Definition: A Practical Guide to Constructing and Evaluating Definitions of Terms
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abstract
Definitions matter. They determine who can get married, when the
organs of a “dead” person can be harvested for transplants, what
counts as a planet, the unemployment rate, and more. "Definition" pro-
poses criteria and guidelines for constructing and evaluating defini-
tions, with reference to the definer’s basic purpose (reporting, stipu-
lating, or advocating a meaning), the definition’s content (the kinds
of words used and the information conveyed), and its form (any of
14 kinds). The proposals of criteria and guidelines implicitly address
theoretical issues and are illustrated by definitions of 166 2 terms
taken from many fields—terms such as ‘clock,’ ‘life,’ ‘planet,’ and
‘thrombin activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor.’
