Publication details

Definition and Concept. Aristotelian Definition Vindicated

Authors

MATERNA Pavel PETRŽELKA Josef

Year of publication 2008
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Studia Neoaristotelica :časopis pro analytickou scholastiku
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Informatics

Citation
Field Philosophy and religion
Keywords definition; Aristotelian theory of definition; Russellian definition as abbreviation; Carnap's explication; Tichy; TIL
Description The modern (Russellian) theory of definition conceives definitions as abbreviations, so that the question of adequateness (let alone of truth-value) of definitions becomes meaningless. In this paper we show that beside Russellian conception of definitions understood as abbreviations, there is an Aristotelian conception, which exploits the notion of essence and that this conception can be rehabilitated from the standpoint of the modern logic (in particular by means of Pavel Tichý's Transparent Intensional Logic). Also Carnap's 'explication' indicates that what we feel to be a definition is frequently distinct from a Russellian definition.

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