Questions tagged [definitions]
The definitions tag has no summary.
250 questions
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Is Wikipedia's Definition of Circular Definition Flawed [duplicate]
According to Wikipedia, a circular definition is a type of definition that uses the term being defined as part of the description. If we translate it to formal language it is the following: For all A ...
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Is Hamkins' definition of integers equivocal?
A word is used equivocally when it is used in at least two different senses. With that being said, is Hamkins' definition of integers equivocal?
According to Joel David Hamkins in his Lectures on the ...
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On the Vicious Circle Principle
According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on Russell's Paradox, the vicious circle principle is defined as follows: “Whatever involves all of a collection must not be one of the ...
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Can plagiarism and inspiration be objectively differentiated in case of philosophical ideas, arguments? [closed]
I want to know can it be defined objectively what is inspiration and plagiarism in context of philosophical ideas .
Because a person can just copy idea of others and just explain it trough different ...
user108018
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What is the relationship between the correspondence theory of truth (Aristotle) and canon? [closed]
Does the correspondence theory of truth ("truth is that which comports with objective reality") presuppose a notion of canon?
Are there correspondence theories of truth that do not require a ...
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Baby's first attempt at presocratic philosophy (problem of evil)
Here is my first foray into presocratic philosophy (defining evil);
All evil comes from body horror. The sequence demonstrating this goes like this: all evil comes from pain > all pain comes from ...
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What does Heidegger mean by claiming Dasein's defining feature is possibility or its ability-to-choose?
Context: having tried (and failed) to read Heidegger's Being and Time, I decided to begin with a secondary source on the text: Wrathall's How to Read Heidegger. The current question stems from the ...
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What exactly is a binary relation?
On page 57 of Axiomatic Set Theory by Patrick Suppes, he defined binary relation as follows:
Definition 1. A is a binary relation if and only if
∀ x [x ∈ A → ∃y∃z[x is <y,z>]], where <y,z>...
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Is it even possible to define "entity" and if so, what is the definition?
This question came about because I vaguely remembered Bertrand Russell writing something like, "When you have defined what an entity is, we can resume the discussion" in a longer passage, in ...
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How to define the concept of variables
Variables are kind of important. You cannot define any term that refers to multiple instances without the concept of variables. Take a non-ostensive definition:
x refers to things that satisfy ...
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How does the modern definition of analytic meaning differ from Hume's relation of ideas?
The following AI-generated passage states that Hume did not explicitly use the term analytic proposition as it is used today. My question is, "what's the difference between Hume's definition and ...
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How would a philosopher answer the question, "What is a word?" [closed]
I know how I define word, but I'm a physicist, or what was once called a natural philosopher.
So my question is for all you philosophers out there. How would you as a philosopher answer the question &...
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Formal definition of sense in regards to Frege's sense vs reference distinction
This question is about Frege's distinction between sense and reference. It is relatively easy to define the reference of a statement, but I have never seen any philosopher rigorously define the sense ...
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Should physicalists define "physical," or should non-physicalists define "non-physical"? [duplicate]
When discussing the fundamental nature of reality, physicalists often argue that, as far as we can tell, everything that exists is physical. They contend that anyone claiming the existence of ...
user80226
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Is attempting to define positive properties a self-defeating exercise?
I'm sifting through this book about negation (here), and on pg. 143 it reads:
Something is positive only if it is a fundamental property or exemplifies a fundamental property.
But if "only"...
user40843
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When were Compatibilist and Incompatibilist Free Will Defined?
I have seen several incidents where people arguing over free will would accuse each other redefining the concept of free will in order to win an argument. I may have also been at some point convinced ...
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How might one define an object which does not have any fixed properties?
The naive view is that a class of objects can be defined by identifying a property which each of the members have, and which no non-members have.
This is obviously too much to hope for in most ...
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What's the deal with definitional disputes relying so much on the particulars of language?
Full disclosure: I’m a linguistics student and not a philosophy one, my only formal experience in philosophy is one epistemology and one applied ethics class
When I was in my epistemology class, one ...
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What motivates a mathematical definition?
Take the dot product for example. It is defined as:
Why is that definition more significant than any other definitions (e.g. )? I know that this one is one important starting point in the development ...
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Connections between Stokes' Theorem, information theory, and the definition of life/Intelligence
Stokes' theorem is a well-known result in mathematics. It generalizes the idea that the total "flow" of something across a surface's boundary can be related to what's happening inside the ...
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What is the difference between normative and prescriptive statements? [closed]
Are they just synonyms?
Thanks.
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Are there any one-word idioms? [closed]
Definition 1. An idiom is a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words.
Definition 2. An idiom is a phrase or expression that has a ...
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Is it even possible to define "set" non-circularly?
Is it possible to define the notion of "set" in mathematics in a non-circular way? All the informal definitions I have seen basically use a synonym for "set", like "collection&...
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Is equality necessarily transitive? [duplicate]
I want to introduce three definitions into the philosophy of logic for the purpose of improving first order logic.
Consider the following three definitions.
Definitions
C is an arbitrary constant iff ∀...
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Reference request for the definition of machines [closed]
I once asked in the Physics Stack Exchange what the definition of a machine is. I did not really get a good response. Now, I am trying the philosophy stack exchange, as philosophy deals with coming up ...
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