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DEFINITION (Lat. definitio, from de-f...

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 927 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DEFINITION (See also:Lat. definitio, from de-finire, to set limits to, describe) , a logical See also:term used popularly for the See also:process of explaining, or giving the meaning of, a word, and also in the See also:concrete for the proposition or statement in which that explanation is expressed. In See also:logic, definition consists in determining the qualities which belong to given concepts or universals; it is not concerned with individuals, which are marked by an infinity of peculiarities, any one or all of which might be predicated of another individual. Individuals can be defined only in so far as they belong to a single See also:kind. According to See also:Aristotle, definition is the statement of the essence of a concept (dptow& lab 'yap See also:roC Ti $ITa Kai aim-See also:Las, Posterior Analytics, B iii. 90 b 30); that is, it consists of the genus and the differentia. In other words, " See also:man " is defined as " See also:animal plus rationality," or " rational animal," 1 i.e. the concept is (I) referred to the next higher genus, and (2) distinguished from other modes in which that genus exists, i.e. from other See also:species. It is sometimes argued that, there being no definition of individuals as such, definition is of names (see J. S. See also:Mill, Logic, i. viii. 5), not of things; it is generally, however, maintained that definition is of things, regarded as, or 1" Rational animal " is thus the predicate of the statement constituting the definition. Sometimes the word " definition " is used to signify merely the predicate. in so far as they are, of a kind.

Definition of words can be nothing more than the explanation of terms such as is given in a See also:

dictionary. The following rules are generally given as governing accurate definition. (r) The definition must be See also:equivalent or commensurate with that which is defined; it must be applicable to all the individuals included in the concept and to nothing else. Every man, and nothing else, is a rational animal. " Man is mortal " is not a definition, for mortality is- predicable of irrational animals. (2) The definition must See also:state the essential attributes; a concept cannot be defined by its accidental attributes; those attributes must be given which are essential and See also:primary. (3) The definition must be per genus et differentiam (or di fferentias), as we have already seen. These are the important rules. Three See also:minor rules are: (4) The definition must not contain the name of the concept to be defined ; if it does, no formation is given. Such a proposition as " an See also:archdeacon is one who performs archidiaconal functions " is not a definition. Concepts cannot be defined by their correlatives. Such a definition is known as a circulus in definiendo.

(5) Obscure and figurative See also:

language must be avoided, and (6) See also:Definitions must not be in the negative when they can be in the affirmative.

End of Article: DEFINITION (Lat. definitio, from de-finire, to set limits to, describe)

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