Alienation: In Marx, the state of being dominated by one’s own vital, creative capabilities, as a consequence of forms of social organizationin which reified powers like money rule over human needs. Source: ‘What is Good? What is Bad? The Value of All Values across Time, Place and Theories’ by John McMurtry, Philosophy and World Problems, Volume I-III, UNESCO in… Read More

Alliance: An alliance for health promotion is a partnership between two or more parties that pursue a set of agreed upon goals in health promotion. Reference: new definition Alliance building will often involve some form of mediation between the different partners in the definition of goals and ethical ground rules, joint action areas, and agreement on the form of… Read More

Analogy: Things are analogous insofar as they are similar. Arguments from analogy and scientific discoveries from analogies are therefore arguments and discoveries based on similarities. Source: ‘What is Good? What is Bad? The Value of All Values across Time, Place and Theories’ by John McMurtry, Philosophy and World Problems, Volume I-III, UNESCO in partnership with Encyclopedia of Life Support… Read More

Analytic philosophy: An umbrella term covering any school or method of philosophy for which logical rigor and distinctions are prioritized and referents restricted to linguistic entities. See Synthetic / analytic distinction. Source: ‘What is Good? What is Bad? The Value of All Values across Time, Place and Theories’ by John McMurtry, Philosophy and World Problems, Volume I-III, UNESCO in… Read More

Analytic sentence: A sentence with a self-contradictory negation. Source: ‘What is Good? What is Bad? The Value of All Values across Time, Place and Theories’ by John McMurtry, Philosophy and World Problems, Volume I-III, UNESCO in partnership with Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems: Oxford, 2004-11. 

Anarchism: social, political and philosophical movements advocating self-government of individuals and community against the coercive central authority of the State. Source: ‘What is Good? What is Bad? The Value of All Values across Time, Place and Theories’ by John McMurtry, Philosophy and World Problems, Volume I-III, UNESCO in partnership with Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems: Oxford, 2004-11. 

Animism: belief in the existence of souls or spirits inhabiting individual and/or collective objects, including the universe as a whole. Source: ‘What is Good? What is Bad? The Value of All Values across Time, Place and Theories’ by John McMurtry, Philosophy and World Problems, Volume I-III, UNESCO in partnership with Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems: Oxford, 2004-11. 

Antecedent: Sentences following “if” and preceding “then” in conditional claims. Source: ‘What is Good? What is Bad? The Value of All Values across Time, Place and Theories’ by John McMurtry, Philosophy and World Problems, Volume I-III, UNESCO in partnership with Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems: Oxford, 2004-11. 

Anti-foundationalism: A generic term for the dominant trend of philosophy over the recent century whose unifying characteristic is denial of any universal truths or values. A generic term for the dominant trend of philosophy over the recent century embracing many contemporary philosophers and schools of thought whose unifying characteristic is denial of any universal necessities of self,… Read More

Antinomy: A special form of contradiction in which the conclusions of two arguments on the same subject are valid but contrary to each other. Source: ‘What is Good? What is Bad? The Value of All Values across Time, Place and Theories’ by John McMurtry, Philosophy and World Problems, Volume I-III, UNESCO in partnership with Encyclopedia of Life Support… Read More