Understanding Key Concepts: From Philosophy to Society
Problems and Complexities
Problem: Questions, difficulties, or obstacles for which a theoretical or practical solution is uncertain.
Complex: Part or parcel of reality that is difficult to describe; the way in which multi-component parts are structured.
Understanding and Reflection
To Understand: To capture something directly through thought.
To Reflect on Something: To consider something determinedly; to concentrate and pay attention to a problem or an object.
Universal and Epistemological Concepts
Universals: Terms that apply to all individuals of the same gender or species.
Epistemological: Concerning the bases and methods of scientific knowledge.
Myth, Logos, and Technology
Myth: A narrative or story that legitimizes the origin and structure of a society and its institutions.
Logos: A term used to refer to a word for which there is a rational explanation of reality.
Technology: A body of knowledge from technical activity that is compatible with and controllable by scientific knowledge.
Dreams, Psychokinesis, and Reflection
Oneiric: Belonging or relating to dreams.
Psychokinesis: The ability to influence reality through the power of thought.
Reflection: An image projected on a surface.
Sanskrit and Aesthetics
Sanskrit: The language spoken by the ancient inhabitants of India.
Aesthetics: A branch of philosophy that makes any trial of assessment of beauty; a metaphysical search for the causes or meanings of existence and reality.
Immanent and Ontological
Immanent: That which is internal to a being and is linked to its essence.
Ontological: The reality of things in their being.
Theodicy and Explanation
Theodicy: The part of metaphysics that deals with the existence of God.
To Explain: To discover the origin of things, to verify the relationships they have with each other, and to try to clarify them.
Validity and Hypothesis
Valid: Worthy or acceptable.
Hypothesis: A proposition that is the starting point for a theory.
Apartheid and Heteronomy
Apartheid: A term used to describe the political system of racial discrimination.
Heteronomous: The condition of the will that is governed by imperatives that are outside itself.
Democracy and Prehominids
Democracy: A political governance system based on popular sovereignty.
Prehominids: Primates that had a common ancestry and a common organizational model with Homo.
Taxonomy and Stone Carving
Taxonomy: Classification in hierarchical order and systematic groups of animals and plants.
Stone Carving: Carving done by humans in a stone that is shaped to be sharp.
Empathy, Mosaic, and Patristics
Empathy: Identification and involvement—mental, emotional, and emotive—of a subject with the mood and situation of another.
Mosaic and Mosaism: Related to Moses or his statutes or commandments.
Patristics: The science that seeks knowledge of the doctrines, works, and lives of the Fathers of the Church.
Contingency and Social Role
Contingency: The risk that something may or may not happen.
Social Role: The role that everyone plays according to what is expected of us, depending on the place or places where our existence develops.
Family and Communication
Family: A group of people living together and having common goals.
Communication: Transmission of messages and information between people.
Logic and Structure
Logical: What has some kind of structure, exhibits an order, or internal connection.
Structure: The order in which defined shapes are built or incorporated.
Polysemy and Patriarchate
Polysemy: The diversity of meanings of a word.
Patriarchate: A social organization in which authority is exercised by the male head of each family.
Eudaemonism and Manichaeism
Eudaemonism: Through this ethical theory, Aristotle aimed to justify everything that serves to achieve happiness.
Manichaeism: Manes’ doctrine defending dualism.
Status
Status: The position a person occupies in society.