- Constitutivism(in ethics and personal identity)
- A philosophical theory that says something becomes what it is through certain fundamental activities or principles—like how a chess player becomes a chess player by following the rules of chess.
- Heteronomous(as used in ethics)
- Controlled by something outside of you, rather than by your own rational will; the opposite of acting from your own reasoned principles.
- Kantian
- "Kantian" refers to the ideas of Immanuel Kant, an 18th-century German philosopher who fundamentally changed how we think about knowledge and morality. Kant argued that our minds actively shape what we experience in the world (rather than passively receiving information) and that we have a universal moral duty to act according to principles we'd want everyone to follow. His influence is so widespread that "Kantian" is used today to describe any approach to ethics or thinking that emphasizes reason, universal principles, and treating people as ends in themselves rather than as means to an end.
- Korsgaard(as a philosopher referenced for her theory of practical identity)
- Christine Korsgaard is a modern philosopher who argues that our sense of self-worth comes from being able to reflect on and justify our actions through reason.
- normative authority(whether something has the right to guide how we understand things)
- The legitimate power or right to tell us what we should think, believe, or do.
- practical identity(Korsgaard's transcendental argument for valuing oneself as a rational agent)
- The distinctive nature of a person as an agent, which may include roles such as being a parent or a philosophy professor
- reflective endorsement(The normative standard Hegel sets for how individuals should relate to their inherited social norms)
- The critical, self-conscious acceptance of societal norms, as opposed to unreflective or merely habitual conformity.