Recognizing%20Faulty%20Definitions

1
Recognizing Faulty Definitions
Chapter 4.a

• This tutorial will help you to recognize faulty
  definitions and construct good ones.

2

• Air ball means, in basketball, a missed shot.

Based on your reading of this chapter, is this
definition faulty because it is too broad, too
narrow, figurative, lacking in context, slanted,
obscure, circular, or fails to capture the
essential meaning of the word?
3
Air ball means, in basketball, a missed shot.
Too broad. All air balls are missed shots but
not all missed shots are air balls. (An air ball
is a shot that misses the rim, net, and
backboard entirely, hitting nothing but air.)
The definition is thus too broad because it
includes things that should not be
included--namely, missed shots that do hit the
rim, net, or backboard.
4
Work is love made visible. (Kahlil Gibran)
Based on your reading of this chapter, is this
definition faulty because it is too broad, too
narrow, figurative, lacking in context, slanted,
obscure, circular, or fails to capture the
essential meaning of the word?
5
Work is love made visible. (Kahlil Gibran)
Figurative. The definition isn't meant to be
taken literally. (It would clearly be both too
broad and too narrow if it were.) Rather, the
writer is offering a figurative or metaphorical
"definition" that reveals what he sees as the
deeper significance of work.
6
Lepidopterology means the systematic study of
lepidopterological matters.
Based on your reading of this chapter, is this
definition faulty because it is too broad, too
narrow, figurative, lacking in context, slanted,
obscure, circular, or fails to capture the
essential meaning of the word?
7
Lepidopterology means the systematic study of
lepidopterological matters.
Circular. The definition is unhelpfully circular
because it essentially "defines a word in terms
of itself"--that is, defines a word by simply
repeating the word being defined ("No means no")
or by offering a close cognate that can be
understood only by someone who already knows the
meaning of the word being defined. (In case
you're curious, lepidopterology is the study of
butterflies and moths.)
8
Newlywed means a recently married woman.
Based on your reading of this chapter, is this
definition faulty because it is too broad, too
narrow, figurative, lacking in context, slanted,
obscure, circular, or fails to capture the
essential meaning of the word?
9
Newlywed means a recently married woman.
Too narrow. The definition fails to include some
things that should be included, namely, recently
married men.
10
Welfare means taxing hardworking individuals and
families and giving the money to those too lazy
to work.
Based on your reading of this chapter, is this
definition faulty because it is too broad, too
narrow, figurative, lacking in context, slanted,
obscure, circular, or fails to capture the
essential meaning of the word?
11
Welfare means taxing hardworking individuals and
families and giving the money to those too lazy
to work.
Slanted. This is a negative, biased definition
of welfare. It's purpose is to create a negative
attitude towards welfare, not to provide a
neutral, objective definition that captures the
standard meaning of the term.
12
Football means the principal sporting event
watched at most Super Bowl parties.

• Based on your reading of this chapter, is this
  definition
• faulty because it is too broad, too narrow,
  figurative,
• lacking in context, slanted, obscure, circular,
  or fails to
• capture the essential meaning of the word?

13
Football means the principal sporting event
watched at most Super Bowl parties.

• Fails to capture the essential meaning of the
  word.
• The definition is neither too broad nor too
  narrow because
• it does apply uniquely and correctly to football.
  
• Nevertheless, the definition is faulty because it
  fails to
• capture those features that are truly essential
  to football
• and that distinguish it from everything else.

14
Dirty joke means a lascivious, obscene, or
libidinous jape, witticism, raillery, or other
risible vocalization intended to provoke laughter
or amusement.

• Based on your reading of this chapter, is this
  definition
• faulty because it is too broad, too narrow,
  figurative,
• lacking in context, slanted, obscure, circular,
  or fails to
• capture the essential meaning of the word?

15
Dirty joke means a lascivious, obscene, or
libidinous jape, witticism, raillery, or other
risible vocalization intended to provoke laughter
or amusement.

• Obscure.
• The definition uses sesquipedalian -- er, big,
  fancy words
• that few readers would understand.

16
Mouse means a button-activated device that when
rolled along a flat surface enables an operator
to manipulate an on-screen pointer and thereby
select operations and add, change, or delete text
and graphics.

• Based on your reading of this chapter, is this
  definition
• faulty because it is too broad, too narrow,
  figurative, lacking
• in context, slanted, obscure, circular, or fails
  to capture the
• essential meaning of the word?

17
Mouse means a button-activated device that when
rolled along a flat surface enables an operator
to manipulate an on-screen pointer and thereby
select operations and add, change, or delete text
and graphics.
Lacking in context. Since mouse has other
meanings in other contexts, the definition
should indicate that this is the meaning of the
word in computer lingo.
X

• This is the end of the tutorial