Terms
Absolutism- A political theory that absolute power should be vested in one or more rulers.
Ad Hominem– Appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect.
Ahimsa- The Hindu and Buddhist doctrine of refraining from harming any living being
Anthropocentric– Considering human beings as the most significant entity of the universe.
Bioethics– A discipline dealing with the ethical implications of biological research and applications especially in medicine.
Deep Ecology- A movement ot a body of concepts that considers human no more important than other species and that advocates a corresponding radical readjustment of the relationships between humans and nature.
Determinism- A doctrine that acts of the will, natural, events, or social changes are determined by preceding causes.(Britannica Academic)
Deontology– The theory or study of moral obligation.
Eudaemonism- A theory that the highest ethical goals is happiness and personal well-being.
Ethics- The discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation.
Falsity- The quality or state of being false.
Fatalism- A doctrine that events are fixed in advanced so that human beings are powerless to change them.
Freedom- The state of being free from the control or power of another.
Fundamentalism– A movement or attitude stressing strict and literal adherence to a set of basic principles. (Britannica Academic)
Immoral- Conflicting with generally or traditionally held moral principles.
Indeterminism– A theory that the will is free and that deliberate choice and actions are not determined by or predicable from antecedent causes.
Metaethics– The study of the meanings of ethical terms, the nature of ethical judgments, and the types of ethical arguments.
Morality- A literary or other imaginative work teaching a moral lesson.
Natural Law– A body of law or a specific principle held to be derived from nature and binding upon human society in the absence of or in addition to positive law.
Nepotism- Favoritism (as in appointment for a job) based on kinship.
Philosophy- A search for general understanding of values and reality by chiefly speculative rather than observational means.
Positive Law– Law established or recognized by governmental authority.
Predestination- The belief that everything that will happen has already been decided by God or gate and cannot be changed.
Proposition- An expression in language or signs of something that can be believed, doubted or denied or is either true or false.
Relativism- A view that ethical truths depend on the individuals and groups holding them.
Social Darwinism– A sociological theory that socio-cultural advance is the product of intergroup conflict and competition and hte socially elite classes posses biological superiority in the struggle for existence.
Supererogatory- Observed or performed to an extent no enjoined or required.
Teleology– A doctrine that attributes a purpose to nature or the explains natural phenomena as directed toward a goal.
Truth- Sincerity in action, character, and utterance.
Utilitarianism- A doctrine that the useful is hte good and that the determining consideration of right conduct should be the usefulness of its consequences.
Vice- Moral depravity or corruption.
Virtue- A particular moral excellence.
(All definitions came from Merriam-Webster, unless other wise noted)