I. Definition All fluent English speakers probably think they know what optimism means—expecting things to go well; believing that everything will work out for the best. And this is one definition of optimism among psychologists, but not the only one (see section five). What researchers agree is that optimism is good for your health, success, and happiness. Optimistic people experience less stre... »
I. Definition Pantheism is the belief that God = the universe. The word “God,” on this view, is just another word for “Nature” or “Everything that Exists.” If you take everything in the universe – all the humans, planets, stars, galaxies, alien creatures, dirt clods, etc., and add it all up, what you get is God. In this sense, pantheism has only one god, and therefore it’s a form of monotheism; h... »
I. Definition Perfectionism, in philosophy, means something quite different from the popular definition (the character trait of feeling a compulsion to be or do things, “perfectly”). In philosophy, perfectionism describes any philosophy of pursuing the best possible life, human excellence, or other “highest good”—or any philosophy of ethics or politics that prioritize such goals. In none of the... »
I. Definition Populism is a kind of political philosophy, unusual in that it may (arguably) describe many more specific philosophies, right-wing, left-wing, and neither, including democracy, socialism, labor parties, libertarianism, and even some forms of fascism! At its simplest, populism is the belief that government policies should be determined by the will of the masses, rather than any elite.... »
I. Definition Qualia are the phenomenal qualities of experiences—the raw felt qualities of sensations, emotions, thoughts, or anything else. They are experienced privately, subjectively, and directly; all the content of consciousness states is made of them. How do you know that you’re conscious? You probably answer, because you’re experiencing something—thoughts, feelings, sensations, sights, or ... »
I. Definition “It all boils down to . . .” Atoms? Signals in the brain? Yin and yang? Two kinds of people? Economics? How many times have you heard someone say that everything “just boils down to” one or a few simple things? That, in a nutshell, is reductionism. Or more technically speaking, the claim that the properties of any complex and varied phenomenon can be explained in terms of the dynam... »
I. Definition “Different strokes for different folks” might be the simplest and least controversial expression of relativism, the idea that what’s good or bad, right or wrong, or true or false, can be different for different people. Yet, relativism is not only controversial but right at the heart of some of the most divisive issues of our day, issues like whether evolution and / or creationism sh... »
I. Definition Are you skeptical about holistic medicine? Climate change? The existence of extra-terrestrials? We’ve come to use the word “skepticism,” in our society, most often, to express doubt in new or “far out” ideas. Originally, in ancient Greece, skepticism was the philosophy of questioning all claims, religious, ethical, scientific, or otherwise. The point of skepticism was not so much t... »
I. Definition Solipsism is the belief that there is nothing outside one’s own mind. It’s a strange view that very few people have seriously advocated, but it’s surprisingly difficult to disprove, and so it’s kind of a sticky problem in the history of Western philosophy. Understanding solipsism will allow you to understand one of the most central problems of philosophy: the boundaries between the s... »
I. Definition Where did the Easter Bunny come from? It doesn’t seem to have any connection with the story of Jesus! In fact, the bunny and its eggs are symbols of reproductive fertility, which has always been celebrated in the Spring—by pagans. Easter is an example of religious syncretism – the blending of different religious. Easter was named after an ancient Germanic pagan fertility goddess. ... »