abstraction
Supposed process of forming an idea by abstracting out what is common to a variety of instances: a process stressed, for example, by Aquinas in his moderate solution to the problem of universals ...
action theory
A major orientation within sociology and related disciplines that privileges the analysis of the intentional behavior of individuals, or action. Action, in this narrow sense, is behavior that takes ...
active audience theory
The view (particularly associated with mass-media usage) that the audiences are not merely passive receptacles for imposed meanings (see hypodermic model) but rather individual audience members who ...
affective fallacy
A tendency to relate the meaning of a text to its readers' interpretations, which is criticized as a form of relativism by those literary theorists who claim that meaning resides primarily within the ...
Alexius Meinong
(1853–1920)is one of the most misunderstood and reviled philosophers of recent times. According to a prevalent view, he was a spendthrift metaphysician who delighted in multiplying entities ...
ambiguity
Having more than one meaning. The simplest case is lexical ambiguity, where a single term has two meanings. A sentence or grammatically complex construction can be ambiguous without any of the words ...
analogic communication
1. Meaning ‘given off’ (Goffman) through body language. Such communication is typically unintentional, and unavoidably ‘gives us away’, revealing such things as our moods, attitudes, intentions, and ...
analytic and synthetic statements
According to Kant, an analytic statement (or judgement) is one in which the concept of the predicate is already contained, or thought, in the concept of the subject—an example would ...
analytic philosophy
The philosophy that takes the process of analysis to be central to philosophical method and progress. The common idea of analytical philosophers was that the surface form of a language may conceal ...
Anthony Clifford Grayling
(1949–)Anthony Grayling was born in Luanshya, Zambia on 3 April 1949. He grew up in the English expatriate community of Central and East Africa, which afforded him eclectic philosophical ...
Anthony John Patrick Kenny
(1931– ).British philosopher who has written on topics in the philosophy of mind, medieval philosophy, ancient philosophy, the philosophy of Wittgenstein, the philosophy of Descartes, moral ...
Anthony Quinton
(1925–2010).British philosopher, based in Oxford and member of the House of Lords, who wrote on political philosophy, ethics and metaphysics, the philosophy of mind, and a variety of historical ...
aporia
A serious perplexity or insoluble problem. The Socratic method of raising problems without providing solutions is sometimes called the aporetic method. Deconstruction is often credited with ...
audience determinism
Compare authorial determinism; textual determinism.1. In relation to the interpretation of texts that are separated from their authors (e.g. published books and broadcasts), the notion that the last ...
authorial determinism
The notion that author is the creator of a text and as such is the sole arbiter of its meaning. For the limitations of this view, see authorial intention.
authorial intention
A position that argues that the creator of a text possesses a privileged understanding of its meaning and that consequently any interpretation that contradicts this understanding must defer to the ...
Benjamin Jowett
(1817–93),one of the legendary figures of late Victorian Oxford, was professor of Greek from 1855 and master of Balliol College from 1870. A Broad Churchman in the tradition of T. Arnold, he outraged ...
Bertrand Russell
(third Earl Russell) (1872–1970), wrote voluminously on philosophy, logic, education, economics, and politics, and throughout his life was the champion of advanced political and social causes. While ...
Bhartṛhari
1 (c. 5th century ce) The most important thinker in the field of vyākaraṇa (linguistic analysis/grammar), and largely responsible for its establishment as an independent darśana (philosophical ...
branding
The marketing processes by which a company, product, or service acquires a distinctive identity in the minds of consumers—becoming associated with particular values, lifestyles, and meanings.
