Words of the Month (August 2023)

1. Agnosticism (English)-"In 1869, English biologist T.H. Huxley coined this noun referring to someone whose religious beliefs lie somewhere in between those of a theist and an atheist — that is, a believer and a disbeliever. Huxley combined the Greek prefix a-, meaning 'not,' with gnostos, 'known.' This word can be used as a noun or adjective, and it can also refer to uncertainty about questions other than the existence of God: 'Some philosophers remain agnostic as to whether people have free will.'"

From https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/agnostic

2. Value Pluralism (English)-"Foundational pluralism is the view that there are plural moral values at the most basic level—that is to say, there is no one value that subsumes all other values, no one property of goodness, and no overarching principle of action. Non-foundational pluralism is the view that there are plural values at the level of choice, but these apparently plural values can be understood in terms of their contribution to one more fundamental value."

See https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/value-pluralism/

3. οὗτος (Greek)- οὗτος and ὅδε this usually refer to something near in place, time, or thought; ἐκεῖνος that refers to something more remote. οὑτοσί_ and ὁδί_ are emphatic, deictic (333 g) forms (this here).

From https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0007%3Apart%3D4%3Achapter%3D41%3Asection%3D87

Wiktionary calls οὗτος, a "medial demonstrative determiner and pronoun"