Christian METAPHYSICS - Essay Example

February 7, Assignment Part 2 Equivosity of language I will clock her as she runs around the track. The clock onthe wall uses a floral motif. 2. That is a very bright light. The package is surprisingly light. 3. He is a really cool teacher. The fan has made the room quite cool. Univosity of language: 1. The clock is an antique. The clock shows that we are late for the meeting. 2. The sun gives off natural light. A fluorescent bulb gives off unnatural light. 3. The evening was cool for the season.

The metal was cool to the touch. Skate has two meanings: gliding on wheels or blades (the first example), and also a type of fish (the second example).I like to skate on ice, beneath snow-covered trees.My brother caught a skate and grilled it for dinner. Formal Definitionsa. DEFINITION It is a statement attesting that under certain conditions Z, term X may be replaced by term Y, and conversely (Maartensz).b. ESSENCE Essence is something that belongs to a thing such that without it the thing cannot be the thing it is; necessary characteristic or property of a thing (Maartensz).c. ARGUMENTATION It is the action or process of reasoning systematically in support of an idea, action, or theory.

It is the active engagement of reasoning systematically, in support of an idea, action, or theory, through the use of logic, a series of statements of which the last is said to be the conclusion, and the others the premises or evidence for the conclusion.d. RATIONAL It means according to reason (Maartensz)e. ULTIMATE It refers to something being incapable of further analysis, incapable of further division or separation, being constituent, being elemental (Maartensz)f. CAUSES It is the producer or producers of an action or result in an objective, real relationship between producer and produced, which can be known to exist, given the existence of the product or effect. g. EFFECTS The effect of a formal cause, a primary and intrinsic formal effect, is a concrete composite, or a designation resulting from form united to an apt subject (i.e. to a subject capable of receiving that form) e.g. the formal primary and intrinsic effect of heat by which water is made warm is the warm water itself, so also a holy man is the formal effect of grace united to man.

But that which is called secondary and extrinsic is any effect whether positive or negative, which so results, from the union of form with its subject that it may be adequately distinguished from or remain extrinsic to the form, e.g. the driving out of cold from the water (Runes). h. KNOWLEDGE It is true belief based on evidence (Maartensz).i. BELIEF Belief is what one thinks is true, what one holds is more probable than not, a fundamental propositional attitude (Maartensz). j. RELIGION Religion is, intellectually, belief in the supernatural.

Socially, religion is institutions and practices based on belief in the supernatural (Maartensz).k. GOD God is the highest, ultimate being, assumed by theology on the basis of authority, revelation, or the evidence of faith as absolutely necessary, but demonstrated as such by a number of philosophical systems, notably idealistic, monistic and dualistic ones (Runes), and interpreted by those who do not support theological assumptions to be an intellectually useless assumption, which some find emotionally satisfying (Maartensz). l. EMPIRICAL It is based on or derived from experience, especially sense-experience (Maartensz)m.

SUPERSENSIBLE Supersensible refers to realms which are beyond the range of what is perceptible by the five senses; not belonging to the experienceable physical world. Heaven is a supersensible realm (definition-of.net). Rudolf Steiner claimed two portals to supersensible experience and knowledge: nature and mysticism (Steiner). n. SENSIBLE Referring to the experienceable physical world, the realm which is naturally perceptible (by the five senses).o. QUALITATIVE PROCEDURE Based on the assumptions that reality is socially constructed, the primacy of subject matter, the emic point of view, and the understanding that variables are complex, interwoven, and difficult to measure, it is an inductive process whereby the personally involved, partial and empathic researcher serves as the primary research instrument, ends with hypotheses and grounded theory, seeks pluralism and complexity in naturalistic observation and participation, searches for patterns in experience, paying attention to emergence and portrayal, makes minor use of numerical indices, and does descriptive write-up.

The purpose is contextualization, interpretation, and understanding actors’ perspectives (Del Siegle). p. QUANTITATIVE PROCEDURE Based on the assumptions that facts have an objective reality, the reliability of an etic point of view, the primacy of method, and the identification and measurability of variables, it is a deductive process whereby the detached and impartial, objective researcher begins with a hypotheses and theories, engages in manipulation and control of variables, uses formal instruments and/or experimentation, uses component analysis to look for consensus (the norm), reduces data to numerical indices and uses abstract language in writing up the process and results.

The purpose is generalizability, prediction, and causal explanation (Del Siegle). q. THING A thing is whatever can be counted and thought of as one and distinguished from whatever else one can think of (Maartensz)r. FAITH Faith is a belief or creed that is used as an orientation in the world and society of a philosophical or religious kind (Maartensz) s. SCIENCE Science consists of known and usually recorded facts and experimentally testable rational explanations thereof (Maartensz)t. UNDERSTANDING The faculty of thinking the object of sensuous intuition; or the faculty of concepts, judgments and principles.

The understanding is the source of concepts, categories and principles by means of which the manifold of sense is brought into the unity of apperception (Runes). u. EXPLANATION An explanation of something described by a set of statements S is a set of statements that deductively entails S (Maartensz)v. PROXIMATE A thing is proximate if it is next or nearest in space or time, immediately preceding or following in a series (Farlex) w. EXPERIENCE Experience is a comprehensive term for anything a human being may notice, believe, feel, hope, know, imagine, sense, remember etc.

and thus somehow represent (Maartensz)x. WISDOM It is the exercise of right judgment, where the latter may be provisionally characterized as being rational and reasonable; being more probably true than not, if not true outright; and tending to the decrease of especially human suffering where appropriate (Maartensz)y. TABULA RASA The mind is like a slate, a blank tablet, upon which experience records impressions. This is a denial of innate, a priori knowledge (Runes)z. INNATISMInnatism is a theory of philosophy in which ideas, or principles, are considered to be present in the mind at birth, either fully formed or requiring some additional experience for their complete formulation (Runes).

Works Cited(ed), Dagobert D. Runes. "Dictionary of Philosophy (Ancient - Medieval - Modern)." 1942. Digital Texts. Web. 7 February 2012 .definition-of.net. "definition-of.net." nd. Web. 7 February 2012 .Farlex. "The Free Dictionary." 2012. thefreedictionary.com. Web. 7 February 20112 .Maartensz, Maarten. "Philosophical Dictionary." 2005. Maartensz.org. Web. 7 February 2012 .Siegle, Del. "Research." nd. University of Connecticut. Web. 7 February 2012 .Steiner, Rudolf. "Supersensible Knowledge: Its Secrecy in the Past and Publication in our Time.

" Anthroposophy Quarterly, Vol 1 (1926). Print.