[MD] Heads or tails?

[david buchanan]

Ron Kulp said:
Funny how, "definition" has (2) meanings. How can the exact description or 
meaning of something have two meanings? It is then not "exact" is it. The 
root definire means to set bounds to or to limit. To "define" something is 
to Limit it.

dmb says:
This sort of reaction always baffles me. Am I wrong to believe that everyone 
knows that most words have more than one definition? I mean, since the word 
"exact" is used here as part of multiple definitions it would not make sense 
to take it to mean "exclusive" or "unique". The word simply refers to a 
certain degree of precision. As you say, definition sets limits. It draws a 
line, which is what we need to distinquish the figure from the ground.

You know, if "X" can't be distinguished from anything else "X" has no value 
and does not exist.

I'm guessing Ian's attack on the dictionary is a misplaced attempt at 
anti-essentialism. He's not really against the structure of language so much 
as "essential" meanings, whatever that is. This notion seems to be some kind 
of theological hangover from the days when people believed the word was 
divine and images were evil. But I've never met anybody who thinks that 
words have a single, exclusive meaning and so it stikes me as an assertion 
so weak that its not even worthy of rejection.

dmb

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