Let’s map out a 2D space for making decisions. Along one axis there’s every object, and along the other axis is every possible action you could choose. Most of these combinations will be impossible. For example you could combine “glass of water” on the first axis with “drink” on the other axis and it would make sense. Or combine “Chicago” and “go to” and it would make sense. But you can’t drink...
Fascism: when people believe that power comes from the position of leadership itself. Most definition try to list a series of characteristics of what a fascist government does, but it’s very hard to create a consistent list that works in every situation. Instead I think it makes more sense to look at the root cause, why do all those different government act in similar ways? Like most other...
There’s been a lot of talk about the differences between capitalism and socialism (or democratic socialism or communism, etc.). Unfortunately a concrete definition of those terms is rarely part of the discussion, and even when it is the definitions that are typically used are too vague to be really uses. For example: An economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of...
There’s a long history of debate about what the definition of knowledge is. For a long time it seemed to be settled and the accepted definition was “justified true belief”,until the Gettier Problems showed that that definition doesn’t always work. And that’s actually something I really enjoy about writing definitions, even if we’re not sure what the right definition is, we can still tell when one...
Part 1: Definitions Measure: filtering out all information about the subject except for a useful comparison Some dictionaries have pretty good definitions of “measure”, and others provide almost no useful information. A good definition should point out that measurements are really only possible by making a comparison, but a really important fact is that it’s not a general comparison, it’s very...
Smart – understanding your own limitations Often definitions of smart end up essentially saying it’s the same thing as being intelligent, but that’s not how people typically use the word. A phrase like “smart kid” has a noticeably different meaning than “intelligent kid.” Intelligence seems more like a universal standard that anyone can be measured against, while being smart is more...
A reader of Definition Mining, Leo Mansfield, wrote in to say that they created a Balderdash style game inspired by this site. It’s a fun co-operative game, so I thought I’d share the rules here. And we’ve also started an informal list of “winning” definitions at the bottom. Enjoy! Proposal – You bring a Word to the table. If it has multiple meanings, choose...
To be fair we have to be impartial or we have to follow the rules or our judgement has to be legitimate. These all tell us the ways to get to a fair choice or decision, but they don’t tell us about the characteristic of fairness itself. We recognize when something is fair, and we come to these conclusions quickly and consistently, and typically it takes important new information to change...
Work in Progress is a new section where I’ll be posting shorter pieces. They’re definitions that I feel pretty good about, but maybe aren’t polished enough to be considered final. These will also be topics that I’m looking to get feedback on, there’s probably some characteristic or term that doesn’t seem quite right, but I can’t think of anything better...
We often attempt to define art by the way it’s made (with creativity or imagination) or who it’s made by (an artist) or what it’s made with (often mediums like painting, drawing, sculpture, etc. but it could really be almost anything) and none of these have ever given us a really satisfying definition. So instead let’s try to define art by the goal the artist has when making it. Those are two...