The poiont isn't that someone can tell you the definition, the point is that when we discuss a topic we do our best to ensure we're talking about the same thing.
On 9 September 2014 05:18, John Clark <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sun, Sep 7, 2014 at 5:51 PM, LizR <[email protected]> wrote: > > > It helps in discussions like these to agree on what we're talking about, >> which (by definition :-) means having the same definitions >> > > I don't think so, most people would flounder if asked for a definition, > even for a commonly used word. Instead when somebody doesn't know the > meaning of a word that we've used we usually don't provide a definition but > instead point to something and say "like that"; and that's exactly the way > things should be because otherwise we run into infinite loops. All > definitions are made of words, and every one of those words have their own > definition that are also made of words, and every one of those words would > have their own definition also made of words, and [...] > > You get the idea, round and round we go. The only thing that gets language > out of this endless loop is examples; we can point to a word and then point > to > something in the real world and say "this word means that". > > > ironically, you're arguing about the definition of "definition" >> > > No, it would be foolish to ask me to define "define", if you already know > what the word means then you don't need to ask, and if you don't know then > my answer would not help you. If you don't even know what "klogknee" means > then you certainly wouldn't ask me to klogknee "klogknee", and even if you > did my response would not bring you enlightenment. > > John K Clark > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
