2009 Fall Proseminar Notes on Defintion

Stipulative Definition - definition that arises from the deliberate assignment of a meaning; Ex. The number that is equal to a trillion trillions (10^24) is called a yotta. (JA)

Synonymous Definition: Providing another word, whose meaning is already understood, that has the same meaning as the word being defined.

Example: According to the dictionary Quick is defined as Moving or functioning rapidly and energetically; speedy (EH)

Definition in the Meditations

Descartes in his Second Meditation (of the nature of the human mind, and that it is more easily known than the body) defines a thinking being as "a being which doubts, which understands, which conceives, which affirms, which denies, which wills, which rejects, which imagines also, and which perceives" (Modern Philosophy, 4th ed, page 25). It seems to me that this is a "Precising Definition" since it attempts to relieve the definition of a "thinking being" of its vagueness. One could potentially argue, however, that the definiens could be just as vague as the definiendum. (Taylor Wilkinson)

Stipulative Definition

A definition in which "a meaning is assigned to a symbol". A stipulative definition is not a report and cannot be true or false; it is a proposal, resolution, request, or instruction to use the definiendum to mean what is meant by the definiens. I found all this valuable information on page 134 of our handout. mkwasniewski

Theoretical Definition

"A theoretical definition is a definition that attempts to formulate a theoretically adequate or scientifically useful description of the objects to which the term applies." (SWilliams2 14:45, 15 September 2009 (UTC))

Ostensive Definition

Also known as "demonstrative definition," "instead of naming or describing the object denoted by the term being defined,...[it] refers to the examples by means of pointing, or by some other gesture." Example would be the word "lamp" and the pointing to the lamp. This method is very useful when learning a new language as we can assosiate words with their meanings. --Mbalcheva 17:00, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

Extension and Intention

As Anselm of Canterbury (or "of Bec") pointed out nigh on 1000 years ago, symbols can have both extensional and intensional meaning. The extensional meaning of a term would be the denotation, that is: examples of what the term signifies. The intensional meaning of a term, or the connotation, would be the definition that circuscribes all the shared characteristics of the objects that the term refers to.--DTuckerman 19:08, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

Issues with Definition

How well do definitions relate towards the definiendum? Is it a word or a sentence that ought to be used in order to adequately and clearly define an object? Either the truthfulness of definition exists as it mirrors the definiendum in reality; how coherent the definition is in light of other definitions;or how well the definition is understood by the person(s) using the definition. (The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, 2nd ed, pg.675) (Colin)