Just Human?

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Language

When people discuss difficult subjects, one of the constant problems is that they talk at cross-purposes because they use words to mean significantly different things.  This is not an attempt to define the 'real' meaning of these words, but a request that we try to use them consistently, so if we still disagree, then at least we know what we are disagreeing about.

• Belief
• Faith
• Freedom.  There are two basic kinds of freedom.

1. The state of not being controlled, sometimes called 'freedom to'.  The big question is: controlled or limited by what?  People have argued about the true meaning of 'freedom' since the year dot, primarily because it does not have a single meaning: while there are connections between the various possible meanings, the actual meaning of the term is largely determined by the context in which it is used.  When a prisoner says, "I want to be free," they may be referring to a desire to be released (or, perhaps, escape) from the prison.  When a teenager says, "I want to be free," they may be referring to a desire to wear what they choose, and to be able to go out without their parents asking where they are going, and return at whatever time they choose.  When a writer in a police state says, "I want to be free," they may be referring to the desire to be able to write and publish what they choose without being censored.  The meaning of 'freedom' for each one is determined by the nature of the control they are seeking to escape.  Our individual freedoms are in conflict: if you are free to play loud music, and choose to exercise your freedom in a concert hall, then I am not free to listen to the string quartet playing in that hall.
2. The state of not being restricted by external conditions, sometimes called 'freedom from'.  We can talk about setting people free from conditions such as hunger, fear or ignorance. Freedom from is only achieved by limiting freedom to: we can only ensure that all children are educated by removing the freedom of parents to not educate their children; we can only be free to drive on the road without fear by removing our freedom to drive on whatever side of the road we choose.

• Knowledge
• Materialism.  The belief that reality consists entirely of material objects and the forces associated with them. According to materialism, there is no such thing as an immaterial soul, and entities such as mind or consciousness are by-products of material processes. 
• Religion.  Organized spirituality.
• Secular
• Science
• Spirituality