Midterm Vocabulary

8/2/2019 Midterm Vocabulary

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Ways of Knowing Midterm Vocabulary List

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Idealism (Plato) – refers to transcendental source for all knowledge; ideal “forms”;

philosophers only know the truths of these ideal forms after great training

Skepticism (Descartes) – disposition that casts doubtful eye on every eye of

knowledge; radical doubt that is not tossed away with proof

Dualism – mind and body are fundamentally different and what can be learned from

them is radically different (Cartesian dualism: mind > body)

Pragmatism (James) – distinctly American focus on practical consequences

Empiricism (James) – opposite of dualism; priority on what sense can learn

Epistemology – branch of philosophy that inquires into how we know what we

know

Discipline – a field of academic or scientific study that holds common beliefs about

what to research, how to research it, how to share its findings, and what kinds of

arguments can and should be made about evidence.

Dialectic – technique for pursuing and producing knowledge that relies on

disagreement and, for Plato and Socrates, dialogues (free ranging form of inquiry:

thesis + counterevidence + antithesis [argument] = synthesis)

Authority – trusted external source

Intuition – claims (“non-rational”) we believe but find hard to defend

Conventions – accepted formal standards of writing

Mechanics – grammar, punctuation, etc.

Induction – small to big (particular instances -> affirmative statement)

Deduction (Descrates)– big to small (inferring knowledge of the particular from a

general proposition)

Formalist – “of the form”: shape, color, texture, background, depth

Historicism – history and how we got here



Participant Observation – technique used by anthropologists

Cultural Relativism – thick description

Methodology – methods or strategies used to make an argument

Evidence or data – empirical observation

Analysis – an interpretation of sources

Sources – various materials used to make an argument

Orienting – acknowledgeable source

Thesis – a paper’s central claim or promise

Motive – “intellectual context” established at the beginning of papers to suggest whythe thesis was written

Structure – a paper’s line of reasoning from beginning to end and also within and

between paragraphs

Key Words – a paper’s main terms or concepts

Metaphysics – explains fundamental nature of being

Historiography – historical narrative over time

Narratives – account of what happened

Constructionalism – overlap between narrative and historical event

Positivism – theory of knowledge in which facts (records) matter

Relativism – disavows any absolute claims to truth; truth is a matter of perspective

and perception (subjective)

Logic – schematic language that models intellectual inquiry

Melody (tune) – a line of pitches with a horizontal contour that moves up, down, or

remains level

Pitch – note in a melody or chord that describes the highness or lowness of a sound

rather than its duration



Harmony – determined by vertical collections of pitches that support or accompany

a melody

Major/Minor Keys – sound brighter or happier than those written in minor keys,

which tend to sound darker, more melancholy

Consonant – “sweet” sounding or pleasing harmonies, combinations of notes that

sound more at ease, more settled-sounding than dissonant

Dissonant – tense or aurally unpleasant harmonies that typically feel as though they

need to be resolved to a consonant harmony

Tempo – the speed or rate of a pulse or succession of beats

Meter – the regular grouping of beats, often emphasizing the first beat

Rhythm – may refer to melody or accompaniment

Dynamics – refers to the loudness or softness of sounds

Articulation – how notes are distinguished from ne another

Color – what voices or instruments are used and how

Texture – involves color and orchestration (can be either dense or spare, some

overlap)

Structure (form) – the way smaller units of melody, harmony, and lyrics arecombined to form larger structures

Staccato – in quick separate notes

**This Review Sheet Does NOT Include film key terms**

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Midterm Vocabulary