GLOSSARY 363necessary.
logically possible A proposition is logically possible if and only if there are
conditions under which it would be true; logically necessary and logically
contingent propositions are logically possible.
materialism The view that everything that exists is a material thing, a state of
a material thing, a quality of a material thing, or a relation between material
things.
metaphysical necessity A proposition is metaphysically necessary if and only
if it is logically necessary and it either is an existential statement or states
what the essence of something is.
modal proposition A proposition to the effect that another proposition is
logically possible, logically necessary, or logically contingent; if such a
proposition is true, it is necessarily true and if false it is necessarily false.
monotheism The view that there exists one God, in contrast to atheism
which holds that there is no God and polytheism which holds that there are
many gods but not one God.
moral value The dignity or worth inherent in being a self-conscious
libertarianly free agent capable of making choices that are right or wrong.
morality See ethics.
natural value The worth inherent in the flourishing of a thing that has an
essential nature capable of normal development.
necessarily true A property of propositions; a proposition has this property
if and only if there are no possible conditions under which it would be
false; it is identical to logical necessity.
numerical identity Self-identity; the sort of identity a person or thing at one
time has with herself or itself another time and anything has with itself at a
time; strictly, all identity is numerical identity.
ontological argument An argument to the effect that it is logically
impossible that God not exist.
ontological independence Something X has ontological independence of Y if
and only if X does not depend for its existence on Y; something has full
ontological independence if there is nothing distinct from itself on which it
depends for its existence.
person A self-conscious agent.
phenomenological description A description of how things appear to a
subject of experience, whether or not things are as they appear.
problem of evil The problem that exists provided the occurrence of evil is
evidence against the existence of God.
proposition A proposition is anything that is either true or false; we use
declarative sentences to express propositions, but the same proposition can
be expressed by using different strings of words in one or more languages,
so propositions are not sentences.
qualitative identity Perfect similarity.
reason The capacity to see necessary truths, make inferences, remember,
observe and describe, explain and understand, learn, and so on through a
rich variety of capacities.
reincarnation The doctrine of reincarnation claims that persons
beginninglessly, and endlessly unless they become enlightened, are born
and die and are born and die and are born and die.
religious experience An experience that a religious tradition takes to be
significant for salvation or enlightenment.