- Contrastive semantics(as used in philosophy of language)
- A way of analyzing meaning by looking at how words or concepts differ from their alternatives or opposites.
- Explaining away(as used in philosophy of science and metaphysics)
- Dismissing or reinterpreting evidence that challenges your position rather than actually addressing the problem it raises.
- Formal tidiness(as used in philosophy of science and logic)
- Making a theory look neat and organized on paper, even if it doesn't accurately capture reality.
- Metaphysically significant(as used in metaphysics)
- Important for understanding what actually exists or the true nature of reality, not just how we talk about things.
- Theoretical insight(as used in philosophy of science)
- Deep understanding about how something actually works or what it really is, not just a surface-level description.
- Unified relation(as used in metaphysics)
- A single, consistent type of connection that works the same way in all situations.
- causation(Lewis's counterfactual theory of causation)
- Event C causes event E if and only if there exists a chain C, D1, …, Dn, E such that each member (except C) is counterfactually dependent on the preceding event; causation is the ancestral of counterfactual dependence
- counterexample([IHT] arg. 2)
- A possible obligational situation (casus possibilis positus) that verifies the antecedent and falsifies the consequent of an inference