Some people boil philosophy down to a list of definitions. In one sense, that is not entirely wrong. Every topic, including philosophy, religion, or tradition, can be partly understood through its tradition-specific vocabulary.
But definitions alone are too small. A better way to think about philosophy is in terms of frameworks. A framework is an organized set of ideas, assumptions, categories, methods, and vocabulary.
Alphabetical List of TST Terms
1. Abstract Entity — An abstract entity is a mental construct representing something non-material.
2. Action — An action is what a concrete object or abstract entity does or undergoes.
3. Actual — Actual refers to the realized state of a thing, including its current properties, form, condition, and category.
4. Agnostic — An agnostic position on an irrational topic does not pretend certainty.
5. Agnostic Spirituality — The personal, science-first exploration of meaning, connection, mystery, and the self, anchored to reality and sorted into empirical, rational, and irrational categories.
6. Apathetic Agnostic — An Apathetic Agnostic position on an irrational topic does not pretend certainty and is not interested in active exploration.
7. Authentic Self — The Authentic Self is the self you become when you live honestly.
8. Concrete Object — A concrete object is a material thing that exists in reality.
9. Confucian Role Ethics — Confucian Role Ethics helps you with relationships. TST uses five traditional relationships plus ancestor veneration to explore normalcy and social continuity.
10. Daoist Natural Alignment — Daoist Natural Alignment helps you flow with reality. It teaches you to live with nature, simplicity, authenticity, and less forcing.
11. Dichotomy of Control — The Dichotomy of Control separates what is yours to control from what is not.
12. Eightfold Path — The Eightfold Path is Buddhism’s practical roadmap for seeing clearly, acting ethically, training the mind, and walking a wiser life path.
13. Empirical Idea — An empirical idea is a direct description of the material world.
14. Empirical Pragmatist — An empirical-pragmatic worldview prioritizes empirical truth, and it treats practical usefulness as subordinate to observable reality.
15. Empirically True — An idea is empirically true when it is scientifically true.
16. Empiricist — The Empiricist is an OVM viewpoint of evidence-calibrated inquiry.
17. Epicurean Happiness Toolkit — The Epicurean Happiness Toolkit helps you manage pleasure by prioritizing the long-term over the short-term.
18. Essence — Essence refers to what a thing is, or is claimed to be, at its core.
19. Eternal Recurrence — Eternal Recurrence is Nietzsche’s test of life affirmation: could you honestly affirm this choice, pattern, or life if you had to live it again?
20. Eudaimonia — Eudaimonia is happiness achieved through a flourishing life of virtue.
21. Existence — Existence refers to whether or not a thing exists.
22. Explorative Agnostic — An Explorative Agnostic position on an irrational topic does not pretend certainty but is interested in active exploration.
23. Five Thieves — The Five Thieves are inner forces that steal happiness. In TST, they belong under Personal Morality, specifically the Happiness branch.
24. Framework — A framework is a structured set of ideas.
25. Free Will — Free Will is the degree of real choice a person has.
26. Good Intent — To act with good intent, you clarify group guidance. Weigh results. Apply personal morality. Forge a plan.
27. Harm Principle — The Harm Principle says personal freedom should be protected unless a person harms others. In TST, it marks the boundary where Group Ethics begins.
28. Holistic Eudaimonia — Holistic Eudaimonia is an all-encompassing approach to well-being that cultivates flourishing for all through actions that produce good results and ripple into the unknown void.
29. Idea — An Idea is a mental construct that stems from impressions, describing concrete objects or abstract entities of the material world or beyond.
30. Idea Evaluation — Idea Evaluation is the practice of improving ideas.
31. Identity — Identity is the personal journey of exploring the self.
32. Ignorance Is Bliss — Ignorance Is Bliss is the balancing of knowing and suffering.
33. Illusion — An illusion is a false perception of reality.
34. Impermanence — Impermanence is the truth that reality is always changing. Everything flows, shifts, transforms, emerges, and passes away.
35. Irrational Idea — An irrational idea is an idea that is false in a logical setting.
36. Irrational Pragmatist — An irrational-pragmatic worldview prioritizes usefulness as sufficient reason to hold ideas as true.
37. Irrationally False — An idea is irrationally false when it lacks empirical support, fails logical consistency, or depends on unverified or disproven claims.
38. Karma — Karma is the idea that actions ripple. In TST, its common-ground meaning is cause and effect in moral life.
39. Material World — The material world is reality itself: the shared world that exists whether we notice it, name it, believe in it, or not.
40. Non-Self — Non-Self is the idea that the self cannot be located physically within your body.
41. Normalcy — Normalcy is your learned sense of what feels expected.
42. Open Viewpoint Method — The Open Viewpoint Method is a thinking tool for exploring ideas from more than one viewpoint.
43. OVM Linguistic Bridge — The OVM Linguistic Bridge facilitates cross belief understanding.
44. Personal Language — Personal language is the private meaning-world you carry inside words.
45. Personal Philosophy — Personal philosophy is the set of ideas you use to interpret life and decide how to live.
46. Personal Religion — Personal religion is your personal journey into spirituality and belief.
47. Philosophy of Fiction — Philosophy of Fiction studies how stories relate to reality. Its central dichotomy explores truth in fiction and alignment with reality in nonfiction.
48. Potential — Potential refers to what a thing can become or do within reality’s constraints.
49. Pragmatism — The view that ideas have value primarily by their practical, real-world results. Beliefs primarily matter by the difference they make in life.
50. Property — A property is an attribute of a concrete object or abstract entity.
51. Rational Idea — A rational idea is an indirect description of the material world.
52. Rational Pragmatist — A rational-pragmatic worldview prioritizes empirical and rational truth while retaining a limited set of personal beliefs.
53. Rationally True — An idea is rationally true when it is logically consistent within a rational framework and does not depend on irrational assumptions.
54. Reflective Inquiry — Reflective Inquiry is the practice of clearing self-illusion.
55. Relation — A relation is how a concrete object or abstract entity is connected to another.
56. Schema — A schema is the mind’s idea of a repeatable pattern.
57. Secular Spirituality — Science-first spiritual exploration of the self.
58. Social Construct — A social construct is a shared human-made idea that organizes life.
59. State — A state is the current configuration of a concrete object or abstract entity’s properties, actions, and relations.
60. Stoic Virtue Framework — The Stoic Virtue Framework helps you build virtue. It helps you foster good intent in the good intent-good results recipe.
61. True Believer — The True Believer is an OVM viewpoint of strong commitment to a claim or topic.
62. True Skeptic — The True Skeptic is an OVM viewpoint of strong doubt and a high threshold for belief.
63. Two Tables of the Ten Commandments — The Two Tables of the Ten Commandments separates sacred conscience from civic law. In TST, it is a common floor for church-state separation and freedom of conscience.
64. Universal — A universal is a repeatable pattern among concrete objects, abstract entities, or both.
65. Unknowable Dao — The Unknowable Dao is a TST term that stems from the Dao of Daoism. It points to a mysterious universal reality that transcends language and thought, while also suggesting the ultimate reality and natural order.
66. Viewpoint Prevention — Viewpoint Prevention is the avoidance of a rigid mindset.
67. Worldview — A worldview is one’s interpretive lens, shaped by personal language, religion, and philosophy.