“Fixing” the Definitions of Philosophical Terms
Sometimes, philosophical terms mean one thing, but sound like they really ought to mean something else. That was the premise of the Uxbridge Dictionary of Philosophy, a compilation of “misdefinitions” of philosophical ideas started by Anthony Gottlieb and compiled by the late D.H. Mellor. Dubbed the “illegitimate offspring” of the Uxbridge English Dictionary and the Philosophical Lexicon, the dictionary used to be hosted on Mellor’s website. Recently, Gottlieb shared with me some of the entries he contributed to it, lamenting that the whole collection appeared to no longer be online. While it’s not on an active site anymore, I did find the archived page, last updated September 10, 2019. So, below are the entries in the Uxbridge Dictionary of Philosophy. Suggested additions/revisions are welcome in the comments. A fortiori: There are at least 40 papers on this already A posteriori: He is talking out of his arse A priori: Someone already said that Abstraction: Stretching stomach muscles Accidental property: Windfall Aesthetic: Pain-inducing Argumentum ad baculum: Back-stabbing B-theory of time: Time is honey Bad company objection: ‘That’s what they say’ Canonical form: Clergyman’s track record Chinese Room: Restaurant with effective but uncomprehending waiters Chinese Room Argument: Dispute in a Chinese Room (q.v.) Contingent proposition: Unnecessary remark Converse: Prisoners’ poetry Copula: Small policewoman Demiurge: Weak inclination Determinist: Ambitious colleague Disposition: Here (see also ‘dat-position’) Dualist: Disputatious Endurantist: Patient listener Entailment: What Manx cats envy Error theory: Your theory Ex post facto: The proof is in the mail Existential import: Cheap foreign philosophy Extensional operator: Masseur Extensionally adequate: Stinks but otherwise OK External relation: Foreign family member Fallacy: Male-dominated Fictionalist: Liar Formal ontology: Black tie metaphysics Framework: Conceptual zimmer frame Genidentity: Jennifer’s essence Goedel’s Theorem: ‘Every system of truths contains at least one misrepresented by popularisers’ Heterological: Preferring the other truth-value Idealist: String of suggestions Internal relation: Embryo Intuition: Under instruction Material conditional: A device for drawing material conclusions from immaterial premises Mentalese: Dualist painkiller Metaphysics: Just encountered a branch of science Monist: Philosophical whinger Naturalist: Bare particular One over many: Head of Department Ontic vagueness: Indeterminate credit Ontological commitment: Longevity Ostrich nominalist: Exotic meat menu Overdetermined: Tries too hard Paradox: Military airports Physicalist: Muscular naturalist (q.v.) Presentist: Generous gift-giver Property dualism: ‘What’s yours is mine’ Propositional calculus: The..
The post https://dailynous.com/2025/10/29/fixing-the-definitions-of-philosophical-terms/
.
https://dailynous.com/2025/10/29/fixing-the-definitions-of-philosophical-terms/
Daily Nous (RSS Feed)
npub10x…rv5vz
2025-10-29 17:36:14 UTC
Author Public Key
npub10xew28qqak8u05htfpffppfk7aw32em840tw5texrts0p72kvr2qfrv5vzSeen on
wss://relay.damus.ioPublished at
2025-10-29 17:36:14 UTCEvent JSON
{
"id": "34e734d3516af5f95ef48f0e61bd1ae56234c08924f962f9adf37c4cba54664a",
"pubkey": "79b2e51c00ed8fc7d2eb4852908536f75d156767abd6ea2f261ae0f0f95660d4",
"created_at": 1761759374,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [
[
"t",
"humor"
],
[
"t",
"concepts"
],
[
"t",
"dictionary"
],
[
"t",
"jargon"
],
[
"proxy",
"https://dailynous.com/feed/#https%3A%2F%2Fdailynous.com%2F2025%2F10%2F29%2Ffixing-the-definitions-of-philosophical-terms%2F",
"rss"
]
],
"content": "“Fixing” the Definitions of Philosophical Terms\n\nSometimes, philosophical terms mean one thing, but sound like they really ought to mean something else. That was the premise of the Uxbridge Dictionary of Philosophy, a compilation of “misdefinitions” of philosophical ideas started by Anthony Gottlieb and compiled by the late D.H. Mellor. Dubbed the “illegitimate offspring” of the Uxbridge English Dictionary and the Philosophical Lexicon, the dictionary used to be hosted on Mellor’s website. Recently, Gottlieb shared with me some of the entries he contributed to it, lamenting that the whole collection appeared to no longer be online. While it’s not on an active site anymore, I did find the archived page, last updated September 10, 2019. So, below are the entries in the Uxbridge Dictionary of Philosophy. Suggested additions/revisions are welcome in the comments. A fortiori: There are at least 40 papers on this already A posteriori: He is talking out of his arse A priori: Someone already said that Abstraction: Stretching stomach muscles Accidental property: Windfall Aesthetic: Pain-inducing Argumentum ad baculum: Back-stabbing B-theory of time: Time is honey Bad company objection: ‘That’s what they say’ Canonical form: Clergyman’s track record Chinese Room: Restaurant with effective but uncomprehending waiters Chinese Room Argument: Dispute in a Chinese Room (q.v.) Contingent proposition: Unnecessary remark Converse: Prisoners’ poetry Copula: Small policewoman Demiurge: Weak inclination Determinist: Ambitious colleague Disposition: Here (see also ‘dat-position’) Dualist: Disputatious Endurantist: Patient listener Entailment: What Manx cats envy Error theory: Your theory Ex post facto: The proof is in the mail Existential import: Cheap foreign philosophy Extensional operator: Masseur Extensionally adequate: Stinks but otherwise OK External relation: Foreign family member Fallacy: Male-dominated Fictionalist: Liar Formal ontology: Black tie metaphysics Framework: Conceptual zimmer frame Genidentity: Jennifer’s essence Goedel’s Theorem: ‘Every system of truths contains at least one misrepresented by popularisers’ Heterological: Preferring the other truth-value Idealist: String of suggestions Internal relation: Embryo Intuition: Under instruction Material conditional: A device for drawing material conclusions from immaterial premises Mentalese: Dualist painkiller Metaphysics: Just encountered a branch of science Monist: Philosophical whinger Naturalist: Bare particular One over many: Head of Department Ontic vagueness: Indeterminate credit Ontological commitment: Longevity Ostrich nominalist: Exotic meat menu Overdetermined: Tries too hard Paradox: Military airports Physicalist: Muscular naturalist (q.v.) Presentist: Generous gift-giver Property dualism: ‘What’s yours is mine’ Propositional calculus: The..\nThe post https://dailynous.com/2025/10/29/fixing-the-definitions-of-philosophical-terms/\n.\n\nhttps://dailynous.com/2025/10/29/fixing-the-definitions-of-philosophical-terms/",
"sig": "9ed610d4468f770d29972f8b6b3f4bf7be1408da9eafcff26c616f9b051dfa897dbcce822aff22fbc164592d7978f08236a2f3b3269702463b8269aae95854d8"
}