Key Philosophical Concepts Explained
Key Philosophical Concepts
Core Ideas
Skepticism
The belief that truth is either nonexistent or impossible to know.
Meditations
Interpretations of existence and truth.
Substance
That which does not depend on anything else to exist.
Idea
A mental representation or form of thought that we are immediately aware of.
Moral Safety
Certainty sufficient to guide practical life, even without theoretical certainty.
Truth
Absolute truth, free from any doubt or error.
Reason (Good Sense)
The ability to judge and distinguish truth from falsehood.
Science
Methodically organized bodies of doctrines constituting branches of human knowledge.
Address
The rational ability to infer things from principles or signs.
Method
A way of seeking truth through reliable rules or standards. For Descartes, this is deduction.
Moral
Standards used to confront and overcome passions, based on reason.
God
The supreme, infinite substance, perfectly understood, without defect or limitation. The only true substance, creator of everything, guarantor of the real world.
Soul (Mind)
In Descartes’ view, the ‘I,’ a thinking substance whose essence is to think. It lives independently of the body, is free, the principle of knowledge and reason, and immortal.
Metaphysics
The study of what is beyond the physical, sensible, or experimental; the spiritual and mental.
Physics
The study of matter and energy, focusing on measurable attributes.
Medicine
The science concerned with maintaining health and life.
Nature
All created beings and their properties.
Thinking
The intellectual activity crucial for life, according to Descartes.
Thoughts
Everything that occurs in our minds, of which we are immediately aware.
Vices
Moral failings leading to sin, deceit, and misrepresentation.
Virtues
Skills or dispositions enabling us to perform certain actions. A permanent arrangement, including intellectual and moral virtues. For Descartes, the essence of moral virtue is the will’s disposition to follow reason.
Accidents (Aristotelian)
Characteristics distinguishing individuals within a species based on external appearances.
Forms (Aristotelian)
What an individual represents within its species.
Maxims
Rules governing thinking, the self’s activity and the obvious reality of thought.
Knowledge
The intellectual faculty by which we arrive at truth.
Trial
A truth or concept we use to guide our lives, tested for success and clarity.
Man
A living being composed of body (substance) and soul (thinking substance). Their union is unnatural as the soul is independent. The soul’s function is to overcome passions, making man free and rational.
Clear and Certain Knowledge
Certainty and evidence, achieved when we reach truth without doubt.
Learned Men
Those considered wise, possessing much knowledge, though not necessarily true.
Errors
What must be discarded to reach truth.
Languages
The ability to express thoughts through spoken signs.
Intelligence of Ancient Books
Knowledge of philosophy written in Latin and Greek.
Philosophy
Scientific knowledge and culture as a whole. 1. Possession of the most valid and vast knowledge. 2. Using this knowledge for the benefit of humanity.
Speculations
Creative thinking that uses data from passive experience, combined with the mind’s power, to reach fundamental principles. Based on experience but goes beyond it to reveal absolute laws of essence and being.
Religion
Rational belief in rules and a higher being, reliance on which is necessary for earthly life.
Laws
Mandatory rules for a community.
Political Bodies
Identifiable with the state or a nation led by governments.
Demos
Proofs based on universal truths and obvious deductions.
State
A union of persons forming a community to achieve the common good, surpassing family and village. It enables social living (humanity’s main provision) and satisfies needs.
Prudence (Circumspection)
A cardinal virtue: good sense, wisdom, serenity; reason’s dominance.
Patience
The virtue of enduring misfortunes without despair, hoping for change.
Freedom
The fundamental characteristic of will, innate and essential to human perfection. It allows us to master nature (the ultimate goal of knowledge) and our actions. Freedom is choosing what intellect presents as good and true.
Logic
The science of numbers and figures.
Mathematics
The science of forms and basic laws of human thought.
Geometry
The part of mathematics studying properties and measurements of extension.
Algebra
The part of mathematics studying sets of operations satisfying certain properties.
Syllogism
A false logical trial leading to error because it’s not based on evident truths.
Precepts
Instructions or rules for managing knowledge, power, art, or science.
Analysis
Mentally breaking down a whole into its parts.
Understanding
The faculty of perceiving non-sensible being and relations, based on the soul’s thinking power.
Imagination
The faculty by which we invent new ideas, true or false. A particular way of thinking about material things.
Deductibles
In the Cartesian method, what is obvious from the beginning, leading to general laws.
Necessity
What cannot be otherwise, as its opposite would involve contradiction.