- Analytic/synthetic boundary(as a key distinction in epistemology)
- A fundamental division in philosophy between two types of statements: analytic statements are true just by understanding the words (like 'all bachelors are unmarried'), while synthetic statements need to be checked against reality to know if they're true (like 'it's raining today').
- Categorical difference(as contrasted with merely temporal difference)
- A fundamental, essential difference in type or kind between things, rather than just a difference in degree or timing.
- Collapses(complexity theory)
- When separate levels of a hierarchy become indistinguishable or merge into one, suggesting they're actually the same difficulty level.
- Finite vs. infinite steps(as an alternative way to distinguish between types of statements)
- A way of measuring complexity: finite steps means something can be proven or verified in a limited number of procedures, while infinite steps means you'd need endless procedures—a possible way to redraw the line between analytic and synthetic statements.
- Kant(as used in epistemology and metaphysics)
- Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was an influential German philosopher who argued that our minds shape how we experience reality, and that we can only truly know things as they appear to us, not as they are in themselves.
- matters of fact(Pascal's epistemological distinction between factual questions and matters of religious doctrine)
- Questions that are proved only by the senses and are easily decided through direct sensory inspection, as opposed to revealed truths which may be taught by authority
- relations of ideas(Hume's fork; contrasted with matters of fact)
- Propositions whose truth is established by reason alone, such that their negation implies a contradiction