Monism – belief that the mental and physical world are both forms of the same substance. Various flavours:
Materialism – everything is material
Idealism – everything is mental
Neutral – everything is made of primal substance, neither mental nor physical
Dual – mental and physical are only 2 of many forms of the primal substance
Eg see Parmenides
Pluralism – belief that reality is formed by a multiplicity of different substances ( or entities) that cannot be reduced to a single common substance.
– Substantive pluralism – re physical matter
Attributative pluralism – re attributes and properties
Eg see Empedocles
Anaxagoras
The Atomists
Plenum – Space filled with matter
Void – empty space
Dialectic – use of logical argument by question and answer of subject to elicit a conclusion not previously recognised as consistent with their other beliefs. Used by the Sophists eg Socrates.
Teleological -. The question “why?” can occur in 2 forms:
Mechanistic why – what earlier circumstances caused an event?
Teleological why – what purpose did the event serve?
Mechanistic questions lead to scientific knowledge.
Teleological questions lead to a blind alley, and can only end in the proposition of a creator or artificer.
However, mechanistic questions cannot be asked about the universe as a whole, only about its parts, otherwise the process will also inevitably end in the proposition of a creator.