Philosophical Buzzwords

I think that many of the questions that philosophers at the highest levels deal with are questions that really can resonate with the average intelligent person, if he understands the framework. Furthermore, I believe that much of the time, the framework is not *that* hard to understand. Of course I recognize that there are many examples of important philosophical questions that are not very accessible to people without substantial experience in philosophy. Those aren't the ones I'm talking about. To that end, I think I've decided it might be worthwhile to write a series of philosophy buzzword posts. My aim is threefold:

1. To equip intelligent non-philosophers to understand the philosophical debate;
2. To lay the groundwork for some of my own beliefs and arguments that I may eventually throw around here; and
3. To practice my exposition skills.

I don't intend to make any controversial claims in my buzzword posts, although I've learned that I've unwittingly picked up some idiosyncratic views. So if there are philosophers who read, I'd appreciate hearing about anything I say that just sounds wrong, or even just contentious. I guess the main point is that I'm going to be trying to explain important philosophical ideas to a general audience, in order to be able to allow some substantive arguments to resonate with them. So if you have very little exposure to philosophy, I'm writing for you. Those of you who fit this description, I'd appreciate feedback in the form of "yes, I'm interested in learning about philosophical ideas in your blog, Jonathan" if it's true. It feels good to know one's actually writing to people who want to hear it. Oh yeah, also: all of this post also carries the disclaimer, if I ever feel like writing these explanations.