Quote:
Originally Posted by whswhs
Actually, not quite that. I think a good dictionary definition at least attempts to capture all the different ways a word is used. But that means a good definition will have several subentries that capture the various partly overlapping uses.
It seems to me that what Wittgenstein was warning about was more the tendency of philosophers to come up with their own definitions, often based on theoretical speculations, and then to argue as if the use of those words in other situations reflected, or was meant to reflect, what the philosophers had come up with. That has produced a tremendous amount of nonsense.
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Ah, my apologies for misinterpreting you, although it seems like I was roughly on the right track, just put the emphasis on the wrong syllable, as it were. And, yeah, people insisting their personal definition of a word was the One True Way without even considering someone else might be using it differently (either simply using a different dictionary definition, or using a rather non-standard definition) has been the basis for many a silly argument, which is why anytime someone I'm having a discussion (argumentative or otherwise) uses a word in a way that seems strange, I try to figure out what definition
they are using (which can be as simple as asking "What exactly do you mean when you say
n? I typically define
n as <working definition>, is that the way you're using it here or do you mean something else?" or similar). Also, the whole "repeat their statement back, but in your own words" trick can help, as if you're on the wrong track, it is
much more clear that you're simply
misunderstanding someone.