Sunday 16 June 2013

Best Philosophy Quotes Images Pictures Pics Wallpapers 2013

Best Philosophy Quotes Definition

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Definitions have interested philosophers since ancient times. Plato's early dialogues portray Socrates raising questions about definitions (e.g., in the Euthyphro, “What is piety?”)—questions that seem at once profound and elusive. The key step in Anselm's “Ontological Proof” for the existence of God is the definition of “God,” and the same holds of Descartes's version of the argument in his Meditation V. More recently, the Frege-Russell definition of number and Tarski's definition of truth have exercised a formative influence on a wide range of contemporary philosophical debates. In all these cases—and many others can be cited—not only have particular definitions been debated; the nature of, and demands on, definitions have also been debated. Some of these debates can be settled by making requisite distinctions, for definitions are not all of one kind: definitions serve a variety of functions, and their general character varies with function. Some other debates, however, are not so easily settled, as they involve contentious philosophical ideas such as essence, concept, and meaning.Ordinary discourse recognizes several different kinds of things as possible objects of definition, and it recognizes several kinds of activity as defining a thing. To give a few examples, we speak of a commission as defining the boundary between two nations; of the Supreme Court as defining, through its rulings, “person” and “citizen”; of a chemist as discovering the definition of gold, and the lexicographer, that of ‘cool’; of a participant in a debate as defining the point at issue; and of a mathematician as laying down the definition of “group.” Different kinds of things are objects of definition here: boundary, legal status, substance, word, thesis, and abstract kind. Moreover, the different definitions do not all have the same goal: the boundary commission may aim to achieve precision; the Supreme Court, fairness; the chemist and the lexicographer, accuracy; the debater, clarity; and the mathematician, fecundity. The standards by which definitions are judged are thus liable to vary from case to case. The different definitions can perhaps be subsumed under the Aristotelian formula that a definition gives the essence of a thing. But this only highlights the fact that “to give the essence of a thing” is not a unitary kind of activity.

Best Philosophy Quotes Images Pictures Pics Wallpapers 2013
Best Philosophy Quotes Images Pictures Pics Wallpapers
2013
Best Philosophy Quotes Images Pictures Pics Wallpapers 2013
Best Philosophy Quotes Images Pictures Pics Wallpapers 2013
Best Philosophy Quotes Images Pictures Pics Wallpapers 2013
Best Philosophy Quotes Images Pictures Pics Wallpapers 2013
Best Philosophy Quotes Images Pictures Pics Wallpapers 2013
Best Philosophy Quotes Images Pictures Pics Wallpapers 2013
Best Philosophy Quotes Images Pictures Pics Wallpapers 2013
Best Philosophy Quotes Images Pictures Pics Wallpapers 2013
Best Philosophy Quotes Images Pictures Pics Wallpapers 2013

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