Chapter 4The need for precision- Without precision, one cannot be correctly understood- Lack of understanding or misunderstanding hinders discussion, dialogue, and debate. - Misunderstandings are quite often the causes of disagreements Two important functions of language:1. Convey information2. Express of evoke feelings Cognitive meaningWhatever the meaning the word has, is the meaning that humans decided it be. 3 abuses of language Vagueness- meaning is fuzzy and inexact- borderline cases Over-generality - too general - statement that provides too much information to be useful - they will not be vague, but they will not be useful Ambiguity- word is ambiguous if it has two or more meanings and the context does not make clear which meaning is intended.- Has both meanings but cant “mean” both - Semantic ambiguities: ambiguities that result from uncertainty about the meanings of an individual word of phrase EX: “Joe went to the bank.” (what kind of bank? Financial institution? Part of a river?) - Syntactical ambiguities: ambiguity due to sentence structure or faulty grammarEX: “dog for sale. Eats anything and is especially fond of children.” **Ambiguity and vagueness often play a role in disputes between peopleTypes of disputesVerbal dispute- Occurs when people appear to disagree on an issue, but in actuality have simply not resolved ambiguity of a key term. Factual dispute- Disagreements where people actually disagree about the facts EX: “OJ killed Anna Nicole!”“No he didn’t!”Reasons for DefiningStipulative definitions: when you create a definition for a new word(or use an existing word in a new way, and set forth that new use), you have stipulated a new definition.Persuasive definitions: defining a term to convince someone of something.Lexical definitions: state the conventional, dictionary meaning (derived from how it is commonly used.Percising definitions: taking a vague word/phrase and clarifying what you mean by it (in a certain context) *taking a vague word and making it more precise Strategies for defining Ostensive definition: physically identifying the definition of a word/termEnumerative: listing examples of individual things that “fit” the definitionEX: “Bible-belt state” means Texas, Oklahoma ArkansasDefinition by Subclass: listing examples of classes or categories that “fit” the definitionEX: mammal means gorilla, hose, lion, human, etc Etymological: definitions that articulate the history of a word’s use or its originsSynonymous: defining a term by giving a synonym for which the definition is knownEX: loquacious means talkativeDefinition by genus and difference: defining a term by identifying its class and then differentiating it from other members in the classEX: calf is young cow(genus) that is young(difference)Defects in definitions1. Not too broad or too narrow *definition shouldn’t include or exclude too much 2. doesn’t give the essentials 3. No context4. Not slanted (warm, fuzzy, cold)5. Not obscure or figurative (not saying what the word means) 6. Not circular (says the one over and