REblog- An Index of Worldviews & Ideas

originally posted at cltruth.com

• AGNOSTICISM- The belief that we can’t know whether God exists.
• ALTRUISM- The belief that your moral decisions should be determined by the well-being of other people.
• ANARCHISM-The belief that we should have no organized government.
• ANIMISM-The belief that everything in the universe (or the universe itself) has a soul or is a living being.
• ATHEISM-The belief that God does not exist.
• ATOMISM-The idea that everything is made of tiny, simple particles that are chaotic and without design.
• CONCEPTUALISM-The idea that our understanding of words depends on our experiences.
• CONSEQUENTIALISM-The idea that the morality of our actions depends on what they result in.
• CONVENTIONALISM-The belief that concepts such as good and evil are determined by consensus rather than an external reality.
• DARWINISM- A theory of biological evolution stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations.
• DECONSTRUCTIONISM-A method of interpretation that looks for things excluded by a given text.
• DEISM-A belief in an uninvolved God based entirely on logic with no reference to faith, revelation, or religion.
• DUALISM-The idea that mental and physical things are completely separate from one another and have nothing in common.
• EGOISM-The belief that how we behave is completely determined by our own selfish interests.
• ELIMINITIVISM-The belief that we should try to replace complex explanations of things with simpler or more certain concepts.
• EMOTIVISM-The theory that the only things moral language expresses are powerful human feelings that are subjective.EMPIRICISMThe belief that experience is the only source of knowledge and ideas.
• EPICUREANISM-The idea that everything that happens in the universe is outside of human control; all we can do is passively experience the world.
• EPIPHENOMENALISM-The belief that mental events cannot have an impact on the physical world.
• EUDAEMONISM-The attempt to achieve happiness in an objective sense rather than seek subjective pleasure.
• EXISTENTIALISM-A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile and indifferent universe.
• FIDEISM-The idea of circular reliance in which religious doctrines prove themselves with consequent rejection of appeals from reason.
• HEDONISM-The belief that pleasure is the highest value.
• HISTORICISM-The belief that social structures, events and texts are best understood in their historical context.
• HUMANISM-The belief that human beings are the source of all value and have the ability to understand and control the natural world.
• IDEALISM-The belief that it is only those things in the mind that are real; physical things only exist in our mental perception of them.
• INSTRUMENTALISM-The belief that theories can be used for prediction even if those theories are false.
• INTERACTIONISM-The belief that our minds and bodies can affect each other even though they are completely separate entities.INTUITIONISMThe reliance on instinctual awareness as a test of what is true.
• JANSENISMThe belief that we can only obey God if God makes us do so.
• LEGAL POSITIVISM-The belief that the laws of society are nothing but the will of those in power at any given moment.
• LOGICAL POSITIVISM-A philosophical movement holding that nothing is real that can’t be observed, including metaphysics, ethics and theology.
• MATERIALISM-The belief that only physical things truly exist.
• MONISMThe belief that reality consists of a single element, one basic substance or principle.
• MORAL RELATIVISMThe belief that right and wrong are arbitrary and determined by the individual or culture.
• MYSTICISMThe belief that we can understand a divine reality through spiritual contemplation rather than through other types of thought processes.
• NATURALISMThe belief that all objects, events and values can be completely understood through natural elements and forces without reference to the supernatural.
• NEOPLATONISMThe belief that the natural world is merely a series of emanations from the nature of God.
• NEUTRAL MONISMThe belief that physical and mental processes are parts of the same substance, which is neither completely mental nor physical in nature.
• NIHILISM-A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.
• NOMINALISM-The opposite of realism; the belief that only particular abstract things exist; there are no universals.
• NONCOGNITIVISM-The belief that moral assertions are neither true nor false but merely express attitudes, feelings, desires or demands.
• OCCASIONALISM-The belief that all causes and effects are the products of a third thing, usually divine providence.
• OPERATIONALISM-The belief that the meaning of scientific concepts is best seen in a description of how well they work.
• PANENTHEISM-The belief which claims that God is in everything and everything is in God.
• PANPSYCHISM-The belief that everything in the world has a mental aspect.
• PANTHEISM-The view that God is everything and everything is God.
• PARALLELISM-The belief that although the human mind and body do not affect each other, their features and actions coordinate perfectly.
• PERCEPTUALISM-A belief in the optical truth (what is actually there) as opposed to what something means.
• PHENOMENALISM-The belief that physical objects have no reality beyond our perception of them.
• PHYSICALISM-The belief that everything that occurs in the mind can be explained through the physical world.
• PLURALISM-The belief that reality includes many different kinds of things, that there are many different sources of value.
• POSITIVISM-The belief that natural science, based on observations, is the only kind of knowledge we can have.
• POSTMODERNISM-The rejection of the notion of universal objective truth.
• PRAGMATISM-The idea that meaning and truth are practical outcomes of actions performed under the influence of ideas and beliefs.
• PRESCRIPTIVISM-The idea that the use of moral language commits one to act in accordance with those morals.
• RATIONALISM-The belief that reason is the only reliable source of human knowledge.REALISMThe belief in universal principles that are independent of particular abstract things.
• REDUCTIONISM-The belief that statements of one sort can be systematically replaced by statements of a simpler kind.
• RELATIVISM-The belief that there are no absolutes, only perspectives that are specific to a particular time, place or society.
• REPRESENTATIONALISM-The belief that we are aware of objects only through the ideas that represent them.
• RULE UTILITARIANISM-The view that an action is right if good consequences follow for everyone who performs that action.
• SCIENTIFIC NATURALISM-A philosophical tenet that describes life as a mechanically unfolding natural process without a need of the supernatural.
• SCIENTISM-The fundamentalist philosophical position that claims that science alone is the sole authority that can render truth about the world and reality.
• SKEPTICISM-The belief that some or all human knowledge is impossible.
• SOLIPSISM-The belief that only one’s self is real and everything else is an object of one’s consciousness.
• SOPHISM-An argument that sounds good but that is really false, especially if delivered by someone who is being knowingly deceptive.
• STOICISMA- collection of human knowledge that includes formal logic, physical study of the natural world, and a naturalistic explanation of human nature and conduct.
• THEISM-The belief in the existence of a personal God as an entity worthy of worship.
• UTILITARIANISM-The idea that human conduct is either right or wrong depending on how it affects other people.
• VOLUNTARISM-The belief that reality, morality and the structure of society are determined by a divine will.