简明哲学术语英语词典.docVIP

简明哲学术语英语词典 A BRIEF LEXICON OF PHILOSOPHICAL TERMS A BRIEF LEXICON OF SOME COMMONLY USED PHILOSOPHICAL TERMS IN THE PRESENT DAYhttp://www.tcdsb.on.ca/external/schools/chaminade/oac-philosophy/public_html/lexicon.htmEdited and copyright ó 1989 by F.F. Centore A POSTERIORI (to come after in time): That which follows upon or depends upon sense experience; a knowledge of things which cannot be arrived at or deduced from definitions alone. E.g., if it is raining today I could not know that fact simply by knowing the definitions of rain, today, etc. I must learn about it by either observing it for myself or having some other observer convey the information to me.A PRIORI (prior to in time): That which comes before sense experience; that which does not require sense knowledge to be known as true. Cf. armchair mathematicians. E.g., I know a circle is round by definition, even if I had never seen a circle in my life.ABSTRACTION (ab-trahere; to draw out): The mental concentration on one aspect of something while ignoring other aspects; contrasted with the whole, CONCRETE thing, e.g., sweetness—this orange; humanness-Sally. It does not necessarily entail or imply the actual division or separation of the different aspects of the thing as it exists outside of the mind.ABSURD (ab-surdus; senseless): That which is self—contradictory, impossible, e.g., a square circle; hence, meaningless, ridiculous, irrational. In 20th c. phil. the term is often used by Atheistic Existentialists, such as Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre, to refer to the human condition, i.e., the absurd man must learn to survive, without committing suicide, in a meaningless, de trop, world, one which hasn’t come from anywhere and which is not going anywhere. The world and humans are surds, things without any reason for being. ACADEMIC FREEDOM: The right to do research and teach in accordance with the standards of the institution you freely chose to join and by whose moral and intellectual principles you fr