Ecolog: Dirk van der Elst, in his tidy little text, "Culture as Given, Culture as Choice," (Waveland Press, 1999. ISBN 1-57766-046-3) puts it, in part, this way:
"Before we can begin discussing the implications of each of the aspects [of culture], we must agree what we mean by terms, so that we can agree what it is we are talking about. That means definitions. Now there are two things to remember about definitions, no matter who makes them or why. "First: Complete closed-ended definitions are impossible. "Second: All definitions are relativistic: they can only be judged by their usefulness to the purpose for which they were coined." Since recent discussions have covered this subject, those interested may care to comment. WT
