IB Philosophy 9. HL Extension: Philosophy and Contemporary Issues Key Definitions

Actor-Network Theory, developed by Bruno Latour, argues that both humans and non-human artefacts function as "actants" that participate equally in networks of action, dissolving the traditional boundary between persons and tools. Agency is distributed across the entire network rather than residing solely in human intentions.

Central to Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist ethics, ahimsa is the principle of non-violence toward all living beings, requiring the minimisation of harm to animals, plants, and the natural world through compassionate action and restraint.

a condition in which a person is estranged from the products of their own activity and from their own human capacities. In Fanon's application, alienation names the psychic and social condition of the colonized person who is estranged from their own body, culture, and selfhood by the imposed meanings of the colonial racial order, a condition that can only be overcome through the transformation of the social structures that produced it.

The Anthropocene is the proposed geological epoch in which human activity has become the dominant influence on the Earth's climate and ecosystems, marking a fundamental shift in the relationship between humanity and nature.

Anthropocentrism is the view that human beings are the central or most important entities in the world, and that the natural environment has value only insofar as it serves human needs and interests. Deep ecology and ecocentrism challenge this position.

Biotechnology involves the application of scientific techniques to modify living organisms, biological systems, or their products, including genetic engineering, cloning, and stem cell research.

John Searle's Chinese Room argument challenges the claim that computers can genuinely understand or think. A person in a room follows rules to manipulate Chinese symbols without understanding Chinese, showing that syntax (rule-following) is not sufficient for semantics (meaning).

Civil disobedience is the deliberate, public, and non-violent refusal to obey a law or policy that one considers unjust, undertaken to bring about a change in government policy. Theorised by Thoreau and practised by Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., it was defended by Rawls as a legitimate act within a nearly just society.

Climate change refers to long-term shifts in global temperature, precipitation, and weather patterns driven primarily by the accumulation of greenhouse gases from human activity, particularly the burning of fossil fuels. The phenomenon raises urgent philosophical questions about intergenerational justice, the moral weight of future persons, and how responsibility should be distributed among nations with vastly different historical contributions to emissions.

Conceptual analysis is a philosophical method that seeks to clarify meaning by identifying necessary and sufficient conditions for a concept's application. Dominant in analytic philosophy since the early twentieth century, it aims to reveal hidden assumptions and resolve confusions through careful examination of how concepts function.

Deep ecology is a philosophical movement founded by Arne Naess that rejects human-centred approaches to the environment and holds that all living beings have intrinsic value regardless of their usefulness to humans. It contrasts with shallow ecology, which treats environmental problems as technical issues solvable within existing frameworks.

Depletion of resources refers to the exhaustion of natural resources such as fossil fuels, fresh water, and fertile soil through overconsumption and unsustainable practices. The concept raises philosophical questions about stewardship and intergenerational obligation, challenging societies to balance present needs against the rights and well-being of future generations who will inherit a diminished natural commons.

(availability or openness) Gabriel Marcel's concept of being genuinely present and open to others as a condition of authentic human existence. Disponibilite requires attentive, responsive engagement with other persons in their irreducible particularity.

The elenchus is the Socratic method of cross-examination through systematic questioning, in which the philosopher probes a person's beliefs to expose contradictions and lead toward deeper understanding. It is not designed to provide answers directly but to show that one's initial assumptions require further examination.

In bioethics, enhancement refers to the use of biotechnology to improve human capacities beyond the normal range, as distinct from therapy, which aims to restore normal functioning.

In environmental philosophy, environmental degradation refers to the deterioration of the natural world through the depletion of resources, destruction of ecosystems, pollution, and loss of biodiversity, driven by human activity.

Gestell (enframing) is Heidegger's term for the essence of modern technology, the mode of revealing in which everything, including nature and humans, is disclosed as a standing reserve of resources available for exploitation.

Luciano Floridi's concept of the infosphere refers to the total informational environment in which humans now live, where the boundary between online and offline, human and artificial, has become so blurred that we are not merely users of information technologies but informational organisms embedded within them.

multiple meanings of technology, social groups, design trajectory shaped by use. A key concept within the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) framework developed by Bijker and Pinch, interpretive flexibility holds that the same technological artefact can be understood and used in fundamentally different ways by different social groups. These competing interpretations are not merely downstream responses to a fixed object but actively shape the design trajectory and ultimate form of the technology itself.

Intrinsic value is the worth that something possesses in itself, independent of its usefulness to anyone or anything else. Contrasted with extrinsic (instrumental) value, which depends on serving as a means to a further end, it is central to debates about whether nature deserves protection for its own sake.

Moral agency is the capacity of a being to understand moral principles, distinguish right from wrong, and be held accountable for its choices and actions.

In Mill's philosophy, moral autonomy is the capacity of individuals to determine their own moral principles through independent reflection and rational deliberation, rather than accepting moral rules imposed by custom, tradition, or external authority.

Moral status is the property of being an entity whose interests or wellbeing deserve moral consideration. Debated criteria include sentience, rationality, being the subject of a life, or membership in a biotic community.

Ernst Kapp's theory of organ projection holds that technological tools are extensions of human organs, externalising our physical and cognitive capacities in material form. On this view, technology is not alien to human nature but a mirror of humanity, revealing our structures through the artefacts we create.