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A definition delimits or describes the Meaning of a concept or term by stating the essential Properties of the Entities or Object s denoted by that concept or term. The word or phrase to be defined is the ''definiendum'' (plural: ''definienda'') and the phrase defining it is the ''definiens'' (plural: ''definientia''). For example, in the definition "a bachelor is an unmarried man", the definiendum is "bachelor", and the definiens is "unmarried man". In this example, the words "a", "is", "an" are easily replacable by another sign (which expresses that the first term is defined by the terms following the sign ":="): "bachelor" := "unmarried man". Often, as in this example, the definition is a statement that expresses a logical equivalence between the definiendum and the definiens. KINDS OF DEFINITION A number of different kinds and techniques of definition can be distinguished, including:
DETERMINING MEANING: EXTENSION, INTENSION, AMBIGUITY, AND VAGUENESS Just as Argument s can be good or bad, definitions can be good or bad. A definition gives us the ''meaning'' of a word. To understand this more deeply requires an elucidation of a few features of meaning, the principal ones being extension, intension, ambiguity, and vagueness.
The distinction between the '' Extension '' and the '' Intension '' of a word is very similar to the distinction between a word's ''denotation'' and ''connotation''. For example, the extension of the word "bachelor" would be ''all and only the bachelors in the world''. The extension of this word would include several hundreds of millions of men. The ''intension'' of the word is more brief because it includes just two properties: the property of being a ''man'', and the property of being ''unmarried''. Essentially, all bachelors are unmarried men, and ''only'' bachelors are unmarried men. The sort of definition that philosophers are interested in, insofar as they are interested in ''definitions'' at all, is one that identifies a word's ''intension'', rather than its ''extension''. A definition of the word 'bachelor' is 'unmarried man' which could also be specified by a very long list including all unmarried men. Aside from being practically impossible, such a list is not what is generally desired. What is desired is a description of what all those things we call 'bachelors' have in common that distinguishes them from all non-bachelors. A list of all bachelors would be static, and could not expand to determine whether any new human is a bachelor or not. There are two different ways in which the meanings of words can be ''unclear''. Words can be unclear in the sense of being '' Ambiguous '', of being '' Vague '', or a combination of the two. Most words are, in fact, both ambiguous and vague. This is not a skeptical or even a controversial claim; to say that many, or perhaps even most, words are both ambiguous ''and'' vague is not to say that they have no meaning. It is to say, first, that many individual words have many distinct senses; and, second, that those senses are often, in ordinary language, not meant to be exhaustively precise. A word that is both ambiguous and vague, whose extreme limits are fuzzy and undefined, can still contain a rich fund of meaning. A DEFINITION OF 'DEFINITION' Suppose we have decided to define a certain word or a concept associated with that word. Suppose also that we have identified ''which sense'' of the word we are interested in, and we have noted clear cases, some unclear cases, and some borderline cases of the application of the word. The question then is: how can this word be defined? What is desired here is a description of the ''intension'' of the word: that is, an account of the set of properties that characterizes all and only members of the extension. In that case, it seems the following is a serviceable account of the meaning of '(intensional) definition': :The ''definition'' of a Concept , or of (a given sense of) a word or phrase, is a Description of its Intension —that is, the set of Properties that characterizes all and only members of the Extension of the word; the extension is all the things that the concept, word, or phrase applies to. Some philosophers have criticisms of this sort of definition of the word ''definition''; or perhaps it would be better to say that some philosophers think that it is, for various reasons, impossible to give exhaustively exact definitions of most concepts, words, and phrases. Two prominent critics are Wittgenstein and Quine . Still most philosophers acknowledge that in philosophy something similar to giving definitions of important philosophical concepts is necessary. ''A CONTRIBUTION TO DEFINING THE TERM 'DEFINITION''' Minimum Intent: The following definition of the term 'definition' is presented as a reference, (a comparator, a norm) that must not be violated when defining scientific terms. Axioms: 1) ‘Something’ is a term that has a most general meaning, it can mean anything (but it does not automatically include ‘everything’). 2) 'Ambient' is anything in the vicinity of, and, to a certain degree, within something. 3) ‘Event’ is something that can be distinguished from its ambient. 4) ‘Relation’ is something that has, at least, two events. 5) ‘System’ is something that has at least two relations. 6) ‘Phenomenon’ is a generic term (hypernym) for the above terms, providing that one or several of human senses indicate (directly or indirectly, presently or in the past) the existence of a so-termed system, relation, event, ambient, or something else. 7) All other terms used within this theorem - apart from the term “definition” and the terms listed in inverted commas under 1) to 6) above - are already intrinsically known; the understanding of each of these terms is consistent with this treatise. Theorem: "Definition" is a fixed, static form (a model; an appearance of something as distinguished from the substance of which it is made; something autonomous from its own representation) of some relation(s) that significantly increases the probability of realisation of an intended (premeditated) change of some phenomenon. Such a change is to be achieved by an entity that is capable of utilising this definition for such a specified purpose. A definition cannot be generated, or used, without the existence of a system, which is organised and structured above a certain level of chaos. However, once it is generated and recorded, a definition can continue to exist (to be recorded) without the existence of the mentioned entity. A definition should be complemented with a minimum intent statement: a context that delimits a minimum domain of purposes for which it can be used. This statement does not exclude the possibility of using the same definition correctly for some other purpose. However, this extended use must not violate (contradict) an already established meaning; e.g. it must not cause synonymy or homonymy. In addition, a definition must be complemented with axioms, with one or more examples, and, when needed and possible, with figures and animated representations. Definitions are the bits necessary to construct and communicate knowledge. A definition is built up of structural components: pieces of information. Information is conveyed by means of signals of various kinds; the most frequently used include figures and terms. Although terms can be transferred by means of figures, they can also be transferred by means of sounds which are registered by the hearing senses. It is worth noting that information media can be mutually translated, e.g. visual info can be translated into information received by tactile or hearing senses. A history of the media used to record information reveals a variety of options. Alphabetic writing (in which consonant and vowel sounds are presented by letters or other symbols such as Braille characters and Morse code) is the most widespread system, but it is not the earliest, nor is it the only one. Writing has evolved from an extension of pictures that iconically represented some thing or action and then the word that bore that meaning. This approach led to so-called character script, such as that of Chinese, in which each word is represented by a separate symbol. Contemporary definitions rely heavily on textual formulations, but figures are also very efficient at conveying comprehensive information; many sciences (e.g. mathematics, chemistry) have accepted ideograms to convey sophisticated notions. The optimal solution is an appropriate combination of text, figures, animation and sound. The following definition is presented to provide an example of a definition: “Figure”: (n) an arrangement of points made within two-dimensional space to present a visual static impression (a perception) of something (e.g., a figure printed on a book page, showing the front view of a home). Spuzic S and Nouwens F (2004) "A Contribution to Defining the Term ‘Definition’", Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology Education, Volume 1 (2004) pp 645 - 662 QUOTATION ''"Nothing is more usual than for philosophers to encroach on the province of grammarians, and to engage in disputes of words, while they imagine they are handling controversies of the deepest importance and concern."'' — David Hume SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |
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