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Glossary of Philosophical Terms |
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Select Page: A to B -- C to D -- E to H -- I to L -- M to O -- P to Q -- R -- S to Z Select Letter: - P - | - Q -
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Pan-Egoism. The doctrine which attempts to dissolve the antithesis between noumenon and phenomenon, mind and matter, Ego and thing-in-itself, by identifying all reality with the universal consciousness or Ego; a form of absolute idealism, asserting the oneness of all things in the absolute Ego. Pan-Objectivism. See Neo-Realism. Pan-Phenomenalism. The doctrine which holds that the human mind can know nothing but the phenomena or appearances of things. Pan-Psychism. The doctrine which interprets the qualitative essence of material force and energy as a sort of psychical activity and appetency, so that all material reality, in its ultimate analysis, is endowed with psychical powers. Pantheism. The doctrine which holds that the universe is identical with God; the reduction of God to the universe, or of the universe to God. Parallelism, Psycho-Physical. The doctrine which holds that mind and matter are not substances, that the psychical and physical are but a manifold of interrelated occurrences; subject and object are concepts which are due to the reflection resulting from the interrelations of the various components of the absolutely unitary contents of our immediate experience. Particular Ideas. Universals taken partly and indeterminately. Passion (Reaction). The reception of an effect from another. Perception. The cognizing of the object which produces sensation. Perceptionism. See Realism, Presentative. Perfection. A thing is "perfect" so far as it has emerged from the incompleteness of potency, in which all finite entities begin, and possesses the complete activity required by its nature for its proper perfection. Only the "perfect" is desirable or "good." Peripateticism. See Aristotelianism. Person. An intellectual hypostasis, i.e., an individual, complete, subsistent, intellectual substance. Personalism. That form of idealism which gives equal recognition to both the pluralistic and monistic aspects of experience and which finds in the conscious unity, identity, and free activity of personality the key to the nature of reality and the solution of the ultimate problems of philosophy. Personal Supposition. The use of a term to signify both the nature and the bearers of this common nature. Pessimism. The philosophic theory which maintains that evil predominates over good, because the world at large is essentially bad. Petitio Principii. See Begging the question. Phenomenalism. The doctrine that the appearances of things are their reality; there are no things in themselves, but only things in relation to our experience. Phenomenon. In epistemology, the appearance that is produced by the action of a thing upon a percipient. Philosophy. The science of things in their ultimate reasons, causes, and principles, acquired by the aid of human reason alone. Pluralism. The doctrine which holds that reality cannot be reduced to either one ultimate form of being (monism of either mind or matter) or two ultimate forms of being (dualism of mind and matter), but to many mutually irreducible ultimate forms of being. Polysyllogism. An argumentation consisting of two or more syllogisms, logically connected together in such a way that the conclusion of the preceding syllogism becomes the premise of the one following. Positive Ideas. Ideas which signify a real, actual thing. Positive Law. The contingent means chosen by a given community in its particular circumstances to achieve its common good. Positivism. A form of naturalism which denies the legitimacy of philosophical problems and methods and claims that science is the only knowledge which is exact and ultimate. Possibility. Objective potency, or the capacity or aptitude of a being for existence. Possibility, Absolute. See Possibility, Intrinsic. Possibility, Extrinsic. The capacity or aptitude of a being for existence in virtue of the power of an efficient cause capable of producing it. Possibility, Intrinsic. The capacity or aptitude of a being for existence, due to the compatibility or non-contradiction of its constitutive elements. Possibility, Logical. See Possibility, Intrinsic. Possibility, Metaphysical. See Possibility, Intrinsic. Possibility, Moral. The possibility of free agents to do something without grave difficulty. Possibility, Physical. The possibility due to the powers of a thing acting according to the laws of nature. Possibility, Relative. See Possibility, Extrinsic. Postulate, Idealist. The postulate, or axiom, considered by idealists as self-evident, that all objects of knowledge are mental objects, ideas, conscious states. Posture. A disposition of parts among themselves in the sense of "attitude"; immanent or intransitive action expressed by an intransitive verb. Potency. The capacity or aptitude for something. Potency, Objective. The capacity of a nonexistent being for existence. Potency, Operative Subjective. The capacity for doing something. Potency, Real. See Potency, Subjective. Potency, Receptive Subjective. The capacity for receiving an act. Pragmatism. The doctrine, or rather attitude, which places all knowledge and truth in a direct relation to life and action; it judges the value of ideas, judgments, hypotheses, theories, and systems, according to their capacity to satisfy human needs and interests in a social way. Precision. A process in which the mind fixes its attention upon one or the other characteristic of a thing or upon one element common to many things, excluding others which are joined to it in the real order. Precision, Formal. A type of abstraction or precision in which the ideas drawn out by the abstractive process are only subjectively different, i.e., these ideas mutually include each other implicitly, though they do not expressly mention each other. Precision, Material. A type of abstraction or precision in which the ideas drawn out by the abstractive process are objectively different, i.e., these ideas have a different comprehension or thought-content, so that the one does not necessarily include the other. Precision, Objective. See Precision, Material. Precision, Subjective. See Precision, Formal. Predicables. The different modes or ways in which a universal can be predicated of its subject. Predicament. An ultimate and supreme mode of being; a category. Predicament, Ego-Centric. The predicament involved in every act of knowledge that no thinker is able to mention a thing that is not an idea, for the obvious and simple reason that in mentioning it he makes it an idea; it is, therefore, impossible to discover whether the cognitive relationship is indispensable to things which enter into it. Predication, Definition by Initial. The fallacy which consists in considering an "obvious" characteristic of a thing as the "exclusive" characteristic of that thing, and then defines the thing as consisting solely and exclusively of this particular characteristic. Premotion, Physical. An antecedent physical influence which, according to Thomists, is required in order that the faculty of a creature can pass from potentiality to actuality. Principle. That from which something proceeds in any manner whatever. Principle of Causality. See Causality, Principle of. Principle of Change. See Change, Principle of. Principle of Contradiction. See Contradiction, Principle of. Principle of Excluded Middle. See Excluded Middle, Principle of. Principle of Identity. See Identity, Principle of. Principle of Sufficient Reason. See Sufficient Reason, Principle of. Principles, First. See Principles, Supreme. Principles, Supreme, of Being. Those highest principles which are immediately derived from the concept of "being." Privative Ideas. Ideas of which one signifies a perfection and the other denies a perfection in a subject which naturally ought to possess it. Probability, Objective. That condition or quality of things and facts, when present to the mind, which enables the mind to decide for the truth of a judgment concerning these things and facts, but with the fear of the possibility of error. Properties, Transcendental. The supreme modes or attributes necessarily connected with every being, which are different phases of the same fundamental being, but are not explicitly contained in its concept as such. Property. The act or actuality perfecting and determining an essence in such a manner that the entity it gives to the being flows necessarily from its nature, without being strictly essential. Proposition. A judgment expressed in a sentence. Prosody, Fallacy of. See Accent. Purpose. See End.
Q Qualified Statements, Fallacy of. The fallacy which argues from a statement which is true in a special instance (qualified statement) to the general class. Quality. An absolute accident completing and determining a substance in its being and in its operations. Quality, Affective. A relatively permanent quality which produces, or results from, some accidental sensible alteration. Quality of propositions. The modification of the copula in a sentence, making it either affirmative or negative. Quantity. An attribute of the material (determinable) element in a being. Quantity of propositions. The number of individuals to whom the judgment or proposition applies. Quiddity. The "whatness" or essence of a being. |
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