The COHE glossary of humanist and related terms is offered as a public service to our site visitors. We hope that it will assist you with not only academic work, but also your pursuit of general knowledge about humanism, science, religion, psychology, ethics, politics, and more.

Because glossary terms are defined by the authors of COHE courses in our diverse Study Areas, some show multiple definitions depending on context within those modules. Note also the offering of synonyms (words with identical meanings) for some terms.

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TCT
Ethics [ETH 100]

Ten Commandments Theory of morality -- ethical theory posulating that right actions are those that conform to the Ten Commandments.

teleological synonym with consequentialist
Ethics [ETH 100]

Category of moral theories claiming that the rightness of an action depends on its consequences.

teleological
Religion and Spirituality [RSP 100]

Name used to describe the argument for God's existence which posits that the world is characterized by such a degree of planning that there must have been a supreme designer.

telos
Science and Humanism [SCH 100]

Greek word representing Aristotle's idea that living beings have an innate natural tendency toward a particular end. It is not clear to what extent Aristotle meant this to be a property put in place by a supernatural entity as opposed to being a natural characteristic of life.

Ten Commandments
Ethics [ETH 100]

Moral code handed directly by God to Hebrew tribal leader Moses on Mount Sinai, according to Judeo-Christian tradition.

The Origin of Species
Science and Humanism [SCH 100]

The title of Charles Darwin's 1859 book that presented the first coherent picture of the modern theory of evolution.

theism
Religion and Spirituality [RSP 100]

Belief in one or more personal gods or goddesses.

theist
Religion and Spirituality [RSP 100]

Person who believes in one or more personal gods or goddesses.

theistic evolution
Science and Humanism [SCH 100]

The idea that evolution does occur, but it is guided by God.

theists
Religion and Spirituality [RSP 100]

People who believe in one or more personal gods or goddesses.

theists
Ethics [ETH 100]

People who believe in God.

theology
Religion and Spirituality [RSP 100]

The study of theistic religion.

theory
Science and Humanism [SCH 100]

A more mature, more complex, and wider-ranging human mental construct than a hypothesis.

totalitarian
Humanist Activism and Organization [HAO 100]

A form of government in which the controlling political apparatus exercises absolute control over all aspects of life, with no dissent or opposition tolerated.

totalitarian
Humanist Studies [HUM 100]

Related to a system of government which exercises absolute control over all aspects of life, where the individual is subordinated to the state, and where independent political and cultural expression is suppressed.

transcendent
Humanist Studies [HUM 100]

Above and independent of the material universe.

transubstantiation
Law and Politics [LAP 100]

The Catholic religious belief that the consecration of the wine and bread during the Mass actually transforms these substances into the blood and body of Jesus Christ. For Protestants the substances do not change, but are merely representative of Christ’s sacrifice.

trauma
Psychology and Humanism [PSH 100]

Central nervous system (~CNS) damage which reprograms or deprograms a psychological repertoire; one of the 3 natural determinants of psychology.

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