disquotation

The universalist claims that ‘The Taj Mahal exists’ is true, so if she is right about what is true then ‘The Taj Mahal exists’ is true. By disquotation, then, the Taj Mahal exists.

2008 April 1, Ross P. Cameron, “Truthmakers and ontological commitment: or how to deal with complex objects and mathematical ontology without getting into trouble”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 140, number 1, →DOI:

(philosophy) The reversal of the process of quotation; turning a quoted utterance into an actual statement


pretheoretical

Let’s grant, as seems plausible, that […] knowledge of what it takes to be a T, according to our pretheoretical notion of Ts, has an important role to play in settling metaphysical disputes about the nature of Ts.

2008 April 23, J. L. Dowell, “Empirical metaphysics: the role of intuitions about possible cases in philosophy”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 140, number 1, →DOI:

(philosophy) Arising before any theoretical considerations


indexicality

en-noun

indexicality (countable and uncountable, plural indexicalities)

The theories of Kripke ( 1980 ), Soames ( 2003 ), and the proposal of Devitt and Sterelny, among others, take a stand on how the indexicality of natural kind terms is implemented.

2007 May 31, Jussi Wiljami Jylkkä, “Theories of natural kind term reference and empirical psychology”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 139, number 2, →DOI:

(philosophy, linguistics) The quality or state of being indexical.


commutant

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-commutant.wav

The basic mathematical entity to be used here in elucidating the different senses of superselection rules is a von Neumann algebra #123;#92;mathfrak#123;M

2008 September 27, John Earman, “Superselection Rules for Philosophers”, in Erkenntnis, volume 69, number 3, →DOI:

(algebra, logic) The subset of all elements of a semigroup that commute with the elements of a given subset


coherentist

en-adj

coherentist (comparative more coherentist, superlative most coherentist)

more coherentist (comparative)
most coherentist (superlative)

(philosophy) Of or supporting coherentism


coherentist

So the foundationalist holds that both experiences and beliefs can justify beliefs, whereas the coherentist holds that only beliefs can justify beliefs.

2007 July 12, Harold Langsam, “Rationality, Justification, and the Internalism/Externalism Debate”, in Erkenntnis, volume 68, number 1, →DOI:

(philosophy) One who supports coherentism in terms of truth or justification


nonself

en-noun

nonself (countable and uncountable, plural nonselfs or nonselves)

In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual.

2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

(philosophy, psychology) Any entity other than oneself.


sensibilia

For in the past I have been aware of sensibilia; and I have sensed instances of sensibilia temporally related to one another.

1950, Winston H F Barnes, The Philosophical Predicament:

Russell also brought in the sense-data sensed by other persons and even unsensed sense-data, to which he gave the name of sensibilia.

1969, Alfred Jules Ayer, Metaphysics and Common Sense:

It is because their being as sensibilia does not depend upon their being intentional objects for anyone […]

1988, Ramon M Lemos, Metaphysical Investigations:

Among the things which human beings do are (a) think of sensibilia in their absence, (b) make mental or verbal pictures of sensibilia, […]

1989, Anthony John Patrick Kenny, The Metaphysics of Mind:

(philosophy) Things that can be sensed; stimuli.


counterevidence

counterevidence (countable and uncountable, plural counterevidences)

counterevidences (plural)
counter-evidence (alternative)

Having been strongly pressed to do so, I gave counter-evidence, and I believe, in the opinion of the Commission, demolished the Doctor a second time.

1838, David King, “Two lectures, in reply to the speeches of Dr. Chalmers on church extension”, in Hume Tracts, Glasgow: David Robertson, page 21:

As the alternative norms and counterevidences are uncovered, it is the evaluator's task to determine inconsistency, contradiction, and subterfuge, and then to render his own verdict.

1975, Edward Kelly, “Curriculum Evaluation and Literary Criticism: Comments on the Analogy”, in Curriculum Theory Network, volume 5, number 2, page 102:

People persevere in asserting all sorts of things in the face of apparent counterevidence.

2007, Daniel A. Weiskopf, “Patrolling the Mind’s Boundaries”, in Erkenntnis, volume 68, number 2, page 273:

(philosophy, law, sciences) Evidence which tends to disprove a claim or hypothesis.


possibilium

All mental reference that purports to refer to something does indeed succeed in effecting such reference, although it may be a merely-hypothetical something that is at issue, a possibilium that merely quasi-exists.

2003, Nicholas Rescher, Imagining Irreality: A Study of Unreal Possibilities, →ISBN, page 59:

Now, it is true that both counterfactuals and ability claims can be given analyses in terms of possibilia.

2008 April 9, Peter A. Graham, “A defense of local miracle compatibilism”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 140, number 1, →DOI:

Whereas, on the “multiverse” interpretation, Modal Realism acknowledges physical possibilities only--and worse, (assuming either axiom S5 or axiom B) each possibilium ends up as a necessary physical existent.

2011, T Parent, Modal Realism and the Meaning of 'Exist':

But here we face the particularity problem: that semantics seems to be ruled out by the seeming impossibility of specifying a unique possibilium, using either of the two recognised mechanisms underlying normal reference.

2012, J. Ross, The Semantics of Media, →ISBN, page 63:

An unrealized option is then a concrete possibilium, the realization it would have if it were realized. An unrealized event may be a possibilium realized in a nonactual possible world and having concrete features, such as a duration.

2015, Paul Weirich, Models of Decision-Making, →ISBN, page 215:


systematicity

systematicity (countable and uncountable, plural systematicities)

The coincidence in modern tongues between harmony, as spoken of sounds, with any other concordance or systematicity— is one derived from ancient Greek sources and roots[…].

1845, J. L---y, “The Myths of 'Harmony'”, in The Musical World, page 291:

[…] but it is reasonable to see a certain amount of causal and functional integration as a hallmark of systematicity.

2007 March 6, Andrew Sneddon, “The depths and shallows of psychological externalism”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 138, number 3, →DOI:

At times there is consistency to Yule’s headword spelling (e.g. long-a /aː/ is rendered au except when word final, where it is rendered a), but there is also inconsistency (e.g. short-a /ʌ/ is sometimes rendered a and sometimes u). My analysis indicates the lack of any overarching systematicity.

2018, James Lambert, “Setting the Record Straight: An In-depth Examination of Hobson-Jobson”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 31, number 4, →DOI, page 491:

(now chiefly philosophy and linguistics) The state or quality of being systematic.


subpersonal

So there remains the problem of linking the intended whole-person disposition to a subpersonal disposition of a rather different kind.

2007 September 29, Toby Handfield, Alexander Bird, “Dispositions, rules, and finks”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 140, number 2, →DOI:

(philosophy) Of or pertaining to factors underlying the personal level of moral explanation, such as biological or chemical factors


subjectivist

en-adj

subjectivist (comparative more subjectivist, superlative most subjectivist)

more subjectivist (comparative)
most subjectivist (superlative)

When Martin rejects a foundationalist as well a subjectivist understanding of phenomenology (5f.), instead stressing phenomenology’s “characteristic concern” with “the structure of experience” (6), […].

2007 November 23, Günter Zöller, “Kant and the problem of existential judgment: critical comments on Wayne Martin’s Theories of Judgment”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 137, number 1, →DOI:

(philosophy) Regarding subjective experience as fundamental.


Utu

(mythology) A Sumerian deity, the son of the moon god Nanna and the goddess Ningal.


Bel

From Latin Bēlus, from Ancient Greek Βῆλος (Bêlos), ultimately from Akkadian 𒂗 (bēlum).

Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 50:2:

(mythology) A Babylonian deity, corresponding to the Semitic Baal.

(Armenian mythology) An evil giant who ruled Babylon prior to his defeat by the Armenian culture hero Hayk.


expressivism

en-noun

expressivism (usually uncountable, plural expressivisms)

It attempts to show that expressivism is superior to realism at explaining two key theses.

2007 February 7, Jeff Wisdom, “Base property exemplification and mixed worlds: remarks on the Shafer-Landau/Mabrito exchange”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 138, number 3, →DOI:

(philosophy, ethics) The doctrine that moral statements such as "this is wrong" express a moral evaluation rather than a statement of fact


evidentialist

en-adj

evidentialist (comparative more evidentialist, superlative most evidentialist)

more evidentialist (comparative)
most evidentialist (superlative)

An evidentialist variant would require the agent be responsive to a telling evidential basis for thinking that p obtains in contrast to the alternatives.

2008 November 22, David Henderson, “Motivated contextualism”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 142, number 1, →DOI:

(philosophy) Of or supporting evidentialism, the doctrine that evidence is of primary importance in questions of belief


evidentialist

(philosophy) One who supports or argues for evidentialism


conventionalist

conventionalist (comparative more conventionalist, superlative most conventionalist)

more conventionalist (comparative)
most conventionalist (superlative)

Minimal entities would thus be language-dependent in this conventionalist sense.

2008 August 12, Luca Moretti, “The ontological status of minimal entities”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 141, number 1, →DOI:

(philosophy) Of, pertaining to, or supporting conventionalism


conventionalist

(philosophy) A supporter or adherent of conventionalism.


compatibilist

compatibilist (comparative more compatibilist, superlative most compatibilist)

more compatibilist (comparative)
most compatibilist (superlative)

Such a reply is not, however, in the spirit of the compatibilist strategy of interest here.

2007 September 29, Richard M. Glatz, “The (near) necessity of alternate possibilities for moral responsibility”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 139, number 2, →DOI:

(philosophy) Of, pertaining to or supporting compatibilism, the belief that free will and determinism are compatible ideas.


compatibilist

Moreover, suggestions that compatibilists can refute hard determinism on non-semantic grounds are misguided, building more into hard determinism than an adherent of this view needs to accept.

2009, Susan Pockett, William P. Banks, Shaun Gallagher, editors, Does Consciousness Cause Behavior?, MIT Press, →ISBN, page 128:

To which the compatibilists replied, This is still totally artificial—choosing when to leap into an abyss or whether to turn left or right in a driving simulator tells us nothing about our free will in choosing between, say, becoming a nudist versus a Buddhist, or becoming an algologist versus an allergologist.

2023, Robert M. Sapolsky, Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will, New York: Penguin, →ISBN:

(philosophy) A supporter of compatibilism.


intersubjectively

en-adv

intersubjectively (comparative more intersubjectively, superlative most intersubjectively)

more intersubjectively (comparative)
most intersubjectively (superlative)

This brings us to the problem of names which are intersubjectively associated with certain characteristics (non-semantically so, of course).

2006 November 22, Arvid Båve, “A pragmatic defense of Millianism”, in Philosophical Studies, →DOI:

(philosophy) In an intersubjective way; between or among multiple subjects


intensionally

intensionally (comparative more intensionally, superlative most intensionally)

more intensionally (comparative)
most intensionally (superlative)

Indeed the whole point of Aristotle’s example of truth depending on being was that the truth of the proposition and the existence of the man are intensionally equivalent, yet there is an asymmetry of dependence.

2008 August 13, Jonathan Schaffer, “Truthmaker commitments”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 141, number 1, →DOI:

A term is treated either extensionally as a class of objects or intensionally as a set of properties. The ‘intent’ of the term ‘dog’ includes all the properties that are included in the intent of ‘mammal’. The intensional treatment of ‘dogs are mammals’ interprets this sentence as true because the semantic interpretation of the subject is a superset of the interpretation of the predicate. On the extensional treatment of the sentence, however, the sentence is true because the interpretation of the subject (the class of dogs) is a subset of the interpretation of the predicate (the set of mammals).

2011 July 20, Edwin Mares, “Propositional Function”, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, retrieved 2012-07-15:


fictionalism

en-noun

fictionalism (countable and uncountable, plural fictionalisms)

But it seems to me that modal fictionalism is also incredible: normally we do not think that there are countless theories and stories besides the ones we will ever tell, much less that they are infinitely complex and infinitely long and so that it would be humanly impossible to tell them.

2007 July 17, Chris John Daly, “Fictionalism and the attitudes”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 139, number 3, →DOI:

(philosophy) The doctrine that certain concepts are simply convenient fictions


inferentialist

en-adj

inferentialist (comparative more inferentialist, superlative most inferentialist)

more inferentialist (comparative)
most inferentialist (superlative)

From inferential + -ist. Coined by the philosopher Robert Brandom to describe his own theory, and since applied more widely.

This, I suggest, is why two-dimensionalism requires an inferentialist account of recognition.

2008 January 8, Markos Valaris, “Two-dimensionalism and the epistemology of recognition”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 142, number 3, →DOI:

(philosophy, semantics) Of, pertaining to or supporting a belief in the primary importance of inference to any account of meaning


truthmaker

It is possible for two non-synonymous sentences to have the same truthmaker.

2008 August 27, Kevin Dewan, “Review of Heather Dyke, Metaphysics and the Representational Fallacy”, in Erkenntnis, volume 69, number 2, →DOI:

(philosophy) That entity in virtue of which a truthbearer is true.


nominalistic

nominalistic (comparative more nominalistic, superlative most nominalistic)

more nominalistic (comparative)
most nominalistic (superlative)

The debate over whether or not there are sets, or numbers, or other abstracta, shouldn’t be pursued by trying to work out whether talk of such things is paraphrasable away into a nominalistic language[…].

2008 April 1, Ross P. Cameron, “Truthmakers and ontological commitment: or how to deal with complex objects and mathematical ontology without getting into”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 140, number 1, →DOI:

(philosophy) Having a nominalist character


ontologist

On the other hand, nominalists and parsimonious ontologists who do not believe in the existence of properties, facts and abstract entities do stick to these colloquial usages of ‘property’ and ‘fact’ grounded in principles as platitudinous as [i]–[iii] without apparent problems.

(philosophy) A scholar or theorist of ontology, or an adherent of a particular ontological doctrine.


ostension

en-noun

ostension (countable and uncountable, plural ostensions)

Borrowed from Middle French ostension, in turn from Latin ostensiō, ostensiōnem.

And ostension is one perfectly familiar way of introducing a concept.

2008 November 22, Richard Fumerton, “Luminous enough for a cognitive home”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 142, number 1, →DOI:

(philosophy) The act of presenting an ostensive definition.


DDE

(ethics) Initialism of doctrine of double effect.


maieutic

en-adj

maieutic (comparative more maieutic, superlative most maieutic)

more maieutic (comparative)
most maieutic (superlative)
maieutical (alternative)

From Ancient Greek μαιευτικός (maieutikós, “obstetric”). The rhetorical sense comes from a passage in Plato's Theaetetus where Socrates likens his procedure to that of a midwife.

der

(philosophy) Of or related to the Socratic method.


object language

en-noun

object language (plural object languages)

Objektsprache

language speaking about objects rather than about language

(philosophy) A language or a part of a language that is used to speak about objects but not about sentences or propositions.


squonk

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-squonk.wav

Have you ever seen a squonk's tears? Well, look at mine / The people on the street have all seen better times

1974, Donald Fagen, Walter Becker, “Any Major Dude Will Tell You”, performed by Steely Dan:

(mythology) A mythical creature, said to inhabit Pennsylvanian forests, where it hides from view for being ashamed of its own appearance, and to dissolve into a pool of tears if captured.


Turing degree

(computer science, logic) A measure of the level of algorithmic unsolvability of the decision problem of whether a given set of natural numbers contains any given number.


Peano arithmetic

Peano arithmetic (countable and uncountable, plural Peano arithmetics)

Named after Italian mathematician Giuseppe Peano (1858–1932).

named-after

(logic) A set of axioms of first-order logic for the natural numbers specifying the operations of zero, successor, addition and multiplication, including a first-order schema of induction.


Presburger arithmetic

Introduced in 1929 by Mojżesz Presburger.

(logic) A set of axioms of first-order logic for the natural numbers specifying the operations of zero, successor, and addition, including a first-order schema of induction, without multiplication.

Mojżesz Presburger
Presburger arithmetic


investigable

en-adj

investigable (comparative more investigable, superlative most investigable)

more investigable (comparative)
most investigable (superlative)

Indeed it is only possible to learn any thing at all of these really curious and interesting aboriginal people, by cross-examining living men, and ascertaining what they remember to have heard their fathers or their grandfathers say. The period which goes back beyond this very brief depth of reliable and investigable tradition is an absolute blank.

1869, Dr. Mann, “Statistical Notes Regarding the Colony of Natal”, in Journal of the Statistical Society of London, volume 32, number 1, page 3:

This, of course, leaves aside those in value theory who maintain that values are not investigable by science.

1954, James Bates, “A Model for the Science of Decision”, in Philosophy of Science, volume 21, number 4, page 336:

The Paris population might hold bacteriological and epidemiological secrets, but to Yersin they were investigable and knowable ones.

2003, J. Andrew Mendelsohn, "The Microscopist of Modern Life," Osiris, 2nd series, vol. 18, p. 159

(chiefly philosophy and sciences) Capable of being investigated or studied.


mathematizable

mathematizable (comparative more mathematizable, superlative most mathematizable)

more mathematizable (comparative)
most mathematizable (superlative)
mathematisable (alternative)

Formalism seeks to correct this deficiency by translating verbal texts into formal, mathematizable lexicons which are then manipulated into general propositions.

1979, Charles C. Lemert, “Language, Structure, and Measurement: Structuralist Semiotics and Sociology”, in The American Journal of Sociology, volume 84, number 4, page 944:

This gap was a challenge to develop mechanical, mathematizable, models of the particles and their interactions.

2009, Helen Longino, “Perilous thoughts: comment on van Fraassen”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 143, number 1, pages 25–32:

(chiefly philosophy and sciences) Capable of being analyzed or described using mathematical concepts or notation.

mathématisable

able to be transcribed in mathematical concepts


axiomatic system

en-noun

axiomatic system (plural axiomatic systems)

(logic) A set of axioms from which theorems can be derived.


expressivist

Since cognitivism is already a commitment of SEN, I see no harm in assuming it so long as we keep in mind that one possible lesson of MTE is that the content of moral predicates is [primarily] non-cognitive or expressivist.

2007 May 26, Michael Rubin, “Sound intuitions on Moral Twin Earth”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 139, number 3, →DOI:

(ethics) Pertaining to or advocating expressivism, the doctrine that the primary function of moral sentences and sensation sentences (like "I am in pain") is to express an evaluative attitude, rather than stating a fact


malestream

en-adj

malestream (comparative more malestream, superlative most malestream)

more malestream (comparative)
most malestream (superlative)

(feminism) Mainstream and usual, from the point of view of the man, though actually biased towards men.


many-sorted logic

en-noun

many-sorted logic (plural many-sorted logics)

(logic) A logic that directly supports classification of entities into disjunct sorts.


mathematical realism

(philosophy) A doctrine that mathematical entities such as numbers and triangles exist independently of the human mind.


propositional attitude

propositional attitude (plural propositional attitudes)

Of course, the problem applies not only to belief, but also to a host of other mental phenomena which may be called propositional attitudes: doubting, considering, desiring, etc. In all these cases it seems natural to express the phenomenon in the form "A doubts p," "A desires p," etc., which makes it appear as though we were dealing with a relation between a person and a proposition.

1922, Bertrand Russell, “Introduction”, in Ludwig Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus:

(philosophy) A relational mental state connecting a person to a proposition, such as believing that, desiring that, or hoping that.


poststructuralist

In reading Davis’s stories, therefore, we are likely to be reminded as much of the poststructuralist emphasis on language in the works of Blanchot as of the antinarrative impulse of French nouveau-Romanists like Butor.

2007 May 27, Siddhartha Deb, “Just So Stories”, in New York Times:

(philosophy) Of, pertaining to, or advocating post-structuralism


poststructuralist

poststructuralists (plural)
post-structuralist (alternative)

(philosophy) An advocate of post-structuralism


reductivism

reductivism (countable and uncountable, plural reductivisms)

(philosophy of mind) The view that mental states can be reduced to physical phenomena.


arithmetical hierarchy

arithmetical hierarchy (plural arithmetical hierarchies)

existential quantifier
existential quantifier

universal quantifier
universal quantifier

(logic) A hierarchy which classifies the complexity of first-order formulae (and sets defined by them) based on the number of alternations between series of unbounded existential quantifiers and universal quantifiers.


arithmetic hierarchy

arithmetic hierarchy (plural arithmetic hierarchies)

arithmetical hierarchy
arithmetical hierarchy#English

(logic) Alternative form of arithmetical hierarchy


arithmetical set

arithmetical set (plural arithmetical sets)

(logic) A set of natural numbers that can be defined by a formula of first-order Peano arithmetic.


sensualism

sensualism (countable and uncountable, plural sensualisms)

(ethics) The doctrine that gratification of the senses is the highest good.

1858, The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 2, No. 1, Gottfried Wilhem von Leibnitz,
He [Locke] repudiated any supposed dowry of original truths or innate or connate ideas, and endeavored to show how, by acting on the report of the senses and personal experience, the understanding arrives at all the ideas of which it is conscious. The mode of procedure in this case is empiricism; the result with Locke was sensualism,--more fully developed by Condillac, [18] in the next century.

For Sensualism the only source of human knowledge is sensation: everything reduces to transformed sensations.

1913, “Philosophy”, in Catholic Encyclopedia:

(epistemology) The doctrine that all knowledge not only originates in sensation, but are transformed sensations, copies or relics of sensations; sensationalism.

сэнсуалізм

doctrine: everything reduces to transformed sensation


Gödel number

Named after Austrian mathematician and logician Kurt Gödel

named-after

(logic) A number uniquely assigned to each symbol, and to each well-formed formula of some formal language.


parthood

For describing changes in parthood relations over time some sort of temporal apparatus needs to be incorporated into the mereology.

2008 February 1, Maureen Donnelly, Thomas Bittner, “Summation relations and portions of stuff”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 143, number 2, →DOI, pages 167–185:

(philosophy) The relational quality of being a part.


description logic

en-noun

description logic (plural description logics)

knowledge representation
knowledge representation

(logic) One of a family of knowledge representation languages which can be used to represent the concept definitions of an application domain (known as terminological knowledge) in a structured and formally well-understood way.


unimaginability

unimaginability (usually uncountable, plural unimaginabilities)

For such propositions unimaginability looks like a function of a kind of conceptual impossibility.

2008 January 11, Cain Samuel Todd, “Imaginability, morality, and fictional truth: dissolving the puzzle of ‘imaginative resistance’”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 143, number 2, →DOI, pages 187–211:

(philosophy) The quality of being unimaginable.


antimaterialism

(philosophy) Any belief system that opposes philosophical materialism.

antimaterialismo

any belief system that opposes philosophical materialism


assertable

assertables (plural)
assertible (alternative)

(philosophy) Something that can be asserted.


non-rational

In the total artistic process the two phases—rational and non-rational, planful and inspirational—may be successive or simultaneous.

1959, Thomas Munro, “Art and Scientific Technology”, in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, volume 19, number 3, page 400:

Holton, a Harvard physicist and science historian, introduces us to the two extremist factions he sees attacking science from both sides: the "new Dionysians" who would widen the spectrum of scientific knowledge to include nonrational experience and the "new Apollonians" who would restrict scientific investigation to dealing only with those questions that seem to guarantee rational solution from the outset.

1974 August 10, John Douglas, “Daedalus on the Challenges to Science”, in Science News, volume 106, number 6, page 92:

Although some nonrational elements may be inconsistent with legal ideals, others—emotions and intuitions of certain types, imagination, judgment, rhetorical persuasiveness (considered below)—are fully consistent with those ideals.

1996, Paul Gewirtz, “On ‘I Know It When I See It’”, in The Yale Law Journal, volume 105, number 4, page 1036:

(often philosophy) Not within the domain of what can be understood or analyzed by reason; outside the competence of the rules of reason.

arational

not within the domain of what can be understood or analyzed by reason


arational

en-adj

arational (comparative more arational, superlative most arational)

more arational (comparative)
most arational (superlative)

If the end-product of a man's philosophizing about the nature of the cosmos is the ultimate, arational matter, this will affect his moral opinion of the cosmos.

1938, Marten Ten Hoor, “The Philistines over Philosophy,”, in The Journal of Philosophy, volume 35, number 20, page 542:

Scientific knowledge is conceptual, rational, and testable. Mystical knowledge is usually aconceptual, arational, and does not lend itself to interpersonal testing.

1974, Ervin Laszlo, “Why Should I Believe in Science?”, in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, volume 34, number 4, page 484:

Regarded with the objectivity of hindsight, the illusion appears arational, almost fantastic: it would be like being able both to lie and to trust other people at the same time.

1996, David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest […], Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 146:

On the first view, emotions are purely biological phenomena. . . . They are arational and amoral, like other natural bodily functions.

2001, Ronald De Sousa, “Moral Emotions,”, in Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, volume 4, number 2, page 109:

(chiefly philosophy) Not within the domain of what can be understood or analyzed by reason; not rational, outside the competence of the rules of reason.

arracional

that cannot be understood or analysed by reason


logicism

en-noun

logicism (countable and uncountable, plural logicisms)

(philosophy) The doctrine that mathematics is a branch of logic in that some or all mathematics is reducible to logic.


arationality

Croce's early treatise . . . was resolutely grounded in the identification of intuition and expression, of genius and taste, and in the amorality and arationality of all art.

1946, G. A. Borgese, “Literary Criticism in Italy during the Romantic Period,”, in Italica, volume 23, number 2, page 70:

Thus there appears to be very little doubt that arationality is one manifestation of stress which arises when goal-seeking man is confronted with conditions which becloud the outcome of his actions.

1962, L. S. Lewis, J. Lopreato, “Arationality, Ignorance, and Perceived Danger in Medical Practices,”, in American Sociological Review, volume 27, number 4, page 513:

This sort of view contrasts with a more ‘‘Humean’’ account that gives greater weight to the need for, to the relevance of, and to the fundamental arationality of desires. . . . [R]easons cannot by themselves provide adequate motivation for action.

2004, David Sosa, "A Big, Good Thing" (review of T.M. Scanlon's What We Owe to Each Other), Noûs, vol. 38, no. 2, p. 366

(philosophy, sciences) The state or characteristic of being arational, of being outside the domain of reason.

arracionalidade

the state or characteristic of being arational


herstorical

en-adj

herstorical (comparative more herstorical, superlative most herstorical)

more herstorical (comparative)
most herstorical (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-herstorical.wav

The essays discuss the ways in which the struggles against racism and sexism have come together or the times they have worked in isolation. They are well researched and reflect herstorical conditions of America's past, so often left out of history.

1982 December 4, Malkah Barrsey Feldman, “A Legacy of Oppression”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 20, page 9:

(rare, feminism) Pertaining to herstory.


herstorically

en-adv

herstorically (comparative more herstorically, superlative most herstorically)

more herstorically (comparative)
most herstorically (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-herstorically.wav

(rare, feminism) In a herstoric or herstorical way.


organicism

en-noun

organicism (countable and uncountable, plural organicisms)

(philosophy) The treatment of society or the universe as if it were an organism.


aphetically

en-adv

aphetically (comparative more aphetically, superlative most aphetically)

more aphetically (comparative)
most aphetically (superlative)

(astrology) In an aphetic way: pertaining to the apheta.


arete

All arete is included in justice, Cyrnus.

1962, Lionel Ignacius Cusack Pearson, Popular Ethics in Ancient Greece, page 78 (translating a line from an old text)

(philosophy) The proper state or condition for a human.


complementary antonym

en-noun

complementary antonym (plural complementary antonyms)

Complementary (also called contradictory) antonyms are those for which the assertion of one entails the negation of the other and vice versa, as in (17).
a. That integer is even. → That integer is not odd.
b. That integer is not odd. → That integer is even.

2010, M. Lynne Murphy, Lexical Meaning, page 120:

(linguistics, philosophy, semantics) One of a pair of words wherein affirmative use of one entails the negative of the other with no gradability.


gradable antonym

gradable antonym (plural gradable antonyms)

Three types are commonly identified: gradable antonyms, contradictory or complementary antonyms, and converses. [...] Gradable antonyms include pairs like the following: ¶ beautiful ugly ¶ expensive cheap ¶ fast slow

2000, Howard Jackson, Etienne Zé Amvela, Words, Meaning and Vocabulary, page 99:

(linguistics, philosophy, semantics) One of a pair of terms that denotes one end of a scale while the other term denotes the other end, such as long and short.


hamingja

(Norse mythology) A female guardian angel in Norse mythology, believed to accompany a person and decide their luck and happiness.


corpuscularism

The bond between politics as a question of the bodies' appetites and physics is suggested to Vico by the at once ancient and modern science of corpuscularism. The “corpuscular hypothesis,” which is the theory of the corpuscular or mechanical constitution of universal matter common to all bodies, originates in the atomism of Democritus, Epicurus, and Lucretius.

2014, Giuseppe Mazzotta, The New Map of the World: The Poetic Philosophy of Giambattista Vico:

(philosophy, historical) An ideology that discusses reality and change in terms of particles (corpuscles) and their motion.


corpuscularianism

(philosophy) The postulate that all physical bodies possess an inner and outer layer of minute particles or corpuscles.


carbon-ferrous

(astrology) Pertaining to a type of asteroid, meteor, or comet, that contains mainly the carbon element and iron.


baku

Borrowed from Japanese 獏 (“spirit that feeds on nightmares”).

bor

2005, David Booth, Story Drama, 2nd edition, Pembroke Publishers, page 49,
The creature explained that he was a baku. A baku eats dreams and nightmares. To a baku, a bad dream is delicious!

2008, "Baku", entry in Brenda Rosen, The Mythical Creatures Bible, Octopus Publishing Group, page 113,
A person awakening from a nightmare should call three times saying, "Baku, eat my dreams." Thus summoned, the Baku will turn bad omens into good fortune by devouring evil influences.

Shouting out "Devour my dream, Baku!" is said to bring Baku to a child's side to take away his or her bad dreams. Not only does Baku take the dreams away, but he also leaves good fortune in their place.

2012, Kris Bradley, Mrs. B's Guide to Household Witchery, Weiser Books, page 28:

(Japanese mythology, mythology) A type of supernatural being said to devour nightmares.


moreness

(philosophy) The state or condition of being more.


saturnal

From Latin saturnalis, itself from the Roman god Saturnus + -alis '-al'.

This increased period extends in the trans-Saturnal sphere of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

2004, Mantak Chia, Dirk Oellibrandt, Taoist Astral Healing: Chi Kung Healing Practices Using Star and Planet Energies, →ISBN, page 92:

(Roman mythology, astrology) Of or pertaining to the Ancient Roman god Saturn or to the corresponding planetary entity in astrology.


liminality

en-noun

liminality (countable and uncountable, plural liminalities)

The second way Novalis seeks to repotentize his thought is by striving to evoke feelings conducive to liminality.

1998, Joseph Frederick Bailey, Theorizing night vision: Novalis's "Hymnen an die Nacht.", page 209:

(anthropology, philosophy, sociology, psychology) The state or quality of ambiguity which exists in the middle stage of certain events or rituals (such as a rite of passage or a society-wide revolution), during which the participating individual or group no longer holds its pre-ritual status but has not yet attained the status it will hold when the ritual has been completed.


Mimas

From Ancient Greek Μίμᾱς (Mímās), earlier Μίμανς (Mímans).

(Greek mythology) A son of Gaia; one of the Gigantes.


grease payment

Critics say there is no distinction between extortion and bribery, and that the distinction between a payoff (illegal) and a "grease" payment made to speed along normal duties (legal under the act) is unclear.

1981 July 28, Peter Grier, “US curb on overseas bribes: too prim, or simply proper?”, in Christian Science Monitor, retrieved 2009-04-09:

An important legal distinction is the difference between bribery and “grease payments,” which are paid in these countries not to affect someone’s decision-making but to speed the process of dealing with government.

2007 October 30, Mike Rast, “Webinar Prepares Local Companies for Cultural Gaps with India, China”, in globalatlanta.com, retrieved 2009-04-09:

(chiefly US, idiomatic, business, law, ethics) A bribe or extorted money, usually relatively small in amount, provided to a low-level government official or business person, in order to expedite a business decision, shipment, or other transaction, especially in a country where such payments are not unusual.


lubrication payment

lubrication payment (plural lubrication payments)

By a metaphor in which facilitating human socioeconomic interaction is portrayed as lubricating machinery (e.g., oiling the gears, greasing the wheels); in this regard, compare also social lubricant.

A lubrication payment is a small payment to low-level business people or government officials to "grease the wheels" of business.

1995, Mark E. Mendenhall et al., Global Management, →ISBN, page 145:

Lubrication payments are made with requests for a person to perform a task faster or more efficiently, whereas subornation is an act of asking officials to neglect their duties or do something illegal.

2001, Y. H. Wong, Thomas K. Leung, Guanxi: Relationship marketing in a Chinese context, →ISBN, page 105:

(idiomatic, business, ethics, euphemistic) A bribe or extorted money, usually relatively small in amount, provided to a low-level government official or business person, in order to expedite a business decision, shipment, or other transaction, especially in a country where such payments are not unusual.


investigability

Even in the most scientific science, mathematics, striking examples can be found. . . . It is obviously unnecessary to give examples from the social sciences or from the arts, although these would be even more striking and numerous, for in these fields one must count on a much slighter degree of investigability.

1941, Stefan T. Possony, “Rational Planning for War”, in Military Affairs, volume 5, number 4, page 226:

Let us suppose the existence of three concentric circles. . . . The partition is meant to indicate degrees of scientific investigability.

2003, Allardyce Nicoll, Shakespeare Survey, Cambridge Univ. Press, →ISBN, page 108:

(chiefly philosophy and sciences) The state or condition of being capable of being investigated.


ork

(fantasy, mythology) Alternative spelling of orc.


Golden Age

(mythology) The oldest and best of the Classical Ages of Man, when people lived innocent lives of happiness and prosperity.


Peirce's law

Named after the logician and philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce.

Consider Peirce's law, ((P→Q)→P)→P). If Q is true, then P→Q is also true so the law reads "If truth implies P then deduce P" which certainly makes sense. If Q is false, then (P→Q)→P≡(P→⊥)→P≡¬P→P≡¬P→P and ¬P≡¬P→⊥≡¬¬P so the law reads ¬¬P→P, which is intuitionistically false but equivalent to the classical axiom ¬P∨P.

propositional calculus
propositional calculus

law of excluded middle
law of excluded middle

implicational propositional calculus
implicational propositional calculus

(logic) The classically valid but intuitionistically non-valid formula ((P→Q)→P)→P of propositional calculus, which can be used as a substitute for the law of excluded middle in implicational propositional calculus.


implicational propositional calculus

implicational propositional calculus (uncountable)

(logic) A minimalist version of propositional calculus which uses only the logical connectives → ("implies") and ⊥ ("false").


theory-laden

en-adj

theory-laden (comparative more theory-laden, superlative most theory-laden)

more theory-laden (comparative)
most theory-laden (superlative)

(philosophy) Whose meaning depends upon a set of theoretical principles


intuitionistic logic

en-noun

intuitionistic logic (plural intuitionistic logics)

law of double negation
law of double negation

(mathematics, logic) A type of logic which rejects the axiom law of excluded middle or, equivalently, the law of double negation and/or Peirce's law. It is the foundation of intuitionism.

intuïtionistische logica

a type of logic which rejects the axiom "law of excluded middle"


proof by contradiction

proof by contradiction (countable and uncountable, plural proofs by contradiction)

(mathematics, logic) The proof of a statement adduced by deriving a contradiction from the statement's negation.


law of double negation

The law of double negation is not valid intuitionistically. To show this with Heyting algebra semantics, let A=(0,1)∪(1,2). Then ¬A=(-∞,0)∪(2,∞), ¬¬A=(0,2), ¬¬A→A=(-∞,1)∪(1,∞) ne ℝ.

(logic) The statement that the negation of the negation of A implies A, for any proposition A. Stated symbolically: ¬¬A→A.


proof system

(logic) A set of axioms and a set of inference rules which are jointly used to deduce tautologies, thereby providing proofs of them.


valuation function

valuation function (plural valuation functions)

Say that a model's interpration assigns true to A and false to B. Then the valuation function assigns false to "not A", true to "not B", false to "A implies B", false to "A and B", and true to "A or B".

(logic) A function which assigns a truth value to every well-formed formula, which is identical to the model's interpretation function when applied to atomic propositions, and which otherwise assigns a truth value recursively depending on the formula's top logical connective and the truth values of the subformulae surrounding that logical connective.


benefic

In the previous condition of overcoming, it was notable that while the malefics could only maltreat by overcoming through a superior sign-based square, the benefics could bonify by overcoming through a superior square or trine.

2017, Chris Brennan, Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune, page 471:


Lilith

bor

Hebrew לִילִית (lîlîṯ)

(mythology) A Mesopotamian storm demon, a bearer of disease and death.

(astrology) The "dark moon" or "black moon", a fictitious invisible second moon of Earth proposed by astrologers in the early 20th century. Now often interpreted as the position of the apogee of the actual Moon, or as the empty focus of the Moon's elliptical orbit (Earth occupying the other focus).


Hyacinthus

/ˌhaɪəˈsɪnθəs/

From Latin Hyacinthus, from Ancient Greek Ὑάκινθος (Huákinthos).

(Greek mythology) A Spartan youth loved and accidentally killed by Apollo. The flower hyacinth sprang from his blood.

Հիակինթոս

a Spartan youth loved and accidentally killed by Apollo


leucrota

leucrotas (plural)
leocrocotta (alternative)
leucrocotta (alternative)
leucrocuta (alternative)

(mythology) The offspring of a crocotta and a lion, supposed to be able to imitate the sound of a human voice.


werehyena

/ˈwɪəhaɪˌiːnə/

/ˈwɛəhaɪˌiːnə/

/ˈwɛɹhaɪˌiːnə/

/ˈwɪɹhaɪˌiːnə/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-werehyena.wav

People believed that the werewolves, or werehyenas, which they called buda, were too strong in those places to permit safe habitation by human beings.

1943, Thomas Alexander Lambie, Boot and saddle in Africa, page 48:

(fantasy, mythology) A shapeshifter capable of assuming the form of a hyena.

hyène-garou

shapeshifter assuming the form of a hyena


lessness

(philosophy) The state or condition of being less.


criterionless

(philosophy) Without criteria or the use of criteria; undiscerning, arbitrary.


lifeness

(rare, philosophy) The state or quality of having a life.


Priam

Anglicized version of Latin Priamus, from the Ancient Greek Πρίαμος (Príamos).

(Greek mythology) The king of Troy during the Iliad


representationalism

en-noun

representationalism (countable and uncountable, plural representationalisms)

(philosophy) The belief that the conscious perception of the world is actually an internal replica of the world in the mind of the beholder.

representationalismi

the belief that the conscious perception of the world is actually an internal replica of the world of the mind of the beholder


law of excluded middle

law of the excluded middle (alternative)

(logic) A logical principle which states all statements must be either true or false, i.e. in symbols: P∨¬P.


Kleene star

After Stephen Cole Kleene (1909-1994), American mathematician.

Coordinate term: Kleene plus

(logic, computing theory) The asterisk, *, used as an operator to concatenate zero or more strings from a given set, widely used in regular expressions.


whyness

(nonstandard, philosophy) The reason why; the cause or intent.


worseness

worseness (usually uncountable, plural worsenesses)

(chiefly archaic or philosophy) The state or condition of being worse; inferiority.


natureless

(philosophy) Having no nature (set of properties).


intensionality

intensionality (countable and uncountable, plural intensionalities)

(logic, mathematics) The condition of having an intension


metriopatheia

From Ancient Greek μετριοπάθεια (metriopátheia, “moderation of passions”).

uder

μετριοπάθεια

(philosophy) Moderation of the passions.


apatheia

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀπάθεια (apátheia). Doublet of apathy.

bor+

But, one might ask, how can the temporal event of God in our midst be the same as God's event to himself in his eternity if so absolute a distinction is drawn between the enarrable contents of history and the "eternal dynamism" of God's immutability, apatheia, and perfect fullness?

2004, David Bentley Hart, The Beauty of the Infinite: The Aesthetics of Christian Truth, page 159:

(philosophy) A state of mind in Stoic philosophy in which one is free from emotional disturbance; the freedom from all passions.

apatheia

freedom from emotional disturbance, in Stoic philosophy


ousia

Borrowed from Ancient Greek οὐσία (ousía), from οὖσα (oûsa), the feminine present participle of εἰμί (eimí, “I am”).


cognitivism

(philosophy) The view that ethical sentences express propositions and are therefore capable of being true or false.


incompatibilism

From in- + compatibilism or incompatible + -ism.

Because pretty much the same thing goes on in us when we have become the sort of person who would pull a trigger, or run into a building to save a child, or steal an extra cookie, or advocate hard incompatibilism in a book destined to be read only by two people who will hate it.

2023, Robert M. Sapolsky, Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will, New York: Penguin, →ISBN:

(philosophy) The doctrine that free will and determinism are incompatible, that one necessarily precludes the other.


incompatibilist

en-adj

incompatibilist (comparative more incompatibilist, superlative most incompatibilist)

more incompatibilist (comparative)
most incompatibilist (superlative)

From in- + compatibilist or incompatible + -ist.

(philosophy) Of, pertaining to or supporting incompatibilism.


Comtism

(philosophy) The positivistic philosophy of Auguste Comte (1798–1857), according to which metaphysics and theology should be replaced by a hierarchy of sciences from mathematics at the base to sociology at the top.

comtismo

the positivistic philosophy of Auguste Comte


dialetheism

en-noun

dialetheism (usually uncountable, plural dialetheisms)

Coined by Graham Priest and Richard Routley, from di- + Ancient Greek ἀλήθεια (alḗtheia, “truth”), in 1981.

der

[It] is important to point out that endorsing dialetheism is not the same as rejecting logic or rational argumentation.

2005, Laurence Goldstein, Logic: key concepts in philosophy, page 158:

(logic) The theory that statements can be both true and false at the same time and in the same sense. The opposite of the law of noncontradiction.


eternalism

(philosophy) The view that time resembles space and thus past and future events are in some sense coexistent.

[The earth’s] history stretched indefinitely or even infinitely into past and future and involved no unique and unexplained events such as the Flood; indeed, earth history was “without vestige of a beginning, without prospect of an end.” […] Most significantly, the virtual eternalism of such theories was extended, often explicitly, to the history of mankind[…]. Mankind could thus be claimed as uncreated and therefore not subject to any of the traditional moral and social constraints.

1986, Martin J. S. Rudwick, “The Shape and Meaning of Earth History”, in David C. Lindberg, Ronald L. Numbers, editors, God and Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter between Christianity and Science, →ISBN, page 307:

The first of these is eternalism, which holds that matter, energy, and intelligence—the components of the universe—are uncreated, indestructible, eternal, and forever fixed.

1997, Dale C. Lecheminant, “Foreword”, in John A. Widtsoe, Rational Theology: As Taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, →ISBN, page vii:

(philosophy, theology) The view that matter is uncreated and has existed, and will exist, eternally.


experientialism

(philosophy) The theory that experience is the source of knowledge.


innatism

(philosophy) The view that the mind is born with certain ideas or knowledge, as opposed to the idea of the "blank slate" or tabula rasa.


Cyrene

From Latin Cyrene, from Ancient Greek Κυρήνη (Kurḗnē), of uncertain origin. Classical sources considered the Thessalian demigod the etymon for the Libyan city. Modern scholars variously derive the name from the Libyan spring Κύρα (Kúra) or, noting the myth attested before the spring or city, consider an existing Proto-Berber name to have been conflated with the Thessalian myths by early Greek colonists.

(Greek mythology) A Thessalian princess and huntress demigod, companion of Artemis and lover of Apollo.


clout list

By the way, joining Ronan in the move from "10 worst" to the clout list is his on-and-off nemesis, House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago).

1991 July 7, Thomas Hardy, “To make clout list, it's not what you know, but who you know”, in Chicago Tribune, page 4:

Gov. Blagojevich's office kept a clout list of hundreds of state employees recommended by lobbyists, lawmakers and major fund-raisers.

2006 May 17, Chris Fusco, Dave McKinney, “Governor's office kept clout list”, in Chicago Sun-Times, retrieved 2009-06-05:

The University of Illinois announced Monday that it will temporarily suspend the use of a clout list in the admissions process—a practice school officials first downplayed after it was described in a Tribune investigation.

2009 June 2, Stacy St. Clair, Jodi S. Cohen, “Clout Goes to College: Clout list put on suspension”, in chicagotribune.com, retrieved 2009-06-05:

(chiefly US, idiomatic, politics, ethics) A usually secret list containing the names of people who are to be given special access, benefits, or influence in a political or social situation, especially as a result of having personal, professional, or financial relationships with those in authority.


Anahit

(Armenian mythology) Alternative form of Anahita


Hayk

(Armenian mythology) The legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation.


Nuremberg defense

en-noun

Nuremberg defense (plural Nuremberg defenses)

Nuremberg defenses (plural)
Nuremberg defence (alternative)

/ˈnjʊəɹəmbəːɡ dɪˈfɛns/

Albert Speer
Alfred Rosenberg
Franz von Papen
Hans Frank
Nuremberg Charter
Nuremberg trials
Rudolf Hess
Wilhelm Frick

An allusion to a defense used by former Nazi officials prosecuted during the Nuremberg trials after World War II. The trials were held in Nuremberg in Bavaria, Germany.

“‘Nuremberg defense’, universally pleaded in war crimes trials,” is in actuality the Nuremberg nondefense, universally rejected in war crimes trials. It is a pity that the law of the Nuremberg Tribunal is so little understood after the passage of nearly a quarter of a century.

1970 September, R. R. Baxter, “‘Nuremberg Defense’ Beclouded [letter]”, in Richard B. Allen, editor, ABA Journal: The Lawyer’s Magazine, volume 56, Chicago, Ill.: American Bar Association, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 818, column 2:

Recognition of the reliance on an official interpretation of the law defense for government officials and private citizens may initially seem to be the same as the Nuremberg defense of “I was just following orders.”

1978, Stephen M. Kristovich, “United States v. Barker: Misapplication of the Reliance on an Official Interpretation of the Law Defense”, in California Law Review, volume 66, number 44, Berkeley, Calif.: University of California School of Law, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-09-04, page 840:

“It seems like he's [Charles Graner's] wanting to do the Nuremberg defense: ‘I was following orders,’” says Thomas Moran, a Houston attorney and a former military lawyer.

2005 January 6, Laura Parker, “Court-martial begins for Abu Ghraib figure”, in USA Today, archived from the original on 2019-05-21:

(ethics, international law, idiomatic) An explanation offered as an excuse for behaving in a criminal or wrongful manner, claiming that one acted in this way because one was ordered by others (particularly superiors) to do so.


Enyo

(Greek mythology) Goddess of violent war, acting as a counterpart and companion to the war god Ares. Identified with Bellona in Roman mythology.


external world

Human beings are able to form ideas that correspond in some way with a real world, outside of themselves. . . . [T]o each necessary relation a:b in human consciousness, there corresponds a relation A:B in the external world.

1882, Josiah Royce, “Mind and Reality”, in Mind, volume 7, number 25, page 30:

Is not a vast "background" of experience what we all really mean by an external world, or God, according to the mood we are in?

1954, Daniel Cory, “God or the External World”, in The Journal of Philosophy, volume 51, number 2, page 61:

Skeptics . . . claim that our evidence can't support our beliefs about the external world.

2003, Ram Neta, “Contextualism and the Problem of the External World”, in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, volume 66, number 1, page 1:

(philosophy) The world consisting of all the objects and events which are experienceable or whose existence is accepted by the human mind, but which exist independently of the mind.


Cadmus

Via Latin Cadmus, from Ancient Greek Κάδμος (Kádmos).

(Greek mythology) A Phoenician prince, son of king Agenor of Tyre. Was sent by his royal parents to seek and return his sister Europa after being abducted from Phoenicia by Zeus. Credited with founding Greek city of Thebes and inventing Greek alphabet.


Annona

(Roman mythology) A Roman goddess personifying the yearly harvest.


Astghik

Astlik (alternative)
Astłik (alternative)

(Armenian mythology) Ancient Armenian goddess of sensual love, beauty, and water. Lover of Vahagn. Often identified with Aphrodite and the planet Venus.


stellify

en-verb

stellify (third-person singular simple present stellifies, present participle stellifying, simple past and past participle stellified)

stellifies (present singular third-person)
stellifying (participle present)
stellified (participle past)
stellified (past)

From Middle English stellifien (“to make into a star; glorify, deify”), from Middle French stellifier, from Medieval Latin stellificāre, itself from Latin stella (“star”) + faciō (“make, do”).

inh

In Classical mythology, being stellified was about the greatest posthumous honor for a mortal.

By the 'hissing snake' Spenser presumably means the scorpion sent by Diana that killed Orion. Like Orion it, too, was stellified. But since, as Scorpio, it rises in the east as Orion's sign sets in the west, the two were regarded as being kept forever apart, Orion perpetually avoiding in the heavens his vanquisher on earth.

1983, Douglas Brooks-Davies, The Mercurian Monarch: magical politics from Spenser to Pope, page 31:

(transitive, mythology) To transform from an earthly body into a celestial body; to place in the sky as such

muuttaa tähdeksi

mythology: to transform from an earthly body into a celestial body


jackalope

/ˈd͡ʒækələʊp/

Most jackalopes are furry and a foot or two tall; many are only heads, mounted on wood plaques; there are some six-footers, covered with fur…

1993, Jane Stern, Michael Stern, Way out west:

(folklore, mythology) A folkloric animal, a supposed cross between a jackrabbit and an antelope, goat, or deer, usually portrayed as a rabbit with antlers.


unblue

[…] a god in an unblue sky.

1992, Susan Burmeister-Brown, Linda Davies, editors, Glimmer Train Stories:

Soon an associational chain reaction occurs that stains blue all that has remained unblue...

1997, University of Arizona Dept. of English, Sonora Review:

A philosopher, busily sorting the world into the blue and the unblue, tells us that some ink is blue. We look at the ink one way, and it looks blue.

2000, Charles Travis, Unshadowed thought: representation in thought and language:

Mind you, if they fly in downstairs, they are quite happy to settle for unblue mangoes.

2007, Barbara Blackman, Bryony Cosgrove, Judith Wright, Portrait of a friendship:


irreal

en-adj

irreal (comparative more irreal, superlative most irreal)

more irreal (comparative)
most irreal (superlative)

From Latin irrealis, from in- (“un-: not”) + reālis (“real, material, tangible, composed of physical things”), from res (“thing”) + -ālis (“-al: forming adjectives”). Doublet of irrealis.

'Irreal' objects draw on our previous sensual experience but have never existed; they are created through the spontaneous intentional operations of the imagination.

2012, T. Dant, Television and the Moral Imaginary: Society through the Small Screen, →ISBN:

It is a shift to the ego conceived as irreal, as non-worldly.

2013, J. Mensch, The Question of Being in Husserl’s Logical Investigations, →ISBN, page 8:

The irreal spatiality of school dining rooms, including such things as décor, furnishings, modes of ordering, manner of queuing, ambience, 'feel', can also, as we have seen, actively limit these governmental ambitions.

2014, J. Pike, P. Kelly, The Moral Geographies of Children, Young People and Food, →ISBN:

It is impossible to directly access the imaginations of others, to know precisely if and how an imagined 'irreal' future is felt by an individual or shared by a 'collective', or to know if one has shared it oneself.

2015, Sarah Pink, Doing Sensory Ethnography, →ISBN:

(philosophy) Synonym of intangible, immaterial, not composed of things, having no concrete existence.


falsum

(logic) An arbitrary contradiction, denoted ⊥.


worldless

(philosophy) That does not belong to a world; abstract, without context.


verificationism

en-noun

verificationism (usually uncountable, plural verificationisms)

verifiability principle
verifiability principle

(philosophy) Belief in the verifiability principle.


household deity

household deity (plural household deities)

[…] Ganesh (Pillayar in Tamil), here is not associated with militant Hinduism; Pillayar is a lovable household deity here, a free and familiar god who craves no chauvinistic devotion.

1990, V. Geetha with S. V. Rajadurai, “Communal Violence in Madras: A Portent?”, in Economic and Political Weekly, volume 25, number 38, →ISSN, page 2122:

[O]n this day, as throughout the New Year's period, rites of divination for the following year were performed along with rites for the spirits of ancestors and other household deities.

2005, Michael Como, “Silkworms and Consorts in Nara Japan”, in Asian Folklore Studies, volume 64, number 1, page 127:

(mythology, religion) A minor tutelary deity watching over a household, usually conceived as a protective ancestral spirit or genius loci.

huisgod

minor god or goddess who protects a home or family

lar

chiefly Roman contexts, particularly overseeing the family

penates

chiefly Roman contexts, particularly overseeing the house and its storeroom


de re

From Latin de (“about”) re (“thing”) (ablative of res).

(linguistics, philosophy) Taking the thing of reference in consideration.


de dicto

(linguistics, philosophy) Taking the utterance in consideration, without having a particular referent in mind.


aponia

From Ancient Greek ἀπονία (aponía, “without suffering”).

der

(philosophy) The absence of pain considered as a state of spiritual serenity

aponia

the absence of pain considered as a state of spiritual serenity


metadiscourse

en-noun

metadiscourse (countable and uncountable, plural metadiscourses)

(philosophy, linguistics, education) Discussion, especially involving academic analysis, about a discussion or about discourse.

Meronyms: transition, summative, disjunct

Everything you write needs metadiscourse, but too much buries your ideas […] Some teachers and editors urge us to cut all metadiscourse, but everything we write needs some. You have to read with an eye to how good writers in your field use it, then do likewise. There are, however, some types that you can usually cut. [Examples follow.]

2012, Joseph M. Williams, Gregory G. Colomb, Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace, Longman, →ISBN, page 64:

(philosophy, linguistics, education) Words and phrases, woven into a discourse, whose reference is the external framing constituted by the reader's attention and purposes for reading, the writer's purposes for writing, the narrative sequence or document organization, the epistemics behind the discourse, and so on.


Dikê

Dolos and Dikê in Sophokles’ Elektra

2001: Leona MacLeod, Dolos and Dikê in Sophokles’ Elektra, volume 219, main title (Brill; →ISBN, 9789004118980)

(historical, Greek mythology) The goddess personifying the principle of justice.


Oriental

en-adj

Oriental (comparative more Oriental, superlative most Oriental)

more Oriental (comparative)
most Oriental (superlative)
oriental (alternative)

/ɔːɹiˈɛntəl/

From Middle English oriental, from Anglo-Norman oriental, Middle French oriental, from Latin orientālis (“eastern”), from oriēns (“rising (of the Sun)”), present active participle of orior (“I rise”).

(astronomy, astrology) Pertaining to the eastern part of the sky; happening before sunrise.


summum genus

Summum genus, in its strictest sense, is that all-extensive term under which every object of whatever kind may be classed, and of every one of which it may be affirmatively predicated: the word which is generally used to denote such genus is substance, or, as some call it, being. ... ; thus by ornithologist, bird would be regarded as the summum genus under which he would arrange the different subdivisions of birds ...

1827, John Huyshe, A Treatise on Logic, on The Basis of Aldrich:

(logic, semantics) The highest, most all-inclusive genus; the one that is not a species of any other genus.


Juno Moneta

From New Latin Juno Moneta, varient of Classical Latin Iūnō Monēta, from Iuno (“Juno”), queen of the Roman gods equated with the Greek Hera, and Moneta, of uncertain etymology. The name has been popularly derived from monēre (“to advise or warn”) since antiquity with reference to various events in Roman legend and history, but modern archeology seems to show the worship of a goddess Moneta elsewhere in Italy prior to her introduction to Rome (cf. evocatio) in 344 BC. The connection to coinage and money derived from her temple's use to house the state mint until a fire around AD 84. Cognate with money and monetary.

(Roman mythology) Synonym of Juno, particularly as a patron of the state mint and Roman coinage.

Iūnō Monēta

Juno as advisor, warner, or patron of minting


cynocephaly

(mythology) The state of a human having the head of a dog.


thinglike

thinglike (comparative more thinglike, superlative most thinglike)

more thinglike (comparative)
most thinglike (superlative)

From thing + -like. Compare English thingly, German dinglich.

Although Tex had assured me only the other day that New Yorkers prized intelligence, I wasn’t sure mine could be counted on. It didn’t feel like a thing in our very thinglike world, a world where identity began with the choice of massive automobile […]

1988, Edmund White, chapter 2, in The Beautiful Room is Empty, New York: Vintage International, published 1994:

(philosophy) Resembling a thing; having the properties associated with a physical object; objectlike.


axiom schema

en-noun

axiom schema (plural axiom schemas or axiom schemata)

axiom schemas (plural)
axiom schemata (plural)

(logic) A formula in the language of an axiomatic system, in which one or more schematic variables appear, which stand for any term or subformula of the system, which may or may not be required to satisfy certain conditions.


subformula

subformula (plural subformulas or subformulae)

subformulas (plural)
subformulae (plural)

(logic) A formula that is part of another formula.


schematic variable

schematic variable (plural schematic variables)

universe of discourse
universe of discourse

(logic) A variable that appears in an axiom schema and ranges over formulas, distinguished from the variables of the axiom schema that are quantified over and that range over the individuals of the universe of discourse.


Calydon

(historical, Greek mythology) The legendary founding king and eponym of the city of Calydon, whose failure to honor the goddess Artemis in a rite resulted in her sending the Calydonian Boar to lay waste to the city.


Voltairean

en-adj

Voltairean (comparative more Voltairean, superlative most Voltairean)

more Voltairean (comparative)
most Voltairean (superlative)
Voltairian (alternative)

"What do you want? Nineteenth-century rationalism, Voltairian deism? We're living in a religious age, you know. I suppose Anglicanism might be a solution."

1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 448:

[…] the skinny boy at the next table smirked with a thin Voltairian sneer.

1988, Edmund White, chapter 1, in The Beautiful Room is Empty, New York: Vintage International, published 1994:

(philosophy) Of or pertaining to François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778; pen name "Voltaire"), French writer, essayist, and philosopher known for his wit and defence of civil liberties.

voltairovský

of or pertaining to François-Marie Arouet, pen name Voltaire


Voltairean

Voltaireans (plural)
Voltairian (alternative)

Then hearing that I was a Darwaysh and doctor—he must be an Osmanli Voltairean, that little Turk—the official snorted a contemptuous snort.

1855, Richard Francis Burton, chapter II, in A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and Meccah, volume I, London: Tylston & Edwards, published 1893, page 21:

“[…] But as for saints and relics and things, I fear I'm a bit of a Voltairian; what you would call a skeptic.”

1922, G. K. Chesterton, chapter 3, in The Man Who Knew Too Much:

(philosophy) A person who subscribes to the philosophy of Voltaire.


hyperreality

en-noun

hyperreality (countable and uncountable, plural hyperrealities)

(semiotics, philosophy) The inability of consciousness to distinguish reality from fantasy, especially in technologically advanced postmodern cultures.


whereness

whereness (usually uncountable, plural wherenesses)

A point hath no dimensions, but only a whereness, and is next to nothing.

1701, Nehemiah Grew, Cosmologia sacra: or a discourse of the universe as it is the creature and kingdom of God:

(chiefly philosophy) Location or position.


computronium

The process of making computers on ever smaller scales, using physical degrees of freedom and the laws of physics in an ever more efficient manner, can be thought of as a refining process. In this process we are trying to refine and concentrate the computing power inherent in the laws of physics. You might ask, "Can we achieve 100% pure 'Computronium'?"

1992, Norman Margolus, “Fundamental Physical Constraints on the Computational Process”, in BC Crandall, James Lewis, editors, Nanotechnology: Research and Perspectives, The MIT Press, →ISBN, page 202:

They should be working on uploading and solving the nanoassembly conformational problem instead. Then we could turn all the available dumb matter into computronium and use it for processing our thoughts. Long-term, it's the only way to go.

2005, Charles Stross, Accelerando, Ace Books, Chapter 1, "Lobsters"

To this end, the AI might produce computronium (matter organized in a configuration that is optimal for computation) and use it to implement digital minds in states of euphoria.

2014, Nick Bostrom, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies, Oxford University Press, page 140:

(science fiction, philosophy) A hypothetical material engineered to maximize its use as a computing substrate.


endurant

(ontology) An entity that can be observed/perceived as a complete concept, regardless of the point in time.


Iphigenia

/ˌɪfɪd͡ʒɪˈnaɪə/

/ˌɪfɪˈd͡ʒiːnɪə/

From Ancient Greek Ῑ̓φιγένεια (Īphigéneia).

If we are convinced by the way the Iphigenia myth reworks and distorts the structure of the Metis myth, then we gain a new understanding of the logic underlying Athena's refusal to acknowledge the crime against Iphigenia.

2007, Amber Jacobs, On Matricide: Myth, Psychoanalysis, and the Law of the Mother, page 161:

The founding of the sanctuary at Braurona is related to the myths of Iphigenia and her brother, Orestes.

2008, Allan Brooks, Myths, Games and Conflict, page 8:

One such involuntary sacrifice is found in the story of Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, the famous Greek king and warrior.

2013, Willie Young, “4: Taking One for the Team: Baseball and Sacrifice”, in Eric Bronson, William Irwin, editors, Baseball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batter's Box, page 63:

(Greek mythology) The daughter of Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra, who is sacrificed by her father to ensure the safe journey of the Greeks to Troy.


Memnon

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Memnon.wav

(Greek mythology) An Ethiopian king and son of Tithonus and Eos. Considered a great warrior, he fought on the side of Troy and was killed by Achilles.


nonliteral

(programming, logic) That which is not a literal.


Zeno

Via Latin Zēnō, from Ancient Greek Ζήνων (Zḗnōn), an ancient derivative of Ζεύς (Zeús), from Proto-Hellenic *dzéus, from Proto-Indo-European *dyḗws. Modern scientific and philosophical use derives from Zeno of Elea, poser of Zeno's paradoxes.

It is therefore important to be able to determine if a model is Zeno and in applicable cases remove Zenoness.

2000, J. Zhang et al., “Dynamical Systems Revisted: Hybrid Systems with Zeno Executions”, in Hybrid Systems: Computation and Control, page 458:

While this system is not Zeno, it can nevertheless not be considered implementable; thus, the boundedness of activity seems to be a more appropriate abstract concept of implementability of a system with respect to the amount of activity in finite intervals of time.

2005, Heinrich Rust, “Chapter 3”, in Operational Semantics for Timed Systems: A Non-standard Approach to Uniform Modeling of Timed and Hybrid Systems, page 17:

That is, it is necessary to check whether a run is Zeno so as to avoid presenting Zeno runs as counterexamples.

2013, Y. Si et al., “Improving Model Checking Stateful Timed CSP with non-Zenoness through Clock-Symmetry Reduction”, in Formal Methods and Software Engineering : 15th International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods, ICFEM 2013, page 183:

(mathematics, philosophy) Requiring or involving an infinite number of intervals within a finite time.


tetrachotomy

tĕtrəkŏʹtəmĭ

/tɛtɹəˈkɒtəmɪ/

From τέτραχα (tétrakha, “quadripartite”) + τόμος (tómos, “slice, piece”) (from τέμνω (témnō, “I cut”)).


ontologism

ontologism (usually uncountable, plural ontologisms)

(philosophy) An ideological system which maintains that God and divine ideas are the first object of our intelligence and the intuition of God's existence the first act of our intellect.


nonobjectivist

(philosophy) One who is not an objectivist.


antirealistic

The antirealistic stance of the School of the Art Institute continued to influence him. "

1995 January 6, Harold Henderson, “Are We Missing Something?”, in Chicago Reader:


havfrue

A girl one time fell into the power of a Havfrue and passed fifteen years in her submarine abode without ever seeing the sun.

1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 153:

(mythology) A type of mermaid of Danish folklore.


antinatalist

They've identified a reference to the ancient Syracusian practice of banishment known as petalism, and what may or may not be a reference to efilism, a branch of the antinatalist philosophical position advanced by Schopenhauer, but what any of that has to do with the lyrics' subsequent allusions to Moby-Dick seems pretty open to question.

2014 July 24, Alexis Petridis, “Shabazz Palaces: Lese Majesty review – spectacular, way-out hip-hop”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 2014-07-25:

Nihilists believe that life is meaningless. While promortalists and antinatalists also don’t value human life, Katherine Keneally, director of threat analysis and prevention US for the ISD, says Bartkus’ views were somewhat distinct from nihilism because of his belief he was on a mission.

2025 May 21, Manisha Krishnan, “IVF Clinic Bombing Suspect Was Linked to ‘Anti-Life’ Ideology. Experts Fear Its Growing Influence”, in WIRED, archived from the original on 2025-05-21:

(philosophy, sociology) A supporter of antinatalism.


antinatalism

Antinatalism is a negative view toward human fertility (and perhaps the fertility of other sentient life forms). Philanthropic antinatalism is the belief that humans should not have children for the good of the (unborn) children—that it is better, for humans, not to be born (Benatar, 2006).

2015, Todd K. Shackelford, Ranald D. Hansen, The Evolution of Morality, Springer, →ISBN, page 141:

Efilism, a form of antinatalism also linked to promortalism, gets its name by spelling “life” backwards.

(philosophy) A family of philosophical views that are critical of reproduction and that consider coming into existence as evil or deem procreation as immoral.

antinatalisme

opposition to the increase in human population


ressentiment

ressentiment (countable and uncountable, plural ressentiments)

rə-säɴ'tē-mäɴʹ

/ɹəˌsɑ̃.tiˈmɑ̃/

/ɹɛˌsɒ̃tɪˈmɒ̃/

From French ressentiment, from an archaic usage of the verb ressentir, via Old French sentir from Latin sentiō, sentīre (“to feel”); in the second sense a semantic loan from German Ressentiment. Doublet of resentiment and resentment.

When the weak call the strong evil the move is not merely defensive; it is also an expression of that peculiar malice which Nietzsche referred to as ressentiment. Those who cultivate humility and the other propitiatory virtues to cloak their weakness nourish an envious resentment against those stronger than themselves.

1973, Philippa Foot, “Nietzsche: The Revaluation of Values”, in Robert C. Solomon, Garden City, editors, Nietzsche: A Collection of Critical Essays, New York: Anchor Books, page 157:

If his attack on Christian morality and on other moralities is going to be worth anything he has got to be right about the effect of teaching pity and justice — that it merely hides the ressentiment of the weak while it does injury to the strong.

Historians such as Liah Greenfield and Daniel Chirot have attributed the major wars and genocides in the early decades of the 20th century to ressentiment in Germany and Russia.

2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 632:

(chiefly philosophy, social psychology) a sense of resentment arising from deep-seated feelings of envy or hatred, leading the resentful one to blame it on an external agent.


forechoice

(ethics) A motive which is in harmony or agreement with right desire.


antihumanism

antihumanism (usually uncountable, plural antihumanisms)

antihumanisms (plural)
anti-humanism (alternative)

Thus the field moved beyond its early antihumanism, upgrading drivers from unthinking particles to individuals with agendas (and car phones, and tempers, and fast food banquets spread out on the dashboard).

1994 November 11, David Kestenbaum, “Highway to Hell”, in Chicago Reader:

In his frigid antihumanism, Sorokin parts company with Russian satirists like Gogol, Bulgakov, Yuri Olesha and, more recently, Viktor Pelevin.

2007 April 15, Ken Kalfus, “They Had a Hammer”, in New York Times:

(philosophy, ethics) Opposition to humanism.


antihumanist

But as in the overrated and similarly antihumanist Memento, every sequence proceeds forward; it's only the order of the sequences that's backward.

2003 March 14, Jonathan Rosenbaum, “All and Nothing”, in Chicago Reader:


pons asinorum

From New Latin pons asinorum, from Latin pōns (“bridge”) + genitive plural of asinus (“donkey”). Literally, “bridge of donkeys”.

(logic) A method for finding the middle term of a syllogism in Aristotlean analytics.


genius loci

head

genius loci (plural genii loci or genii locorum)

genii loci (plural)
genii locorum (plural)

jēʹnyəs lōʹkī

jēʹnyəs lōʹsī

/ˈɡɛnɪˌʊs ˈloʊki/

jēʹnyəs lōʹkī

jēʹnyəs lōʹsī

/ˈɡɛnɪˌʊs ˈləʊki/

Learned borrowing from Latin genius loci (“tutelary deity of a/the place”), from the singular genitive form of locus (“place”).

lbor

(Roman mythology) The minor deity or spirit watching over a particular place.


hyle

One of several English variants (in casu Modern English, in the 17th and 18th century) for the Medieval Latin hyle, a transliteration of Aristotle’s concept of matter, in Ancient Greek ὕλη (húlē, “wood(s), material(s), matter, subject”) or πρώτη ὕλη (prṓtē húlē, “fundamental, undifferentiated matter”)

der

hile (alternative obsolete)
hyla (alternative obsolete)
ylem (alternative)


epiclesis

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐπίκλησις (epíklēsis, “invocation”).

lbor

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) A particular appearance or aspect of a deity.


loogaroo

Probably from English loup-garou or its source, French loup-garou (“werewolf”). Compare Haitian Creole lougarou.

Coordinate term: soucouyant

(mythology, Caribbean) A creature of Caribbean mythology similar to a vampire or werewolf.


Callirrhoë

(Greek mythology) A naiad, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.


metaspace

en-noun

metaspace (countable and uncountable, plural metaspaces)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-metaspace.wav

(philosophy) A space transcending ordinary physical space, such as cyberspace.


metaphilosopher

(philosophy) One who is involved in metaphilosophy.


perdurant

(ontology) A happening; an entity that only exists partially at any given point in time.


dormitive virtue

dormitive virtue (plural dormitive virtues)

A calque translation of Latin, virtus dormitiva, coined by Molière in The Imaginary Invalid. In the play, he lampoons a group of physicians providing an explanation in macaronic Latin of the sleep-inducing properties of opium as stemming from its "virtus dormitiva".

The inevitable next suggestion -— that aesthetic experience is distinguished not by pleasure at all but by a special aesthetic emotion can be dropped on the waste-pile of "dormitive virtue” explanations

1968, Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, American Philosophical Association, page 6:

Solidity now has all the defects of a dormitive virtue, obscurity, unobservability, something-we-know-notwhattery — and none of the advantages of a dormitive virtue

1998, Rae Langton, Kantian Humility: Our Ignorance of Things in Themselves, page 176:

Because (1) is postulated and at the same time used as a covering law, the putative explanations are vacuous in the sense in which explanatory appeals to dormitive virtue are.

2003, Henry E. Kyburg, Mariam Thalos, Probability is the Very Guide of Life, page 66:

Now admittedly, this has the look of a dormitive virtue argument: the reason the intellect can recollect its own activity is that it possesses just such a recollective capacity.

2013, Charles Bolyard, Rondo Keele, Later Medieval Metaphysics: Ontology, Language, and Logic, page 147:

But if talk of such facts just arises via hypostatizations out of the relevant truths, then the facts posited can't explain the truths except via a blatant dormitive virtue explanation.

2021, Karen Bennett, Dean W. Zimmerman, Oxford Studies in Metaphysics, volume 12, page 29:

Fitness is not the empty idea of a dormitive virtue. The point is that although fitness is explanatory, it seems to be a placeholder for a deeper account that dispenses with the concept of fitness [again the propensity concept].

2021, Richard E. Michod, Darwinian Dynamics: Evolutionary Transitions in Fitness and Individuality, page 186:

(idiomatic, rhetoric, logic, linguistics) A type of tautology in which an item is explained in terms of the item itself, only put in different (usually more abstract) words.


Ptah

(Egyptian mythology) A god of creativity and craftsmen, sometimes also identified with the gods of death and the birth of the sun.


Circe

(Greek mythology) An enchantress who turned Odysseus's men into pigs.


nonspirit

(chiefly philosophy) Absence of spirit; lifelessness, inanimateness.


precisive

en-adj

precisive (comparative more precisive, superlative most precisive)

more precisive (comparative)
most precisive (superlative)

precisive censure

precisive abstraction

(logic) Exactly limiting by cutting off all that is not absolutely relevant.


Hyllus

(Greek mythology) The son of Heracles and Deianira


woodnymph

woodnymphs (plural)
wood-nymph (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-woodnymph.wav

(Greek mythology) A nymph residing in a forest, a dryad.


dogman

From dog (“the domesticated mammal Canis familiaris or Canis lupus familiaris”) + -man (suffix denoting someone (possibly implied male) who is an expert in an area, who is employed or holds a position in an area, or who takes part in an activity) or man (senses 2 and 3).

suffix

[T]his tradition certainly influenced that of Dog-Men (cynanthropy) and of dog-headed men (cynocephaly), […] Dog-Men, however, have historically enjoyed a much richer and more varied mythology than their lycanthropic cousins, no doubt as a result of the ambiguity of the dog itself as much as of cultural or historical trends.

1991, David Gordon White, “Hell is Other People”, in Myths of the Dog-man, Chicago, Ill., London: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 15:

A dogman’s legs are back bent, crooked as a dog’s. Its body is covered in fine fur, and its face has a dog-like snout and ear. A dogman’s arms and torso are completely humanoid, save for the its strange paws, that are vaguely human-like, but with thick dark claws.

2002, Sovereign Stone: Bestiary of Loerem, Lake Geneva, Wis.: Sovereign Press, →ISBN, page 56, column 1:

I was interested in the Wisconsin dogman sightings, which were kind of scary, but when you started talking about the ones showing up in bedrooms I must have been agape and my hair [standing] on end.

2016, Linda S. Godfrey, quoting Matt Ballotti, “Shadow Wolves”, in Monsters among Us: An Exploration of Otherworldly Bigfoots, Wolfmen, Portals, Phantoms, and Odd Phenomena, New York, N.Y.: TarcherPerigee, →ISBN, pages 95–96:

Sightings of mysterious creatures that appear to be part human and part wolf are reported in modern times all over the world. […] Their apparent hybrid nature makes them “dogmen” or “man-wolves.” […] Reports of dogmen date to ancient times. In some cases, they were thought to be a type of debased human.

2018, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, “Introduction: An Overview of Werewolves and Their Kin”, in Rosemary Ellen Guiley, editor, Fate Presents Werewolves and Dogmen, New Milford, Conn.: Visionary Living, →ISBN:

(cryptozoology, mythology) An alleged cryptid or mythological creature that is part dog and part man; also (religion) a deity who is part dog and part man.


horoscopy

en-noun

horoscopy (countable and uncountable, plural horoscopies)

(astrology) horoscope (aspect of the stars, or prediction)


zodiac sign

(astrology) Any of the twelve star signs corresponding to the constellations which make up the zodiac.


Panic

en-adj

Panic (comparative more Panic, superlative most Panic)

more Panic (comparative)
most Panic (superlative)
panic (alternative)

(Greek mythology, archaic) Synonym of Pandean (“pertaining to the Greek god Pan”)


conjunctive normal form

en-noun

conjunctive normal form (countable and uncountable, plural conjunctive normal forms)

(logic) The form of a Boolean formula that the formula has if the formula is a conjunction of disjunctions of literals, such as “(A or B or C) and (D or E or not F)”.


disjunctive normal form

(logic) The form of a boolean formula that the formula has if the formula is a disjunction of conjunctions of literals, such as “(A and B and C) or (D and E and not F)”.

disjunktiivinen normaalimuoto

the form of a boolean formula that the formula has if the formula is a disjunction of conjunctions of literals, such as “(A and B and C) or (D and E and not F)”


LEM

What constructive mathematicians know is that there are mathematical universes in which sets are like topological spaces and properties are like open sets. In fact, these universes are well-known to classical mathematicians (they are called toposes), but they look at them from “the outside”. When we consider what mathematicians who live in such a universe see, we discover many fascinating kinds of mathematics, which tend to be constructive. The universe of classical mathematics is special because in it all sets are like discrete topological spaces. In fact, one way of understanding LEM is “all spaces/sets are discrete”. Is this really such a smart thing to assume? If for no other reason, LEM should be abandoned because it is quite customary to consider “continuous” and “discrete” domains in applications in computer science and physics. So what gives mathematicians the idea that all domains are discrete?

2005, Andrej Bauer, Mathematics and Computation: The Law of Excluded Middle:

Law of excluded middle
law of excluded middle#English


vishap

Learned borrowing from Armenian վիշապ (višap).

lbor

(Armenian mythology) a dragon in Armenian mythology closely associated with water


presentism

en-noun

presentism (countable and uncountable, plural presentisms)

(philosophy) The view that neither the future nor the past exist (events and entities that are wholly past or wholly future do not exist at all).


Brunhild

From German Brunhilde, from Middle High German Briunhilde, from Old High German *Brunnīhilta, from Proto-Germanic *Brunjōhildiz (from *brunjǭ (“breastplate”) + *hildiz (“battle, fight”)).

der

Brunhilda (alternative)
Brunhilde (alternative)
Brünhilde (alternative)
Brunnhilde (alternative)
Brünnhilde (alternative)
Brünnehilde (alternative)
Brunhildr (alternative)
Brynhild (alternative)
Brynhildr (alternative)

Brunhild is a complex figure, indeed. In Hebbel's trilogy, Brunhild is one of the figures who spans both levels, those of history and myth.

1999, Mary A. Cicora, Wagner's Ring and German Drama: Comparative Studies in Mythology and History in Drama, page 79:

In manuscripts A and B,^([of the Nibelungenlied]) the smiles of Gunther, Siegfried, and Brunhild are recognized as expressions of power and are greeted with the appropriate responses of retaliation, subjugation, or subjugation followed by retaliation.

2003, Kathryn Starkey, “Brunhild's Smile”, in C. Stephen Jaeger, Ingrid Kasten, editors, Codierungen von Emotionen im Mittelalter / Emotions and Sensibilities in the Middle Ages, page 160:

Brunhild resembles Minerva in her martial tastes, physical appearance, and wisdom; but her anger and resentment when Sigurd forgets her for Gudrun is like the wrath of Œnone, whom Paris deserts to woo Helen.

2010, H. A. Guerber, Hammer of Thor: Norse Mythology and Legends, Special edition, page 248:

(Germanic mythology) A shieldmaiden and valkyrie in Germanic mythology, a main character in the Nibelungenlied, Völsunga saga, and some poems of the Poetic Edda.


infinitary

(mathematics, logic) Of or pertaining to expressions of infinite length


paralogy

en-noun

paralogy (countable and uncountable, plural paralogies)


afanc

(Celtic mythology, mythology) A lake monster in Welsh mythology, described variously as resembling a crocodile, beaver or dwarf-like creature, and sometimes said to be a demon.


An R with a cross-stroke indicating an abbreviation (of recipe, response, retrograde etc). In the case of a prescription, abbreviating Latin recipe (“take this”, second-person singular imperative of recipiō); it is sometimes typeset as, or even interpreted as, a digraph Rx. Compare also Dx (“diagnose, diagnosis”) and Hx (“history”).

der

second-person singular imperative of <i class="Latn mention" lang="la">recipiō</i>


Hegelese

We have felt it ourselves when the obvious meaning of Shakespeare has been rewritten into Hegelese, by some Doctor of Philosophy […] eager to apply his new theory of fog as an illuminating medium.

c. 1886, James Russell Lowell, “Don Quixote”, in Lowell's Works, page 122:

To speak Hegelese for a moment, since the deductive processes so discriminated require for their own development, for their own self-realization, to be combined with and enriched by their ampliative complements, in the broad view of these matters required by an investigation of philosophical governance the opposition between them must be overcome.

1988, Frederick L. Will, Beyond Deduction, page 152:

In Hegelese, the fatal weakness of representational language resides precisely in its representational character: in the fact that it remains stuck at the level of Vorstellung, […].

2005, Slavoj Žižek, The metastases of enjoyment: six essays on women and causality, pages 44–45:

(philosophy) The convoluted, obscure style of writing associated with the works of G.W.F. Hegel


latitudinarianism

en-noun

latitudinarianism (usually uncountable, plural latitudinarianisms)

The implication is that latitudinarianism permits ascription of de re belief too freely, and that the more robust classical conception of de re attitudes is needed to accommodate the explanatory func- tion of belief.

1982, Lynne Rudder Baker, “De Re Belief in Action”, in Philosophical Review:

(philosophy) The latitudinarian position, that de re attitudes are merely a special case of de dicto attitudes


Spinozism

A common weapon against Cartesians in those latter days was an accusation of Spinozism.

1878, J. P. N. Land, “Philosophy in the Dutch Universities,”, in Mind, volume 3, number 9, page 96:

But of course Spinozism in an empiricist mode is Spinozism with a considerable difference, as ethics written in Hume's preferred nonabstruse style (and increasingly nonabstruse from Treatise to Essays and Enquiries) sets a different tone from ethics in ordine geometrico.

1993, Annette C. Baier, “David Hume, Spinozist”, in Hume Studies, volume 19:

Monism, as characterized here, seems to be a commitment both of Spinoza and of variants of Spinozism influential in Germany in the 1780s and 90s.

2002, Sebastian Gardner, Paul Franks, “From Kant to Post-Kantian Idealism”, in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volumes, vol. 76, p. 230 note 7:

(philosophy) The philosophical doctrine of Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) and his followers.


yod

(astrology) A significant astrological alignment, see Yod in Wikipedia.


Spinozistic

en-adj

Spinozistic (comparative more Spinozistic, superlative most Spinozistic)

more Spinozistic (comparative)
most Spinozistic (superlative)

Russell was, I believe, especially inclined toward Spinoza's view mainly in his world-weary writings in the aftermath of World War I, which, he sometimes claimed, had made him more Spinozistic.

1992, Bart Schultz, “Bertrand Russell in Ethics and Politics,”, in Ethics, volume 102, number 3, page 618:

(philosophy) Of, pertaining to, resembling, or representative of the philosophical doctrines of Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677).

spinozista

pertaining to the philosophical doctrines of Baruch Spinoza


Spinozist

The last chapter explores how a contemporary Spinozist might respond.

2001, William E. Connolly, “Review: Spinoza and Us,”, in Political Theory, volume 29, number 4, page 589:

(philosophy) An adherent of or a specialist in the study of the philosophical doctrines of Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677).

spinozista

adherent of the philosophical doctrines of Baruch Spinoza


Spinozist

Spinozist (comparative more Spinozist, superlative most Spinozist)

more Spinozist (comparative)
most Spinozist (superlative)

Dr. Van Vloten . . . tries now and then to be more Spinozist than Spinoza himself.

1878, Frederick Pollock, “Notes on the Philosophy of Spinoza”, in Mind, volume 3, number 10, page 211n:

(philosophy) Alternative form of Spinozistic


nonobjectivism

(philosophy) Any belief system that rejects objectivism.


heterotopia

en-noun

heterotopia (countable and uncountable, plural heterotopias)

/ˌhɛt(ə)ɹəˈtəʊpiə/

/ˌhɛtəɹəˈtoʊpiə/

Michel Foucault gave the museum and the mental hospital as two different examples of heterotopias.

For Foucault, heterotopias are not imagined places but real places that almost delete themselves from public consciousness. They are null sites in awareness, yet inevitable and vital to the construction of space.

2002, James W Flanagan, David M Gunn, Paula M McNutt, "Imagining" biblical worlds:

(philosophy, literary criticism) A space which is alien to what is normal within the society, variably presenting a utopian vision in physical form or serving to segregate subversive elements from the wider society.


becomer

A becomer of an action can be either an object or an agent.

1978, N S Junankar, Gautama, the Nyāya philosophy:

(chiefly philosophy) One who, or that which, becomes.


superaltern

(logic) A universal proposition from which can be inferred a corresponding subaltern


Mimantean

en-adj

Mimantean (comparative more Mimantean, superlative most Mimantean)

more Mimantean (comparative)
most Mimantean (superlative)
Mimantian (alternative)

From Ancient Greek Μῑμάντος (Mīmántos), genitive case of Μίμᾱς (Mímās), from earlier Μίμανς (Mímans).

Draughts from the fount of Nile [...] or the steep Mimantian height, Snow-capped

1908, Jane Ellen Harrison, “Orphic Mysteries”, in Prolegomena to the study of Greek religion, page 514:

(mythology) Of or relating to the giant Mimas in Greek mythology


FO

first-order logic
first-order logic#English

(logic, computer science) Initialism of first-order logic.


finitary

(logic) Pertaining to finite-length proofs, each using a finite set of axioms.


holon

From holo- (from Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos, “whole”)) + -on (like taxon or meron). Coined by Arthur Koestler in his 1967 book The Ghost in the Machine.

confix

from Ancient Greek <i class="Polyt mention" lang="grc">ὅλος</i> (hólos, “whole”)

Before an atom is an atom, it is a holon. Before a cell is a cell, it is a holon. Before an idea is an idea, it is a holon. All of them are wholes that exist in other wholes, and thus they are all whole/parts, or holons, first and foremost (long before any “particular characteristics” are singled out by us).

1995, Ken Wilber, “The Pattern That Connects”, in Sex, Ecology, Spirituality, Shambhala, →ISBN, Book One, pages 33–34:

(philosophy) Something that is both a part and a whole.


succedent

(logic) The formulas on the right-hand side of a sequent.


accidens

An Accidens (or accident) of an individual, genus, or species is any attribute which is possessed by it, and which does not follow from, or form a part of, its comprehension. […] If, on the other hand, an accidens is sometimes present and sometimes absent in an individual, […]

1886, Prasanna K. Roy, A Text-book of Deductive Logic: For the Use of Students, page 83:

But, where there is no apparent reason why the attribute should always be found in the individuals of a class, it is called an Accidens.

1896, James Welton, A Manual of Logic, volume 1, page 86:

(logic) Synonym of accident (“a property, fact, or relation that is the result of chance or is nonessential or nonsubstantive”)


blicket

Introduced by Nancy Soja in her 1987 dissertation "Ontological Constraints on 2-Year-Olds' Induction of Word Meanings" from MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.
The word was used after Soja by a variety of cognitive scientists, and has gained usage since 2000 in publications by David Sobel and Alison Gopnik of the Psychology Department of UC Berkeley.

So if the child now represents these instances as being blickets, she represents them as being more similar to each other than they seemed previously.

2007 September 1, Daniel A. Weiskopf, “The origins of concepts”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 140, number 3, →DOI:

Later they were presented with the picture of a blicket along with the real object it depicted and asked to indicate the blicket. Many of the 24-, 18-, and even 15-month-olds indicated the real object as an instance of a blicket […]

2012, Issues in Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine Research and Practice, page 1627:

(philosophy) A type of novel object with certain properties that may be categorized by a human in certain experiments relating to causality and perception, e.g., triggering a "blicket detector" (a device that lights up and plays music).


Tiamat

Learned borrowing from Akkadian 𒀀𒀊𒁀 (tiāmtum, “sea; a deity”), from Proto-Semitic *tihām- (“sea”).

lbor

(mythology) A Babylonian goddess who personifies the sea, considered the monstrous embodiment of primordial chaos.


biquintile

(astrology) An aspect of two planets that are distant from each other by two fifths of a great circle (72 degrees)


Arietian

From Latin Arietianus, from Aries + -ianus (“-ian”), from aries (“ram”).

(astrology) Synonym of Arian, of or related to Aries, its nature, or its influence.


Arietian

(astrology) Synonym of Aries, a person born under the influence of Aries.


probabiliorism

(religion, philosophy) The belief that man is fated to do what is almost certainly correct.