December 3, 2011

2011 - 2012 Terminology 3

1 Verstehen Position
The meaning (what we are trying to figure out) of an observable action depends on context. The context is different for different times/people/location/etc, hence it is often difficult to generalize because the observers cannot observe the person's motive, purpose, and intention.

2 Historiography
The study and recording of past events. It is an academic inquiry carried out by historians. Historiography is different from history because it includes opinions and perspectives, which is also an analysis of historical evidence.

4 Hindsight
The perspective of the past event and its effects in later events. Hindsight bias: It is easy to say that someone should have done something differently to avoid the terrible outcome because we already know the consequence.

5 Bias in History
(a) Topic Choice Bias: Topic choice of the historian is based on current focus of the time
(b) Confirmation Bias: Ignoring counter evidence in favor of what supports our perspective
(c) National Bias: It is difficult to be objective in certain matters such as national pride

6 Great Person Theory of History
The course of history is determined mainly by great individuals. If the person doesn't exist, the course of history would be different. Examples of the Great People: Mao Tse Dong, Hitler, Shi Huang Di, and Stalin.

7 Theory of Empathy in History
We should try to understand the causes and motivations of a historical figure's actions as they would have understood them.

8 Economic Determinism
A person's action is determined by his or economic status. The course of history is mainly determined by economic and technological factors.

9 The Categorical Imperative
We must act based on morals, regardless of the consequence. The opposing idea is hypothetical imperative, which states the certain conditions only apply to certain people.

10 Relativism
There are no absolute or universal truths. All moral assessments should be made relative to the group's social norms.

11 Collectivism
A general feeling towards a certain idea. With collectivism, it is possible to come to a conclusion with one solution, with the majority's agreement on something to have a common truth.

12 The Divine Command Theory
An act is moral or immoral solely because God commands us to do it or either prohibits us from doing it. This theory is refuted by the Euthyphro Dilemma as it questions, "Are morally good acts willed by God because they are morally good, or are they morally good because they are willed by God?"

13 Consequentialism
An action is ethically or morally right if only its consequences are good. An action can only be determined as good or bad after the outcome is known.

14 Deontology
Regardless of consequence, our actions determine our morality.

15 Utilitarianism
We do whatever we do to maximize our happiness. The greatest happiness principle promotes human pleasure.

16 The Golden Rule
We treat others as how we want other people to treat us.

17 Acts and Omission
We are presented with a dilemma with solutions in which we can act (to do something) or omit (not do anything but allow something to happen), which leads to negative consequences.

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