Intuitionism - in ethics, the view that people have an innate sense of right and wrong. Logic - the study of proper reasoning, of valid and invalid arguments, of fallacies and syllogisms. Usually broken down into formal logic and informal logic. Maieutic - see the Socratic Method. Materialism - the doctrine that matter is the only, or primary, reality, as opposed to idealism, which contends that ideas and thoughts of things are the only reality. Metaphysics - the study of being in its largest sense; an inquiry into the ultimate reality. [Literally, "beyond physics".] Monism - 1. In Greek philosophy, the theory that everything is made out of the same basic stuff (e.g., the atomistic philosophy of the Ionians); the theory that there is literally only one thing (the Eleatic monism of Parmenides and his disciples). 2. The rejection of dichotomies, such as those of 'mind' and 'matter'. Examples of monist theories are materialism and idealism. Moral relativism - The view that values differ across cultures and societies and are not universally "true" in all places and for all time. The opposite of moral absolutism Naturalism - the doctrine that reality is governed by certain laws, including those of cause and effect. Nihilism - 1. the view that nothing can be known, that knowledge is illusory, meaningless, or irrelevant; the denial of any objective ground of truth. 2. the view that moral values and perspectives are groundless and cannot be justified, either by appeal to God and tradition or by appeal to the human conscience, intuition, or the laws of a state. 3. the belief (e.g., of Nietzsche) that the universe has no ultimate aim or purpose, that human life is insignificant. [From the Latin nihil, "nothing".] Nirvana - in Buddhist religion, a state of mystical wisdom achieved after all fleshy desires have been surmounted. In Hindu religion, the renunciation of all material attachments and achievement of ultimate happiness. noumenon: in Kantian philosophy, the thing-in-itself which cannot be perceived in experience.
