Dagobert D. Runes, Dictionary of Philosophy, 1942.


Ta: General name. "All substances necessarily call for such a name." (Neo-Mohism). -- W.T.C.
Taboo or Tabu: Anthropological term of Polynesian origin applied to persons or things with which contacts are forbidden under severe social and religious penalties. The primitive belief in taboos, affording as it does religious sanctions for moral prohibitions, is of great ethical significance and has even been considered by some to be the origin of morality and ethics. -- L.W.
Tabula rasa: Literally, a blank tablet. John Locke (1632-1704) held that human knowledge came by way of experience. The mind is like a slate upon which experience records impressions. This is a denial of innate, a priori knowledge. -- V.F.
Ta i: 'The great unit', the greatest with nothing beyond itself. (Sophism). -- H.H.
Ta i: The Great Unit. See t'ai i.
T'ai Chi:
  1. The Great Ultimate or Terminus, which, in the beginning of time, "engenders the Two Primary Modes (i), which in turn engender the Four Secondary Modes or Forms (hsiang), which in their turn give rise to the Eight Elements (pa kua) and the Eight Elements determine all good and evil and the great complexity of life." (Ancient Chinese philosophy).
  2. The Great Ultimate which comes from, but is originally one with, the Non-Ultimate (wu chi). Its movement and tranquillity engender the active principle, yang, and the passive principle, yin, respectively (the Two Primary Modes), the transformation and the union of which give rise to the Five Agents (wu hsing) of Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, and Earth, and thereby the determinate things (Chou Lien-hsi, 1017-1073).
  3. The Great Ultimate which is One and unmoved, and which, when moved, becomes the Omnipotent Creative Principle (shen) which engenders Number, then Form, and finally corporeality. Being such, the Great Ultimate is identical with the Mind, it is identical with the Moral Law (tao). (Shao K'ang-chieh, 1011-1077)
  4. The Great Ultimate which is identical with the One (1), or the Grand Harmony (T'ai Ho). (Chang Heng-ch'u, 1020-1077).
  5. The Great Ultimate which is identical with the Reason (li) of the universe, of the two (yin and yang) vital forces (ch'i), and of the Five Elements (wu hsing). It is the Reason of ultimate goodness. ''Collectively there is only one Great Ultimate, but there is a Great Ultimate in each thing" (Chu Hsi, 1130-1200).
-- W.T.C.
T'ai ch'u: At the 'great beginning' there was non-being, which had neither being nor name. (Chuang Tzu, between 399 and 295 B.C.). The great origin, or the beginning of the vital force (ch'i). (Lieh Tzu, third century A.D.). -- H.H.
T'ai Ho: Grand Harmony or Infinite Harmony, the state and totality of being anterior to, but inclusive of, the Ultimate Vacuity (T'ai Hsu) and the vital force (ch'i); identical with the One (I) or the Great Ultimate (T'ai Chi) (Chang Heng-ch'u, 1020-1077). -- W.T.C.
T'ai Hsu: The Ultimate Vacuity, the course, the basis and the being of the material principle, ch'i, or the universal vital force the concentration and extension of which is to the Ultimate Vacuity as ice is to water. (Chang: Heng-ch'u, 1020-1077). -- W.T.C.
T'ai Hsuan: The Supremely Profound Principle, "extending to and covering the myriad things without assuming any physical form, which created the universe by drawing its support from the Void, embraces the divinities, and determines the course of events." (Yang Hsiung, d. 18 B.C.). -- W.T.C.
T'ai I: The Great Indeterminate, the state or existence before the emergence of the vital force (ch'i). (Lieh Tzu, third century A.D.). -- W.T.C.
T'ai i:
  1. The Great Unit, the Prime Force before the appearance of Heaven and Earth. Also called ta i. (Ancient Confucianism).
  2. Ultimate Oneness, which involves both Being (yu) and Non-Being (wu) (as in Chuang Tzu, between 399 and 295 B.C.), or "which pervades Heaven and Earth, indeterminate but simple, existing but uncreated," (As in Huai-nan Tzu, d. 122 B.C.).
  3. The Lord of Heaven (Huai-nan Tzu).
-- W.T.C.
T'ai Shih: The Great Beginning, the first appearance of material form. -- W.T.C.
T'ai Su: The Great Element, the beginning of qualities of things. (Lieh Tzu, third century A.D.). -- W.T.C.
T'ai yang: The Major Mode of Activity See T'ai Chi.
T'ai yin: The Major Mode of Passivity. See T'ai Chi.
Tai Tung-yuan: (Tai Chen, Tai Shen-hsiu, 1723-1777) carne from a poor family, self-made to be a leader in outstanding intellectual activities of the time, and became an authority in philology, mathematics, geography as well as philosophy. By reinteipreting the teachings of Mencius, he attempted to rediscover the original meanings of Confucius and Mencius. His Tai-shih I-shu (works) consists of 31 chuans in several volumes. -- W.T.C.
Ta Ku: Major cause. See: ku.
Talmud: (Learning) An encyclopedic work in Hebrew-Aramaic produced during 800 years (300 B.C.-500 A.D.) in Palestine and Babylon. Its six sedarim (orders) subdivided in 63 massektot (tractates) represent the oral tradition of Judaism expounding and developing the religious ideas and civil laws of the written special hermeneutic middot (measures) of law (i.e., the Hebrew Bible) by means of Rabbi Hillel, 13 of R. Ishmael and 32 of R. Eliezer of Galilee.

However, it is more than a mere commentary on the old testament, but a veritable storehouse of ancient Jewish philosophy, theology, history, ethics, sciences, folklore, etc., that accumulated during those eventful 8 centuries. The Talmud consists of an older layer, the Mishnah (q.v.) compiled in Palestine (200 A.D.) and younger layer -- the Gemara (q.v.) as commentary on the former. The Gemara produced in Palestine together with the Mishnah is known as the Jerusalem Talmud (q.v.) and the Gemara produced in Babylon together with the same Mishnah is known as the Babylonian Talmud.

Contemporary with the Talmud developed a somehow similar literature closely related to the text of the Hebrew Bible and known as Midrash (interpretation), containing both halakah (law) and aggada (homily). -- H.L.G.

Talmud, Babylonian: The Palestine Mishna was carried to Babylon and studied by 7 generations of Amoraim in the Academies of Nehardea (under Samuel). -- H.L.G.
Talmud, Palestinian: Was arranged first by Rabbi Johanan (d. 279 A.D.) and finally compiled early in the 5th century. It is based on the Mishnah of R. Judah as interpreted in the academies of Lydda, Caesaria, Sepphoris and Tiberias (closed 425 A.D.). Its Gemaras extend presently only over 39 of the 63 tractates of the Mishnah, but it is assumed that many Gemaras were lost during the many persecutions.

In the latest edition, the Palestine Talmud occupies ca. 2663 pages.

Wherever opinions differ, it is the Babylonian Talmud that is considered as authoritative for the Jews.

A complete manuscript of the Palestinian Talmud is found in the Leiden Library, and from it was printed its first edition by Bomberg, Venice, 1523-24. -- H.L.G.

Tamas: (Skr.) One of the three gunas (q.v.) of the Sankhya (q.v.), representing the principle of inactivity, sluggishness, and indifference in matter or prakrti (q.v.). -- K.F.L.
Tan: The opposite of 'grossness'; remaining detached from all outside things, the climax of fineness. It is to have in oneself no contraries; the climax of purity, in the sense of 'un-mixedness'. (Chuang Tzu, between 399 and 295 B.C.). -- H.H.
Tanmatra: (Skr.) One of the five "subtile elements" in the philosophy of the Sankhya (q.v.) and other systems, corresponding to the matter apprehended in the sensation of sound, touch, color, taste, and smell; generally, the manifold of sensory experience, perhaps also the "reals", or sensation-generals, equivalent to bhutamatra (q.v.). -- K.F.L.
Tantra: (Skr.) One of a large number of treatises reflecting non-indogermanic Hindu and Mongolian influence, composed in the form of diaogues between Shiva (q.v.) and Durga (see Sakti) on problems of ritual, magic, philosophy, and other branches of knowledge. The Tantras, outside the main current of Vedic (q.v.) thinking yet sharing many of the deepest speculations, stress cult and teach the supremacy of the female principle as power or sakti (see Shaktism). -- K.F.L.
Tantric: Adjective to Tantra (q.v.)
  1. The Way, principle, cosmic order, nature. "The Tao that can be expressed in words is not the eternal Tao." It is "vague and eluding," "deep and obscure," but "there is in it the form" and "the essence." "In it is reality." It "produced the One, the One produced the two, the two produced the three, and the three produced all things." Its "standard is the Natural." (Lao Tzu).

    "Tao has reality and evidence but no action nor form. It may be transmitted, but cannot be received. It may be attained, but cannot be seen. It is its own essence, and its own root." "Tao operates, and results follow." "Tao has no limit." "It is in the ant," "a tare," "a potsherd," "ordure." (Chuang Tzu, between 399 and 295 B.C.).

  2. The Confucian "Way;" the teachings of the sage; the moral order, the moral life, truth, the moral law; the moral principle. This means "the fulfillment of the law of our human nature." It is the path of man's moral life. "True manhood (jen) is that by which a man is to be a man. Generally speaking, it is the moral law" (Mencius, 371-289 B.C.). "To proceed according to benevolence and righteousness is called the Way." (Han Yu, 767-824).
  3. The Way, which means following the Reason of things, and also the Reason which is in everything and which everything obeys. (Neo-Confucianism).
  4. The Way or Moral Law in the cosmic sense, signifying "what is above the realm of corporeality," and the "successive movement of the active (yang) and the passive principles (yin)." In the latter sense as understood both in ancient Confucianism and in Neo-Confucianism, it is interchangeable with the Great Ultimate (T'ai Chi). Shao K'ang-chieh (1011-1077) said that "The Moral Law is the Great Ultimate." Chang Heng-ch'u (1022-1077) identified it with the Grand Harmony (Ta Ho) and said that "from the operation of the vital force (ch'i) there is the Way." This means that the Way is the principle of being as well as the sum total of the substance and functions of things. To Ch'eng I-ch'uan (1033-1107) "There is no Way independent of the active (yang) principle and the passive (yin) principle. Yet it is precisely the Way that determines the active and passive principles. These principles are the constituents of the vital force (ch'i), which is corporeal. On the other hand, the Way transcends corporeality." To Chu Hsi (1130-1200), the Way is "the Reason why things are as they are." Tai Tung-yuan (1723-1777) understood it to mean "the incessant transformation of the universe," and "the operation of things in the world, involving the constant flow of the vital force (ch'i) and change, and unceasing production and reproduction."
-- W.T.C.
Tao chia: The Taoist school, the followers of Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Lieh Tzu, etc., who "urged men to unity of spirit, teaching that all activities should be in harmony with the unseen (Tao), with abundant liberality toward all things in nature. As to method, they accept the orderly sequence of nature from the Yin Yang school, select the good points of Confucianists and Mohists, and combine with these the important points of the Logicians and Legalists. In accordance with the changes of the seasons, they respond to the development of natural objects."

"By studying the principles of success and failure, preservation and destruction, calamity and prosperity from ancient to recent times, they learn how to hold what is essential and to grasp the fundamental. They guard themselves with purity and emptiness, in humility and weakness they maintain themselves . . . Afterwards those who act without restraint desired to reject learning and the rules of propriety, and at the same time, discard benevolence and righteousness. They said that the world could be governed simply by purity and emptiness."

"To regard the fundamental as the refined essence and to regard things as its coarse embodiment; to regard accumulation as deficiency; to dwell quietly and alone with the spiritual and the intelligent; these were some aspects of the system of Tao of the ancients . . . They built their system upon the principle the eternal Non-Being and centered it upon the idea of Ultimate Unity. Their outward expression was weakness and humility. Pure emptiness without injury to objective things was for them true substance. Kuan Yin said, "Establish nothing in regard to oneself. Let things be what they are; move like water; be tranquil like a mirror; respond like an echo. Pass quickly like the non-existent; be quiet like purity . . .' Lao Tan (Lao Tzu) said, 'Know manhood (active force), and preserve womanhood (passive force); become the ravine of the world. Know whiteness (glory); endure blackness (disgrace); become a model of the world.' Men all seek the first; he alone took the last . . . Men all seek for happiness; he alone sought contentment in adaptation . . . He regarded the deep as the fundamental, moderation as the rule . . .

"Silent and therefore formless, changing and therefore impermanent, now dead, now living, equal with Heaven and Earth, moving with the spiritual and the intelligent, disappearing -- where? Suddenly -- whither? . . . -- These were some aspects of the system of Tao of the ancients. Chuang Chow (Chuang Tzu) heard of them and was delighted . . . He had personal communion with the spirit of Heaven and Earth but no sense of pride in his superiority to all things. He did not condemn either right or wrong, so he was at ease with the world . . . Above he roams with the Creator; below he makes friends of those who transcend beginning and end and make no distinctions between life and death . . ." -- W.T.C.

Tao chiao: The Taoist religion, or the religion which was founded on the exotic interpretation of the teachings of the Yellow Emperor and Lao Tzu (Huang Lao) that flourished in the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.), which assimilated the Yin Yang philosophy, the practice of alchemy, and the worship of natural objects and immortals, and which became highly elaborated through wholesale imitation of the Buddhist religion. -- W.T.C.
Tao Hsueh: The "Moral Law' School. See li hsueh -- W.T.C.
Taoism: See Tao chia and Chinese philosophy.
Tao shu: The essence of Tao, or the axis of Tao at the center of which all Infinities converge and all distinctions disappear. (Chuang Tzu, between 399 and 295 B.C.). -- W.T.C.
Tapas: (Skr. heat) Austerity, penance, intense application of Yoga (q.v.). -- K.F.L.
Tarka: (Skr.) Reasoning, logic; also a name for the Nyaya (q.v.). -- K.F.L.
Ta shun: Complete harmony, as a result of the Profound Virtue or Mysterious Power. See hsuan te. -- W.T.C.
  1. The faculty of judging art without rules, through sensation and experience.
  2. The ensemble of preferences shown by an artist in his choice of elements from nature and tradition, for his works of art.
-- L.V.
Ta te: Universally recognized moral qualities of man, namely, wisdom (chih), moral chiracter (jen), and courage (yung). (Confucianism). -- W.T.C.
Ta t'i: "The part of man which is great " (Mencius). -- H.H.
Tattva: (Skr.) "Thatness", "whatness", one of the principles ranging from abstract factors of conscious life to relations and laws governing natural facts. The Trika (q.v.). knows 36 tattvas which come into play when the universe "unfolds", i.e., is created by Shiva in an act variously symbolized by the awakening of his mind, or a "shining forth" (see abhasea). -- K.F.L.
Tat tvam asi: (Skr.) "That art thou", the sum and substance of the instruction which Svetaketu received from his father Uddalaka Aruni, according to the Chandogya Upanishad. It hints the identity of the self, atman, with the essence of the world as the real, satya. -- K.F.L.
Ta t'ung:
  1. The period of Great Unity and Harmony; the Confucian Utopia. (Early Confucianism; K'ang Yu-wei, 1858-1929).
  2. The Great Unity, Heaven and Earth and all things forming an organic unity. (Ancient Chinese philosophy). -- W.T.C.

Ta t'ung i: The great similarity-and-difference; all things are in one way all simihr, in another way all different. (Sophists). -- H.H.
Tauler, Johannes: (1300-1361) was an outstanding German mystic and preacher. Born in Strassburg, he entered the Dominican Order and did his philosophical and theological studies at Cologne, where he was probably influenced by Eckhart. He was most interested in the ethical and religious aspects of mysticism, and, like Eckhart, he concentrated on an analytical intuition of his own consciousness in his endeavor to grasp the immanent reality of God. Die Predigten Taulers, ed. F. Vetter, (Berlin, 1910) is the most recent edition of his sermons. -- V.J.B.
Tautology: As a syntactical term of the propositional calculus this is defined in the article on logic, formal (q.v.). Wittgenstein and Ramsey proposed to extend the concept of a tautology to disciplines involving quantifiers, by interpreting a quantified expression as a multiple (possibly infinite) conjunction or disjunction; under this extension, however, it no longer remains true that the test of a tautology is effective.

The name law of tautology is given to either of the two dually related theorems of the propositional calculus,

[p ∨ p] ≡ p,
pp ≡ p,
a ∪ a,
a ∩ a.

Whitehead and Russell reserve the name principle of tautology for the theorem of the propositional calculus, [p ∨ p] ⊃ p, but use law of tautology in the above senses. -- A.C.

L. Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, New York and London, 1922. F. P. Ramsey, The foundations of mathematics, Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, ser. 2, vol. 25 (1926), pp. 338-384; reprinted in his book of the same title, New York and London, 1931.

Taylor, Alfred Edward: Born in 1869, professor of philosophy at St. Andrews and Edinburgh, after teaching for many years at Oxford. Taylor's metaphysics were predominantly Hegelian and idealist (as in Elements of Metaphysics) during his early years, in later years (as in numerous essays in Mind, and his Gifford Lectures Faith of a Moralist) he has become something of a neo-scholastic, although he follows no school exclusively. In his Gifford Lectures he argues from moral experience to God; in other essays, he declares that grounds for belief are found in cosmology, in conscience and in religious experience. As an Anglo-Catholic, he has given (in volume two of his Giffords) a learned apologia for this position, on philosophical grounds. -- W.N.P.
  1. Virtue; power, character; efficacy -- The Individual Principle, Tao particularized or inherent in a thing, the "abode of Tao," through "the obtaining of which" a thing becomes what it is.
  2. Virtue, moral character, "that which obtains in a person;" "that which is sufficient in the self without depending on any external help," referring particularly to benevolence and righteousness which are natural to man (Hin Yu, 767-824 A.D.).
  3. Kindness.

Techne: (Gr. techne) The set of principles, or rational method, involved in the production of an object or the accomplishment of an end; the knowledge of such principles or method; art. Techne resembles episteme in implying knowledge of principles, but differs in that its aim is making or doing, not disinterested understanding. -- G.R.M.
Teichmüller, Gustav: (1832-1888) Strongly influenced by Leibniz and Lotze and anticipating some recent philosophic positions, taught a thoroughgoing personalism by regarding the "I", given immediately in experience as a unit, as the real substance, the world of ideas a projection of its determinations (perspectivism). Nature is appearance, substantiality being ascribed to it only in analogy to the "I". Consciousness and knowledge are clearly separated, the latter being specific and semiotic. Reality is interpreted monadologically. -- K.F.L.
Telegnosis: (Gr. tele, at a distance -- gnosis, knowledge) Knowledge of another mind which is presumably not mediated by the perception of his body nor by any other physical influence by which communication between minds is ordinarily mediated. See Intersubjective Intercourse, Telepathy. -- L.W.
Telegnostic situations: "Cognitive situation in which a mental event belonging to another mmd is the sole objective constituent." (Broad). -- H.H.
Telegram Argument: Argument for the efficacy of mind resting on a radical difference of response to two slightly differing stimuli because of their difference of meaning. The Telegram Argument is so called because of the illustration of two telegrams: "Our son has been killed" and "Your son has been killed" received by parents whose son is away from home and whose difference of reading depends only on the presence or absence of the letter "Y". See C. D. Broad, The Mind and tts Place in Nature, pp. 118 ff.
Teleoklin: Adjective meaning, tending toward a purpose; used in German by Oskar Kohnstamm, born in 1871. He held that Teleoklise, the inclination toward purposive activity, is a characteristic of all life. -- J.J.R.
Teleological Argument for God: (Gr. telos, end or purpose) Sometimes referred to as the argument from design. Events, objects, or persons are alleged to reveal a kind of relationship which suggests a purpose or end toward which they move. Such ends reveal a Fashioner or Designer who guides and directs toward the fulfillment of their functions. This Architect is God. Paley (1745-1805) in his Natural Theology is a classic expositor of the argument. Kant favored the argument, but held that it leaned too heavily upon the cosmological argument which in turn rested upon the ontological, both of which crumbled when critical analysis is applied. -- V.F.
Teleological ethics: A species of axiological ethics which makes the determination of the lightness of an action wholly dependent on an estimate of its actual or probable conduciveness to some end or of its actual or probable productiveness, directly or indirectly, of the maximum good. E.g., utilitarianism. -- W.K.F.
Teleological Idealism: Name given by Lotze for his system of semi-monistic personahsm. -- W.L.
Teleological Personalism: The doctrine that God is to be thought of not as First, but as Final Cause. Applied to Lotze and Howison. -- R.T.F.
Teleology: (Gr. telos, end, completion) The theory of purpose, ends, goals, final causes, values, the Good (s.). The opposite of Mechanism. As opposed to mechanism, which explains the present and the future in terms of the past, teleology explains the past and the present in terms of the future. Teleology as such does not imply personal consciousness, volition, or intended purpose (q.v.).
  1. Physics, Biology: See Vitalism.
  2. Psychology: See Hormic, Instinct, Hedonism, Voluntarism.
  3. Epistemology: the view that mind is guided or governed by purposes, values, interests, "instinct", as well as by "factual", "objective" or logical evidence in its pursuit of truth (see Fideism, Voluntarism, Pragmatism, Will-to-believe, Value judgment).
  4. Metaphysics: The doctrine that reality is ordered by goals, ends, purposes, values, formal or final causes (q.v.).
  5. Ethics: The view that the standard of human life is value, the Good, rather than duty, law, or formal decorum.
-- W.L.
Teleosis: Noun used in German by Ernst Haeckle (1834-1919) denoting organic improvement or perfection. -- J.J.R.
Telepathy: (Gr. tele, at a distance + pathein, to experience) The phenomenon of direct communication between two minds separated by a great distance and without the normal operation of the organs of sense. Telepathy is a sub-variety of telegnosis (see Telegnosis) which is characterized by its felt directness or immediacy. -- L.W.
Telesio, Bernardino: (1508-1588) was one of the fathers of the scientific movement of the Renaissance. He was born at Cosenza, near Naples, studied philosophy and mathematics at Padua, and natural science at Rome. The Academia Telesiana, which he founded it Naples, stressed empirical methods and Telesio tried to explain all physical phenomena in terms of heat and cold, as expanding and contracting forces in matter. He wrote De Natuta rerum juxta propria principia (1570), ed. V Spampanato, 2 vol. (Modena-Genoa, 1911-13). -- V.J.B.
Telos: (Gr. telos) The end term of a process, specifically, in Aristotle, the purpose or final cause. See Aristotelianism. -- G.R.M.
Temple, William: For many years Archbishop of York, Temple (born 1881) has written extensively on the philosophy of religion. In Mens Creatrix and most recently in Nature Man and God, he has argued for a universe of levels, culminating in value, and pointing to God as Supreme Value and hence Ultimate Reality. Recent work on the nature of revelation has given him the definition of revelation as "coincidence of divinely guided event and divinely guided apprehension", in this setting he places (see Christ the Truth) the Incarnation as central and most significant event apprehended by the Christian community. He is a Platonist in tendency, although within recent years this has been modified by scholasticism, and a study of Marxian philosophy. -- W.N.P.
Tension: Since normal mental life oscillates between two extremes: a plane of action in which sensori-motor functions occur, and a plane of dream, in which we live our imaginative life, of which memory is a major part, there are as many corresponding intermediate planes as there are degrees of 'attention to life', adaptation to reality. The mind has a power sui generis to produce contractions and expansions of itself. Calling attention to the need of distinguishing various heights of tension or 'tones' in psychic life, Bergson interprets the life of the universe and the life of human personality in terms of tension. -- H.H.
Term: In common English usage the word "term"' is syntactical or semantical in character, and means simply a word (or phrase), or a word associated with its meaning. The phrase "undefined term" as used in mathematical postulate theory (see mathematics) is perhips best referred to this common meaning of "term " In traditional logic, a term is a concept appearing as subject or predicate (q.v.). of a categorical proposition; also, a word or phrase denoting such a concept. The word "term" has also been employed in a syntactical sense in various special developments of logistic systems (q.v.), usually in a way suggested by the traditional usage.

The mathematical use of the word "term" appears in such phrases ts "the terms of a sum" (i.e., the separate numbers which are added to form the sum, or the expressions for them), "the terms of a polynomial," "the terms of a proportion," "the terms of an infinite series," etc. Similarly one may speak of "the terms of a logical sum," and the like. -- A.C.

Termmism: See Nominalism.
Tertiary Qualities: Those qualities which are said to be imparted to objects by the mind. In contrast to primary and secondary qualities which are directed toward the objects (primary being thought of distinctly a part of objects) tertiary qualities are the subject's reactions to them. A thing, for example, is said to be good: The good points to the subject's reaction rather than to the object itself. -- V.F.
Tertii adjacentis: Latin expression employed to describe a proposition in which the subject, predicate, and copula are clearly distinguishable. -- J.J.R.
Tertium comparationis: (Lat.) A basis of comparison. -- V.J.B.
Tertium non datur: See Excluded middle, law of.
Tertium quid: (Lat.) A third something, a term to be discovered in addition to two original ones. -- V.J.B.
Tertullian: (165-220) A prominent Christian Apologist, later the leader of the sect of the Montanists. He took an excessively dogmatic position toward faith, regarded it as standing above reason, and expressed the attitude in his famous statement "Credo quia absurdum est". Cf. Migne PL (vols. 1, 2). -- R.B.W.
Tetractys: Literally the Greek term signifies, an aggregate of four, specifically it was applied to the Pythagorean perfect number, ten, which is the sum of one, two, three, and four. -- J.J.R.
Thales: 6th Cent. B.C., of the Milesian School of Greek Philosophy, is said to have predicted the eclipse of 585; had probably been to Egypt and was proficient in mathematics and physics. Thales, along with the other cosmological thinkers of the Ionian school, presupposed a single elementary cosmic matter at the base of the transformations of nature and declared this to be water. -- M.F.
Thanatism: A term employed by Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) to express his doctrine of the mortality of annihilation of the human soul, the contrary of athanatism, immortality. -- J.J.R.
Theism: (Gr. theos, god) Is in general that type of religion or religious philosophy (see Religion, Philosophy of) which incorporates a conception of God as a unitary being; thus may be considered equivalent to monotheism. The speculation as to the relation of God to world gave rise to three great forms: God identified with world in pantheism (rare with emphasis on God); God, once having created the world, relatively disinterested in it, in deism (mainly an 18th cent, phenomenon); God working in and through the world, in theism proper. Accordingly, God either coincides with the world, is external to it (deus ex machina), or is immanent. The more personal, human-like God, the more theological the theism, the more appealing to a personal adjustment in prayer, worship, etc., which presuppose either that God, being like man, may be swayed in his decision, has no definite plan, or subsists in the very stuff man is made of (humanistic theism). Immanence of God entails agency in the world, presence, revelation, involvement in the historic process, it has been justified by Hindu and Semitic thinkers, Christian apologetics, ancient and modern metaphysical idealists, and by natural science philosophers. Transcendency of God removes him from human affairs, renders fellowship and communication in Church ways ineffectual, yet preserves God's majesty and absoluteness such as is postulated by philosophies which introduce the concept of God for want of a terser term for the ultimate, principal reality. Like Descartes and Spinoza, they allow the personal in God to fade and approach the age-old Indian pantheism evident in much of Vedic and post-Vedic philosophy in which the personal pronoun may be the only distinguishing mark between metaphysical logic and theology, similarly as in Hegel. The endowment postulated of God lends character to a theistic system of philosophy. Much of Hindu and Greek philosophy stresses the knowledge and ration aspect of the deity, thus producing an epistemological theism; Aristotle, in conceiving him as the prime mover, started a teleological one; mysticism is psychologically oriented in its theism, God being a feeling reality approachable in appropriate emotional states. The theism of religious faith is unquestioning and pragmatic in its attitude toward God; theology has often felt the need of offering proofs for the existence of God (see God) thus tending toward an ontological theism; metaphysics incorporates occasionally the concept of God as a thought necessity, advocating a logical theism. Kant's critique showed the respective fields of pure philosophic enquiry and theistic speculations with their past in historic creeds. Theism is left a possibility in agnosticism (q.v.). -- K.F.L.

In discussions of religion, syn. for the belief in a personal God. God is here usually conceived of as Creator, as having brought into existence realities other than himself which, though he is not completely (although for certain purposes, partly) dependent upon them, nevertheless are dependent upon him. Theism has characteristically held to a combination of both the transcendence and immanence of God. -- V.F.

Thelematism: Noun derived from the Greek, thelema, will. The equivalent of voluntarism, employed in German, scarcely, if at all, in English. -- J.J.R.
Thelematology: (from Gr. thelema, will) The doctrine of the nature and phenomenology of the will. -- K.F.L.
Thema: A term proposed by Burgersdicius to indicate a sign which signifies its object directly as a result of a convention or intellectual insight without the necessity of factual connection in previous experience. -- C.A.B.
Theocracy: (Gr. theos, god, kratos, government, power) A view of political organization in which God is sole ruler. All political laws come under what is held to be the Divine Will. Church and State become one. Examples the development of the Hebrew ideal and Judaism, Mohammedan politics, Calvinism in Geneva, Puritan New England. -- V.F.
Theocrasy: (Gr. theos god, krasis a mixture) a) A mixture of the worship of different gods.

b) The intimate union of the soul with God in contemplation as in NeoPlatonism. -- V.F.

Theodicy: (Gr. theos, god, dike, justice) The technical term for the problem of justifying the character of a good, creative and responsible God in the face of such doubts as arise by the fact of evil. If God is good, why evil? -- V.F.

Title of Leibniz's essay on evil (Essai de Theodicee).

Theology: (Gr. theos, god, logos, study) Simply stated, theology is a study of the question of God and the relation of God to the world of reality. Theology, in the widest sense of the term, is a branch of philosophy, i.e., a special field of philosophical inquiry having to do with God. However, the term is widely employed to mean the theoretical expression of a particuhr religion. In the latter sense, theology becomes "Christian", "Jewish", "Presbyterian", "Reformed", etc. When thus employed, theology becomes in a narrow sense "historic", "systematic", "polemic", "ecclesiastical", "apologetic", etc., -- phases of theoretical discussions within a particular religious faith. Theology need not have any necessary reference to religion, it may be a purely theoretical discussion about God and God's relation to the world on a disinterested plane of free inquiry. -- V.F.
Theomachy: (Gr. theoi, machein, battle against the gods), a term implying opposition to the divine will. -- K.F.L.
Theophany: (Gr. theos, God; phaino, to appear) The manifestation of God to man by actual appearance. -- V.F.
Theophrastus: (370-287 B.C.), the most important disciple and friend of Aristotle, left voluminous writings of which only fragments are extant; they dealt with many topics of philosophy and science (notably, botany) and defended his master's philosophy against rival schools of thought, particularly against Stoics. Cf. Characters of Theophrastus. -- R.R.V.
Theorem: (Gr. theorema, a sight, theory, theorem) Any proposition which is demonstrated in terms of other more basic propositions. -- A.C.B.
Theoretical Reason: (Kant. Ger. theoretische Vernunft) Reflective thought dealing with cognition, knowledge and science. Contrasted with practical reason (q.v.) which is concerned with moral and religious intuitions. See Kantianism. -- O.F.K.
Theory: (Gr. theoria, viewing) The hypothetical universal aspect of anything. For Plato, a contemplated truth. For Aristotle, pure knowledge as opposed to the practical. An abstraction from practice. The principle from which practice proceeds. Opposite of practice. -- J.K.F.
  1. Hypothesis. More loosely: supposition, whatever is problematic, verifiable but not verified.
  2. (As opposed to practice) systematically organized knowledge of relatively high generality. (See "the theory of light").
  3. (As opposed to laws and observations): explanation. The deduction of the axioms and theorems of one system from assertions (not necessarily verified) from another system and of a relatively less problematic and more intelligible nature.
(Note: Since criteria of what is 'intelligible' and 'problematic' are subjective and liable to fluctuation, any definition of the term is bound to be provisional. It might be advisable to distinguish between laws (general statements in a system), principles (axioms), and theories (methods for deriving the axioms by means of appropriate definitions employing terms from other systems). -- M.B.
Theosis: The ultimate absorption of the soul into Deity. -- V.F.
Theosophy: (Gr., lit. "divine wisdom") is a term introduced in the third century by Ammonius Saccas, the master of Plotinus to identify a recurring tendency prompted often by renewed impulses from the Orient, but implicit in mystery schools as that of Eleusis, among the Essenes and elsewhere. Theosophy differs from speculative philosophy in allowing validity to some classes of mystical experience as regard soul and spirit, and in recognising clairvoyance and telepathy and kindred forms of perception as linking the worlds of psyche and body. Its content describes a transcendental field as the only real (approximating to Brahman, Nous, and Pleroma) from which emerge material universes in series, with properties revealing that supreme Being. Two polarities appear as the first manifesting stage, consciousness or spirit (Brahma, Chaos, Holy Ghost), and matter or energy (Siva, Logos, Father). Simultaneously, life appears clothed in matter and spirit, as form or species (Vishnu, Cosmos, Son). In a sense, life is the direct reflection of the tnnscendent supreme, hence biological thinking has a privileged place in Theosophy. Thus, cycles of life are perceived in body, psyche, soul and spirit. The lesser of these is reincarnation of impersonal soul in many personalities. A larger epoch is "the cycle of necessity", when spirit evolves over vast periods. -- F.K.
Thesis: (Gr. thesis) In Aristotle's logic (1) an undemonstrated proposition used as a premiss in a syllogism, sometimes distinguished from axiom in that it need not be self-evident or intrinsically necessary; (2) any proposition contrary to general opinion but capable of being supported by reasoning. See Antithesis, Dialectic, Synthesis. -- G.R.M.
Thetics: (from Gr. Thetikos) According to Kant the sum total of all affirmations. -- K.F.L.
Theurgy: (Gr. theos, god, ergon, work) The work of some divine, supernatural agency in the affairs of men, generally by direct intervention. -- V.F.
Thnetopsychite: (Gr.) One who confesses the doctrine that the soul dies when the body dies and rises when it is resurrected. -- K.F.L.
Thought-Transference: Equivalent to Telegnosis. See Telegnosis. -- L.W.
Thoreau, Henry David: (1817-1862) One of the leading American transcendentilists, of the Concord group. He was a thoroughgoing individualist, most famous for the attempts to be self-sufficient that he recounts so brilliantly in his diaries, lectures, essays and expositions, such was the famous "Walden". -- L.E.D.
  1. The Confucian anthropomorphic Lord or Supreme Lord (Shang Ti), almost interchangeable with Heaven (T'ien) except that Ti refers to the Lord as the directing and governing power whereas Heaven refers to the Lord in the sense of omnipresence and all-inclusiveness.
  2. The world-honored deities (such as those of the four directions and the Five Elements).
  3. Mythological sovereigns whose virtues approximate those of Heaven and Earth.
-- W.T.C.
Ti: Also t'i.
  1. Respect for elders. See: hsiao.
  2. Brotherliness.
  3. Younger brother.
-- W.T.C.
T'i: Generic relationship or part and whole relationship, one of the proofs of agreement. See Mo che. -- W.T.C.
Ti chih tse: 'The pattern of the Lord' by which is meant the political and social regulations instituted by the supreme ruler or emperor on high. (Taoism). -- H.H.
T'ien: A material or physical sky, spoken in opposition to earth, a ruling or presiding Heaven, anthropomorphic by nature; a fatalistic heaven, one equivalent to Nature; an ethical heaven, one hiving a moral principle and which is the highest primordial principle of the universe. -- H.H.
T'ien chu: The 'evolution of nature' is the change things undergo from one form to another, the beginning and end of whose changes are like a circle, in which no part is any more the beginning than another part (Chuang Tzu, between 399 and 295 B.C.). The mind is the 'natural ruler'. (Hsun Tzu, c335-c288 B.C.). -- H.H.
T'ien i:The evolution of nature is the 'boundary of nature'. (Chuang Tzu, between 399 and 295 B.C.). -- H.H.
T'ien jen: The heavenly man, one "who is not separated from The Natural." (Taoism). -- W.T.C.
T'ien li:
  1. Heaven-endowed nature.
  2. The Reason of Heaven; the Divine Law; the moral principle of Heaven which is embodied in benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom (ssu tuan) (Chu Hsi, 1130-1200) the Law of Nature, which is the Reason (li) m all things and is impartial. (Tai Tung-yuan, 1723-1777). -- W.T.C.

T'ien ti: Heaven and Earth:
  1. as the universe;
  2. as the origin of life;
  3. as the consolation of the pure and impure vital forces (ch'i) respectively;
  4. as the active or male (yang) and the passive or female (yin) phases of the universe, respectively. -- W.T.C.

Timarchy: (Gr.) A type of government characterized by voluntary or acclamatory rule of worthv and competent men, not aristocrats. -- K.F.L.
T'ime: The general medium in which all events take place in succession or appear to take place in succession. All specific and finite periods of time, whether past, present or future, constitute merely parts of the entire and single Time. Common-sense interprets Time vaguely as something moving toward the future or as something in which events point in that direction. But the many contradictions contained in this notion have led philosophers to postulate doctrines purporting to eliminate some of the difficulties implied in common-sense ideas. The first famous but unresolved controversy arose in Ancient Greece, between Parmenides, who maintained that change and becoming were irrational illusions, and Heraclitus, who asserted that there was no permanence and that change characterized everything without exception. Another great controversy arose centuries later between disciples of Newton and Leibniz. According to Newton, time was independent of, and prior to, events; in his own words, "absolute time, and mathematical time, of itself, and from its own nature, flows equably without regard to anything external." According to Leibniz, on the other hand, there can be no time independent of events: for time is formed by events and relations among them, and constitutes the universal order of succession. It was this latter doctrine which eventually gave rise to the doctrine of space-time, in which both space and time are regarded as two systems of relations, distinct from a perceptual standpoint, but inseparably bound together in reality. All these controversies led many thinkers to believe that the concept of time cannot be fully accounted for, unless we distinguish between perceptual, or subjective, time, which is confined to the perceptually shifting 'now' of the present, and conceptual, or objective, time, which includes til periods of time and in which the events we call past, present and future can be mutually and fixedly related. See Becoming, Change, Duration, Persistence, Space-Time. -- R.B.W.
Time-Arrow: The general direction of change in time, is supposed to point toward the future. The concept was suggested by A. S. Eddington. -- R.B.W.
Timeless: Having no end in time, pertaining to no time, or transcending time. -- R.B.W.
Time-perception: The apprehension of the protensive or durational character of the data of experience. See Dimensions of Consciousness; Protensity. -- L.W.
Timology: (Gr. time, esteem, dignity, logos, study of) A term meaning a study of excellence or worth. More particularly, the term refers to a theory of value which holds that value has an intrinsic worth apart from considerations of any particular point of view. Opposed, e.g., to the view that value is relative to an individual. A notable expounder of the timological view in theory of value is G. E. Moore. -- V.F.
Timon of Phlius: (320-230 B.C.) A sceptic who held that an ultimate knowledge of things was beyond man's capacity. Author of Silloi. See Pyrrho, teacher of Timon. -- M.F.
Tone: (Music) The larger intervals in diatonic scale.

(Painting) The modification of colors through the general effect of light and shade. -- L.V.

Topics: (Gr. Topika) The title of a treatise by Aristotle on dialectical reasoning, so named because the material is grouped into convenient topoi, or common-places of argument, useful in examining an opponent's assertions. See Dialectic. -- G.R.M.
Totemism: (Totem, Of Ojibway origin) A feature of primitive social organization whereby the members of a tribe possess group solidarity by virtue of their association with a class of animals or in some cases plants or inanimate objects. The primitive conception of the totem as the essential unity and solidarity among the different members of a class of men and of animals may have prepared the way for the philosophical doctrine of substantival universals and of the participation of many individuals in a single universal. -- L.W.
Totum divisum: Latin expression denoting a whole having some kind of unity, which is to be divided, or is capable of division. Thus a logical whole, some general idea, may be broken up into smaller classes, or members, according to some principle of division, or point of view. -- J.J.R.
Trace Theory of Memory: Physiological explanation of memory through the conservation of traces in the nervous system. Opposed to the theory of Mnemic causation. See Mnemic Causation. -- L.W.
Traditionalism: In French philosophy of the early nineteenth century, the doctrine that the truth -- particularly religious truth -- is never discovered by an individual but is only to be found in "tradition". It was revealed in potentia at a single moment by God and has been developing steadily through history. Since truth is an attribute of ideas, the traditionalist holds that ideas are super-individual. They are the property of society and are found embedded in language which was revealed to primitive man bv God at the creation. The main traditionalists were Joseph de Maistre, the Vicomte de Bonald, and Bonetty. -- G.B.
Traducianism: The view that the soul (as well as the body) is generated from the souls of parents. A doctrine dating back to Tertullian (200 A.D.) The process of natural propagation procreates the soul. -- V.F.
Transcendent: (L. transcendere to climb over, surpass, go beyond) That which is beyond, in any of several senses. The opposite of the immanent (q.v.).
  1. In Scholasticism notions are transcendent which cannot be subsumed under the Aristotelian categories. The definitive list of transcendentia comprises ens, unum, bonum, verum, res, and aliquid.
  2. For Kant whatever is beyond possible experience is transcendent, and hence unknowable.
  3. Metaphysics and Theology: God (or the Absolute) is said to be transcendent in the following senses:
    1. perfect, i e., beyond limitation or imperfection (Scholasticism);
    2. incomprehensible (negative theology, mysticism);
    3. remote from Nature (Deism);
    4. alienated from natural man (Barthianism). Pluralism posits the essential mutual transcendence of substances or reals.
  4. Epistemology: Epistemological dualism (q.v.) holds that the real transcends apprehending consciousness, i.e., is directly inaccessible to it. Thought is said to be "self-transcendent" when held to involve essentially reference beyond itself (s. intentionahty).
  5. Ethics. Moral idealism posits the transcendence of the will over Nature (see Freedom). -- W.L.

Transcendent Reference: The reference of a mental state to something beyond itself. See Reference. -- L.W.
Transcendental: (Ger. transzendental) In Kant's Philosophy: Adjective applied to the condition of experience or anything relating thereto. Thus transcendental knowledge is possible while transcendent knowledge is not. In the Dialectic, however, the term transcendental is often used where one would expect transcendent. -- A.C.E.
Transcendental analytic: The first part of Kant's Logic; its function is "the dissection of the whole of our a priori knowledge into the elements of the pure cognition of the understanding," (Kritik d. reinen Vemunft, Part II, div. I, tr. M. Müller, 2nd ed., pp. 50-1), to be distinguished from (1) Transcendental Aesthetic, which studies the a priori forms of sensation, and (2) Transc. Dialectic, which attempts to criticize the illusory and falsifying arguments based on a priori principles. -- V.J.B.
Transcendental idealism: See Idealism. -- A.C.E.
Transcendental Illusion: (Kant Ger. transzendentaler Schein) An illusion resulting from the tendency of the mmd to accept the a priori forms of reason, valid only in experience, as constituting the nature of ultimate reality. Thus we are led, according to Kant, to think Ideas, such as God, World, and Soul, though we cannot know them. See Kantianism. -- O.F.K.
Transcendental method: (In Kant) The analysis of the conditions (a priori forms of intuition, categories of the understanding, ideals of reason) that make possible human experience and knowledge. See Kantianism.
Transcendental Object: (Kant, Ger. transzendentale Objekt) The pure rational 'x' which Kant defines as the general form of object or the object as such. It is not a particular concrete object, but the ideal objective correlate of pure consciousness as such. It is the object which the mind seeks to know in each empirical cognition. See Kantianism. -- O.F.K.
Transcendental Philosophy:
  1. Kant's name for his proposed a priori science of pure science ("pure reason") which would include both a detailed analysis of its fundamental concepts and a complete list of all derivative notions. Such a study would go beyond the purpose and scope of his Critique of Pure Reason.
  2. Name given to Kant's philosophy.
  3. Schelling's term for his science of Mind, as opposed to the science of Nature.
  4. Transcendentalism (q.v.). -- W.L.

Transcendental proof: In Kant's Philosophy: Proof by showing that what is proved is a necessary condition without which human experience would be impossible and therefore valid of all phenomena. -- A.C.E.
Transcendentalism: Any doctrine giving emphasis to the transcendent or transcendental (q.v.).
  1. Originally, a convenient synonym for the "transcendental philosophy" (q.v.) of Kant and Schelling.
  2. By extension, post-Kantian idealism.
  3. Any idealistic philosophy positing the immanence of the ideal or spiritual in sensuous experience.
  4. The philosophy of the Absolute (q.v.), the doctrine of: a) the immanence of the Absolute in the finite; b) the transcendence of the Absolute above the finite conceived as illusion or "unreality".
  5. A name, onginally pejorative, given to and later adopted by an idealistic movement in New England centering around the informal and so-called "Transcendental Club," organized at Boston in 1836. An outgrowth of the romantic movement, its chief influences were Coleridge, Schelling and Orientalism. While it embodied a general attitude rather than a systematically worked out philosophy, in general it opposed Lockean empiricism, materialism, rationalism, Calvinism, Deism, Trinitarianism, and middle-class commercialism. Its metaphysics followed that of Kant and post-Kantian idealism posited the immanancc of the divine in finite existence, and tended towards pantheism (Emerson's "Nature", "Oversoul", "The Transcendentalist"). Its doctrine of knowledge was idealistic and intuitive. Its ethics embraced idealism, individualism, mysticism, reformism and optimism regarding human nature. Theologically it was autosoteric, unitarian, and broadly mystical (Theo. Parker's "The Transient and Permanent in Christianity").
  6. Popularly, a pejorative term for any view that is "enthusiastic", "mystical", extravagant, impractical, ethereal, supernatural, vague, abstruse, lacking in common sense. -- W.L.

Transcendentals (Scholastic): The transcendentalia are notions which apply to any being whatsoever. They are Being, Thing, Something, One, True, Good. While thing (res) and being (ens) are synonymous, the other four name properties of being which, however, are only virtually distinct from the concept to which they apply. -- R.A.
Transfinite induction: A generalization of the method of proof by mathematical induction or recursion (see recursion, proof by), applicable to a well-ordered class of arbitrary ordinal number -- especially one of ordinal number greater than omega (see ordinal number) -- in a way similar to that in which mathematical induction is applicable to a well-ordered class of ordinal number omega. -- A.C.
Transfinite ordinals: See ordinal number.
Transformator: In R. Reininger's philosophy, the agent or factor bringing about the change from the physical sensition or perception to experience as something psychic. -- K.F.L.
Transitive States: (Lat. transire, to passover) W. James' term which designates those parts of the stream of thought which effect a transition from one substantive state to another. See Substantive States. -- L.W.
Transitivity: A dyadic relation R is transitive if, whenever xRy and yRz both hold, xRz also holds. Important examples of transitive relations are the relation of identity or equality; the relation less than among whole numbers, or among rational numbers, or among real numbers, the relation precedes among instants of time (as usually taken); the relation of class inclusion, ⊂ (see logic, formal, §7); the relations of material implication and material equivalence among propositions, the relations of formal implication and formal equivalence among monadic propositional functions. In the propositional calculus, the laws of transitivity of material implication and material equivalence (the conditional and biconditional) are:
[p ⊃ q][q ⊃ r] ⊃ [p ⊃ r]
[p ≡ q][q ≡ r] ⊃ [p ≡ r]
Similar laws of transitivity may be formulated for equality (e.g., in the functional calculus of first order with equality), class inclusion (e.g., in the Zermelo set theory), formal implication (e.g., in the pure functional calculus of first order), etc. -- A.C.
Transmigration of Souls: See Metempsychosis.
Trans-ordinal laws: Connecting properties of aggregates of different orders. Laws connecting the characteristics of inorganic things with living tilings. (Broad). -- H.H.
Transpathy: (Lat. trans, across + pathos, feeling) As distinct from sympathy is feeling engendered by 'contigion'. In sympathy the function of 'after-experiencing' is so interwoven with true sympathy that in experienced separation of the two never occurs. In the case of transpathy, the two functions are distinctly separated from eich other in experience. Transpathy takes place between emotional states, presupposes no knowledge of the other's joy or sorrow. One detects afterwards that an emotion which one finds in oneself derives from 'contagion', which took place in an earlier gathering. See Sympathy. -- H.H.
Transposition: The form of valid inference of the propositional calculus from A ⊃ B to ∼B ⊃ ∼A. The law of transposition is the theorem of the propositional calculus, [p ⊃ q] ⊃ [∼q ⊃ ∼q]. -- A.C.
Transubjective Reference: (Lat. trans, across + subjectivus from subjicere) The reference of an item of thought to an object independent of the knowing subject. -- L.W.
Transvaluation of values: Nietzsche's proposal of revolutionizing the reigning tendencies and sentiments of one's age. -- H.H.
Trendelenburg, Friedrich Adolf: (1802-1872) A German idealist who attempted to substitute the concept of 'motion' for Hegel's dialectics, the central theme of his writings is the notion of purpose. -- R.B.W.

Main works: Logische Untersuchungen, 1840; Die sittliche Idee des Rechts, 1849; Naturrecht auf dem Grunde der Ethik, 1860.

Trichotomy: (Gr. tricha, threefold; temno, to cut) Literally, a division into three parts. More specifically the doctrine that man consists of soul, body and spirit. This view appears as a later doctrine in the Old Testament, in Stoic thought and was held by St. Paul. -- V.F.
Trika: An Indian philosophic system founded by Vasugupta in the 9th cent. A.D., having flourished among the Shivaites of Kashmir till the 14th cent., and now revising along with the Southern, Tamil, offshoot of the Shaiva-siddhanta. Its aim is the recognition of Shiva as one's own inmost nature (see pratyabhijna) from which ensues progressive dissolution of manifoldness and reduction of the threefold (trika) reality of Shiva, sakti (q.v.), and soul to Oneness, thus reversing the "unfolding" of the universe through the 36 tativas (q.v.). -- K.F.L.
Trilemma: See Proof by cases.
Trimurti: (Skr. having three shapes) The Hindu trinity, religiously interpreted as the three gods Brahma-Vishnu-Shiva, or metaphysically as the three principles of creation-maintenance-destruction operative in cosmo-psychology. -- K.F.L.
Trinitarianism: a) Referring to a Roman Catholic order founded in 1198 to redeem Christian captives from Mohammedans.

b) The usual meaning of the term the doctrine of the Trinitarians who hold that the nature of God is one in substance and three in embodiment (Latin: persona). Upon the basis of Platonic realism (q.v.) which makes the universal fundamental and the particulars real in terms of the universal, the Christian Trinitarians made philosophically clear their doctrine of one Godhead and three embodiments, Father, Son and Holy Spirit: three and yet one. The doctrine was formulated to make religiously valid the belief in the complete Deity of Jesus and of the Holy Spirit (referred to in the New and the Old Testaments) and to avoid the pitfalls of polytheism. Jesus had become the object of Christian worship and the revealer of God and thus it was felt necessary to establish (together with the H.S.) his real Deity along with monotheistic belief. A long controversy over the relationship of the three led to the formulation by the Council of Nicea in 325, and after further disputes, by the Council of Constantinople in 381 of the orthodox Trinitarian creed (the Niceno-Constantinopolitan). Roman and Greek Catholicism split on the doctrine of the status of the H.S. The Western church added the expression "filioque" (the H.S. proceeding "and from the Son") making more explicit the complete equality of the three; the Eastern church maintained the original text which speaks of the H.S. as "proceeding from thet Father." Orthodox Protestantism maintains the Trinitarian conception. -- V.F.

Tripitaka: "The Three Baskets", the Buddhistic Canon as finally adopted by the Council of Sthaviras, or elders, held under the auspices of Emperor Asoka, about 245 B.C., at Pataliputra, consisting of three parts "The basket of discipline", "the basket of (Buddha's) sermons", and "the basket of metaphysics." -- K.F.L.
Tritheism: Name given to the opinions of John Philoponus, the noted commentator on Aristotle, Conon, Bishop of Tarsus, and Eugeius, Bishop of Seleucia in Isauria, leaders of a group of Monophysites of the sixth century, which were understood in the sense that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three partial substances and distinct individuals, consequently three Gods. Any similar doctrine is usually called Tritheism. -- J.J.R.
Trivium: (Lat. tres, and viae, three ways) The first three disciplines in the mediaeval, educational system of seven liberal arts. The trivium includes grammar, rhetoric and dialectic See Quadrivium. -- V.J.B.
Truth: See also Semiotic 2.
Truth: A characteristic of some propositional meanings, namely those which are true. Truth (or falsity) as predicated of "ideas" is today normally restricted to those which are propositional in nature, concepts being spoken of as being exemplified or not rather than as being true or false. Truth is predicable indirectly of sentences or symbols which express true meanings. (See Truth, semantical.)

It is customary to distinguish between the nature of truth and the tests for truth. There are three traditional theories as to the nature of truth, each finding virious expression in the works of different exponents.

  1. According to the correspondence theory, a proposition (or meaning) is true if there is a fact to which it corresponds. if it expresses what is the case. For example, "It is raining here now" is true if it is the case that it is raining here now; otherwise it is false. The nature of the relation of correspondence between fact and true proposition is variously described by different writers, or left largely undescribed. Russell in The Problems of Philosophy speaks of the correspondence as consisting of an identity of the constituents of the fact and of the proposition.
  2. According to the coherence theory (see H. H. Joachim: The Nature of Truth), truth is systematic coherence. This is more than logical consistency. A proposition is true insofar is it is a necessary constituent of a systematically coherent whole. According to some (e.g., Brand Blanshard, The Nature of Truth), this whole must be such that every element in it necessitates, indeed entails, every other element. Strictly, on this view, truth, in its fullness, is a characteristic of only the one systematic coherent whole, which is the absolute. It attaches to propositions as we know them and to wholes as we know them only to a degree. A proposition has a degree of truth proportionate to the completeness of the systematic coherence of the system of entities to which it belongs.
  3. According to the pragmatic theory of truth, a proposition is true insofar as it works or satisfies, working or satisfying being described variously by different exponents of the view. Some writers insist that truth chiracterizes only those propositions (ideas) whose satisfactory working has actually verified them; others state that only verifiability through such consequences is necessary. In either case, writers differ as to the precise nature of the verifying experiences required. See Pragmatism. -- C.A.B.

Truth, semantical: Closely connected with the name relation (q.v.) is the property of a propositional formula (sentence) that it expresses a true proposition (or if it has free variables, that it expresses a true proposition for all values of these variables). As in the case of the name relation, a notation for the concept of truth in this sense often cannot be added, with its natural properties, to an (interpreted) logistic system without producing contradiction. A particular system may, however, be made the beginning of a hierarchy of systems each containing the truth concept appropriate to the preceding one.

The notion of truth should be kept distinct from that of a theorem, the true formulas being in general only some among the theorems (in view of Gödel's result, Logic, formal § 6).

The first paper of Tarski cited below is devoted to the problem of finding a definition of semantical truth for a logistic system L, not in L itself but in another system (metasystem) containing notations for the formulas of L and for syntactical relations between them. This is attractive as an alternative to the method of introducing the concept of truth by arbitrarily adding a notation for it, with appropriate new primitive formulas, to the metasystem, but in many important cases it is possible only if the metasystcm is in some essential respect logically stronger than L.

Tarski's concept of truth, obtained thus by a syntactical definition, is closely related to Carnap's concept of analyticity. According to Tarski, they are the same in the case that L is a "logical language." See further semiotic 2. -- A.C.

A. Tarski,
Der Wahrheitsbegriff in den formalisierten Sprachen, Studia Philosophica, vol. 1 (1935), pp 261-405.
A. Tarski,
On urdecidable statements in enlarged systems of logic and the concept of truth, The Journal of Symbolic Logic, vol. 4 (1939), pp. 105-112.
R. Carnap,
The Logical Syntax of Language, New York and London, 1937.

Truth-Frequency: (Prob.) See Probability, sec. D (III).
Truth-function is either (1) a function (q.v.) from propositions to propositions such that the truth-value of the value of the function is uniquely determined by the truth-values alone of the arguments; or (2) simply a function from truth-values to truth-values. -- A.C.
Truth-table method: See logic, formal, § 1, and propositional calculus, many-valued.

C. S. Peirce,
On the algebra of logic, American Journal of Mathematics, vol. 7 (1885), pp. 180-202; reprinted in his Collected Papers, vol. 3.
J. Lukasiewicz,
Logika dwuwartosciowa, Przeglad Filozoficzny. vol. 23 (1921), pp. 189-205.
L. L. Post,
Introduction to a general theory of elementary propositions, American Journal of Mathematics, vol. 43 (1921), pp. 163-185.

Truth-value: On the view that every proposition is either true or false, one may speak of a proposition as having one of two truth-values, viz. truth or falsehood. This is the primary meaning of the term truth-value, but generalizations have been consideied according to which there are more than two truth-values -- see propositional calculus, many-valued. -- A.C.
Tsa chia: The "Miscellaneous" or "Mixed" School, which "drew from the Confucians and the Mohists and harmonized the Logicians and the Legalists," including Shih Tzu (fourth century B.C.), Lu Pu-wei (290?-235 B.C.), and Huai-nan Tzu (d. 122 B.C.) -- W.T.C.
Ts'ai: a) This means that when a man is not good, it is not because he is actually lacking in the basic 'natural powers,' 'natural endowment,' or 'raw material', whereby to be good. His badness results simply from the fact that he has not developed the beginnings of virtue, which is not the fault of his 'natural powers' (Mencius).

b) Power. Heaven, Earth, and Man are the three Powers or Forces of Nature. -- H.H.

Tsao hua: (a) Creator, also called tsao wu (che).

(b) Heaven and Earth; the Active or Male Cosmic Principle (yang) and the Passive or Female Cosmic Principle (yin). -- W.T.C.

Tsao wu (che): Creator. Also called tsao hua. -- W.T.C.
Tsao Yen: Nothing is known of this founder of the Yin Yang School except that he was a scholar in the state of Ch'i in the thiid century B.C., who "inspected closely the rise and fall of the passive and active principles and wrote essays totalling more than one hundred thousand words. " His works are now lost. -- W.T.C.
Ts'e yin: The feeling of commiseration. (Mencius) -- H.H.
Tso wang: 'Sitting in forgetfulness'; that state of absolute freedom, in which the distinctions between others and self is forgotten, in which life and death are equated, in which all things have become one. A state of pure experience, in which one becomes at one with the infinite. (Chuang Tzu, between 399 and 295 B.C.). -- H.H.
Ts'un hsin: Preserving one's native mind, that is, preserving in one's heart benevolence and propriety which are natural to man. (Mencius). -- W.T.C.
Ts'un hsing: Putting the desires into proper harmony by restraint, the way to achieve 'complete preservation of one's nature'. (Yang Chu, c 440-c 360 B.C.). -- H.H.
Ts'un sheng: 'Completeness of living', which is the best, is the enjoyment of life not to excess, a life in which all desires reach a proper harmony. While advocating restraint of the desires, Yang Chu (c 440-c 360 B.C.) at the same time maintains the fulfillment of these. -- H.H.
Tsung heng: Diplomatists in ancient China. -- W.T.C.
Tu: Steadfastness in quietude, in order to comprehend Fate, The Eternal, and Tao (Lao Tzu). -- W.T.C.
T'u: Earth, one of the Five Agents or Elements. See wu hsing. -- W.T.C.
Tuan: Human nature is innately good insofar as all men possess the 'beginnings' of the virtues, which if completely developed, make a man a sage. (Mencius). -- H.H.
Tufts, James Hayden: (1862-) Emeritus Professor of Philosophy of Chicago University. He has been strongly influenced by Kant. He collaborated with Dewey in the standard, "Ethics", and among his other writings are: "Ethics of Cooperation," "Education and Training for Social Work" and "America's Social Morality." -- L.E.D.
Tu hua: Spontaneous transformation, the universal law of existence, the guiding principle of which is neither any divine agency or any moral law but Tao. (Kuo Hsiang, d. 321 A.D.). -- W.T.C.
Tui: The opposite. Everything has its opposite. "When there is the active force (yang), there is the passive force (yin). When there is good, there is evil. As yang increases, yin decreases, and as goodness is augmented, evil is diminished." (Ch'eng Ming-tao, 1032-1086). -- W.T.C.
T'ui: The method of induction or extension in argumentation. See pien. -- W.T.C.
Tuism: (from Latin tu, thou) In ethics the doctrine which puts the emphasis on the well-being of one's fellow-men. Another name for altruism, which see. -- K.F.L.
Tung: (a) Activity; motion; "the constant feature of the active or male cosmic principle (yang)" of the universe, just as passivity is the constant feature of the passive or female cosmic principle (yin). According to Chou Lien-hsi 1017-1173), "the Great Ultimate (T'ai Chi) moves, becomes active, and generates the active principle (yang). When its activity reaches its limit, it becomes tranquil, engendering the passive principle (yin). When the Great Ultimate becomes completely tranquil, it begins to move again. Thus, movement and tranquillity alternate and become the occasion of each other, giving rise to the distinction of yin and yang, and the Two Primary Modes are thus established." To the entire Neo Confucian school, activity is potential tranquillity (ching).

(b) Being moved, being awakened, in the sense that it is the nature of man to be tranquil, but when man comes into contact with external things, his nature is moved, and desires and passions follow. (Confucianism) -- W.T.C.

  1. Mere identity, or sameness, especially in social institutions and standards, which is inferior to harmony (ho) in which social distinctions and differences are in complete concord. (Confucianism).
  2. Agreement, as in "agreement with the superiors" (shang t'ung).
  3. The method of agreement, which includes identity, generic relationship, co-existence, and partial resemblance. "Identity means two substances having one name. Generic relationship means inclusion in the same whole. Both being in the same room is a case of co-existence. Partial resemblance means having some points of resemblance." See Mo chi. (Neo-Mohism). -- W.T.C.
    T'ung i: The joint method of similarities and differences, by which what is present and what is absent can be distinguished. See Mo chi. -- W.T.C.
    Tung Chung-shu: (177-104 B.C.) was the leading Confucian of his time, premier to two feudal princes, and consultant to the Han emperor in framing national policies. Firmly believing in retribution, he strongly advocated the "science of catastrophic and anomalies," and became the founder and leader of medieval Confucianism which was extensively confused with the Yin Yang philosophy. Extremely antagonistic towards rival schools, he established Confucianism as basis of state religion and education. His best known work, Ch-un-ch'iu Fan-lu, awaits English translation. -- W.T.C.
    Turro y Darder, Ramon: Spanish Biologist and Philosopher. Born in Malgrat, Dec. 8 1854. Died in Barcelona, June 5, 1926. As a Biologist, his conclusions about the circulation of the blood, more than half a century ago, were accepted and verified by later researchers and theorists. Among other things, he showed the insufficiency and unsatisfactoriness of the mechanistic and neomechanistic explanations of the circulatory process. He was also the first to busy himself with endocrinology and bacteriological immunity. As a philosopher Turro combated the subjectivistic and metaphysical type of psychology, and circumscribed scientific investigation to the determination of the conditions that precede the occurrence of phenomena, considering useless all attempt to reach final essences. Turro does not admit, however, that the psychical series or conscious states may be causally linked to the organic series. His formula was: Physiology and Consciousness are phenomena that occur, not in connection, but in conjunction. His most important work is Filosofia Critica, in which he has put side by side two antagonistic conceptions of the universe, the objective and the subjectne conceptions. In it he holds that, at the present crisis of science and philosophy, the business of intelligence is to realize that science works on philosophical presuppositions, but that philosophy is no better off with its chaos of endless contradictions and countless systems of thought. The task to be realized is one of coming together, to undo what has been done and get as far as the original primordial concepts with which philosophical inquiry began. -- J.A.F.
    Tychism: A term derived from the Greek, tyche, fortune, chance, and employed by Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) to express any theory which regards chance as an objective reality, operative in the cosmos. Also the hypothesis that evolution occurs owing to fortuitous variations. -- J.J.R.
    Types, theory of: See Logic, formal, § 6; Paradoxes, logical; Ramified theory of types.
    Type-token ambiguity: The words token and type are used to distinguish between two senses of the word word.

    Individual marks, more or less resembling each other (as "cat" resembles "cat" and "CAT") may (1) be said to be "the same word" or (2) so many "different words". The apparent contradiction therby involved is removed by speaking of the individual marks as tokens, in contrast with the one type of which they are instances. And word may then be said to be subject to type-token ambiguity. The terminology can easily be extended to apply to any kind of symbol, e.g. as in speaking of token- and type-sentences.

    Reference: C. S. Peirce, Collected Papers, 4.517. -- M.B.

    Tz'u: (a) Parental love, kindness, or affection, the ideal Confucian virtue of parents.

    (b) Love, kindness in general. -- W.T.C.

    Tzu hua: Self-transformation or spontaneous transformation without depending on any divine guidance or eternal agency, but following the thing's own principle of being, which is Tao. (Taoism). -- W.T.C.
    Tzu jan: The natural, the natural state, the state of Tao, spontaneity as against artificiality. (Lao Tzu; Huai-nan Tzu, d. 122 B.C.). -- W.T.C.