a posteriori

en-adj

a posteriori (comparative more a posteriori, superlative most a posteriori)

more a posteriori (comparative)
most a posteriori (superlative)

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin ā posteriōrī (“involving reasoning from effect to cause, from experience to theory”, literally “from what follows”). Popularized from the 19th century in reference to the work of Immanuel Kant.

learned borrowing

What Locke calls "knowledge" they have called "a priori knowledge"; what he calls "opinion" or "belief" they have called "a posteriori" or "empirical knowledge".

1988, R. S. Woolhouse, The empiricists, Oxford University Press:

inductive[Appendix:Glossary#broadly|broadly]] synonymous outside of philosophic arcanity>

empirical

involving induction of theories from facts

(logic) Involving induction of theories from facts.

апастэрыёрны

involving deduction of theories from facts


a posteriori

FALLACIES of the modern worldview have to do with the conception of the world as substance or machinery, mistaking abstractions for reality, confusing origins and truth, failing to attribute feeling to things that feel, recognising ethics as exclusively anthropocentric, thinking a posteriori, objectifying facts as separated from values, reducing the complex to the simple and dividing knowledge into distinct disciplines that produce experts who are often wrong.

inductively[Appendix:Glossary#broadly|broadly]] synonymous outside of philosophic arcanity>

(logic) In a manner that deduces theories from facts.

البعديَة

in a manner that deduces theories from facts


norm

From Latin norma (“a carpenter's square, a rule, a pattern, a precept”). Doublet of norma.

норма

math: function that maps vectors to non-negative reals

(philosophy, computer science) A sentence with non-descriptive meaning, such as a command, permission, or prohibition.


if and only if

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-if and only if.wav

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-if and only if.wav

A rectangle is a square if and only if all four of its sides have the same length.

An integer is even if and only if its square is also even.

(logic, mathematics) Is equivalent to; implies and is implied by; is true and false in the same cases as.

тогда́ и то́лько тогда́

, когда́ ...


paradox

en-noun

paradox (countable and uncountable, plural paradoxes)

From Middle French paradoxe, from Latin paradoxum, from Ancient Greek παράδοξος (parádoxos, “unexpected, strange”).

{{t|af|paradoks}

apparent contradiction which is nonetheless true

Thus, like modern disputants, they aimed either to confute the respondent or to land him in paradox.

1866, Edward Poste, Aristotle on Fallacies, Or, The Sophistici Elenchi, translation of original by Aristotle, page 43:

(uncountable, philosophy) A state in which one is logically compelled to contradict oneself.


deontic

en-adj

deontic (comparative more deontic, superlative most deontic)

more deontic (comparative)
most deontic (superlative)

From Ancient Greek δέον (déon, “what is right”); compare deontology.

der

(ethics, linguistics) Pertaining to necessity, duty or obligation, or expressions conveying this.

deòntic

pertaining to necessity, duty or obligation


kinetic

From Ancient Greek κινητικός (kinētikós, “puts in motion”), from κινέω (kinéō, “I move, put in motion”).

(philosophy) Relating to the force driving life forward.


counterfactual

(linguistics, philosophy) A conditional statement in which the conditional clause is false.


perspicuous

en-adj

perspicuous (comparative more perspicuous, superlative most perspicuous)

more perspicuous (comparative)
most perspicuous (superlative)

From Latin perspicuus, in turn from perspiciō (“see through”).

(logic) (Of a language or notation) the process of inference from premises to conclusion is explicitly laid out.


Perseus

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

From Latin Perseus, from Ancient Greek Περσεύς (Perseús).

(Greek mythology) The mythological Greek warrior who slew the Gorgon Medusa by decapitating her. He married Andromeda after rescuing her from Ceto and founded Mycenae. He was the son of Zeus and Danae.


abductive

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

(logic, computing) Being or relating to a logical process of abduction or inference.


particular

particular (comparative more particular, superlative most particular)

more particular (comparative)
most particular (superlative)
non-comparable (also)
perticular (alternative)

From Middle English particuler, from Anglo-Norman particuler, Middle French particuler, particulier, from Late Latin particularis (“partial; separate, individual”), from Latin particula (“(small) part”). Equivalent to particle + -ar. Compare particle.

подробен

concerned with, or attentive to, details; minute; precise; fastidious

a particular proposition, opposed to "universal", e.g. (particular affirmative) "Some men are wise"; (particular negative) "Some men are not wise".

(logic) Forming a part of a genus; relatively limited in extension; affirmed or denied of a part of a subject.


particular

particulars (plural)
perticular (alternative)

When we examine common words, we find that, broadly speaking, proper names stand for particulars, while other substantives, adjectives, prepositions, and verbs stand for universals.

1912, Bertrand Russel, The Problems of Philosophy, Chapter 9:

(now philosophy, chiefly in plural) A particular case; an individual thing as opposed to a whole class. (Opposed to generals, universals.)

partikulaari

philosophy: individual thing as opposed to a whole class


egoism

en-noun

egoism (countable and uncountable, plural egoisms)

egoisms (plural)
egoïsm (alternative rare)
egomism (alternative obsolete)

altruism

antonym(s) of “tendency to think of self”

From French égoïsme, from New Latin egoismus, from Latin ego. By surface analysis, ego + -ism.

(ethics) The belief that moral behavior should be directed toward one's self-interest only.


Area 51

→ German: Area 51

desc

→ Mandarin: 51區 /51区 (Wǔshíyī qū) (calque)

Unclear, but perhaps from a grid numbering system of the area by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). While Area 51 is not part of this system, it is adjacent to Area 15.

Nevada Test and Training Range
w:Nevada Test and Training Range

(science fiction or ufology, informal) A secret military facility, airport, and airbase in Nevada Test and Training Range, Nevada, United States.

Atomic Energy Commission
en:Area 51
en:Area 51 (disambiguation)


philology

en-noun

philology (countable and uncountable, plural philologies)

Inherited from Middle English philologie, from Latin philologia, from Ancient Greek φιλολογίᾱ (philologíā, “love of argument or reasoning, love of learning and literature”).

der

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class IV § 560. Language

a. 1662, Thomas Fuller, The History of the Worthies of England https://archive.org/details/historyofworthie01full
Indeed philology properly is terse and polite learning...; being that florid skill containing only the roses of learning, without the prickles thereof, in which narrow sense thorny philosophy is discharged, as no part of philology. But we take it in the larger notion, as inclusive of all human liberal studies...

(philosophy) Love and study of learning and literature, broadly speaking.


ingress

en-verb

ingress (third-person singular simple present ingresses, present participle ingressing, simple past and past participle ingressed)

ingresses (present singular third-person)
ingressing (participle present)
ingressed (participle past)
ingressed (past)

From Latin ingressus, from the verb ingredior.

The middle of March finds " Mars ingressing upon the 16th degree of Capricorn, where the sun has arrived in the nativity of Lord Palmerston," […]

1861 December 28, “Almanacs”, in All the Year Round, volume VI:

(intransitive, astrology, of a planet) To enter into a zodiacal sign


Cupid

From Latin Cupīdō, personification of cupīdō (“desire, desire of love”), from cupidus (“eager, greedy, passionate”), from cupiō (“to desire”).

The myth of Cupid and Psyche was one of the most influential romances in European culture.

(Roman mythology) The god of love, son of Venus; sometimes depicted as a putto (a naked, winged boy with bow and arrow). The Roman counterpart of Eros.


swastika

en-noun

swastika (countable and uncountable, plural swastikas)

Learned borrowing from Sanskrit स्वस्तिक (svastika), from सु- (su-, “good, well”) + अस्ति (asti), a verbal abstract of the root of the verb "to be", स्वस्ति (svasti) thus meaning "well-being" — and the diminutive suffix क (ka); hence "little thing associated with well-being", corresponding roughly to "lucky charm". First attestation in English in 1871, a Sanskritism that replaced the Grecian term gammadion. From 1932 onwards it often referred specifically to the version used by the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (also called the "hooked cross", or German Hakenkreuz).

sauwastika

left-facing; symbolizing the night or the tantric aspects of Kali

"Is that what you think of me? I believe in the Grail, not the Swastika!"

1989, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, spoken by Dr. Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody):

“I can’t imagine anyone believes in Communist culprits instead of a contract job commissioned on behalf of the swastika.”

2011, Rudolph Herzog, translated by Jefferson Chase, Dead Funny: Humor in Hitler's Germany, Brooklyn: Melville House, →ISBN, page 36:

(fascism, history, metonymic, uncountable) Nazi rule.

hakenkreuz

chiefly in India referring to the Nazi swastika


modification

en-noun

modification (countable and uncountable, plural modifications)

/ˌmɑdɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/

/ˌmɒdɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/

Borrowed from Middle French modification, from Latin modificātiō (“a measuring”), from modificāre (“to limit, control, modify”); see modify.

Pleasure is the business of woman's life, according to the present modification of society […]

1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1792, →OCLC:

(obsolete, philosophy) The form of existence belonging to a particular object, entity etc.; a mode of being.


conclusion

conclusion (countable and uncountable, plural conclusions)

conclusions (plural)
concl. (alternative)

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French conclusion, from Latin conclūsiō, from the past participle stem of conclūdere (“to conclude”), from con- + claudō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u- (“key, hook, nail”). By surface analysis, conclude + -sion.

der

He granted him both the major and minor, but denied him the conclusion.

1716 April 20 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 32. Monday, April 9. [1716.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, →OCLC:

(logic) In an argument or syllogism, the proposition that follows as a necessary consequence of the premises.


speculation

en-noun

speculation (countable and uncountable, plural speculations)

Etymology tree
Middle English speculation
English speculation
From Middle English speculacioun, speculation, from Old French speculation (compare French spéculation), from Late Latin speculātiō, speculātiōnem, from Latin speculor.
Morphologically speculate + -ion

etymon

Creating a work with the hope of selling it

(philosophy) The act or process of reasoning a priori from premises given or assumed.

päättely

philosophy: act or process of reasoning from premises given or assumed


alterity

en-noun

alterity (countable and uncountable, plural alterities)

Nominal declensions, verbal case endings, gerundival constructions, in short, the full range of grammatical alterations—for which Sanskrit has a particular genius and meticulous order—announce language itself as a field of alterity.

2014, Dan Lusthaus, Buddhist Phenomenology, →ISBN:

(philosophy, anthropology) Otherness; the entity in contrast to which an identity is constructed.


Selene

From the Ancient Greek Σελήνη (Selḗnē, proper noun), from σέλας (sélas, “light”).

der

Balancing Arria is the union of Selene and Endymion. In the center of the main panel Selene descends from her chariot, whose horses are held by a nymph, to join Endymion, who lies to the right.

1999, Mark P. O. Morford, Robert J. Lenardon, Classical Mythology, page 43:

In the other, more famous story, the moon goddess Selene fell in love with him^([Endymion]) while he was asleep.

2005, Marshall Cavendish Corporation, Gods, Goddesses, and Mythology, volume 4, page 473:

This fragmentary front panel of a sarcophagus preserves two episodes from the story of Endymion and Selene. Selene, goddess of the moon, fell in love with Endymion, a beautiful young mortal.

2010, J. Paul Getty Trust, Kenneth Lapatin, Karol Wight, editors, The J. Paul Getty Museum Handbook of the Antiquities Collection, 2nd edition, page 169:

(Greek mythology) The goddess of the Moon.


proposition

en-noun

proposition (countable and uncountable, plural propositions)

/ˌpɹɑpəˈzɪʃən/

From Middle English proposicioun, from Old French proposicion, from Latin prōpositiō, from the verb prōponō.

“Wiktionary is a good dictionary” is a proposition.

(countable, logic) The content of an assertion that may be taken as being true or false and is considered abstractly without reference to the linguistic sentence that constitutes the assertion; (Aristotelian logic) a predicate of a subject that is denied or affirmed and is connected by a copula.

قَضِيَّة

the abstract contents of a statement, without reference to its formulation


mysticism

mysticism (countable and uncountable, plural mysticisms)

From mystic + -ism, from Old French mistique (“mysterious, full of mystery”), from Latin mysticus (“mystical, mystic, of secret rites”), from Ancient Greek μυστικός (mustikós, “secret, mystic”), from μύστης (mústēs, “one who has been initiated, initiate”) from μῡ́ω (mū́ō, “to close one's lips or eyes; initiate into the mysteries”). Compare Asturian misticismu, Catalan misticisme, French mysticisme, German Mystizismus, Italian misticismo, Portuguese misticismo, Sicilian misticisimu, Spanish misticismo.

der

(religion, philosophy) A transcendental union of soul or mind with the divine reality or divinity.

神秘主義 /神秘主义

transcendental union of soul with the divinity


essence

en-noun

essence (countable and uncountable, plural essences)

From Middle English essence, from Middle French essence, from Latin essentia (“the being or essence of a thing”), from an artificial formation of esse (“to be”), to translate Ancient Greek οὐσία (ousía, “being”), from ὤν (ṓn), present participle of εἰμί (eimí, “I am, exist”).

der

(philosophy) The true nature of anything, not accidental or illusory.


lily

lilies (plural)
lilly (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English lilie, from Old English lilie, from Latin līlia, plural of līlium, from Ancient Greek λείριον (leírion). See there for more.

(cartomancy) The thirtieth Lenormand card, representing calmness and maturity.


dilemma

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
First attested 1523, from Late Latin dilemma, from Ancient Greek δίλημμα (dílēmma, “ambiguous proposition”), from δι- (di-, “having two of”) + λῆμμα (lêmma, “premise, proposition”).

damned if one does and damned if one doesn't

en:syllogism about possibilities A, B, C, and D

(logic) A type of syllogism of the form "if A is true then B is true; if C is true then D is true; either A or C is true; therefore either B or D is true".


Iron Age

/ˈʌɪən eɪdʒ/

From iron + age, in the mythological sense a calque of Latin saecula ferrea, aetas ferrea; in the archaeological sense a calque of Danish jernalder.

He that shall examine this iron age wherein we live, where love is cold […] may well ask where is charity?

1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 1, member 3:

(mythology) The most recent and debased of the four or five classical Ages of Man; hence, any period characterized by wicked behavior.


Thalia

From Ancient Greek Θαλία (Thalía) or Θάλεια (Tháleia); from Ancient Greek θάλλω (thállō, “flourish, to be verdant”).

uder

(Greek mythology) The Muse of comedy and idyllic poetry.

(Greek mythology) One of the three Graces/Charites.


trilemma

The word is modelled on dilemma, with di- (“two, twice, double”) replaced by tri- (“three”).

It has been remarked as a characteristic of the late Sir Robert Peel, that in introducing his measures to the House of Commons, he often used the trilemma. "Three courses are before us—to go backward, to stand still, to go forward. We cannot go backward; we cannot stand still; we must, then, go forward."

1851, [James William Gilbart], Logic for the Million: A Familiar Exposition of the Art of Reasoning, London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, →OCLC, part IV (The Points of Reasoning), section V (Reasoning by Compound Syllogism), subsection III (The Trilemma), page 324:

And in anticipation of it, while he [Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger] declares at one moment that it would be profane to limit Divine Providence to an alternative, he affirms in the next that there can be no harm whatever in shutting it up to a supposed exhaustive trilemma.

1862 July 1, “Art. VII.—(1.) Kirche und Kirchen, Papstthum und Kirchenstaat. Historisch-politische Bertrachtungen von Joh. Jos. Ign. v. Döllinger. Zweiter unveränderter Abdruck. München: 1861. (2.) The Church and the Churches; or, The Papacy and The Temporal Power. An Historical and Political Review. By Dr. Döllinger. Translated by William Bernard MacCabe. London: 1862.”, in The British Quarterly Review, volume XXXVI, number LXXI, London: Jackson, Walford, & Hodder 18, St. Paul's Churchyard and Simpkin, Marshall and Co., Stationers' Hall Court; Edinburgh: W. Oliphant & Co.; Glasgow: J[ames] MacLehose; Dublin: J. Robertson, →OCLC, page 156:

universe of discourse
universe of discourse

(logic) An argument containing three alternatives, jointly exhaustive either under any condition(s) or under all condition(s) consistent with the universe of discourse of that argument, that each imply the same conclusion.

trilema

(logic) argument containing three alternatives


nowhen

From no + when, by analogy with nowhere. See quotation from 1996.

I want to show that if we want to understand the asymmetry of time then we need to be able to understand, and quarantine, the various ways in which our patterns of thought reflect the peculiarities of our own temporal perspective. We need to acquaint ourselves with what might aptly be called the view from nowhen.

1996, Huw Price, Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point, Oxford University Press:

(philosophy) A point from which one has an unrestricted perspective in time.


siren

sirens (plural)
sirenes (plural)
sirene (alternative archaic dated)

From Middle English siren, from Old French sereine and Latin Sīrēn, Sīrēna, from Ancient Greek Σειρήν (Seirḗn). The mammalian sense was first attested in French in Dominique Bouhours, Les entretiens d'Ariste et d'Eugène, in 1671. The aquatic salamander sense was originally introduced by Linnaeus in 1766, for a genus of his reptiles. Doublet of serin.

Now give ear to what I'm about to say to you , and a god himself will bring it before your mind . First , you will come to the Sirens . These beings enthrall all men who arrive before them . Whoever draws near without knowledge and ...

2008 October 7, Homer, The Odyssey, North Atlantic Books, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 278:

(Greek mythology) One of a group of nymphs who lured mariners to their death on the rocks.


allotrope

Back-formation from allotropy, as allo- + -trope, from Ancient Greek ἄλλος (állos, “other”), and τρόπος (trópos, “way, manner”).

(philosophy) An alternative shape of a cognitive structure.


coffin

coffins (plural)
cophin (alternative archaic)
coffyn (alternative archaic)

From Middle English coffyn, from Old Northern French cofin (“sarcophagus", earlier "basket, coffer”), from Latin cophinus (“basket”), a loanword from Ancient Greek κόφινος (kóphinos, “a basket”). Doublet of coffer.


nominal

→ Afrikaans: nominaal

PIE word
 *h₁nómn̥
From the Middle English nominalle (“of nouns”), borrowed from Latin nōminālis (“of names”), from nōmen (“name”).

(philosophy) Of or relating to nominalism.


pixie

pixies (plural)
pigsie (alternative)
piskie (alternative)
pisky (alternative)
pixy (alternative)

Uncertain; 17thC, originally in the folklore of southwest England; perhaps diminutive of Swedish pysk (“fairy”); perhaps Puck + -sy; see Wikipedia.

Then she saw pixies — dozens and dozens of pixies — dancing and singing.

2005, Dan Keding, “The Pixies’ Bed”, in Dan Keding, Amy Douglas, editors, English Folktales, page 98:

When she looked around, Mary saw four pixies flying toward her. She had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. Then the pixies turned around and attacked again.

2005, Kathryn Reyes, Mystery Door Manor and the Dragon Realm, page 72:

The servant that had raised him, an elderly pixie called Rolog, had died. On his deathbed he had called the young Captain to his side. Seeing the pixie dying had had no effect on him.

2007, Jeremy Phillips, The Wizardon Star, page 165:

Tiffy froze as the two pixies looked directly into each other's eyes.
Then Tiffy raised her hand and said, “Hi, I'm Tiffy the Tooth Fairy.” Even though the other pixie lifted her hand too, she didn't answer.

2010, Sandra A. Filbin, The Enchanted World: A Tooth Fairy's Tale, page 49:

(mythology, fantasy literature, fairy tales) A playful sprite or elflike or fairy-like creature.


elementary

elementaries (plural)
elementar (alternative obsolete)
elem (alternative Philippines)

From Middle English elementare, from Latin elementārius (“elementary”), from elementum (“one of the four elements of antiquity; fundamentals”) + -ārius (adjective-forming suffix). Cognate with French élémentaire. By surface analysis, element + -ary.

The demon (or elementary) of the South-West wind was particularly dreaded, as being the gini of fever and madness.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 45:

[…] the spiritual man is either translated like Enoch and Elias to the higher state, or falls down lower than an elementary again […]

2003, H P Blavatsky, The Letters of H. P. Blavatsky, volume 1:

But, in Africa these became definite in their Egyptian Types, by means of which we can follow their development from the elementaries of Chaos and Space into Celestial Intelligencers […]

2007, Gerald Massey, The Natural Genesis, page 332:

(mythology, mysticism) A supernatural being associated with the elements.


Eris

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἔρις (Éris), from ἔρις (éris, “strife”).
See also Eris (mythology) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia and Eris (dwarf planet) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

pedia

According to Homer, the Trojan war is, above all, an affair of the gods. It is about Eris, a sister of the god of war Ares, and about Eros, not directly named by Homer, but who in the figure of Aphrodite, the god of love, plays a central role on the side of the Trojans. Eris is the one who divides gods, mortals, and things from each other; Eros is the one who brings them together.

1992, Samuel Ijsseling, “Eros and Eris: The Trojan War and Heidegger on the Essence of Truth”, in Paul van Tongeren, Paul Sars, Chris Bremmers, Koen Boey, editors, Eros and Eris: Contributions to a Hermeneutical Phenomenology Liber Amicorum for Adriaan Peperzak, Kluwer Academic, page 2:

1993, Herman Parret, The Aesthetics of Communication: Pragmatics and Beyond, Springer, Softcover reprint, page 18,
Eris, "the Strife with the violent heart", one reads in Hesiod's Theogony, is a child of the Night, and "Hateful Struggle gave birth to painful Distress and Distraction and Famine and tearful Sorrow; also Wars and Battles and Murders and Slaughters; also Feuds and Lying Words and Angry Words".

According to Newport, no specific bowling alley can claim to be the site of the birth of the Discordian movement. It evolved at several different bowling alleys. This revelation came as a devastating disappointment to your humble author, who—in the course of writing this book—had planned a grand religious pilgrimage to this envisioned holy site, where I would snap sacred photos of "The Brunswick Shrine," and perhaps even fall to my knees before this fabled Mecca of Discordianism, bowing to the Goddess Eris.

2003, Adam Gorightly, The Prankster and the Conspiracy: The Story of Kerry Thornley and How He Met Oswald and Inspired the Counterculture, Paraview Press, page 58:

And yet Erisianism should not be treated frivolously. Greg Hill told me his experiences with Eris had been quite profound. Although it started as an atheistic joke, his perceptions began to change.

2006, Margot Adler, Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-worshippers, and Other Pagans in America, Penguin, page 351:

(Greek mythology) The goddess of discord and strife, whose apple of discord sparked events that eventually led to the Trojan War; equated by Homer with Enyo (goddess of violent war) and identified with the Roman goddess Discordia;

The goddess of discord and strife, whose apple of discord sparked events that eventually led to the Trojan War; equated by Homer with Enyo (goddess of violent war) and identified with the Roman goddess Discordia;
(religion, Discordianism) the same figure as principal deity of Discordianism, regarded as the goddess of disorder.


Lethe

From Latin Lēthē, from Ancient Greek Λήθη (Lḗthē).

(Greek mythology) The personification of oblivion, daughter of Eris.

No wonder these mortal Folks have so many Complaints, […] if they were dead now, and to be settled here for ever, they'd be damn'd before they'd make such a Rout come over—“But care, I suppose, is thirsty; and till they have drench’d themselves with Lethe, there will be no quiet among ’em” however, I’ll e’en to work; and so, friend Æsop, and brother Mercury, good bye to ye.

1740, David Garrick, Lethe: or Aesop in the Shade, published 1782:

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains / My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, / Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains / One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:

For two-and-twenty years he [Doctor Guillotin], unguillotined, shall hear nothing but guillotine, see nothing but guillotine; then dying, shall through long centuries wander, as it were, a disconsolate ghost, on the wrong side of Styx and Lethe; his name like to outlive Cæsar’s.

1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter IV, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book IV (States-General):

A well-fed man is not driven to drink by the craving that torments the hungry; and the comfortable do not crave for the boon of forgetfulness. Gin is the only Lethe of the miserable.

1890, William Booth, chapter 6, in In Darkest England and the Way Out:

When we have done penance, and are purified, and have drunk of the fountain of Lethe and bathed in the fountain of Eunoe, the mistress of our soul raises us to the Paradise of Heaven.

1891, Oscar Wilde, “The Critic as Artist”, in Intentions:

oblivion n.: Lethe. In Greek mythology, Lethe (pronounced LEEthee) is one of the several rivers of Hades. Those who drink from it experience complete forgetfulness. Today it is used to refer to one in an oblivious or forgetful state.

2015, Peter E. Meltzer, The Thinker's Thesaurus, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN:

(Greek mythology) The river which flows through Hades from which the souls of the dead drank so that they would forget their time on Earth.


Metis

From Ancient Greek Μῆτις (Mêtis) from Ancient Greek μῆτις (mêtis, “wisdom”).

(Greek mythology) A Titan who was the personification of wisdom, the first spouse of Zeus, and the mother of Athena


problematic

en-adj

problematic (comparative more problematic, superlative most problematic)

more problematic (comparative)
most problematic (superlative)

Borrowed from Middle French problématique, from Late Latin problematicus, from Ancient Greek προβληματικός (problēmatikós), from πρόβλημα (próblēma, “outjutting, barrier, problem”), from προβάλλω (probállō, “I throw, place before”), from πρό (pró, “before”) + βάλλω (bállō, “I throw, place”). By surface analysis, problem + -atic.

der

προβληματικός

(logic, dated) Only affirming the possibility that a predicate be actualised.


concretism

en-noun

concretism (countable and uncountable, plural concretisms)

(philosophy) Reification; the fallacy of treating an abstraction as a real entity.


quale

I was more like a vegetable than a person—with my consciousness only a shadow of self-awareness, only a dim sense of qualia penetrated my mental haze.

2011, Steven L. Peck, A Short Stay in Hell:

(philosophy) An instance of subjective, conscious experience.


Typhon

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

(Greek mythology) The most powerful and feared of all Greek monsters, having the head, arms, and torso of a man, and his bottom half consisting of countless dragons or serpents. Some stories also say that his hands ended in serpents and that he bears 100 heads. He is shrouded in giant wings, his eyes blaze a white fire, and his arms reach towards the stars.

Athanasius Kircher
Oedipus Aegyptiacus
Typhon


ambrosia

ambrosia (countable and uncountable, plural ambrosias or (rare) ambrosiae)

ambrosias (plural)
ambrosiae (plural rare)

From Latin ambrosia (“food of the gods”), from Ancient Greek ἀμβροσία (ambrosía, “immortality”), from ἄμβροτος (ámbrotos, “immortal”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + βροτός (brotós, “mortal”).

af

He had a most intense admiration of female loveliness, and looked upon woman as a kind of super-angelic being, whose food should be the ambrosiæ and nectar of the gods, and whose garments the spotless white of vestal purity.

1845 November, Caroline Lee Hentz, “The Mysterious Reticule”, in Sarah J[osepha] Hale, Morton M’Michael, Louis A[ntoine] Godey, editors, Godey’s Magazine and Lady’s Book, volume XXXI, number 16, Philadelphia, Pa.: Louis A. Godey, […], page 202, column 1:

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) The food of the gods, thought to confer immortality.

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) The anointing-oil of the gods.


apophasis

en-noun

apophasis (countable and uncountable, plural apophases)

Via Late Latin apophasis from Ancient Greek ἀπόφασις (apóphasis, “denial, negation”) from ἀπο- (apo-, “away, from, off”) + φάσις (phásis, “statement, proposition”) from φημί (phēmí, “to speak”) from Proto-Hellenic *pʰā́mā from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂; whence Latin fārī, cognate to fame, fable.

af

(Christianity, philosophy, theology) A process of arriving at knowledge by statements of denial; particularly, developing a concept of God through negative assertions about his nature.


Irene

Borrowed from French Irène, from Ancient Greek Εἰρήνη (Eirḗnē, “peace”), name of a goddess of peace, of early Christian saints, and of an 8th-century Byzantine empress. Doublet of Eirini.

(Greek mythology) Eirene, the Greek goddess of peace, one of the Horae/Horæ; equivalent to the Roman goddess Pax.


scheme

→ Irish: scéim

→ Malay: skim

Borrowed from Medieval Latin schēma (“figure, form”), from Ancient Greek σχῆμα (skhêma, “form, shape”), from ἔχω (ékhō, “I hold”). Doublet of schema. Compare sketch.

der

a blue case, from which was drawn a scheme of nativity

1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:

(astrology) A representation of the aspects of the celestial bodies for any moment or at a given event.

tähtikartta

astrology: representation of the aspects of the celestial bodies


satyr

satyrs (plural)
satyre (alternative archaic rare)
satyrus (alternative rare)

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

From French satyre, from Latin satyrus, from Ancient Greek σάτυρος (sáturos).

Rough Satyrs danced; and Fauns, with cloven heel, / From the glad sound would not be absent long.
male variation of nymphs

(Greek mythology) A sylvan deity or demigod, male companion of Pan or Dionysus, represented as part man and part goat, and characterized by riotous merriment and lasciviousness, sometimes pictured with a perpetual erection.


dybbuk

dybbuks (plural)
dybbukim (plural)
dibbuk (alternative)

From Yiddish דיבוק (dibek), from Hebrew דבק (dovek, “cling”).

(mythology, Judaism) A malicious possessing spirit, believed to be the dislocated soul of a dead person.


epithet

From Middle French épithète, from Latin epithetum, epitheton, from Ancient Greek ἐπίθετον (epítheton, “epithet, adjective”), the neuter of ἐπίθετος (epíthetos, “additional”), from ἐπιτίθημι (epitíthēmi, “to add on”), from ἐπι- (epi-, “in addition”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put”) (suf. possibly related to title in the sense of "ascribed appellation") (from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put, to do”)).

der

(mythology) A term used as a qualifier of the name of a deity in order to designate said deity in a particular aspect or role.


phantasm

phantasms (plural)
fantasm (alternative)
phantasim (alternative obsolete)
phantasma (alternative)

A learned variant of phantom; from Middle English fantosme, from Old French fantosme, fantasme, from Latin phantasma, from Ancient Greek φάντασμα (phántasma). Doublet of phantom.

When abstracted from the phantasm by the intellectus agens the species effects a modification in the intellectus possibilis which modification is called the species intelligibilis impressa. Actualized by the species impressa the intellectus […]

1932, Sr. Mary Anastasia Coady, The Phantasm According to the Teaching of St. Thomas:

Again, in a sense, the act of understanding as an insight into phantasm is knowledge of form: but the form so known does not correspond to the philosophic concept of form; “insight is to phantasm as form is to matter; […]”

1988, Bernard J. F. Lonergan, Frederick E. Crowe, Verbum: Word and Idea in Aquinas, University of Toronto Press, →ISBN, page 38:

[…] schematic way the essential characteristics of the phantasm in Derrida so that we can then see how Derrida's analysis of the phantasm of the mother (or of maternity) at once contributes to and displaces this configuration.

2013 April 15, Andrew J. Mitchell, Sam Slote, Derrida and Joyce: Texts and Contexts, SUNY Press, →ISBN, page 166:

(philosophy) An impression as received by the senses, especially an image, often prior to any interpretation by the intellect.


praxis

en-noun

praxis (countable and uncountable, plural praxes or praxises)

Partly from Latin prāxis and partly from its etymon Ancient Greek πρᾶξις (prâxis, “action, activity, practice”).

bor

(philosophy) The synthesis of theory and practice, without presuming the primacy of either.

praksis

philosophy: synthesis of theory and practice


realism

en-noun

realism (countable and uncountable, plural realisms)

nominalism

antonym(s) of “doctrine concerning universals”

(philosophy) A doctrine that universals are real: they exist and are distinct from the particulars that instantiate them.


spook

Borrowed from Dutch spook (“ghost”), from Middle Dutch spooc (“spook, ghost”). Cognate with Middle Low German spôk, spûk (“apparition, ghost”), Middle High German gespük (“a haunting”), German Spuk, Danish spøge (“to haunt”), Swedish spöke (“ghost”).

cog

He who is infatuated with Man leaves persons out of account so far as that infatuation extends, and floats in an ideal, sacred interest. Man, you see, is not a person, but an ideal, a spook.

1845, Max Stirner, translated by Steven T. Byington, Der Einzige und sein Eigentum; republished as The Ego and His Own, Dover, 2005:

(philosophy) A metaphysical manifestation; an artificial distinction or construct.


insectoid

Two hundred Earth years earlier, a race of Insectoids discovered them as the Squishys were sending their first probes to other planets in their own star system.

2017, A.K. Brown, Humans on the Menu (Champagne Universe Series: Book 2), page 24:

(science fiction, ufology) An insect-like creature.


scope

en-noun

scope (countable and uncountable, plural scopes)

→ Irish: scóp

From Italian scopo (“purpose”), from Latin scopus (“target”), from Ancient Greek σκοπός (skopós), from σκέπτομαι (sképtomai), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ-. Etymologically related to skeptic and spectrum.

(logic) The shortest sub-wff of which a given instance of a logical connective is a part.


apodeictic

From Ancient Greek ἀποδεικτικός (apodeiktikós). Compare Latin apodicticus.

uder

ἀποδεικτικός

1855, John Miller Dow Meiklejohn (translator), 1787, Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, 2nd Edition,
Thus, moreover, the principles of geometry- for example, that "in a triangle, two sides together are greater than the third," are never deduced from general conceptions of line and triangle, but from intuition, and this a priori, with apodeictic certainty.

Aristotle does, indeed, distinguish between (1) Logic, or Analytic, as the theory or method of arriving at true or apodeictic conclusions; and (2) Dialectic as the method of arriving at conclusions that are accepted or pass current[ly] as true,...

1896, Arthur Schopenhauer, translated by Thomas Bailey Saunders, The Art of Controversy, published 1831:

Descartes sought certainty in the existence of God grounded in apodeictic demonstrations.

2009, Jonathan Dancy, Ernest Sosa, Matthias Steup, A Companion to Epistemology:

(logic) Of the characteristic feature of a proposition that is necessary (or impossible): perfectly certain (or inconceivable) or incontrovertibly true (or false); self-evident.


absurdism

en-noun

absurdism (usually uncountable, plural absurdisms)

From absurd + -ism (“doctrine, theory”).

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles

Oxford University Press
w:Oxford University Press

(uncountable, philosophy) A philosophy which holds that the universe is chaotic and irrational and that any attempt to impose order will ultimately fail.


transit

transit (countable and uncountable, plural transits)

From French, from Latin transire (“to go across, pass in, pass through”), from trans (“over”) + ire (“to go”).

der

(astrology) The passage of a celestial body in the horoscope, e.g. through a section or in relation to a specific important point in someone's birth chart.


palingenesis

en-noun

palingenesis (countable and uncountable, plural palingeneses)

/ˌpælɪnˈd͡ʒɛnɪsɪs/

/ˌpælɪnˈd͡ʒɛnəsəs/

Probably a variant of palingenesia + -genesis (suffix meaning ‘origin; production’). Palingenesia is a learned borrowing from Late Latin palingenesia (“rebirth; regeneration”), from Koine Greek παλιγγενεσία (palingenesía, “rebirth”), from Ancient Greek πᾰ́λῐν (pắlĭn, “again, anew, once more”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to turn (end-over-end); to revolve around; to dwell, sojourn”)) + γένεσις (génesis, “creation; manner of birth; origin, source”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- (“to beget; to give birth; to produce”)) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns). By surface analysis, palin- + genesis.
Sense 2 (“apparent repetition, during the development of a single embryo, of changes that occurred previously in the evolution of its species”) is from German Palingenesis; while sense 3 (“regeneration of magma by the melting of metamorphic rocks”) is from Swedish palingenes. Both are derived from the Greek word: see above.
The plural form is probably from palingenesis + Latin genesēs (a plural form of genesis).

der

παλιγγενεσία

a plural form of <i class="Latn mention" lang="la">genesis</i>

[I]t was averred that all germs, or ova, were originally created—each thing living at this hour, having proceeded from a germ which was included within the germ of its antecedent, back as far as the original creation; […] This evolution doctrine was opposed by the Pythagorean idea of a palingenesis, or metempsychosis, under which notion you are to suppose that the animating principle that has heretofore animated the bodies of the living, seeks a new union with organizable matter, upon the dissolution of its last tabernacle, and carries on the new evolution until again displaced, and set free to make new combinations.

1848, Charles D[elucena] Meigs, “Letter XXIX”, in Females and Their Diseases; a Series of Letters to His Class, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard, →OCLC, page 387:

To appear again as identically the same, would require the palingenesis of Plato, that is, the recommencement of all things, so as to have the same series of causes and effects from the very beginning; but this creed implies the finality of God's power in the phenomenal universe, and Plato never thought that.

1849 October, R. H. Whitelocke, “Art. V.—1. Der Mensch nach den verschiedenen Seiten seiner Natur, order Anthropologie für das gebildete Publikum. Von K. F. Burdach. Stuttgart. 1836. […] [book review]”, in The Westminster Review, American edition, volume LII, New York, N.Y.: Leonard Scott & Co., […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 65, column 2:

But by the light of [Xavier] Bichat and Bell's discoveries, we can see one way to a theory of a Palingenesis of man, in which the flesh and blood of St. Paul, the animal life of Bichat, is eliminated, and the pneumatical body or organic life, the senso-motor nervous system, as distinct from the mere ganglionic, is retained.

1868, J[ohn] B[ickford] Heard, “The Resurrection and Spiritual Body”, in The Tripartite Nature of Man: Spirit, Soul, and Body […], 2nd edition, Edinburgh: T[homas] & T[homas] Clark, […], →OCLC, page 345:

(uncountable, also figuratively) Rebirth; regeneration; (countable) an instance of this.

(philosophy, theology, historical) Spiritual rebirth through the transmigration of the soul.

palingeneziya

spiritual rebirth through the transmigration of the soul


bite the bullet

en-verb

bite the bullet (third-person singular simple present bites the bullet, present participle biting the bullet, simple past bit the bullet, past participle bitten the bullet)

bites the bullet (present singular third-person)
biting the bullet (participle present)
bit the bullet (past)
bitten the bullet (participle past)

Possibly from the reported practice of soldiers biting a bullet to avoid crying out in pain, usually during a medical procedure or punishment. See the Wikipedia article Bite the bullet for a further discussion of possible etymologies.

With respect to the status of infants and those suffering from dementia, the critic might bite the bullet and just accept the fact that human dignity does not extend to them, or else argue that the fact that infants and those suffering mental breakdown are part of a species whose members typically possess rationality merits them a special respect, even if they lack this quality as individuals.

2014 June 12, C. Stephen Evans, David Baggett, “Moral Arguments for the Existence of God”, in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

(philosophy) To accept an undesirable or counterintuitive implication of an argument or view.


suture

From Middle English suture, from Latin sūtūra (“suture”), from suere (“sew, join or tack together”) + -tūra (forms action nouns).

af

The suture of science and philosophy constitutes an identification of philosophical thought and scientific objectivity that is unfortunately typical of contemporary so-called ‘analytic’ philosophy. […] Yet, the over-identification of philosophical tasks with science itself signifies a veritable retreat from philosophy itself.

2011, Tzuchien Tho, “Introduction: One Divides into Two? Dividing the Conditions”, in Alain Badiou, The Rational Kernel of the Hegelian Dialectic, →ISBN, page xix:

(philosophy, figurative) The procedure by which a subject comes to be identified with its own representation, as in the identification of the speaker with the sign “I” within a certain discourse; (by extension) any process by which the content of something is determined or supplied from outside itself.


outside world

(philosophy) The world external to the human mind.


Aífe

Borrowed from Old Irish Aífe; compare Modern Irish Aoife.

Aoibhe (alternative)
Aoife (alternative)

(Irish mythology) Either of two figures of Irish mythology:

A female warrior from Alba (Scotland), the daughter of Airdgeimm and sister of Scáthach, who became Cú Chulainn's lover; featured in the Ulster Cycle.

One of the wives of Lir, who turned her stepchildren into swans; featured in Oidheadh chloinne Lir ("Fate of the Children of Lir").


reduction

en-noun

reduction (countable and uncountable, plural reductions)

From Middle English reduccion, a borrowing from Old French reducion, from Latin reductiō, reductiōnem.

phenomenological reduction
phenomenological reduction

(philosophy, phenomenology) A philosophical procedure intended to reveal the objects of consciousness as pure phenomena. (See phenomenological reduction.)


conversion

conversion (countable and uncountable, plural conversions)

From Middle English conversion, conversioun, borrowed from Anglo-Norman conversion, from Latin conversiō, from convertō.

обръщане

the act of having converted something or someone

המרת דת

to replace one religious faith with another

(logic) The act of interchanging the terms of a proposition, as by putting the subject in the place of the predicate, or vice versa.


Seth

From Ancient Greek Σήθ (Sḗth), from Egyptian s-t:X (stẖ).

(Egyptian mythology) An ancient Egyptian god, variously described as the god of chaos, the god of thunder and storms, or the god of destruction.


valuation

valuation (countable and uncountable, plural valuations)

From Middle French valuation, noun of action from valuer, from Old French valoir.

propositional variable
propositional variable

(logic, propositional logic, model theory) An assignment of truth values to propositional variables, with a corresponding assignment of truth values to all propositional formulas with those variables (obtained through the recursive application of truth-valued functions corresponding to the logical connectives making up those formulas).

propositional logic; model theory; propositional logic; model theory

(logic, first-order logic, model theory) A structure, and the corresponding assignment of a truth value to each sentence in the language for that structure.

first-order logic; model theory; first-order logic; model theory


amelioration

amelioration (countable and uncountable, plural ameliorations)

ameliorations (plural)
melioration (alternative archaic)

→ Malay: ameliorasi

/əˌmiːliəˈɹeɪʃən/

From Middle English amelioracioun, from Middle French amelioracion and probably partly ameliorate + -ion.

pre-amelioration

post-amelioration

(philosophy) An ameliorative change of a concept or a repertoire of concepts.


doghead

(mythology) A mythical creature with a human body and a dog's head.


distribute

en-verb

distribute (third-person singular simple present distributes, present participle distributing, simple past and past participle distributed)

distributes (present singular third-person)
distributing (participle present)
distributed (participle past)
distributed (past)
distribute (infinitive)
distribute (first-person present singular)
distributed (first-person past singular)
distribute (present second-person singular)
distributest (archaic present second-person singular)
distributed (past second-person singular)
distributedst (archaic past second-person singular)
distributes (present singular third-person)
distributeth (archaic present singular third-person)
distributed (past singular third-person)
distribute (plural present)
distributed (past plural)
distribute (present subjunctive)
distributed (past subjunctive)
distribute (imperative present)
distributing (participle present)
distributed (participle past)

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Latin distributus, past participle of distribuere (“to divide, distribute”), from dis- (“apart”) + tribuere (“to give, impart”); see tribute.

A term is said to be distributed when it is taken universal, so as to stand for everything it is capable of being applied to.

1826, Richard Whately, Elements of Logic:

(logic) To employ (a term) in its whole extent; to take as universal in one premise.


Bacchus

From the Latin Bacchus, from the Ancient Greek Βάκχος (Bákkhos).

(Roman mythology) Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and vivid social gatherings.


quiddity

en-noun

quiddity (countable and uncountable, plural quiddities)

From Middle English quidite, from Old French quidité, and its source, Late Latin quidditas, from Latin quid (“what”) + -itas (“-ness”).

A tub of butter, contemplated by him, amounts to a Platonic idea. He understands a leg of mutton in its quiddity. He stands wondering, amid the commonplace materials of life, like primæval man, with the sun and stars about him.

October 1822, Charles Lamb, “The Old Actors”, in London Magazine, Mr. Munden:

My vision reeked with truth. It had the tone,
The quiddity and quaintness of its own
Reality.

He represented my quiddity I suppose – the part which, thanks to you, has converted a black pessimism about life into a belief in cosmic absurdity.

1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 352:

When I send a card, it has to be right. Something that sums up the essential quiddity of being me, right here, right now.

2023 December 8, The Big Issue, Melbourne, page 35, column 1:

(philosophy) The essence or inherent nature of a person or thing.


intentional

en-adj

intentional (comparative more intentional, superlative most intentional)

more intentional (comparative)
most intentional (superlative)

[ɪnˈtʰɛnʃn̩ɫ̩]

Borrowed from Medieval Latin intentiōnālis. By surface analysis, intention + -al.

bor+

(philosophy, obsolete) Object to intention, only appearing due to wilful perception.


intentional

[ɪnˈtʰɛnʃn̩ɫ̩]

(philosophy, archaic) Something that has no essential underlying structure but apparition only as defined by perception; object only because consciousness is directed to it.


obverse

(logic) A proposition obtained by obversion, e.g. All men are mortal => No man is immortal.


consistency

en-noun

consistency (countable and uncountable, plural consistencies)

a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds

(logic) Freedom from contradiction; the state of a system of axioms such that none of the propositions deduced from them are mutually contradictory.


Oceanid

Oceanids (plural)
Oceanides (plural)
Oceanide (alternative archaic)

Borrowed from Latin Oceanis, from Ancient Greek Ὠκεανίς (Ōkeanís), from Ὠκεανός (Ōkeanós) + -ις (-is), literally “sprung of Oceanus”. By surface analysis, Oceanus + -id.

suf

(Greek mythology) Any of the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys; a sea-nymph.

oceànide

any of the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys; sea-nymph


mutually exclusive

(logic, probability theory) Describing multiple events or propositions such that the occurrence of any one implies the nonoccurrence of all other events or propositions. Boolean function of NOR logic gate

узаемавыключа́льны

describing multiple events being such that the occurrence of any one implies the nonoccurrence of all others


Manannán mac Lir

Borrowed from Irish Manannán mac Lir, from Old Irish Manandán mac Lir.


Prometheus

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

From Ancient Greek Προμηθεύς (Promētheús), from πρό (pró, “before”) + μανθάνω (manthánō, “to think”).

(Greek mythology) The Titan chiefly honored for stealing fire from Zeus in the stalk of a fennel plant and giving it to mortals for their use. The god of fire and craft.


Ethniu

(Irish mythology) The daughter of the Fomorian king Balor, wife of Cian and the mother of Lugh and Delbáeth, and the grandmother of Cúchulainn and Fionn mac Cumhaill.


Balor

(Irish mythology) A king of the Fomorians, supposed to have lived on Tory Island. Son of Buarainech. Husband of Cethlenn. Father of Ethniu.


Buarainech

(Irish mythology) The father of Balor, the King of the Fomorians.


Cethlenn

(Irish mythology) The wife of Balor of the Fomorians, and, by Balor, the mother of Ethniu; also a prophetess.


aretology

(philosophy) The part of moral philosophy that deals with virtue, its nature, and how to attain it.


one-sided

en-adj

one-sided (comparative more one-sided, superlative most one-sided)

more one-sided (comparative)
most one-sided (superlative)

(logic, of a modality) That is necessarily or absolutely different than the respective coordinate alethic or temporal modality, but not its opposite.


implicate

First attested in the first part of the 15ᵗʰ century, in Middle English; inherited from Middle English implicat(e) (“wrapped, entwined; incolved, connected (with)”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix), -ate (noun-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more.


deconstruction

en-noun

deconstruction (countable and uncountable, plural deconstructions)

(philosophy, literature) A philosophical theory of textual criticism; a form of critical analysis that emphasizes inquiry into the variable projection of the meaning and message of critical works, the meaning in relation to the reader and the intended audience, and the assumptions implicit in the embodied forms of expression.

αποδομισμός

a philosophical theory of textual criticism


mechanism

mechanism (countable and uncountable, plural mechanisms)

→ Welsh: mecanism

Learned borrowing from New Latin mechanismus, from Ancient Greek μηχανή (mēkhanḗ, “machine”).

der

(philosophy) The theory that all natural phenomena can be explained by physical causes.

mekanismi

philosophy: theory that all natural phenomena can be explained by physical causes


trivial

en-adj

trivial (comparative more trivial, superlative most trivial)

more trivial (comparative)
most trivial (superlative)
triviall (alternative obsolete)

PIE word
 *tréyes
* From Latin triviālis (“appropriate to the street-corner, commonplace, vulgar”), from trivium (“place where three roads meet”). Compare trivium, trivia.
* From the distinction between trivium (“the lower division of the liberal arts; grammar, logic and rhetoric”) and quadrivium (“the higher division of the seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages, composed of geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music”).

трывія́льны

(mathematics) of being the simplest possible case

(philosophy) Indistinguishable in case of truth or falsity.


redskin

en:Native American name controversy#Controversial terminology

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

The Red & Anarchist Skinheads, a left‐wing splinter of the SHARP group, formed in 1993. It grew out of influences from the redskin culture in England.

(anarchism, communism) An anticapitalist skinhead.


polycontexturality

Gotthard Gunther coined the term. His school of second-order cybernetics is the foundation of polycontextural logic.

(philosophy) A school of thought regarding subjectivity, involving a large number of contexts and viewpoints that cannot be reconciled.


sophocracy

(philosophy) Political rule by philosophers.


comprehension

en-noun

comprehension (countable and uncountable, plural comprehensions)

/ˌkɒmpɹɪˈhɛnʃn̩/

/ˌkɑmpɹɪˈhɛnʃn̩/

Borrowed from Middle French compréhension, from Latin comprehensiō (“taking together”), from com- (“with, together”) + prehendō (“take”).

af

(logic) The totality of intensions, that is, attributes, characters, marks, properties, or qualities, that the object possesses, or else the totality of intensions that are pertinent to the context of a given discussion.


immanent

en-adj

immanent (comparative more immanent, superlative most immanent)

more immanent (comparative)
most immanent (superlative)

Entered English around 1530, via French, from Late Latin immanēns, present participle of Latin immanēre, from im- (“in”) + manēre (“to dwell, remain, stay”). Cognate with remain and manor.

(philosophy) Of something which has always already been.

(philosophy, metaphysics, theology, of a deity) Existing within and throughout the mind and the world; dwelling within and throughout all things, all time, etc. Compare transcendent.

At the same time it has been common, and we intend to show that it is important, to distinguish one class of volitions from another. Those which terminate on some action of our own, have been called deliberate acts — and imperate acts of the will, and not unfrequently determinate acts — because they are more the result of deliberation, and determine and govern the action on which they fix; while those which contemplate no action as their immediate result, are called immanent acts of the will. They remain in the mind, and do not flow out into action.

1846, James Richards, Lectures on Mental Philosophy and Theology:

(philosophy, of a mental act) Taking place entirely within the mind of the subject and having no effect outside of it. Compare emanant, transeunt.


cordate

Leaf shape
Two Dogmas of Empiricism
Willard Van Orman Quine

From the substantivation of the above adjective, alternatively straight from Latin cord- (“heart”) + -ate (noun-forming suffix).

af

If, for instance, the context:

1970, Willard Van Orman Quine, Philosophy of Logic, pages 8–9:

The organisms in any sample of tigers will almost always happen to exemplify genetic properties more specific than the property shared by exactly the tigers, as well as a number of more inclusive ones such as properties common to all mammals or to all cordates.

2002, Timothy McCarthy, Radical Interpretation and Indeterminacy, page 124:

Sciences of cordates — creatures with hearts — are, for example, less general or comprehensive than sciences of living things, and the latter are less comprehensive and general than sciences of moving things.

2008, Peter Loptson, Freedom, Nature, and World, page 78:

It is the coextension problem, the problem of the renates and the cordates, the creatures with kidneys and the creatures with hearts.

2012, K. Mulligan, Language, Truth and Ontology, page 16:

However, the property of being a cordate and the property of being a renate are different properties; the former has something to do with hearts and the latter has something to do with kidneys.

2021, Ken Akiba, “Vaguenss from the philosophical point of view”, in Apostolos Syropoulos, Basil K. Papadopoulos, editors, Vagueness in the Exact Sciences, page 6:


possibilism

en-noun

possibilism (countable and uncountable, plural possibilisms)

From Latin possibilis (“that can be done”), from posse (“be able”), + -ism.

(philosophy) The belief that possible things exist, as well as actual things.


multiverse

First appears c. 1895. Blend of multiple + universe, coined by American philosopher William James. By surface analysis, multi- + -verse.

coined

Visible nature is all plasticity and indifference, a multiverse, as one might call it, and not a universe.

1895 October, William James, “Is Life Worth Living?”, in International Journal of Ethics, page 10:

I've never gone through a place like Racine without thinking which house with the rubber-tire swing for kids and piano-practicing inside was like Stiva Lausch's, who had two daughters brought up with every refinement, including piano lessons, and how such little-speaking Odessa-bred sons had gotten on a track like this through the multiverse.

1953, Saul Bellow, chapter 6, in The Adventures of Augie March, New York: Viking Press, →OCLC, pages 94–95:

(philosophy) The world, considered as lacking in purpose, design, or predictability.


conjunctive

From Latin coniunctivus (“serving to connect”), from coniunctus, past participle of coniungere; compare conjoin. From late 15th c; grammatical sense from 1660s.

uder

(astrology, astronomy) Relating to a conjunction (appearance in the sky of two astronomical objects with the same right ascension or the same ecliptic longitude).

(logic) Of or relating to logical conjunction.

konjunktiivinen

logic: of or relating to logical conjunction


disjunctive

en-adj

disjunctive (comparative more disjunctive, superlative most disjunctive)

more disjunctive (comparative)
most disjunctive (superlative)

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From Middle English disjunctief, disjunctyf, from Middle French disjunctif and Latin disjunctīvus (“placed in opposition”).

der

An opposition of contrariety is not of purely logical concernment; and a disjunctive syllogism with characters opposed in contrariety, in fact, consists of as many pure disjunctive syllogisms as there are opposing predicates.

1873, Sir William Hamilton, Lectures on Metaphysics and Logic, page 235:


disjunctive

L. H. Atwater
Disjunctives may be turned into conditionals.


Athirne

(Irish mythology) Athairne the Importunate, a poet and a satirist of the court of Conchobar mac Nessa in the Ulster Cycle and foster-father of Amairgin mac Echit.


Findchoem

Conall the Victorious
Conall the Victorious

(Irish mythology) Princess of Ulster. Wife of Amairgin mac Echit and sister of Conchobar mac Nessa. Mother of Conall the Victorious.


Achall

(Irish mythology) In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, the daughter of Cairbre Nia Fer; committed suicide after her brother Erc was killed by Conall Cernach.


Erc

From Old Irish Erc (modern Irish Earc), a word for which the electronic Dictionary of the Irish language gives several meanings, but the most likely meaning for the name is "spotted, speckled, motley," from Proto-Celtic *ɸerkos (“perch”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *perḱ- (“colored”).

(Irish mythology) A member of the conspiracy that killed Cúchulainn, but was killed by his second cousin Conall the Victorious. Son of Cairbre Nia Fer and brother of Achall.


Briccriu

Bricriu (alternative)
Briccirne (alternative)
Bricne (alternative)

(Irish mythology) In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology: a warrior, poet, and troublemaker who once held a lavish feast for Conchobar mac Nessa and the heroes of Ulster in his house at Dún Rudraige.


Áed Ruad

(Irish mythology) The High King of Ireland who ruled in rotation with his cousins Díthorba and Cimbáeth, each ruling for seven years in turn.


Díthorba

(Irish mythology) One of the three High Kings of Ireland, who ruled in rotation with Áed Ruad and Cimbáeth, each ruling seven years in turn and for three seven-year periods.


Cimbáeth

(Irish mythology) One of the three High Kings of Ireland, who ruled in rotation with Áed Ruad and Díthorba, each ruling seven years in turn and ruling for three seven year period. He died of plague at Emain Macha.


Finnbhennach

(Irish mythology) In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, an extremely fertile stud bull owned by king Ailill mac Máta. He was originally one of Bodb Dearg's pig-keepers, who fell out with one of his colleagues.


consistent

en-adj

consistent (comparative more consistent, superlative most consistent)

more consistent (comparative)
most consistent (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin cōnsistēntem, present participle of cōnsistō (“to agree with; to continue”), from con- (prefix indicating a being or bringing together of several objects) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“beside, by, near, with”)) + sistō (“to cause to stand; to place, set”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *stísteh₂ti (“to be standing up; to be getting up”), from the root *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”)).

der

When we ask whether ideas or terms are consistent or inconsistent with each other, the question really is, in what manner the relation presupposed between the ideas qualifies them for being combined as terms of a judgment.

1857, William Spalding, “Introduction”, in An Introduction to Logical Science: Being a Reprint of the Article “Logic” from the Eighth Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, chapter II (The Function and Axioms of Logical Science), paragraph 12(2), pages 22–23:

Part of establishing a foundation for geometry was demonstrating that the axioms were consistent – that they could never lead to contradictions.

2008, Charles Petzold, “Centuries of Progress”, in The Annotated Turing: A Guided Tour through Alan Turing’s Historic Paper on Computability and the Turing Machine, Indianapolis, Ind.: Wiley Publishing, →ISBN, page 39:

(logic) Of a set of statements: such that no contradiction logically follows from them.


Terpsichore

From Ancient Greek Τερψιχόρη (Terpsikhórē, from τέρψις (térpsis, “enjoyment, delight”) + χορός (khorós, “chorus”)).

uder

(Greek mythology) The goddess of dance and the dramatic chorus, and one of the Muses; the daughters of Zeus & Mnemosyne.


Thetis

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(Greek mythology) One of the nereids; the mother of Achilles


Bronze Age

the Bronze Age (canonical)
bronze age (alternative)

(mythology) One of the classical Ages of Man, associated with warfare.


sempiternal

From Old French sempiternel, from Medieval Latin sempiternālis, from Latin sempiternus, a contraction of semperæternus, from semper (“always”) + æternus (“eternal”).

(philosophy) Everlasting, that is, having infinite temporal duration (as opposed to eternal: outside time and thus lacking temporal duration altogether).


sempiternity

From sempitern(al) + -ity, from Latin sempiternitas.

(philosophy, theology) Existence within time but infinitely into the future, as opposed to eternity, understood as existence outside time.


Poseidon

(Greek mythology) The god of the sea and other waters, earthquakes and horses; corresponds to the Roman god Neptune.


Elysium

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

From Latin, from Ancient Greek Ἠλῠ́σῐον (Πεδῐ́ον) (Ēlŭ́sĭon (Pedĭ́on)).

der

Ἠλῠ́σῐον (Πεδῐ́ον)

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) The home of the blessed after death.

至福樂土 /至福乐土

home of the blessed after death in Greek and Roman mythology — see also Elysian Fields


Elysian Fields

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Calque of Latin Campī Ēlysiī, from Ancient Greek Ἠλῠ́σῐον Πεδῐ́ον (Ēlŭ́sĭon Pedĭ́on). By surface analysis, Elysian + fields.

Ἠλῠ́σῐον Πεδῐ́ον

Indeed, the Elysian Fields themselves were a part of Hades, though they have since been removed to Paris.

1911, Ambrose Bierce, “Hades”, in The Devil’s Dictionary, New York, N.Y., Washington, D.C.: The Neale Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 127:

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) Elysium; home of the blessed, after death.

Ելիսեյան մարգագետիններ

home of the blessed after death in Greek and Roman mythology — see also Elysium


erect

en-verb

erect (third-person singular simple present erects, present participle erecting, simple past and past participle erected)

erects (present singular third-person)
erecting (participle present)
erected (participle past)
erected (past)

From Middle English erecten, from the adjective (see above).

pystyttää

to raise and place in an upright or perpendicular position

In 1581 Parliament made it a statutory felony to erect figures, cast nativities, or calculate by prophecy how long the Queen would live or who would succeed her.

1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society, published 2012, page 332:

(transitive, astrology) To cast or draw up (a figure of the heavens, horoscope etc.).


completeness

en-noun

completeness (usually uncountable, plural completenesses)

completenesses (plural)
completenesse (alternative)

THEOREM 37°. (Gödel's completeness theorem 1930.) In the predicate calculus H:
(a) If ⊨F [or even if א₀-⊨F], then ⊢F. If E_1,...,E_k⊨F [or even if E_1,...,E_kא₀-⊨F], then E_1,...,E_k⊢F.
(b) […]

2002, Stephen Cole Kleene, Mathematical Logic, Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, page 314

(logic) The property of a logical theory that whenever a wff is valid then it must also be a theorem. Symbolically, letting T represent a theory within logic L, this can be represented as the property that whenever T⊨ϕ is true, then T⊢ϕ must also be true, for any wff φ of logic L.


Gödel's incompleteness theorem

en-proper noun

Gödel's incompleteness theorem (plural Gödel's incompleteness theorems)

Gödel's incompleteness theorems (plural)

(logic, mathematics) Either of two theorems in mathematical logic that demonstrate the inherent limitations of every formal axiomatic system containing basic arithmetic.


theorem

/ˈθiː.ə.ɹəm/

From Middle French théorème, from Late Latin theōrēma, from Ancient Greek θεώρημα (theṓrēma, “speculation, proposition to be proved”) (Euclid), from θεωρέω (theōréō, “I look at, view, consider, examine”), from θεωρός (theōrós, “spectator”), from θέα (théa, “a view”) + ὁράω (horáō, “I see, look”). See also theory, and theater.

der

Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class IV § 454. Topic

(logic) A syntactically correct expression that is deducible from the given axioms of a deductive system.


vicious circle

vicious circles (plural)
vicious cycle (alternative)

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(logic) A fallacy in which the premise is used to prove a conclusion which is then used to prove the premise.


ambient

en-noun

ambient (countable and uncountable, plural ambients)

→ Polish: ambient

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From Latin ambiēns (“going around”), from ambiō (“go around”).

It might be also, that attracted by that great void Vacuum ... all the ambients would be rarified, and particularly, the air.

1662 Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (Dialogue 2)

(astrology) The atmosphere; the surrounding air or sky; atmospheric components collectively such as air, clouds, water vapour, hail, etc.


Celtchar

Celtchair (alternative)
Celtar (alternative)
Keltchar (alternative)

(Irish mythology) A leading figure in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology: an Ulster warrior described as tall, grey, and ugly, and who wields a spear called Luír Cheltchair, and who killed Blaí Briugu after the latter slept with his wife Brig Bretach.


Luír Cheltchair

(Irish mythology) The spear wielded by Celtchar. Its lust for blood is so great that it has to be dipped in a cauldron of poison to control it.


Brig Bretach

(Irish mythology) In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, the wife of Celtchar. Her husband Celtchar killed Blaí Briugu for sleeping with her as Blaí Briugu was required to do so by the latter's geas.


Blaí Briugu

(Irish mythology) In the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, a wealthy Ulster warrior who kept a hostel. He was killed by Celtchar for sleeping with the latter's wife Brig Bretach.


Ferdiad

(Irish mythology) In Irish mythology, Cúchulainn's best friend and foster-brother.


visitor

visitors (plural)
visitour (alternative)
visiter (alternative)

Partly from Middle English visiter, visitere, equivalent to visit + -er; and partly from Middle English visitour, from Anglo-Norman visitour, from Old French visetëor. By surface analysis, visit + -or.

5: Of course there is always the remote (I hope) possibility that instant panic will prompt us to send a hailstorm of nuclear warheads out upon the visitor.

1979, Chris Boyce, Extraterrestrial Encounter: a Personal Perspective, Chartwell Books, page 184:

When we ask what evidence does in fact exist of extraterrestrial sojourns on our planet, we can start with what would surely be the best evidence of all: an actual visitor, or group of visitors, visible to crowds of people and ready for photo opportunities, television interviews, handshakes, polite conversation, and dancing.

2001, Donald Goldsmith, Tobias C. Owen, The Search for Life in the Universe, University Science Books, page 511:

The visitor in Man Facing South-east claims pure altruism; Rantes (Hugo Soto) wants to alleviate the suffering of the poor and helpless.

2004, Carol Schwartz Ellis, Sean Redmond (editor), With Eyes Uplifted: Space Aliens as Sky Gods in Liquid Metal: The Science Fiction Film Reader, Wallflower Press, page 145

The tower radioed the flight leader, Captain Thomas F. Mantell, Jr., and requested that he engage and attempt to identify the strange visitor.

2007, Frank G. Wilkinson, The Golden Age of Flying Saucers: Classic UFO Sightings, Saucer Crashes and Extraterrestrial Contact Encounters, Lulu.com, page 37:

(ufology, specifically) An extraterrestrial being on Earth.


apodosis

Learned borrowing from Late Latin apodosis, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀπόδοσις (apódosis).

lbor

Coordinate term: protasis

In "I will be coming if this weather holds up", "I will be coming" is the apodosis and "this weather holds up" is the protasis.

1943 Dornford Yates An Eye for a Tooth
"If, after that, there is anything more to be done. . ."
"Yes?"
"You’d ----well better do it," said Forecast.
The meaning with which he invested this blunt apodosis was unmistakable. Even I, an eavesdropper, found it most sinister: and I was not surprised when, after a little silence, the other turned on his heel and led the way to the road.

1997 Angeliki Athanasiadou, René Dirven (eds) On Conditionals Again p. 309 by Hansjakob Seiler
There is furthermore the claim that conditionals necessarily involve a causal relation from protasis to apodosis. This may hold for the "conjunctive" types signalling a natural consequence from protasis to apodosis, but becomes increasingly unlikely as we approach disjunctive structures of the type. "May I perish most miserably, if I do not love Xanthia." does not mean "May I perish most miserably, because I do not love Xanthia."

(logic, grammar) The consequential clause in a conditional sentence.

جَوَابُ الشَّرْط

the consequential clause in a conditional sentence


utilitarian

en-adj

utilitarian (comparative more utilitarian, superlative most utilitarian)

more utilitarian (comparative)
most utilitarian (superlative)

General American, Mary–marry–merry merger

From utility + -arian. Coined by English philosopher Jeremy Bentham as early as 1781, and popularized by his student John Stuart Mill, who mistakenly attributed the term to John Galt.


unconditional

unconditionals (plural)
inconditional (alternative obsolete)

/ˌʌnkənˈdɪʃənəl/

(logic) A conditional-like structure expressing that the consequent holds true regardless of the particular value of the antecedent.


inconsistency

en-noun

inconsistency (countable and uncountable, plural inconsistencies)

(logic) An incompatibility between two propositions that cannot both be true.


code of conduct

code of conduct (plural codes of conduct)

What use have I ever had from this religion that has been dinned into me? It gave me false ideas of the world and nature which I have had to unlearn. It gave me an unworkable code of conduct which I never tried to follow, but I got into trouble for it.

1901, Harold Fielding, The Hearts of Men:

In spite of the maturity of his years and of the savage rigidity of the mould that had formed him, his nature was undergoing an expansion. There was a burgeoning within him of strange feelings and unwonted impulses. His old code of conduct was changing.

1906 May–October, Jack London, chapter VI, in White Fang, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 4 (The Superior Gods):

That iron-bound code of conduct which rules the Anglo-Indian, in the first days of the voyage had threatened to ostracize Karamaneh and Aziz, by reason of the Eastern blood to which their brilliant but peculiar type of beauty bore witness.

1916, Sax Rohmer [pseudonym; A. H. Ward], chapter XXXII, in The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu:

Mr Blunkett quit after breaking the ministerial code of conduct over paid work he took while out of the Cabinet. John Hutton is to replace him.

2005 November 2, “Blunkett quits after ‘mistakes’”, in BBC News:

The conversational free-for-all on the Internet known as the blogosphere can be a prickly and unpleasant place. Now, a few prominent figures in high technology are proposing a blogger code of conduct to clean up the quality of online discourse.

2007 April 9, Brad Stone, “Bloggers debate need for code of conduct”, in The International Herald Tribune:

Nodding to critics who contend that the movie industry hasn’t done enough to fight sexual harassment, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Thursday that it would be establishing a “code of conduct” for its members.

2017 October 27, Sopan Deb, “Motion Picture Academy Moves to Institute Code of Conduct”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(ethics) A set of rules dictating acceptable behavior and decisions in a specified environment.

վարքականոն

set of rules dictating acceptable behaviour and decisions in a specified environment


inconsistent

en-adj

inconsistent (comparative more inconsistent, superlative most inconsistent)

more inconsistent (comparative)
most inconsistent (superlative)

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(logic) Having the property that a contradiction can be derived.


Loki

Borrowed from Old Norse Loki, where further etymology is shown.

There’s the Loki fly, in honor of the tortured God of Mischief, whose scientific name is “Daptolestes illusiolautus,” meaning elegant deception.

2020 July 29, Jessie Yeung, “Australia names new species after Deadpool, Thor, and other Marvel favorites”, in CNN:

(Norse mythology) The god of mischief and trickery; growing progressively evil, he kills Balder, and is bound until Ragnarok, the end of the world.


Janus

From Latin Iānus (“the Roman god Janus”).

In the ages of victory, as often as the senate decreed some distant conquest, the consul denounced hostilities, by unbarring, in solemn pomp, the gates of the temple of Janus. Domestic war now rendered the admonition superfluous, and the ceremony was superseded by the establishment of a new religion. But the brazen temple of Janus was left standing in the forum; of a size sufficient only to contain the statue of the god, five cubits in height, of a human form, but with two faces, directed to the east and west.

1789, Edward Gibbon, chapter XLI, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume V, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Strahan, and T[homas] Cadell, in the Strand, OCLC 30106274; republished Philadelphia, Pa.: Published by William Y. Birch & Abraham Small, No. 37, South Second Street; printed by Robert Carr, 1805, OCLC 15453273, page 166

[K]nowing that the minds of the people, rendered ferocious by a military life, would never accommodate themſelves to the practice of theſe [principles of justice, laws, and morals], during the continuance of war, he [Numa Pompilius] reſolved, by a diſuſe of arms, to mollify the fierceneſs of their temper: with this view, he built a temple to Janus, near the foot of the hill Argiletum, which was to notify a ſtate either of war or of peace: when open, it denoted that the ſtate was engaged in war; when ſhut, that there was peace with all the ſurrounding nations.

1797, Titus Livius [Livy], translated by George Baker, The History of Rome, [...] In Six Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for A[ndrew] Strahan, and T[homas] Cadell Jun. and W. Davies (successor to Mr. Cadell) in the Strand, →OCLC, book I, page 35:

"I'll tell you what we can do," cried her persevering patroness; "we can go as masks, and Lady Juliana shall know nothing about it. That will save the scandal of an open revolt or a tiresome dispute. Half the company will be masked; so, if you keep your own secret, nobody will find it out. Come, what characters shall we choose?" / "That of Janus, I think, would be the most suitable for me," said Mary.

1810, anonymous [Susan Edmonstone Ferrier], “chapter XVI”, in Marriage, a Novel. In Three Volumes, volume II, Edinburgh: William Blackwood, Prince's-Street: and John Murray, Albemarle-Street, London, published 1818, →OCLC, page 218:

We find ourselves once again sitting in Committee of the Whole House to vote a war subsidy. The present occupants of the Treasury Bench are determined that so long as they retain their places the Temple of Janus shall not be closed.

1879 February 27, A[lexander] M[artin] Sullivan, “On the Zulu War” (speech before the House of Commons of the United Kingdom); quoted in William Jennings Bryan, editor, Irish Orations (The World's Famous Orations), volume VI, New York, N.Y.: Funk & Wagnalls, 1906, OCLC 23127203, and republished on Bartleby.com, 2002, archived from the original on 4 October 2015

Janus, with his two heads, his mystery, his depiction as both laughing and serious, and the obvious parallel this forms with the masks of attic tragedy and comedy would make him a double of the two-headed man, the conjurer, and an associate of the trickster in folk comedy as well.

2008, John Lowe, “Laughin’ up a World: Their Eyes Were Watching God and the (Wo)Man of Words”, in Harold Bloom, editor, Interpretations: Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God (Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations), new edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloom's Literary Criticism, Infobase Publishing, →ISBN, page 75:

Good reviews look both backward and forward; an argument could even be made that one must look backward in order to discern the way forward, that backward and forward are two sides of the same research coin. Nowhere is such a Janus-like perspective more apparent than in the current set of reviews.

2011, Robert M. Hodapp, “Preface”, in Robert M. Hodapp, editor, International Review of Research in Developmental Disabilities, volume 41, San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, →ISBN, →ISSN, page xi:

(Roman mythology) The god of doorways, gates and transitions, and of beginnings and endings, having two faces looking in opposite directions.

Janus

Roman god of doorways, gates and transitions


foxy

foxy (comparative foxier, superlative foxiest)

foxier (comparative)
foxiest (superlative)

For half a century, psychotherapy was dominated by hedgehoggy men who considered their style "normal," and women's foxy, emotional, flexible style "hysterical."

2000, Charles H. Kramer, Therapeutic Mastery: Becoming a More Creative and Effective Psychotherapist, Zeig Tucker & Theisen Publishers, →ISBN, page 76:

(chiefly philosophy) With a worldview synthesizing many different ideas.


nihilism

en-noun

nihilism (countable and uncountable, plural nihilisms)

Probably borrowed from French nihilisme, German Nihilismus, or Late Latin nihilismus; the French, German, and Latin words are derived from Latin nihil (“indefinite nothing”), from nihilum (“nothing”), from ne- (prefix negating the principal meaning) + hīlum (“a trifle; not in the least”). The English word is cognate with Italian nichilismo, Spanish nihilismo, Russian нигили́зм (nigilízm), philosophical doctrine grounded on negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life; emptiness; lack of education and cultural refinement.

This great metaphysician [John Locke] considered, our ideas were derived from sensation and reflection; and preserved the distinction between these two sources of knowledge with great care; but by a perversion of his theory, his followers reduced them to sensation alone;—which by a necessary gradation leads to materialism, atheism and nihilism.

1839, William Ingalls, A Lecture on the Subject of Phrenology not Opposed to the Principles of Religion; nor the Precepts of Christianity, Boston, Mass.: Dutton and Wentworth, […], →OCLC, pages 42–43:

This view may be styled Religious Nihilism. It affirms that Theism, or faith in an Almighty and All-wise Creator, Pantheism, and Atheism, are alike mere guesses in the dark, and that nothing is or can be known of that mysterious Something, which is the origin of the universe.

1872, T[homas] R[awson] Birks, “On Religious Nihilism”, in The Scripture Doctrine of Creation, with Reference to Religious Nihilism and Modern Theories of Development, London: The Christian Evidence Committee of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; […], →OCLC, page 6:

Nihilism is the result of continued and extreme philosophical scepticism [...] Among the first developments of Greek philosophy we find the nihilism of Georgias, one of the Sophists, and a contemporary of Socrates. He taught (1) that nothing exists; for if anything were, its being must be either derived or eternal; but it cannot have been derived, whether from the existent or from the non-existent (according to the Eleatics); nor can it be eternal, for then it must be infinite; but the infinite is nowhere, since it can neither be in itself nor in anything else, and what is nowhere is not.

1894, John M‘Clintock [i.e., John McClintock], James Strong, “Nihilism”, in Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, volumes VII (NEW–PES), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 91, column 2:

Psychological nihilism is a vulgar reaction to the difficulty of knowing the world, but it is also a way of reacting to the fear of nihilism. What is more, the vulgar threat of nihilism is overcome by [Friedrich] Nietzsche's authentic antinihilism. And yet false categories of information induce psychological nihilism, since we only value, as Nietzsche argues, a fictitious world.

1999, Angèle Kremer-Marietti, “Nietzsche’s Critique of Modern Reason”, in Babette Babich, Robert S. Cohen, editors, Nietzsche, Theories of Knowledge, and Critical Theory: Nietzsche and the Sciences I (Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science; 203), Dordrecht: Springer Science+Business Media, →DOI, →ISBN, page 88:

If, in its origin, nihilism is a will to escape from the immanent "chaos" to a transcendent, illusory world, with modernity, or, with the "death of God," this originary nihilism divides itself into two: radical and passive nihilism. [...] There is therefore a strange symmetry between the two nihilisms, between (Ahab's) willing nothingness and (Ishmael's) annihilation of will.

2014, Bülent Diken, “Nihilism, Revolt, and the Spectacle”, in Nitzan Lebovic, Roy Ben-Shai, editors, The Politics of Nihilism: From the Nineteenth Century to Contemporary Israel (Political Theory and Contemporary Philosophy), New York, N.Y., London: Bloomsbury Academic, Blooms Publishing, →ISBN, page 82:

(countable, uncountable, philosophy) A doctrine grounded on the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life; in particular, the view that nothing in the world actually exists.


wyrm

Learned borrowing from Old English wyrm. Doublet of worm, which was inherited.

(mythology, fantasy) A huge limbless and wingless dragon or dragonlike creature.


underworld

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(religion or mythology) The world of the dead, located underneath the world of the living; the afterlife.

тот свет m (tot svet, literally “that world”)


determinate

From a substantivation of the above adjective. See -ate (noun-forming suffix) for more.

And since being negatively-charged and being positively-charged are determinates of the same determinable, [D5] will not permit us to infer worlds where anything negatively-charged is also positively-charged.

2007 September 5, David Denby, “Generating possibilities”, in Philosophical Studies, volume 141, number 2, →DOI:

(philosophy) A single state of a particular determinable attribute.


alien abduction

alien abduction (plural alien abductions)

(ufology) The abduction of a person by extraterrestrials.


entelechy

entelechies (plural)
entelech (alternative)
entelechia (alternative)
entelechie (alternative)

From Late Latin entelechia, from Ancient Greek ἐντελέχεια (entelékheia), coined by Aristotle from ἐντελής (entelḗs, “complete, finished, perfect”) (from τέλος (télos, “end, fruition, accomplishment”)) + ἔχω (ékhō, “to have”).

entelèquia

complete realisation and final form of some potential concept or function

The entelechy is the name given to our inner dynamic purpose. It is the seed of potential that nestles deep within us, containing the fractal image of who we really are and what we can become. The Greek philosopher Socrates first coined the term entelechy, and the great mystic [Pierre] Teilhard de Chardin brought it to public attention. […] The inner sense of purpose that is governed by the entelechy is the driving force behind our lives, helping us to blossom into the fullest expression of ourselves.

2008, Lisa Tenzin-Dolma, Mind & Motivation: The Spirit of Success, U.K.: Phoenix Rising Press, →ISBN, page 64:

Karl Rahner and especially David Coffey, who follows and develops Rahner's theology, point out that the Holy Spirit bears an entelechy toward the Son. An entelechy (as the term is used by Rahner and Coffey) is an internal force or principle that drives a being toward its destiny. When applied to the Holy Spirit it refers to the redemptive purpose that motivates and orients the work of the Holy Spirit in redemption. The philosophical term entelechy helps to express the theology of the biblical description of the Holy Spirit as "the Spirit of Christ."

2010, Michael Wilkinson, Steven M. Studebaker, editors, A Liberating Spirit: Pentecostals and Social Action in North America [Pentecostals, Peacemaking, and Social Justice; 2], Eugene, Or.: Pickwick Publications, →ISBN:

(chiefly philosophy) A particular type of motivation, need for self-determination, and inner strength directing life and growth to become all one is capable of being; the need to actualize one's beliefs; having both a personal vision and the ability to actualize that vision from within.


spherical

en-adj

spherical (comparative more spherical, superlative most spherical)

more spherical (comparative)
most spherical (superlative)
sphærical (alternative archaic)

English spheric [from Latin sphaericus, from Ancient Greek σφαιρικός (sphairikós)] + -al.

Knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance.

c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

(astrology) Of or relating to the heavenly orbs, or to the sphere or spheres in which, according to ancient astronomy and astrology, they were set.


solar

From Late Middle English solar, from Latin sōlāris, from sōl (“sun”), from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“sun”).

and proud beside, as solar people are

1700, [John] Dryden, “The Cock and the Fox: Or, The Tale of the Nun’s Priest, from Chaucer”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

(astrology, obsolete) Born under the predominant influence of the sun.


transcendental

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In deference to Christian usage we can say that the transcendentals constitute the Logos within which everything has its being and according to which everything is made.

2002, Robert C. Neville, Religion in Late Modernity, State University of New York Press, page 72:

These predicates of Being are what the Medievals called, using a term that will have a fertile future, "transcendentals" (often called the "universals") because they transcend all particular genera, following the example of Being.⁹⁶ A quarrel over these transcendentals even shook the later Middle Ages. The quarrel stemmed from the question of whether the existence of these transcendentals was real or intellectual (also called nominal).

2012, Jean Grondin, translated by Lukas Soderstrom, Introduction to Metaphysics: From Parmenides to Levinas, Columbia University Press, page 105:

The medieval doctrine of the transcendentals is closely connected with a metaphysical conception of reality, but is there a science of being in William of Ockham (ca. 1285-1347)?

2012, Jan Aertsen, Medieval Philosophy as Transcendental Thought: From Philip the Chancellor (ca. 1225) to Francisco Suárez, BRILL, page 515:

Another fascinating thing about the transcendentals is that each is fully contained in the others. When you appreciate beauty, for example, you recognise the presence of goodness and truth. When you grasp the truth about something you experience a moment of beauty in, perhaps, the simplicity or power of the insight. When you observe goodness in the actions of another person you are seeing truth and beauty in operation.

2015, Anthony Howard, Humanise: Why Human-Centred Leadership is the Key to the 21st Century, Wiley, page 70:

(philosophy, metaphysics, Platonism, Christian theology, usually in the plural) Any one of the three transcendental properties of being: truth, beauty or goodness, which respectively are the ideals of science, art and religion and the principal subjects of the study of logic, aesthetics and ethics.

metaphysics; Platonism; metaphysics; Platonism


transcendental

transcendental (comparative more transcendental, superlative most transcendental)

more transcendental (comparative)
most transcendental (superlative)

algebraic

antonym(s) of “not the root of a polynomial with rational coefficients”

algebraic

antonym(s) of “containing elements that are not the root of a polynomial”

The best way to demonstrate the possibility of something is to show its actuality, for actuality implies possibility. At least since Kant, transcendental philosophies have been on the scene. However, such simple demonstration of the possibility of transcendental philosophy has not been effective and is not likely to be so — so strong is the presumption that transcendental philosophy just could not be possible, or, if it was possible earlier, it is not possible now.

1985, J. N. Mohanty, The Possibility of Transcendental Philosophy, Kluwer Academic (Martinus Nijhoff), page xiii:

1999, Robert Stern, 4: On Kant's Response to Hume: The Second Analogy as Transcendental Argument, Robert Stern (editor), Transcendental Arguments: Problems and Prospects, 2003, Oxford University Press (Clarendon Press), Paperback, page 47,
Whilst it was once held that transcendental arguments could provide a direct and straightforward refutation of scepticism, this view now seems over-optimistic.

2007, Steven Crowell, Jeff Malpas, Chapter 1: Introduction Steven Crowell, Jeff Malpas, (editors), Transcendental Heidegger, Stanford University Press, page 1,
Not only does Heidegger's early work stand within the framework of transcendental phenomenology as established by Husserl—even though it also contests and revises that framework—but that thinking also stands in a close relationship to the critical philosophy of Immanuel Kant, and specifically to the transcendental project, and modes of argument, of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason.

(philosophy) Concerned with the a priori or intuitive basis of knowledge, independent of experience.


philosopher king

en-noun

philosopher king (plural philosopher kings)

philosopher kings (plural)
philosopher-king (alternative)

The concept comes from Plato's Republic (circa 375 BCE), which considers the ideal rulers of a city state.

(philosophy) A hypothetical ideal ruler, trained in philosophy, who has a full understanding of the Platonic ideal of the Form of the Good, and uses this for the benefit of the state.


Manichaeism

From Latin Manichaeus + -ism, from Classical Syriac ܡܐܢܝ ܚܝܐ (Mānī ḥayyā, “Living Mani”), from the name of its founder, Mani, from Middle Persian Mānī, Classical Syriac ܡܐܢܝ (Mānī) (Modern Persian مانی (mâni)) + Classical Syriac ܚܝܐ (ḥayyā, “living, alive”).

der

Manicheism (alternative)
Manichaeanism (alternative)
Manicheanism (alternative)

In Manichaeism, as Benny Goodman used to sing, it's “Gotta Be This or That.” One thing or the other will triumph, in this dualistic view, and the winner is supposed to be determined in an apocalyptic struggle involving a world conflagration.

1988 June 12, William Safire, “No Shades of Gray”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(philosophy) A dualistic philosophy dividing the world between good and evil principles, or regarding matter as intrinsically evil and mind as intrinsically good.


dualism

en-noun

dualism (countable and uncountable, plural dualisms)

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(philosophy) The view that the world consists of, or is explicable in terms of, two fundamental principles, such as mind and matter or good and evil.

ثَنَوِيَّة

the view that the world consists of two fundamental principles


transduction

transduction (countable and uncountable, plural transductions)

1650s, Latin transductionem, form of Latin trānsdūcō (“lead across”). By surface analysis, transduce + -tion.

artificial intelligence
artificial intelligence

(logic) Particularly in the discipline of artificial intelligence, a form of inference, according to which the response appropriate to a particular known case, also is appropriate to another particular case diagnosed to be functionally identical. This contrasts with induction, in which general rules derived from past observations are applied to future cases as a class (compare also analogy).


transduction

Instead of applying a transduction method only once, we can apply different transduction methods to an initial network in sequence. In each sequence, different or identical transduction methods can be applied in different orders. This usually leads to many different final networks.

2003, Wai-Kai Chen, Logic Design, →ISBN:

(logic design) The improvement of an electronic logic network by reduction of redundant components in an initial version, using an established pruning procedure, then applying permissible functions for transformation of the network into a workable form. Thereafter the transformation and reduction may be repeated till no worthwhile further improvement results.


convertible

en-adj

convertible (comparative more convertible, superlative most convertible)

more convertible (comparative)
most convertible (superlative)

From Old French convertible, from Late Latin convertibilis (“interchangeable”), from Latin convertere (“to turn back, to turn over, to turn around, to turn upside down”), from con- (“with, together”) + vertere (“to turn”), + -ibilis (“-ible: able to”). Equivalent to convert + -ible.

der

(logic) Able to undergo conversion (i.e., inversion) without falsehood.


Scáthach

(Irish mythology) The female warrior who trains Cúchulainn in the arts of war in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology.


qi

en-noun

qi (countable and uncountable, plural qis)

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation for 氣／气 (qì).

And so he trained his qi, his breath, and his sense of timing, so that strength and size became irrelevant to his understanding of Aikido.

2003, Mallory Fromm, Qi Energy for Health and Healing: A Practical Guide to the Healing Principles of Life Energy:


induce

en-verb

induce (third-person singular simple present induces, present participle inducing, simple past and past participle induced)

induces (present singular third-person)
inducing (participle present)
induced (participle past)
induced (past)

From Middle English enducen, borrowed from Latin indūcere (“lead in, bring in, introduce”), from in + dūcō (“lead, conduct”). Compare also abduce, adduce, conduce, deduce, produce, reduce etc. Doublet of endue.

der

(transitive, logic) To infer by induction.