Dictionary of philosophical positions
106 philosophical positions across 14 fields, from epistemology to metaphilosophy, with definitions, neighbouring positions and references.
Epistemology 10
Asks what ‘knowing’ means and which beliefs are well grounded. Must we be certain to know, or can we know while still being possibly wrong? And where should the follow-up “how do you know that?” finally stop?
- FallibilismEven justified beliefs can be wrong, and knowledge is possible without certainty.
- Infallibilist FoundationalismAll knowledge must rest on basic beliefs that are certain in themselves.
- CoherentismA belief is justified by how it fits with the belief system as a whole.
- ReliabilismA justified belief is one produced by a process that yields truth at a high rate.
- EvidentialismThe justification of a belief is determined solely by the evidence the subject has at the…
- Epistemic SkepticismKnowledge claims about the external world cannot be justified.
- EmpiricismAll substantive knowledge of the world comes from sensory experience.
- RationalismSome truths about the world can be known by reason alone, without experience.
- Virtue EpistemologyKnowledge is an achievement attained through the exercise of epistemic competence.
- Epistemic ContextualismThe truth conditions of 'know' vary with the context of utterance.
Philosophy of Science 5
Asks how far science can be trusted. Do unobservable things like electrons really exist, or do the calculations simply come out right? What else is overturned when a theory is overturned is also handled here.
- Scientific RealismMature scientific theories describe unobservable reality approximately truly.
- Instrumentalism / Constructive EmpiricismTheories are tools for predicting phenomena and need not be true.
- FalsificationismThe mark of science is not verifiability but falsifiability.
- Kuhnian Paradigm TheoryScience proceeds by puzzle-solving within a paradigm and by the replacement of paradigms.
- BayesianismBelief comes in degrees and is updated by conditionalization on the evidence.
Metaphysics 11
Asks what really exists in the world. Is the fundamental stuff matter or mind, is everything already settled in advance, and are the past and the future as real as the present?
- PhysicalismEverything is physical or fully determined by the physical.
- IdealismMind or experience is fundamental, and matter is derivative.
- Neutral monismA neutral basis is neither intrinsically mental nor physical; mind and matter differ in h…
- Hard determinismPrior conditions determine every event, and free will is therefore absent.
- CompatibilismFreedom and moral responsibility can exist even if determinism is true.
- Libertarianism about free willWe can make genuine choices that prior conditions do not necessitate.
- NominalismParticular things need not share a further entity called a universal.
- Realism about universalsThere are properties that distinct particulars literally share.
- EternalismPast, present, and future events are equally real.
- PresentismOnly present things exist; past and future things do not.
- Mereological nihilismThere are no composite objects; only things without proper parts exist.
Philosophy of Mind 7
This field asks how mind and brain are related. It examines whether physical processes can fully explain experience and whether machines could have minds.
- Substance dualismThe mind is an immaterial substance distinct from the body.
- Property dualismA physical subject can have phenomenal properties irreducible to physical properties.
- FunctionalismMental states are characterized by their causal roles.
- Eliminative materialismSome familiar mental categories, such as belief and desire, may fail to refer to real sta…
- IllusionismThe impression of irreducible phenomenal qualities does not establish that those qualitie…
- PanpsychismExperiential properties are present at the fundamental level of nature.
- Extended mindCognitive processes can literally include suitably integrated tools and environments.
Ethics & Metaethics 13
Asks what we should do, and whether that question even has a right answer. Should we judge by outcomes, by principles, or by character, and does the word ‘right’ pick out a fact at all?
- Consequentialism / UtilitarianismThe rightness of an act is determined solely by the goodness of the outcomes it produces.
- DeontologyThere are duties to keep and constraints not to cross, regardless of consequences.
- Virtue EthicsThe fundamental question is not what to do but what kind of person to be.
- ContractualismThe right rules are those that no one could reasonably reject.
- Ethics of CareMorality begins not with abstract rules but with concrete relationships of care.
- Ethical EgoismWhat each person ought to do is maximize their own interest.
- Moral ParticularismThe weight of a moral reason can flip with context, and principles are not needed.
- Moral RealismMoral facts hold independently of our attitudes.
- Moral Error TheoryMoral sentences are factual claims, and every one of them is false.
- Moral Expressivism / EmotivismMoral sentences are expressions of attitude, not reports of fact.
- Moral RelativismMoral truth and falsity hold only relative to a culture or moral framework.
- Moral ConstructivismMoral truth comes to hold by being constructed through a rational procedure.
- Ethical IntuitionismSome moral truths are grasped as self-evident, without inference.
Aesthetics 4
Asks whether beauty can be argued about. Is taste simply each person’s own, or are some judgments better than others? And what makes an object a work of art?
- Aesthetic ObjectivismAesthetic judgments can be right or wrong, and some judges are better than others.
- Aesthetic SubjectivismBeauty lies not in the object but in the mind that beholds it.
- Institutional Theory of ArtA work of art is an artifact on which the artworld has conferred that status.
- Expression Theory of ArtArt is the artist's clarification and expression of their own emotion.
Political & Social Philosophy 13
Asks who is entitled to what and when the state may coerce. Does the individual come first or the community, and how far does the ‘we’ that shares in justice extend?
- LibertarianismSelf-ownership and a just history of acquisition and transfer ground property rights.
- Egalitarian LiberalismInequalities require justification under fair terms of social cooperation.
- SocialismSubstantive freedom requires scrutiny of who owns and controls production.
- CommunitarianismIdentity and value take shape within shared relationships, histories, and practices.
- ConservatismLongstanding institutions can contain practical knowledge that abstract design overlooks.
- Civic RepublicanismFreedom requires protection against domination, not merely an absence of actual interfere…
- AnarchismA command does not acquire a moral claim to obedience merely by coming from the state.
- Desert-based MeritocracyPeople should receive shares responsive to their effort and contribution.
- CosmopolitanismEvery human being, rather than the state or nation, is an ultimate unit of moral concern.
- Liberal Nationalism / ParticularismSpecial obligations to compatriots can have genuine moral weight.
- Feminist Political PhilosophyPractices classified as private can also be matters of justice.
- Deliberative DemocracyDemocratic legitimacy depends on an inclusive exchange of reasons as well as voting.
- Epistocracy / Democratic SkepticismThe exercise of political power should be answerable to standards of competence.
Philosophy of Law 4
This field asks what makes something law and why law should be obeyed. It examines unjust laws' authority, how judges find answers, and what justifies punishment.
- Legal PositivismThe existence and content of law ultimately depend on social sources.
- Natural Law TheoryLaw’s characteristic authority is understood through practical reason and the common good.
- Legal InterpretivismLegal content depends on the principles that best fit and justify a community’s legal pra…
- RetributivismPast wrongdoing and proportionate desert can provide reasons for punishment.
Philosophy of Religion 8
Asks whether something like God is real and, if so, how it relates to the world. Also asks whether it can be legitimate to believe when the evidence does not settle the matter.
- Classical TheismAn omnipotent, omniscient, perfectly good personal God created the world and sustains it…
- AtheismPositively judges that God does not exist.
- AgnosticismWhether God exists is not settled by the evidence we have, so judgment is suspended.
- DeismGod made the world and gave it laws, but has not intervened since.
- PanentheismThe world is in God, but God is greater than the world.
- Religious NaturalismWithout any supernatural being, nature itself is the object of religious attitudes.
- FideismFaith is not the conclusion of evidence but a decision beyond it.
- Reformed EpistemologyBelief in God can be a properly basic belief, justified in itself without argument.
Existence & Meaning of Life 10
Asks whether life has meaning and, if so, whether it is found or made. Also asks which attitude is honest in the face of death and suffering, and whether being born is itself a good thing.
- ExistentialismExistence precedes essence. I make myself through my choices.
- Nihilism (Cosmic Nihilism)On a cosmic scale, nothing ultimately matters.
- AbsurdismLive without erasing the confrontation between our demand for meaning and the world's sil…
- StoicismAccept what you cannot control and seek equanimity by correcting your judgments.
- Secular HumanismHuman reason and solidarity can sustain morality and meaning without a transcendent guara…
- Cosmic Teleology / Meaning RealismMeaning is something already there to discover, rather than merely something we confer.
- Anattā / No-SelfThere is no fixed self, only a changing stream of the five aggregates.
- AntinatalismComing into existence is always a harm, so procreation is not justified.
- Hedonistic OptimismThe quality of experience is sufficient to justify the value of life.
- TranshumanismAging, suffering, and cognitive limits are problems to improve, not a destiny to accept.
Philosophy of Language 7
Asks how words come to refer to things. Is a name’s meaning the description in my head, or a link to the world? Also asks whether meaning comes from use and how far language confines thought.
- Descriptivism about ReferenceA name refers to the object satisfying the descriptions associated with it by the speaker.
- Direct Reference Theory / Causal-Historical TheoryA name reaches its object through a causal history rather than descriptive meaning.
- Meaning as UseA word's meaning lies in its role within linguistic practice.
- Linguistic RelativityThe structure of a language shapes how its speakers categorize and think about the world.
- Semantic ExternalismMeaning depends on the environment and linguistic community, not solely on what is in the…
- Deflationary Theory of Truth“Is true” serves an expressive role without adding a substantial property.
- Correspondence Theory of TruthA true statement matches the way the world actually is.
Philosophy of Logic & Mathematics 6
Asks whether numbers and the laws of logic exist independently of us. Is mathematics discovered or invented? Is there one logic, or can several coexist legitimately depending on the situation?
- Mathematical PlatonismNumbers and sets exist independently of us, outside space and time.
- Mathematical FormalismMathematics operates on symbols by rules; those symbols need not refer to objects.
- Mathematical Intuitionism / ConstructivismMathematical existence requires construction, and truth is understood through proof.
- Classical Logical MonismThere is one correct logic, and it is classical logic.
- Logical Pluralism / Paraconsistent LogicMore than one logic may be legitimate, and some systems permit reasoning with contradicti…
- Mathematical FictionalismMathematics can function as a useful fiction without its apparent objects literally exist…
Metaphilosophy & Method 8
Asks about the activity of philosophy itself. Should philosophy ground itself in experiment, in conceptual analysis, or in lived experience and the interpretation of history? And are philosophical problems to be solved,…
- Philosophical NaturalismPhilosophy is continuous with science; there is no privileged route to knowledge outside…
- PragmatismClarify and assess ideas through the differences they make in practice.
- Logical PositivismA statement lacking both analytic status and empirical testability has no cognitive meani…
- PhenomenologyDescribe how experience presents itself before imposing an explanatory theory.
- Analytic MethodPhilosophy clarifies concepts and examines arguments step by step.
- Continental / Hermeneutic MethodUnderstanding takes place within history and tradition; philosophy interprets that situat…
- Experimental PhilosophyInvestigate philosophical judgments empirically instead of assuming what people intuit.
- Philosophical QuietismMany philosophical puzzles call for dissolving a confusion rather than constructing a new…