Need for Definitions

We opened this chapter quoting the dialog of Socrates on defini­tion as a way of showing how definitions are created. The need for definition, according to many modern logicians, arises because of the possible effects of what are meant by the two words most often mentioned: “vagueness” and “ambiguity.”

“Vagueness” itself may be understood as “the quality of not being clearly stated (or understood),” and ambiguity as “the quality of an expression whose meaning can be taken in two or more ways.” No language is perfectly free of vagueness or ambi­guity; English is no exception. An experimental scientist, in his profession, needs to express his findings, be it for the benefit or the judgment of others. His expressions, as interpreted by oth­ers, should have a one-to-one correspondence with what he meant to express. Ideally, there should be no occasion for him to say, “No, that is not what I meant”; there should be no such excuse because, as we pointed out earlier, many of his potential judges or benefactors, as the case may be, will be scattered far and wide, in both space and time. Slackness in definitions may lead researchers elsewhere, or those yet to come, into mistaken tracks of investigation.

Fortunately for the experimental researcher, most of his or her work can be expressed with close-to-ordinary words and symbols, there being less need for strict and formal definitions. But when the need arises, definitions should be considered as tools, and if the researcher is not familiar with the use of these, his or her job may become difficult, if not impossible.

The motivation for definition can also be either the need for economy of words, or contrarily, the need for elaboration or clar­ification as shown following:

Abbreviation:

My father’s father’s other son’s son . = . my cousin. Df.

Elaboration:

Here is an instance of ambiguity. My cousin could be either:

my father’s brother’s son or daughter, or

my father’s sister’s son or daughter, or

my mother’s brother’s son or daughter, or

my mother’s sister’s son or daughter. In way of specifying:

My (this) cousin . = . My father’s father’s other son’s son. Df.

Source: Srinagesh K (2005), The Principles of Experimental Research, Butterworth-Heinemann; 1st edition.