and ¬p are derivable).
129. Term: Contradiction
Definition: A statement (or pair of statements) that cannot be true together; classically, p ∧ ¬p is a contradiction.
130. Term: Reductio ad absurdum
Definition: A proof method that assumes a target claim (or its negation) and derives a contradiction to establish the opposite.
131. Term: Axiom
Definition: A starting statement adopted without proof within a formal system, used to derive further results.
132. Term: Theorem
Definition: A statement proven from axioms (and previously proven results) using accepted rules of inference.
133. Term: Lemma
Definition: A proven helper result used as a stepping stone toward a larger theorem.
134. Term: Corollary
Definition: A result that follows with minimal additional work from a theorem.
135. Term: Set
Definition: A collection of distinct elements treated as a single object in mathematics.
136. Term: Element of a set (∈)
Definition: The membership relation: x ∈ A means x is an element of set A.
137. Term: Empty set (∅)
Definition: The set with no elements.
138. Term: Subset (⊆)
Definition: A ⊆ B means every element of A is also an element of B.
139. Term: Set‑builder notation
Definition: A way to define a set by a property, for example {x | φ(x)} meaning “the set of all x such that φ(x)”.
140. Term: Ordered pair
Definition: A pair ⟨a, b⟩ where order matters; used to define relations and functions.
141. Term: Relation
Definition: A set of ordered tuples; a binary relation is a set of ordered pairs relating two domains.
142. Term: Function
Definition: A mapping f : A → B that assigns each element of A (domain) exactly one element of B (codomain).
143. Term: Domain (of a function)
Definition: The input set A for a function f : A → B.
144. Term: Codomain
Definition: The designated output set B for a function f : A → B.
145. Term: Range / image
Definition: The set of actual outputs of a function: {f(x) | x ∈ A}.
146. Term: Alphabet (Σ)
Definition: In formal language theory, a finite set of symbols used to build strings.
147. Term: String
Definition: A finite sequence of symbols from an alphabet (for example, a word over Σ).
148. Term: Kleene star (Σ*)
Definition: The set of all finite strings over alphabet Σ, including the empty string.
149. Term: Type–token distinction
Definition: A standard distinction where a type is an abstract kind (for example, a word), and a token is a particular instance of that type (a specific printed occurrence).
CATEGORY: EPISTEMOLOGY, SKEPTICISM, AND INTERPRETATION
150. Term: Epistemology
Definition: The branch of philosophy that studies knowledge, justification, evidence, and rational belief.
151. Term: Knowledge
Definition: Standardly analyzed as a success condition on belief (for example, belief that is true and appropriately justified or warranted), though analyses differ.
152. Term: Epistemic justification
Definition: The normative status of a belief being supported by reasons, evidence, or reliable methods.
153. Term: Skepticism
Definition: The position (or methodological stance) that doubts or denies that certain kinds of knowledge are possible.
154. Term: Radical skepticism
Definition: Skepticism taken to an extreme, for example doubting whether one can know anything about the external world at all.
155. Term: Solipsism
Definition: The view that only one’s own mind is certain to exist or is the only thing one can know exists.
156. Term: Skeptical scenario
Definition: A thought‑experiment hypothesis designed to undercut knowledge claims (for example, deception by a simulator or an evil demon).
157. Term: Brain in a vat
Definition: A skeptical scenario in which a brain is kept alive and fed experiences by a computer, raising doubts about external‑world knowledge.
158. Term: Simulation hypothesis
Definition: The idea that our experiences could be generated by a sufficiently advanced simulation, making ordinary external‑world inferences uncertain.
159. Term: Evil demon hypothesis
Definition: A Cartesian skeptical scenario: a powerful deceiver systematically produces misleading experiences and beliefs.
160. Term: Cogito (Cogito ergo sum)
Definition: Descartes’ argument that the act of thinking guarantees the thinker’s existence, at least as a thinking thing.
161. Term: Epistemic closure (closure principle)
Definition: A principle stating that knowledge (or justification) is closed under known entailment: if S knows p and knows p entails q, then S knows q.
162. Term: Epistemic access
Definition: The degree to which an agent can, in principle, obtain evidence for, understand, or justifiably believe a proposition.
163. Term: Testimony
Definition: A source of belief or knowledge that comes from what others report, assert, or communicate.
164. Term: Hermeneutics
Definition: The theory and methodology of interpretation, especially of texts, language, and meaning in context.
165. Term: Hermeneutic circle
Definition: The interpretive structure where understanding the parts of a text depends on the whole and understanding the whole depends on the parts.
166. Term: Principle of charity
Definition: An interpretive norm: when a speaker/text is ambiguous, prefer the most rational/coherent interpretation consistent with the evidence.
167. Term: Special pleading
Definition: A fallacy where an exception is made for a favored case without principled justification, often to avoid counterevidence.
168. Term: View from nowhere
Definition: A phrase (associated with Nagel) for an idealized, maximally objective standpoint abstracted from any particular perspective.
169. Term: God’s‑eye view
Definition: An imagined perfect perspective that sees reality as it is “in itself,” without human limitations or mediation.
170. Term: Intersubjectivity
Definition: The shared structure of experience, meaning, or agreement between multiple subjects.
171. Term: Intersubjective realism
Definition: A view that treats objectivity as grounded in stable, cross‑subjective constraints (what holds across many observers) rather than a literal “view from nowhere.”
172. Term: Doxastic voluntarism
Definition: The thesis that agents can choose beliefs directly (that belief is under voluntary control).
173. Term: Doxastic involuntarism
Definition: The thesis that belief is not directly under voluntary control; beliefs form in response to perceived evidence and cognition.
174. Term: Doxastic luck
Definition: A kind of epistemic luck where it is a matter of chance that one forms true beliefs (or avoids false ones), potentially undermining knowledge.
CATEGORY: METAPHYSICS, ONTOLOGY, AND EXPLANATION
175. Term: Metaphysics
Definition: The branch of philosophy concerned with the most general features of reality (being, causation, modality, time, identity, and dependence).
176. Term: Ontology
Definition: The subfield of metaphysics focused on what exists and what kinds of things exist.
177. Term: Existence
Definition: The status of being; in metaphysics, debates often concern what it means to exist and what sorts of entities exist.
178. Term: Causality
Definition: The relation between causes and effects; explanations often appeal to causal structure or dependence.
179. Term: Explanation
Definition: An account of why something is the case; in philosophy this includes causal explanation and non‑causal (for example, grounding) explanation.
180. Term: Brute fact
Definition: A fact posited to have no further explanation (it is taken as basic).
181. Term: Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR)
Definition: A family of principles asserting that every fact has an explanation or reason why it is so rather than otherwise.
182. Term: Grounding
Definition: A non‑causal metaphysical dependence relation: facts about one level (for example, mental) may obtain in virtue of facts about another (for example, physical).
183. Term: Infinite regress
Definition: An explanatory or dependence chain that continues without termination; often debated whether such regresses are vicious or benign.
184. Term: Metaphysical necessity
Definition: A modality stronger than physical necessity: what could not have been otherwise given the nature of things (often modeled with □).
185. Term: Contingency
Definition: The modal status of being able to be otherwise; contingent facts are true in some possible worlds and false in others.
186. Term: Determinism
Definition: The thesis that, given the past and the laws, there is only one possible future course of events.
187. Term: Indeterminism
Definition: The denial of determinism: the laws and past do not fix a unique future; multiple futures may be compatible with identical prior conditions.
188. Term: Free will
Definition: A family of views about agency and control; commonly, the capacity to choose or act in a way that grounds moral responsibility.
189. Term: Compatibilism
Definition: The view that free will (or the freedom needed for responsibility) is compatible with determinism.
190. Term: Incompatibilism
Definition: The view that free will is incompatible with determinism.
191. Term: Libertarianism (free will)
Definition: An incompatibilist view holding that free will exists and therefore determinism is false (often requiring indeterministic agency).
192. Term: Counterfactual
Definition: A conditional about what would be the case if something were different (for example, ‘If I had chosen otherwise, …’).
193. Term: Nothingness
Definition: A philosophical topic concerning absence, non‑being, and the coherence of ‘nothing’ (distinct from an empty set as a mathematical object).
194. Term: Absolute nothingness
Definition: The putative state in which there is nothing whatsoever—no objects, events, properties, laws, or facts.
195. Term: Absence
Definition: A way of speaking about what is not present (for example, ‘there is no milk’), often analyzed as a property of contexts or regions rather than a ‘thing’.
196. Term: Identity (numerical identity)
Definition: The relation each thing bears only to itself; a = b asserts that a and b are one and the same entity.
197. Term: Personal identity
Definition: The problem of what makes a person the same person over time (for example, bodily continuity, psychological continuity, or other criteria).
CATEGORY: TIME, COSMOLOGY, AND PHYSICS TERMS USED IN EL
198. Term: Time
Definition: A dimension or ordering in which change and persistence are described; philosophically debated as to its ontology and structure.
199. Term: A‑theory of time
Definition: The family of theories on which temporal becoming is fundamental (the present is metaphysically special).
200. Term: B‑theory of time
Definition: The family of theories on which time is like a dimension with no objective ‘now’; temporal relations are tenseless (earlier/later).
201. Term: Presentism
Definition: The view that only the present exists; past and future are not entities or regions of reality on this view.
202. Term: Eternalism
Definition: The view that past, present, and future are equally real (often associated with the ‘block universe’).
203. Term: Growing block theory
Definition: The view that the past and present exist but the future does not yet; the ‘block’ of reality grows.
204. Term: Block universe
Definition: A representation of spacetime where all events across time are laid out as a fixed four‑dimensional structure.
205. Term: Relativity of simultaneity
Definition: In special relativity, simultaneity depends on reference frame; there is no single absolute set of simultaneous events.
206. Term: Special relativity
Definition: Einstein’s theory relating space and time for inertial frames, featuring time dilation and relativity of simultaneity.
207. Term: General relativity
Definition: Einstein’s theory of gravitation where spacetime curvature is related to mass‑energy and governs inertial motion.
208. Term: Big Bang cosmology
Definition: The mainstream cosmological model in which the universe expands from a hot, dense early state.
209. Term: Chronology protection conjecture
Definition: A proposal (associated with Hawking) that the laws of physics prevent macroscopic time travel and causal paradoxes.
210. Term: Time travel
Definition: The physical possibility of traveling to the past or future in a way that departs from ordinary causal order; discussed via relativity and spacetime geometry.
211. Term: Causal loop
Definition: A closed causal chain where an event is among its own causes (often raised in time travel discussions).
212. Term: Arrow of time
Definition: The observed asymmetry between past and future (for example, the thermodynamic arrow toward higher entropy).
213. Term: Entropy
Definition: A measure in thermodynamics/statistical mechanics associated with disorder or the number of microstates; often linked to the arrow of time.
214. Term: Quantum mechanics
Definition: The physical theory governing microscopic phenomena, featuring superposition, quantization, and probabilistic measurement outcomes.
215. Term: Quantum field theory
Definition: A framework combining quantum mechanics and special relativity where fields are fundamental and particles are excitations of fields.
216. Term: Vacuum energy
Definition: Energy associated with the ground state of quantum fields; often discussed in cosmology and quantum field theory.
217. Term: Creation ex nihilo
Definition: The theological and philosophical idea of creation ‘from nothing’; distinct from physical models that posit a prior structure (laws, fields) even if no matter exists.
CATEGORY: PHILOSOPHY OF MIND AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE
218. Term: Consciousness
Definition: The phenomenon of subjective experience; often distinguished into phenomenal aspects (what it is like) and functional/access aspects.
219. Term: Phenomenal consciousness
Definition: Consciousness understood as ‘what‑it‑is‑like’ experience (phenomenality).
220. Term: Access consciousness
Definition: Consciousness understood in terms of information being available for reasoning, report, and control of action.
221. Term: Qualia
Definition: Putative intrinsic, qualitative features of experience (for example, the redness of red as experienced).
222. Term: Intentionality
Definition: The ‘aboutness’ of mental states: beliefs and perceptions are about objects, states of affairs, or propositions.
223. Term: Functionalism
Definition: A view in philosophy of mind that characterizes mental states by their causal/functional roles rather than by their material substrate.
224. Term: Behaviorism
Definition: A view emphasizing observable behavior as the proper basis for psychological explanation (often contrasted with appeal to inner states).
225. Term: Physicalism
Definition: The thesis that everything is physical or determined by the physical; mental phenomena are not ontologically fundamental beyond the physical.
226. Term: Substance dualism
Definition: The view that mind and matter are distinct kinds of substances (for example, Cartesian dualism).
227. Term: Philosophical zombie
Definition: A hypothetical being behaviorally and functionally identical to a human but lacking phenomenal consciousness; used to probe the explanatory gap.
228. Term: Chinese Room argument
Definition: John Searle’s thought experiment arguing that symbol manipulation according to rules is insufficient for genuine understanding or semantics.
229. Term: Turing test
Definition: A behavioral criterion for machine intelligence based on whether a machine can imitate human conversational responses indistinguishably.
230. Term: Artificial intelligence
Definition: The field of creating systems that perform tasks associated with intelligence (learning, reasoning, perception, language).
231. Term: Integrated Information Theory (IIT)
Definition: A theory proposing that consciousness corresponds to the degree and structure of integrated information in a system (often associated with a quantity Φ).
232. Term: Neural correlates of consciousness (NCC)
Definition: Neural states/processes that reliably correspond to specific conscious experiences.
233. Term: Theory of mind
Definition: The capacity to attribute mental states (beliefs, desires, intentions) to oneself and others.
234. Term: Emergence
Definition: The idea that higher‑level properties arise from lower‑level systems; can be ‘weak’ (derivable in principle) or ‘strong’ (novel, irreducible).
CATEGORY: ETHICS, METAETHICS, AND NORMATIVE THEORY
235. Term: Ethics
Definition: The branch of philosophy concerned with value, right action, virtue, and how one ought to live.
236. Term: Metaethics
Definition: The study of what moral claims mean, whether moral facts exist, and how moral knowledge (if any) is possible.
237. Term: Normative ethics
Definition: The study of substantive principles about what actions are right or wrong and what character traits are virtues.
238. Term: Moral realism
Definition: The view that there are moral facts or truths that are objective in the sense of not depending solely on individual attitudes.
239. Term: Moral anti‑realism
Definition: The view that there are no objective moral facts (for example, moral claims may express attitudes, be systematically false, or lack truth value).
240. Term: Moral relativism
Definition: The view that moral truth is relative to a culture, framework, or set of norms rather than universally objective.
241. Term: Moral subjectivism
Definition: The view that moral judgments are grounded in individual attitudes or preferences (for example, ‘wrong’ means ‘I disapprove’).
242. Term: Error theory
Definition: A form of anti‑realism holding that moral statements aim to describe objective moral facts but systematically fail (they are all false).
243. Term: Emotivism
Definition: A noncognitivist view on which moral statements primarily express emotions or attitudes rather than state facts.
244. Term: Noncognitivism
Definition: The family of views on which moral utterances do not primarily function to state truth‑apt propositions, but to express attitudes or prescriptions.
245. Term: Is–Ought divide
Definition: Hume’s point that purely descriptive premises (‘is’) cannot by themselves yield a normative conclusion (‘ought’) without an additional normative premise.
246. Term: Naturalistic fallacy
Definition: A family of worries (often associated with Moore) about defining moral properties purely in natural terms or inferring ‘good’ from ‘natural’ without justification.
247. Term: Utilitarianism
Definition: A consequentialist theory holding that right action is what maximizes overall good (often happiness or well‑being).
248. Term: Consequentialism
Definition: The family of ethical theories evaluating actions by their outcomes or consequences.
249. Term: Deontology
Definition: The family of ethical theories holding that some actions are right or wrong independent of consequences, often due to duties or rules.
250. Term: Kantian ethics
Definition: A deontological approach grounded in autonomy and universalizable principles; associated with the categorical imperative.
251. Term: Categorical imperative
Definition: Kant’s central moral principle (in one formulation): act only on maxims you could will as universal law.
252. Term: Virtue ethics
Definition: An approach that centers moral evaluation on character and virtues rather than only rules or consequences.
253. Term: Moral responsibility
Definition: The status of being an appropriate target of moral appraisal (blame, praise) for actions or omissions.
254. Term: Desert
Definition: The notion that someone deserves blame, praise, reward, or punishment in virtue of what they did and their relevant control/culpability.
255. Term: Retributive justice
Definition: A theory of punishment holding that wrongdoers deserve punishment proportional to their wrongdoing.
256. Term: Restorative justice
Definition: An approach emphasizing repairing harm, reconciliation, and restoring relationships rather than imposing suffering as payback.
257. Term: Deterrence (punishment theory)
Definition: Justifying punishment by its role in discouraging future wrongdoing.
258. Term: Rehabilitation (punishment theory)
Definition: Justifying punishment or intervention by its aim to reform the offender and reduce future harm.
259. Term: Trolley problem
Definition: A family of thought experiments about moral tradeoffs, especially killing vs letting die and sacrifice to save more lives.
260. Term: Golden Rule
Definition: A reciprocity principle: treat others as you would want to be treated; appears across many moral and religious traditions.
261. Term: Harm principle
Definition: A liberal political principle (often associated with Mill): coercion is justified only to prevent harm to others.
262. Term: Well‑being
Definition: A general term for what makes lives go well (for example, happiness, flourishing, preference satisfaction).
263. Term: Suffering
Definition: Experienced distress or aversive conscious states; often treated as a morally salient quantity in ethical theory.
264. Term: Moral landscape
Definition: A metaphor (popularized by Sam Harris) for the space of possible conscious experiences as ranging from worse to better in terms of well‑being.
CATEGORY: PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION, THEOLOGY, AND COMPARATIVE RELIGION
265. Term: Philosophy of religion
Definition: The philosophical study of religious claims, concepts of God/ultimacy, revelation, religious experience, and arguments for/against theism.
266. Term: Theism
Definition: The belief that at least one god exists (often a personal deity who creates or governs the world).
267. Term: Atheism
Definition: The position that no gods exist, or (in weaker forms) the lack of belief in any gods.
268. Term: Agnosticism
Definition: The view that the existence of God(s) is unknown or unknowable (often distinguished from atheism and theism).
269. Term: Deism
Definition: The view that a creator exists but does not intervene in the world through ongoing revelation or miracles.
270. Term: Pantheism
Definition: The view that God is identical with the universe or totality of reality.
271. Term: Panentheism
Definition: The view that the universe is in God but God is more than the universe (God both includes and transcends the cosmos).
272. Term: Classical theism
Definition: A traditional monotheistic conception of God as the ultimate, necessary being with attributes like omnipotence, omniscience, and perfect goodness.
273. Term: Perfect being theology
Definition: An approach defining God as the greatest conceivable or maximally perfect being and deriving attributes from that ideal.
274. Term: Omnipotence
Definition: The property of being all‑powerful; debates concern what counts as ‘possible’ and how to avoid paradox.
275. Term: Omniscience
Definition: The property of knowing all truths (or all knowable truths); debates include foreknowledge, free will, and the scope of knowledge.
276. Term: Omnibenevolence
Definition: The property of perfect goodness; commonly invoked in the problem of evil and moral arguments about God.
277. Term: Divine simplicity
Definition: The doctrine that God has no parts and is not composed; God’s attributes are not distinct components added to God.
278. Term: Divine immutability
Definition: The doctrine that God does not change (in nature, character, or knowledge) over time.
279. Term: Divine impassibility
Definition: The doctrine that God is not subject to suffering or emotional change caused by external events.
280. Term: Trinity
Definition: A Christian doctrine that God is one being in three persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit).
281. Term: Revelation
Definition: The idea that God discloses truths to humans (through events, prophets, scripture, or experience).
282. Term: Closed revelation
Definition: The doctrine that public, authoritative revelation has ended (no new binding revelation after a fixed point/canon).
283. Term: Scripture
Definition: Texts regarded as sacred and authoritative within a religious tradition.
284. Term: Canon
Definition: The set of texts officially regarded as authoritative scripture in a tradition.
285. Term: Canon formation
Definition: The historical and institutional process by which a community selects and stabilizes its canonical texts.
286. Term: Oral tradition
Definition: Transmission of teachings and narratives by spoken repetition before (or alongside) written texts.
287. Term: Soteriology
Definition: Theological study of salvation/liberation and the conditions or mechanisms by which it is obtained.
288. Term: Salvation
Definition: Deliverance, liberation, or ultimate reconciliation as understood by a tradition (varies across religions).
289. Term: Age of accountability
Definition: A theological idea that moral/spiritual responsibility begins only after reaching a level of cognitive or moral capacity.
290. Term: Invincible ignorance
Definition: A doctrine that a person’s ignorance can excuse them when the truth was not reasonably accessible to them.
291. Term: Nonculpable nonbelief
Definition: The condition of lacking belief without blameworthiness because of inadequate access, evidence, or capacity.
292. Term: Predication
Definition: Attributing a predicate or property to a subject in language (for example, ‘God is good’ predicates goodness of God).
293. Term: Univocal predication
Definition: Predicating a term with the same meaning across subjects (for example, ‘good’ means the same for humans and for God).
294. Term: Equivocal predication
Definition: Predicating a term with different meanings across subjects (the same word is used but means something else).
295. Term: Analogical predication
Definition: Predicating a term in a related but non‑identical sense across subjects (often used in theology to speak about God).
296. Term: Apophatic theology
Definition: A theological approach that emphasizes what God is not and resists literal positive description (via negativa).
297. Term: Cataphatic theology
Definition: A theological approach that affirms positive descriptions of God (for example, ‘God is loving’), often with qualifications.
298. Term: Negative theology
Definition: A broad term for traditions that prioritize negation and limit‑language in speaking about the divine (closely related to apophatic theology).
299. Term: Ineffability
Definition: The thesis that certain aspects of ultimacy or religious experience cannot be adequately expressed in ordinary language.
300. Term: Neti, neti
Definition: A phrase from Hindu Upanishadic tradition meaning ‘not this, not that’, used as a method of apophatic negation.
301. Term: Atman
Definition: A term in Hindu philosophy often referring to the self or inner essence; varies across schools.
302. Term: Anatta
Definition: A Buddhist doctrine translated as ‘not‑self’: the denial of a permanent, independent self.
303. Term: Upaya (skillful means)
Definition: A Buddhist concept: teachings and practices are tools tailored to a person’s condition, not necessarily final metaphysical descriptions.
CATEGORY: SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION AND INSTITUTIONAL DYNAMICS
304. Term: Orthodoxy
Definition: Right or accepted belief within a tradition; often defined by institutional or communal standards.
305. Term: Heresy
Definition: Belief or teaching judged by an orthodoxy‑defining authority as deviant or unacceptable.
306. Term: Orthodoxy policing
Definition: Institutional and social practices used to enforce doctrinal conformity and suppress dissent.
307. Term: Gatekeeping
Definition: Control over access to status, authority, or membership within a community (including who counts as a legitimate interpreter/leader).
308. Term: Boundary maintenance
Definition: A sociological concept: practices that maintain distinctions between in‑group and out‑group.
309. Term: Boundary ritual
Definition: A ritual or practice used to publicly mark membership and reinforce in‑group boundaries.
310. Term: Doctrinal divergence
Definition: The branching of doctrines over time into incompatible interpretations due to transmission, interpretation, and institutional pressures.
311. Term: Cultural contingency
Definition: The dependence of beliefs, values, or practices on historical and cultural context rather than on universal necessity.
312. Term: Devotional plurality
Definition: The existence of multiple devotional forms, emphases, or religious options across or within cultures.
313. Term: Transmission chain
Definition: A sequence of communicative handoffs (people/texts/institutions) through which a claim or teaching is transmitted over time.