Glossary
Key terms as used in Genialism™. Definitions describe this teaching’s usage rather than every meaning a term may have in philosophy.
A
- Agency
- The capacity to act intentionally: to form and revise goals, make decisions, and put them into action. Genialism™ also asks to what extent a person authors the direction of their actions, rather than merely carrying out or approving proposals from others. Read more · Augmented Agency · Authorship · Derivative Agency
- Augmented Agency
- Assistance that expands a person’s capabilities while supporting their own purpose formation, judgement, responsibility, and continuing development. Read more
- Authentic life
- A life whose direction is shaped through inwardly recognised values and purposes, expressed in responsible action rather than unexamined conformity. Read more
- Authenticity
- Honesty with oneself about what genuinely matters, including the willingness to recognise desires, values, and concerns that conflict with external expectations. Read more
- Autonomy
- The capacity to retain authorship under external influence, including the ability to question a proposed direction. It does not require isolation or refusal of assistance. Read more
D
- Derivative Agency
- A form of activity in which purposes and directions are increasingly adopted from outside without substantial inward examination or ownership, even while the person continues to choose and act. Read more
E
- Efficacy
- The capacity to bring intentions into reality. In the developmental account, it concerns both an effect in the world and the growth of the person’s capacity to act. Read more
G
- Genialism™
- A contemporary philosophical teaching on human genius, inner listening, and responsible authorship, developed by Mykola Latansky. Read more
- Goal-directedness
- The capacity to give an inwardly recognised direction a concrete focus through goals, while remaining able to reconsider whether those goals still serve what matters. Read more
- Gradual disempowerment
- A possible progressive loss of human capacity or effective influence through repeated delegation. On this site, the term is used narrowly in relation to derivative agency, not as an inevitable effect of AI. Read more
H
- Human Agency Vectors
- Five directions of development in this account: intentionality, goal-directedness, autonomy, efficacy, and planning. They are a philosophical framework, not a validated psychological scale. Read more
- Human Genius
- In this teaching, the potential present from birth to discover and express one’s unique possibilities in life and contribution. Authorship is one expression of it; genius is not equated with IQ, fame or equal achievement. Read more
I
- Inner calling
- An inwardly recognised sense of a direction or possibility that matters deeply enough to invite commitment. Its intensity alone does not establish truth or moral worth. Read more
- Inner listening
- The English explanatory term for Inquire Within: attention to intellectual, emotional, intuitive or heart-centred, and bodily experience. Read more
- Inner truth
- In the teaching’s vocabulary, an inwardly recognised understanding of what genuinely matters to a person. It is not a claim to infallibility or a substitute for factual knowledge. Read more
- Inquire Within
- The practice of turning inward to recognise what genuinely matters before allowing external expectations or ready-made answers to determine one’s direction. It includes four dimensions of inner listening. Read more
- Intentionality
- In the vector framework, examining why one acts and how one’s reasons relate to a wider understanding of what matters in life. Read more
M
- Meaning
- The lived significance of a person, experience, commitment, or possibility, rather than information that is merely coherent. Read more
O
- Original Human Agency
- The capacity to recognise inwardly what matters most to oneself, form purposes from that understanding, and take responsibility for bringing them into action. Read more
- Originality
- In Original Human Agency, the inwardly grounded authorship of a direction, not a requirement of unprecedented novelty. Creative originality can be an expression of this capacity. Read more
P
- Planning
- Connecting a meaningful direction with priorities, sequences of action, and revision over time. Planning organises a purpose; it does not by itself establish that the purpose is one’s own. Read more
- Purpose
- A direction or end that a person recognises as worth pursuing and that gives orientation to action. Read more
R
- Reasons
- Considerations offered for adopting a judgement, purpose, or action. In this philosophical usage, reasons explain or justify a choice, rather than merely identify what caused it. Read more
- Reflective appropriation
- The examination and integration of an external idea or purpose so that it becomes genuinely one’s own. It can support authorship but does not replace inward listening or guarantee a correct judgement. Read more
- Reflective priority
- Giving one’s own concerns, purposes, and provisional reasons a place at the beginning of inquiry, before delegating framing or judgement. This initial position remains open to revision. Read more
- Responsibility
- Answerability for the purposes one adopts, the actions one takes, and their effects on others. Owning a purpose does not by itself make that purpose morally right. Read more
S
- Self-formation
- The development of one’s capacities, judgement, and practical identity through choosing, committing, and acting. Also discussed as self-transformation. Read more
For the author’s texts underlying these definitions, see Sources & notes.