Ramsey-Lewis method

A definition may be a statement of the essential properties of a certain thing, or a statement of equivalence between one expression and another, usually more complex expression that gives the meaning of the first. These two senses are not mutually exclusive, nor are they equivalent. A thing being defined is called (from Latin) a definiendum; the expression which defines it is called a definiens. Definition - Kinds of definition. A number of different kinds and techniques of definition ...

Including:

• Definition - Kinds of definition
• Definition - Determining meaning: extension intension ambiguity and vagueness
• Definition - A definition of 'definition'
• Definition - A contribution to defining the term 'definition'
• Definition - Quotation

Read more here: » Definition: Encyclopedia - 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 l ...

See also:

Definition, Definition - Kinds of definition, Definition - Determining meaning: extension intension ambiguity and vagueness, Definition - A definition of 'definition', Definition - A contribution to defining the term 'definition', Definition - Quotation

Read more here: » Definition: Encyclopedia II - Definition - A contribution to defining the term '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 fo ...

See also:

Definition, Definition - Kinds of definition, Definition - Determining meaning: extension intension ambiguity and vagueness, Definition - A definition of 'definition', Definition - A contribution to defining the term 'definition', Definition - Quotation

Read more here: » Definition: Encyclopedia II - Definition - A definition of 'definition'

Just as arguments 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. An ostensive definition points out examples by which one gains a sense of the meaning of a word. An extensional definition exhaustively lists every referent of a word (the completion of an ostensive exploration). An intensional definiti ...

See also:

Definition, Definition - Kinds of definition, Definition - Determining meaning: extension intension ambiguity and vagueness, Definition - A definition of 'definition', Definition - A contribution to defining the term 'definition', Definition - Quotation

Read more here: » Definition: Encyclopedia II - Definition - Determining meaning: extension intension ambiguity and vagueness