Questions tagged [definitions]
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Can reason be precisely defined?
Reason, or rationality, is classically defined as deriving a conclusion from observations. Again, classically this is achieved by the application of logic. Aristotle explained it in this way. There ...
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Can a definition be true/false?
Can a definition be false or, for that matter, true?
Dog (noun): A tamed lupus canis.
Unicorn (noun): A horse with a horn growing out of its forehead; may be of any color, but are usually pink or ...
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What are the main elements of Stoicism? [duplicate]
My question is this: What are the main elements of Stoicism?
As a secondary question, it would also be nice to know how Epicureanism compares to or contrasts with Stoicism.
Primary source material ...
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The Likelyhood Principle and Baysean Statistics
I am reading Kotzen's paper Selection Bias in Likelihood Arguments.
The author takes the following principle as a starting point:
I'm confused as to how to formalize this notion in terms of Bayesian ...
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Question Regarding Holes
What even are holes? Are they something or nothing? Do they even exist? Sure, you might think me saying that holes do not exist is idiotic but think about it. The existence of holes doesn't make sense ...
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Loops in logic and reasoning of TIME
My question is more specific about time. Say what is time -time is a measure of changed(rate of change) but how do you measure time - by measuring something which is changing (movement of clocks or ...
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Is the mass/count-noun distinction the same as the continuous/discrete one?
Justification for this as a PhilosophySE questions: there are two SEP articles concerning this topic:
The Logic of Mass Expressions (Nicolas[18]).
The Metaphysics of Mass Expressions (Steen[22]).
...
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What kind of homo/isomorphism, if any, applies to a certain pair of pairs of permission types?
The SEP article on deontic logic mentions at least once or twice that there seem to be two types of permissibility (also a difference between "ought" and "must," to note). Over the ...
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What is the definition of "abstract"?
It is said that one of the distinguishing features of humans from other animals, is the capacity for abstract thought. But what is the definition of "abstract"? I know it when I see it, but ...
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Why is it so hard to give a good definition of philosophy?
I have never seen an adequate definition of philosophy. It seems like a "family-resemblance" concept to me, to borrow Wittgenstein's famous phrase. It is easy to give definitions of, say, ...
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Is understanding possible?
Often, humans will claim to "understand" something. When pressed, they will define understanding as something like:
Knowledge
Conception within the mind
Comprehension
Awareness of meaning
...
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Does Russell's objection to Meinongianism apply whenever we take the meta-version of an existence-predicate distinction?
The point of departure:
A third problem, one of Russell’s objections to Meinongianism (see [Russell 1905a, 1907]), turns on the fact that existence is, on Meinongianism, a property and hence figures ...
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Is wisdom one type of intelligence, or distinct from it?
I asked this question on the psychology stack exchange, but was told this would be a better stack exchange for it. I subscribe to the theory that there are multiple types of intelligence. Is wisdom ...
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Categorizing with metaphor, analogy, and symmetry
Continuing the discussion Categorizing with metaphor, analogy, generalization, and abstraction my next question is how two concepts metaphor/analogy equivalent to symmetry(change without change) .If ...
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Categorizing with metaphor, analogy, generalization, and abstraction
Are two concepts metaphor/analogy equivalent to generalization/abstraction.
If yes how? Give me some examples
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Do we define 'infidelity' ourselves
I think we do, but it's a strange idea unless we think of it as passing rules, quasi laws, for ourselves, and that may go against the tenor of what it means for us (no joke intended, I"m ...
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What is the definition of ability?
What is the definition of ability? More precisely, what is the definition of the relation "X is able to do Y"? For example, energy is defined as the ability to do work. Also, when a person ...
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How do we know we've defined a thing properly when all definitions have exceptions? [closed]
I don’t understand definitions.
Let’s take this question: “What is a woman?”
Now if I am a Platonic Idealist (or some other essentialist) then I think that all women share the same essence and will ...
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A circularity in Richard Dawkins's book "The Blind Watchmaker" regarding a definition of life
I wanted to put this question in the biology stack exchange, but some of my questions there have been downvoted. In Richard Dawkins's book "The Blind Watchmaker", in the first chapter, says &...
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Is there a paradox of third-order arithmetic?
Calculus, sometimes analysis or second-order arithmetic, seems more intuitive when formulated in infinitesimal terms than in terms of real-valued limits. However, the meta-theory of analysis, i.e. its ...
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"Animal is human": human is not among the five predicables
I'm asking about the proposition "Animal is human" (as opposed to "Human is an animal"). All predicates are amongst the five predicables, i.e. they are either essential or ...
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What is the definition of a possible world?
I recently asked if we can know whether other possible worlds exist. However, I should have asked first what the definition of a possible world is, for only then can we know whether other possible ...
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What is a succinct description of the problem of the criterion?
I've been studying the problem of the criterion for about a month, and I'm finding that there is a paradox involved with knowing it. Supposedly, as I interpret, in order to know what the problem of ...
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Does counterpossible reasoning limit the value of using folk intuitions as a parameter in conceptual analysis?
It's too long to quote as well as I'd like, but the section on moral responsibility in the SEP article on empirical moral psychology includes as an example:
... Nahmias, Morris, Nadelhoffer and ...
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Essentialism and concepts
I've been reading an old logic text (Deductive Logic. George Stock. 1888) and he describes something very like Aristotle's notion of a definition, but in his description, it is clearly a matter of ...
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Fundamental difference between luck and skill
Is there a fundamental difference between luck and skill? One might think that the important factor is reproducibility, but shouldn't Gladstone Gander then be described as skilled in life instead of ...
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How many isolated concept clusters are there?
Let me start by explaining what I mean by an isolated concept cluster. It is often remarked that you can't define any moral term without using other moral terms. For example, you can define obligation ...
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Is this a fallacy: "A woman is an adult who identifies as female in gender"? [closed]
The phrase tries to avoid the overt circular definition found in the variant, "a woman is anyone who identifies as a woman", by swapping woman with female in gender. But is that still a ...
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What have philosophers said or what stances are there on what religion is? [closed]
Religion has a relation to the individual and society, and it gets into the way of thinking of many people from the past and at present times.
What is religion from the point of view of philosophy?
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Reference request : Defining concepts
Shafi Goldwasser's interview
In the video attached, Goldwasser talks about course(s) on abstract subject matter like definition of concepts, definienda, etc. I am looking for a link to course/book ...
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What is an operational definition (eg as often said of the Turing test)?
The Turing test seems often to be regarded as an operational definition of human-like intelligence (eg in Russel and Norvig, AIAMA). What is an operational definition and how does the Turing test ...
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What is an objective criterion for “specificity”?
I was trying to ask ChatGPT to be more “specific” and it made me wonder what an objective criterion for “specificity” is, given that I found it slightly hard to formulate.
All I can say is that ...
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What is the definition of a physical thing?
Physicalism is the view that only the physical exists. But that raises the question, what is the definition of a physical thing or object? Has any philosopher defined physicality? I would like some ...
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What is the name of the philosophy that believes one should do whatever they want?
The philosophy in question believes:
You only live once, and you have predetermined desires from your genetics and environment. If these desires are not fulfilled as short-term or long-term goals you ...
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Is an equal outcome necessary to differentiate between equity and equality?
Based on the answer provided here, it seems to me that when the word "equity" is used in relation to "equality," an equal outcome is necessary in order to differentiate between ...
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Is there a non-circular definition of consciousness?
All the definitions of consciousness I have come across seem to be circular. It is usually defined to be "experience", or "something that it is like to be". But that is circular. ...
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The definition of life
The prevailing biology of the modern era describes life as a system. A system is defined a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network. The NASA definition of ...
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Is it easier to prove something wrong than it is to prove something right?
Constantly I am faced with questions of whether something is the right choice or the wrong choice and I am forced to choose. Often, when faced with a problem, I feel that there is a correct answer and ...
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Identity of mathematical objects
Leibniz law's states that if A and B have the same properties then A and B are one and the same, however we can consider mathematical objects that are isomoprhic but not identitical, they have the ...
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Is 'a level of quantity' a poor definition of 'real number'?
I was thinking about how we define numbers with respect to their uses, and came up with the definition of 'a level of quantity' which can have a different physical consequence for each quantity ...
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What is a physical quantity in science?
The Wikipedia article on Physical Quantities, says that:
The meaning of the term physical quantity is generally well understood
(everyone understands what is meant by the frequency of a periodic
...
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Why do humans classify and name things? [closed]
I am looking for references about the human necessity of classifying and naming things.
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What are the reasons some thoughts cannot be simplified, reduced to a simpler set or phrases?
What are the reasons some thoughts cannot be simplified, reduced to a simpler set or phrases? When reading Heidegger or Hegel, one wonders why those authors couldn't simplify their tangled web of ...
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What s the difference between extensional and ostensive definition?
As I understand
extensional definitions
are a subcategory of
ostensive definitions
. Both of them work with the extension of a term, with examples of the object, by pointing out which objects fall ...
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Is this definition a necessary or possible (contingent) truth?
Sorry for not having much context but taking Pegasus to be the mythological beast from greek mythology.
"To be Pegasus is to be capable of flying."
Is this definition an necessary truth or a ...
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Can we define a sequence of words?
Suppose that we define:
"The president of USA" := John
Is it correct to say that when we have a statement like:
"The president of USA plays football".
we can expand it like:
"...
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Is the difference between definitions and postulates merely conventional?
I am reading the incredible Greenberg(2008, Euclidean and Non-Euclidean Geometries)' book.
I am not a mathematician. My doubt is the following: is there an objective difference between definitions and ...
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What is meant by "begin to exist" in the Kalam Cosmological argument
This question, tbc, is about the first three steps of the cosmological argument, because without those steps, the remainder of the argument just doesn't matter.
As William Lane Craig formulates the ...
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What are borderline cases?
What is a borderline case, and its relationship with vagueness? I have googled a lot but didn't quite find anything that suits my understanding.
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Neo-liberalism, language and freedom?
Background
Byung Chulhan in his book psychopolitics defines freedom in two ways:
a. He defines it as an interlude which the subject feels when passing between lifestyles or ideologies. This is a ...
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