DEFINITION (

See also:

• LAT

Lat. definitio, from de-finire, to set limits to, describe)  , a logical term used popularly for the process of explaining, or giving the meaning of, a word, and also in the concrete for the proposition or statement in which that explanation is expressed . In 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 kind . According to Aristotle, definition is the statement of the essence of a concept (dptow& lab 'yap roC Ti $ITa Kai aim-Las, Posterior Analytics, B iii . 90 b 30); that is, it consists of the genus and the differentia . In other words, " man " is defined as " 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 species . It is sometimes argued that, there being no definition of individuals as such, definition is of names (see J . S . 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

dictionary . The following rules are generally given as governing accurate definition . (r) The definition must be 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 state the essential attributes; a concept cannot be defined by its accidental attributes; those attributes must be given which are essential and primary . (3) The definition must be per genus et differentiam (or di fferentias), as we have already seen . These are the important rules . Three 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 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

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