Definition – Wikipedia
A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term (a word, phrase, or other set of symbols). Definitions can be classified into two large categories, intensional definitions (which try to give the essence of a term) and extensional definitions (which proceed by listing the objects that a term describes).
I have been doing a slow mo wrestle with the definition for participatory culture as I read Jenkins/Ito/boyd. I realized that I was not even sure what the word “definition” means except in the most conventional, practical way. It is a thing in a dictionary or in Wikipedia and little more. I should know way better.
Reading the Wikipedia entry for “definition” has left me muddleheaded, but sure of one thing–I am going to drill down at the very least to what our authors thought it meant. This is at the very least what it means to slow read. Nobody said it ’tweren’t going to be semi-tough.
So I will reread the Wikipedia definition of definition. I will look at the OED just to satisfy myself as to its history. I will check out the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy version. And here. And I will look to help from my online second brain–my network.
For starters here is a Diigo list of the definitional items above:
- Definition – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Definition and Meaning
- Definitions (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
And below, in case we get too cocky, we see what empty vessels definitions really are in the end.
