Philosophical Concepts

100 philosophical concepts
Philosophical Concepts

The Precautionary Principle

Principle that actions with uncertain but potentially catastrophic outcomes should be avoided. When harm is possible, burden of proof lies with action-taker. Applied to GMOs, climate change, AI, nuclear power. …

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Philosophical Concepts

Black Swan

Taleb's concept of rare, high-impact, retrospectively predictable events. Black swans: outliers with extreme consequences. Examples: 9/11, 2008 financial crisis, internet, COVID-19. Narrative fallacy: we create stories explaining them after. Ludic …

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Philosophical Concepts

Antifragility

Taleb's concept of systems that benefit from stressors and volatility. Antifragile > robust > fragile. Hormesis: small doses of stressors strengthen. Barbell strategy: extreme safety plus extreme risk. Evolution is …

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Philosophical Concepts

Skin in the Game

Taleb's concept that decision-makers should bear consequences of their decisions. Moral hazard when risks and rewards are asymmetric. Bankers gambling with others' money exemplify lack of skin in the game. …

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Philosophical Concepts

Move Fast and Break Things

Facebook motto representing disruptive innovation culture. Prioritize speed and experimentation over caution. Break existing systems to build better ones. Fail fast, iterate quickly. Critique: breaks democracy, privacy, mental health. Galloway: …

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Philosophical Concepts

Information Wants to Be Free

Phrase from hacker culture asserting information should be freely accessible. Stewart Brand: information wants to be free and expensive—tension between these. Open source, piracy, wikileaks embody the principle. Critique of …

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Philosophical Concepts

The Singularity

Hypothetical point where AI recursively self-improves, leading to superintelligence. Vinge, Kurzweil: technological change becomes uncontrollable and irreversible. Intelligence explosion could happen rapidly. Post-singularity world is unpredictable. Optimists: utopian abundance. Pessimists: …

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Philosophical Concepts

Technological Unemployment

Economic concern that automation eliminates jobs faster than creating new ones. Frey-Osborne: 47% of US jobs at risk. AI and robotics automate cognitive and physical labor. Universal basic income proposed …

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Philosophical Concepts

Algorithmic Bias

Problem of AI systems perpetuating or amplifying social biases. Training data reflects historical discrimination. Algorithms can be racist, sexist, ableist. ProPublica's COMPAS analysis showed racial bias in recidivism prediction. Facial …

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Philosophical Concepts

AI Alignment

Problem of ensuring AI systems pursue intended goals and values. Orthogonality thesis: intelligence and goals are independent. Instrumental convergence: AIs may pursue harmful subgoals. Control problem: how to maintain control …

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Philosophical Concepts

Attention Economy

Concept that attention is scarce resource in information abundance. Simon: wealth of information creates poverty of attention. Tech platforms compete for limited attention. Advertising model monetizes attention. Infinite scroll, notifications, …

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Philosophical Concepts

Digital Dualism

Concept critiquing false separation between online and offline life. Jurgenson: augmented reality is norm—digital and physical interpenetrate. Not living dual lives but one augmented life. Critique of viewing online as …

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Philosophical Concepts

Metamodernism

Cultural philosophy oscillating between modernist sincerity and postmodern irony. Neither naive optimism nor cynical skepticism but oscillation. Informed naivety: sincerity aware of irony. Hope tempered by doubt. Vermeulen and van …

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Philosophical Concepts

Solarpunk

Aesthetic and movement envisioning sustainable, equitable, tech-integrated futures. Contrast to cyberpunk dystopia: hopeful ecological futures. Solar panels, green architecture, community tech. Post-scarcity through renewable energy and cooperation. Decolonial, feminist, anti-capitalist …

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Philosophical Concepts

Longtermism

Ethical framework prioritizing long-term future and potential people. MacAskill, Ord: most value lies in future; we should optimize for it. Existential risk reduction is paramount. Expected value of future humanity …

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Philosophical Concepts

Effective Accelerationism

Techno-optimist philosophy advocating accelerating technological development. Abbreviation: e/acc. Believes technology solves problems technology creates. Opposes precautionary principle and AI safety concerns. Market forces and innovation should be unleashed. Thermodynamic framing: …

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Philosophical Concepts

Deep Ecology

Environmental philosophy extending moral consideration to all living beings. Naess: shallow ecology is anthropocentric; deep ecology is ecocentric. Biospheric egalitarianism: all life has intrinsic value. Ecological self expands identity beyond …

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Philosophical Concepts

The Anthropocene

Proposed geological epoch where human activity dominates Earth systems. Humans as geological force through climate change, species extinction, nuclear fallout. Challenges nature-culture separation. Anthropocene thinking requires planetary perspective. Debate over …

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Philosophical Concepts

Actor-Network Theory

Sociological theory treating humans and non-humans as actants in networks. Latour: society is made of human and non-human actors. No micro-macro distinction—only networks of varying extent. Symmetry between nature and …

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Philosophical Concepts

Object-Oriented Ontology

Speculative realist position that objects exist independently of human thought. Harman: objects withdraw from all relations, including human knowledge. Flat ontology: humans are not privileged; all objects (rocks, ideas, atoms) …

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Philosophical Concepts

Reproductive Justice

Framework expanding beyond pro-choice to address full reproductive freedom. Right to have children, not have children, and parent in safe environments. Coined by Black women activists in 1994. Addresses forced …

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Philosophical Concepts

Care Ethics

Feminist ethical framework emphasizing relationships, care, and context over abstract principles. Gilligan's different voice contrasts care orientation with justice orientation. Care involves attentiveness, responsibility, competence, responsiveness. Critique of ethics based …

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Philosophical Concepts

Intersectionality

Concept that systems of oppression (race, class, gender) intersect and interact. Coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw analyzing Black women's experiences. Identities are not additive but multiplicative. Single-axis frameworks miss compound discrimination. …

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Philosophical Concepts

The Cyborg

Haraway's concept of human-machine hybrid challenging nature-culture boundaries. Cyborg is both reality and fiction—we are all cyborgs (pacemakers, glasses, prosthetics). Cyborg myth offers political possibility beyond gender essentialism. Neither goddess …

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