midterm vocabulary
TRANSCRIPT
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
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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
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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**