Dagobert D. Runes, Dictionary of Philosophy, 1942.
A|
B|
C|
D|
E|
F|
G|
H|
I|
J|
K|
L|
M|
N|
O|
P|
Q|
R|
S|
T|
U|
V|
W|
X|
Y|
Z
U
Ubicatio: (Lat. ubi, where) Whereness, the condition of being located in space. -- V.J.B.
Ueberweg, Friedrich: (1826 1871) Is mainly known for his exhaustive studies in the history of philosophy. -- R.B.W.
Main works: System d. Logtk u. Gesch. d. logischen Lehre, 1857; Grundriss d. Gesch. d. Philosophie, 1863-66.
Ultimate Value: See Value, ultimate.
Ultramontanism: (Lat. ultra, beyond, and montanus, pertaining to mountains, i.e., the Alps) Extreme theory of the absolute supremacy of the Pope, not only in religious but in political matters -- V.J.B.
Unamuno y Jugo, Miguel de: Spanish Professor and writer. Born at Bilbao, Spain, September 29, 1864. Died 1936. First and secondary education in Bilbao. Philosophical studies and higher learning at the Central University of Madrid since 1880. Private instructor in Bilbao, 1884-1891. Professor of Greek language and literature at the University of Salamanca since 1891. President of the University of Salamanca and at the same time Professor of the History of the Spanish Language, in 1901. Madariaga considers him "The most important literary figure of Spain". If he does not embody, at least it may be asserted that Unamuno very well symbolizes the character of Spain. His conflict between faith and reason, life and thought, culture and civilization, depicts for us a clear picture of the Spanish cultural crisis.
Among his most important works the following must be mentioned:
- Paz en la Guerra, 1897;
- De la Ensenanza Superior en Espana, 1899;
- En Torno al Casticismo, 1902;
- Amor y Pedagogia, 1902;
- Vida de Don Quijote y Sancho, 1905;
- Mi Religion y Otros Ensayos, 1910;
- Soliloquios y Conversaciones, 1912;
- Contra Esto y Aquello, 1912;
- Ensayos, 7 vols., 1916-1920;
- Del Sentimiento Tragico de la Vida en los Hombres y en los Pueblos, 1914;
- Niebla, 1914;
- La Agonia del Cristianismo, 1930; etc.
Unamuno conceives of everv individual man as an end in himself and not a means. Civilization has an individual responsibility towards each man. Man lives in society, but society as such is an abstraction. The concrete fact is the individual man "of flesh and blood". This doctrine of man constitutes the first principle of his entire philosophy. He develops it throughout his writings by way of a soliloquy in which he
attacks the concepts of "man", "Society", "Humanity", etc. as mere abstractions of the philosophers, and argues for the "Concrete", "experiential" facts of the individual living man. On his doctrine of man as an individual fact ontologically valid, Unamuno roots the second principle of his philosophy, namely, his theory of Immortality. Faith in immortality grows out, not from the realm of reason, but from the realm of facts which lie beyond the boundaries of reason. In fact, reason as such, that is, as a logical function is absolutely disowned bv Unamuno, as useless and unjustified. The third principle of his philosophy is his theory of the Logos which has to do with man's intuition of the world and his immediate response in language and action. -- J.A.F.
Unanimism: A teim invented by Jules Romains to mean (1) a belief "in a certain reality of a spiritual nature," and (2) a belief that the human soul can enter into direct, immediate, and intuitive communication with the universal soul. -- G.B.
Uncertainty principle: A principle of quantum mechanics (q.v.), according to which complete quantitative measurement of certain states and processes in terms of the usual space-time coordinates is impossible. Macroscopically negligible, the effect becomes of importance on the electronic scale. In particular, if simultaneous measurements of the position and the momentum of an electron are pressed beyond a certain degree of accuracy, it becomes impossible to increase the accuracy of either measurement except at the expense of a decrease in the accuracy of the other more exactly, if a is the uncertaintv of the measurement of one of the coordinates of position of the electron and b is the uncertainty of the measurement of the corresponding component of momentum, the product ab (on principle) cannot be less than a certain constant h (namely Planck's constant, q.v.). On the basis that quantities in principle unobservable are not to be considered physically real, it is therefore held by quantum theorists that simultaneous ascription of an exact position and an exact momentum to an electron is memingless. This has been thought to have a bearing on, or to limit or modify the principle of determinism in physics. -- A.C.
C. G. Darwin, The uncertainty principle, Science, vol. 73 (1931), pp. 653-660.
Unconscious: According to Ed. v. Hartmann (q.v.) the united unconscious will and unconscious idea -- K.F.L.
Unconscious Mind: A compartment of the mind which lies outside the consciousness, existence of which has frejuently been challenged. See for example W. James, The Principles of Psychology, Vol. I, pp. 162 ff. See Subconscious Mind.
-- L.W.
Understanding: (Kant. Ger. Verstand) The faculty of thinking the object of sensuous intuition; or the faculty of concepts, judgments and principles. The understanding is the source of concepts, categories and principles by means of which the manifold of sense is brought into the unity of apperception. Kant suggests that understanding has a common root with sensibility. See Kantianism. -- O.F.K.
Undistributed middle: In the categorical syllogism (logic, formal, § 5), the middle term must appear in at least one of the two premisses (major and minor) is dtstributed -- i.e., as denoting the subject of a proposition A or E, or the predicate of a proposition E or O. Violation of this rule is the fallacy of undistributed middle.
A.C.
Uniformity of Nature: Principle that what happens once in nature will, under a sufficient degree of similarity of circumstances, happen again and as often as the same circumstances recur. -- A.C.B.
Unio mystica: (Lat.) Mystical union; the merging of the individual consciousness, cognitively or affectively, with a superior, or supreme consciousness. See Mysticism. -- V.J.B.
Union: (in Scholasticism) Is often designated from the effect which united pnrts manifest, as in essential union by which parts constituting the essence of a thing are united, -- or accidental union by which an accident is united to a substance. -- H.G.
Unipathy: (Ger. Einsfühlung) Is a form of emotional identification, seems close to the teim "participation" of Levy-Bruhl. There are two types of unipathy: idiopathic and heteropathic. In the one the alter is absorbed by the ego, and in the other the ego is absorbed by the alter. See Sympathy. -- H.H.
Unit class: A class having one and only one member. Or, to give a definition which does not employ the word one, a class a is a unit class if there is an x such that x∈a and, for all y, y∈a implies y = x. -- A.C.
Unitarianism: The mme for the theological view which emphasises the oneness of God in opposition to the Triitarian formula (q.v.). Although the term is modern, the idea underlying Unitarianism is old. In Christian theology any expression of the status of Jesus as being less than a metaphysical part of Deity is of the spirit of Unitarianism (e.g., Dynamistic Monarchianists, Adoptionists, Socinians, and many others). Unitarians hold only the highest regard for Jesus but refuse to bind that regard to a Trinitarian metaphysics. In general, their views of the religious life have been prophetic of liberal thought. Today there are numbers of liberal Christian ministers who are Unitarian in thought but not in name. The British and Foreign Unitarian Association dates formally to 1825. Manchester College, Oxford, was claimed Unitarian. Leading theologians were Joseph Priestly (1733-1804), James Martineau (1805-1900), James Drummond and J. E. Carpenter. American Unitarianism wis given expression in King's Chapel, Boston (1785), in a number of associations, in Meaddville Theological School (1844) and Harvard Divinity School (the chief seat of the movement prior to 1878). Channing (1780-1842) and Theodore Parker (1810-1860) directed the movement into wider liberal channels. -- V.F.
Unity of Science, Unified Science: See Scientific Empiricism IIB.
Universal: (Lat. universalia, a universal) That term which can be applied throughout the universe. A possibility of discrete being. According to Plato, an idea (which see). According to Aristotle, that which by its nature is fit to be predicated of many. For medieval realists, an entity whose being is independent of its mental apprehension or actual exemplification. (See: Realism). For medieval nominalists, a general notion or concept having no reality of its own in the realm of being (see Nominalism). In psychology: a concept. See Concept, General, Possibility. Opposite of: particular.
-- J.K.F.
In Scholasticism: Until the revival of Aristotelianism in the 13th century, universals were considered by most of the Schoolmen as real "second substances." This medieval Realism (see Realism), of those who legebant in re, found but little opposition from early Nominalists, legentes in voce, like Roscellin. The latter went to the othei extreme by declaring universal names to be nothing but the breath of the voice -- flatus vocis. Extreme realism as represented by William of Champeaux, crumbled under the attacks of Abelard who taught a modified nominalism, distinguishing, howevei, sharply between the mere word, vox, as a physical phenomenon, and the meaningful word, sermo.. His interests being much more in logic than in ontology, he did not arrive at a definite solution of the problem. Aquinas summarized and synthetisized the ideas of his predecessors by stating that the universal had real existence only as creative idea in God, ante rem, whereas it existed within experienced reality only in the individual things, in re, and as a mental fact when abstracted from the particulars in the human mind, post rem. A view much like this had been proposed previously by Avicenna to whom Aquinas seems to be indebted. Later Middle-Ages saw a rebirth of nominalistic conceptions. The new school of Terminists, as they called themselves, less crude in its ideas than Roscellin, asserted that universals are only class names. Occam is usually considered as the most prominent of the Terminists. To Aquinas, the universal was still more than a mere name; it corresponded to an ontologicil fact; the definition of the universal reproduces the essence
of the things. The universals are with Occam indeed natural signs which the mind cannot help forming, whereas the terms are arbitiary, signa ad placitum. But the universal is only a sign and does not correspond to anything ontological. -- R.A.
Universal class: See logic, formal, § 7.
Universal proposition: See particular proposition.
Universal quantifier: See quantifier.
Universalism: The doctrine that each individual should seek as an end the welfare of all. Usually advanced on the basis of the principle that the intrinsic value of an entity, e.g., pleasure, does not vary with the individual possessing it. -- C.A.B.
In Theology: Unless otherwise defined, the term refers to the Christian denomination which emphasizes the universal fatherhood of God and the final redemption and salvation of all. The doctrine is that of optimism in attaining an ultimate, ordered harmony and stands in opposition to traditional pessimism, to theories of damnation and election. Universalists look back to 1770 as an organized body, the date of the coming to America of John Murray. Unitarian thought (see Unitarianism) was early expressed by Hosea Ballou (1771-1852), one of the founders of Universalism. -- V.F.
Universe: (a) Metaphysics (1) The complete natural world, (2) That whole composed of all particulars and of all universals. (3) The Absolute. (b) Logic: The universe of discourse in any given treatment is that class such that all other classes treated are subclasses of it and consequently such that all members of any class treated are members of it. See logic, formal, §§7, 8. -- C.A.B.
Universe of discourse: See individual; and logic, formal, §§ 7, 8
Upadhi: (Skr. substitute, disguise) One of many conditions of body and mind obscuring the true state of man or his self which Indian philosophies try to remove for the attainment of moksa (q.v.). -- K.F.L.
Upamana: (Skr.) Comparison, a valid source of knowledge and truth in some Indian philosophical systems -- K.F.L.
Upanishad, Upanisad: (Skr.) One of a large number of treatises, more than 100. Thirteen of the oldest ones (Chandogya, Brhadaranyaka, Aitareya, Taittiriya, Katha, Isa, Mundaka, Kausitaki, Kena, Prasna, Svetasvatara, Mandukya, Maitri) have the distinction of being the first philosophic compositions, antedating for the most part the beginnings of Greek philosophy, others have been composed comparatively recently. The mode of imparting knowledge with the pupil sitting opposite (upa-ni-sad) the teacher amid an atmosphere of reverence and secrecy, gave these onginally mnemonic treatises their name. They are remarkable for ontological, metaphysical, and ethical problems, investigations into the nature of man's soul or self (see atman), God, death, immortality, and a symbolic interpretation of ritualistic materials and observances. Early examples of universal suffrage, tendencies to break down caste, philosophic dialogues and congresses, celebrated similes, succession of philosophic teachers, among other things, may be studied in the more archaic, classical Upanishads. See ayam atema brahma, aham brahma asmi, tat tvam asi, net neti.
-- K.F.L.
Upasana: (Skr. sitting near) Worship, reverential attitude -- K.F.L.
Upasanakanda: (Skr.) That portion of the Veda (q.v.) dealing with worship. -- K.F.L.
Usiologie: A German term apparently not used in English, derived from the Greek, Ousia, essence, hence the science of essence -- J.J.R.
Uti: St. Augustine holds that the verbs uti and frui have not the same meaning. We use things because we need them, whereas we enjoy that which causes pleasure; utimur pro necesitate, fruimur pro iucunditate. -- J.J.R.
Utilitarianism: (a) Traditionally understood as the view that the right act is the act which, of all those open to the agent, will actually or probably produce the greatest amount of pleasure or happiness in the world at large (this is the so called Principle of Utility). This view has been opposed to intuitionism in the traditional sense in a long and well-known controversy. It received its classical form in Bentham and the two Mills. Earlier it took a theological form in Gay and Paley, later an evolutionistic form in Spencer, and an intuitionistic form (in the wider sense) in Sidgwick.
(b) More recently understood, especially in England, as the view that the right act is the act which will actually or probably produce at least as much intrinsic good, directly or indirectly, as any other action open to the agent in question. On this interpretation, traditional utilitarianism is one species of utilitarianism -- that which regards pleasure as the good. Ideal utilitarianism, on the other hand, holds that other things besides pleasure are good (see G.E. Moore, H. Rashdall, J. Laird) In America utilitarianism is chiefly associated with voluntaristic or "interest" theories of value, e.g. in the pragmatic ethics of James and Dewev, and in R. B. Perry. See intuitionism, deontological ethics, teleological ethics. -- W.K.F.
Utopia: (Gr. ou-topos, the Land of Nowhere) An expression used by Sir Thomas More in his book "De optimo reipublicae statu deque nova insular Utopia," 1516, which in the form of a novel described an ideal state. Phto's Politeia is the first famous Utopia. Plato, however, hid several predecessors and followers in this type of literature. From the Renaissance on the most famous Utopias besides Thomas More's book were: Tommaso Campanella: The City of the Sun, 1612; Francis Bacon, New Atlantis, 1627; Cabet, Voyage en Icarie, 1842; Bellamy, Looking Backward, 1888. -- W.E.
Utopian socialism: Given wide cuirency by the writings of Marx and Engels, this term signifies the socialist ideas of thinkcis like Owen, St. Simon and Fourier who protested against the sufferings of the masses under capitalism and who saw in social ownership of the means of
production a remedy which would eliminate unemployment and afford economic security to all, but who at the same time felt that socialism could be attained by persuading the ruling classes to give up voluntarily their privileged positions and extensive holdings. Marx and Engels criticized such a conception of method and tactics as Utopian, naive, unhistorical, and
opposed to it their own "scientific socialism". See Socialism, Marxian. -- J.M.S.
Uttara-Mimamsa: Same as Vedanta (q.v.).
Uttarapaksa: (Skr.) "Subsequent view", the second, or the thinker's own view, stated after the refutation (Khandana) of the opponent's view (see prvapaksa). -- K.F.L.