Abrandom, n. A complete surrender to one's theoretical
impulses without restraint or moderation; He wrote the first
500 pages of his book in a fit of reckless abrandom.
Baier, n.m. One who obtains his ethical theory from a
vendler. Also, n.f., one who obtains her philosophy of mind from
sellers.
Belnap, n. (from bel-, beautiful, + carnap)
A carnap felicitiously defined in ordinary idiomatic language
(e.g. "synonymous" for "intentionally isomorphic").
Conanism, n. To practice philosophy in a fashion that does
not issue in any positive philosophical theses. Some philosophers
fear that, if conanism becomes too widespread, the profession
will ultimately die out.
Conantive, adj. Neither cognitive nor emotive: ineffable.
The sentences in the Tractatus are often claimed to
have only conantive content. or There is no such thing
as conantive content.
Camp, adj. Showing a delight in artificiality, exaggeration
and affectation, esp. when used in conjunction with banality and
outlandish trivia. His animated discussion of a one-eyed turkey-hunter
to illustrate Gettier's problem stuck me as a little camp.
Engstrom, n. The minimal amount of detectable divergence
between a text and its commentary. Her reading of Hegel showed
a sober lack of abrandom and strayed from its source by a mere
engstrom.
Gale, n. A noisy outburst: A gale of laughter.
Glymour, n. An illumination, usually enveloped in darkness;
often used metaphorically, as in I read all the equations,
but I had just a glymour of what they meant.
Grunbaume, n. (in German folklore) A tree which, when one
of its fruits is bruised produces another of the same shape, taste,
and texture but five times as large.
Hemple, adj. (only in the idiom hemple-minded)
Said of one who insists on recasting the problem in the first
order logic.
Horrowitz, n. From the Gothic for monstrous prank (horror
witze). The enticement of unsuspecting graduate students
through intriguing course descriptions, followed by a seminar
on decision theory. I thought it was going to be a class on
poststructuralism, but it turned out to be a Horrorwitz.
Massey, adj. Describing the work of someone who is hemple-minded.
Mander, v. To proceed in a winding and indirect fashion.
Since the course has no syllabus, it tends to mander a bit.
McDoweller, n. (1) A consistency proof for a conclusion that is manifestly true.
(2) A fallacious inference of the form: Not necessarily not
P, therefore, P.
resch, (1) v. To evince an extravagant or pathological degree of intellectual energy in many directions. He is always resching into print -- one can't keep up with his stuff.
(2) rescher, n. A unit for measuring the volume of printed
pages, equal to the collected works of Francis Bacon (hence, a
rescher of Bacon). 1 rescher = 10, 000 sheffers. The new
wing will increase the library capacity by over a thousand reschers.
salmon, n. An inductive fitch.
sellar, n. A deep, dark place beneath a weighty edifice
that lacks foundations.
wilfrid, adj. Said of a theory one presumes to be true
but finds incomprehensible; You physicists all seem to agree,
but it's wilfred to me. I'm sorry, your Holiness, but every time
you explain the Trinity to me it goes all wilfred in my mind.
Also, said of a person, bewilfred.