Beth’s definability theorem a theorem for firstorder logic. A theory defines a term...

Bertrand’s paradox an inconsistency arising from the classical definition of an event's...

Bertrand’s box paradox a puzzle concerning conditional probability. Imagine three boxes with two...

Berry’s paradox See SEMANTIC PARADOXES.

Bernoulli’s theorem also called the (weak) law of large numbers, the principle...

Bernard of Clairvaux Saint (1090–1153), French Cistercian monk, mystic, and religious leader. He...

Bernard of Chartres (fl. 1114–26), French philosopher. He was first a teacher (1114–19)...

Berlin Isaiah (1909–97), British philosopher and historian of ideas. He is...

Berkeley George (1685–1753), Irish philosopher and bishop in the Anglican Church...

biology, philosophy of See PHILOSOPHY OF BIOL -. OG.

biology, autonomy of See UNITY OF SCIENCE.

biological naturalism See SEARLE.

binary quantifier See PLURALITIVE LOGIC. bioethics, the subfield of ethics that concerns...

bilateral reduction sentence See REDUCTION SEN -. TENC.

biconditional, Tarskian See TARSKI.

biconditional the logical operator, usually written with a triple-bar sign (S...

bhavanga a subliminal mode of consciousness, according to Theravada Buddhist philosophers,...

bhakti (Sanskrit), in Hindu theistic thought systems, devotion. Bhakti includes the...

blindsight a residual visual capacity resulting from lesions in certain areas...

bleen See GRUE PARADOX.

bivalence, principle of See PRINCIPLE OF BIVA -. LENC. black box, a hypothetical...

Birkhoff–von Neumann logic See QUANTUM LOGIC. bit (from binary digit), a unit or...

biology, social See SOCIAL BIOLOGY.

Bloch Ernst (1885–1977), German philosopher. Influenced by Marxism, his views went...

Blondel Maurice (1861–1949), French Christian philosopher who discovered the deist background...

body, phenomenal See EMBODIMENT.

body, objective See EMBODIMENT.

Bodin Jean (c.1529–96), French political philosopher whose philosophy centers on the...

bodily continuity See PERSONAL IDENTITY.

Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus (c.480– 525), Roman philosopher and Aristotelian translator...