Defining Your Terms

As I mentioned in a recent post the one of the first steps in any argument is the defining of relevant terms.  This step can accomplish the most but requires significant effort.  Often arguments that seem to have no resolution occur because participants either have not clearly define the terms they are using OR can't agree on how to define a concept.  For example, what is human life and when does it begin?
For discussion purposes here, term refers to a word the represents a concept.  A concept is a mental label attached to an idea, belief, thing, or feeling.  There will be more on this in a later post but here are some ways to approach the task of defining terms.

One way is to think in terms of categories.  Does a concept belong to category of things that share common characteristics of other things in the category.  Does a tomato belong to the category of fruit?  Of course, we need to set parameters for our category.  This is done by establishing the necessary and sufficient conditions a concept must meet in order to be included in that category.  Is one of the necessary conditions of being a fruit that it have seeds?  Do the seeds alone make something a fruit or are there more conditions that need to be met?

Sometimes we define terms by distinguishing them from other concepts.  A tomato is not a vegetable because its sugar content is too high.  We can then examine the differences to see if the differences are differences of degree or differences in kind.  Is tomato just a sweet vegetable or is it in a completely different category (i.e. fruit)?

Defining terms takes time and effort.  I was teaching a philosophy class a few years ago and we were discussing recycling.  The students spent an hour defining what qualified as tin can or can of pop (some emotions were involved as well).  This step will not resolve every argument but it can help us at least understand what we're arguing about.

OCW: Open Course Ware

The wage an employer offers may get a person to take job but it is usually not a factor in motivating that employee or increasing her or his job satisfaction.  However, employee training and professional development is a way to increase an employee's sense of fullfillment and increase the chances of retaining that employee.

During tough economic times an organization's training budget is one of the first to get reduced or even eliminated. There are some free resources available on-line.  Open Course Ware or OCW is provided free of charge by major universities (e.g. Harvard, Notre Dame) in a wide variety of topics.  While there is still an investment of employees time, the cost of content and materials is almost eliminated.  Just do a web search on Open Course Ware and look at the options.  As always, read the fine print, but you should find something that your employees can use in their over all development.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Analytical and Critical Thinking-it's a matter of method

In a multi-cultural, pluralistic society in can be really hard to decide what's right or wrong-what is ethical and what isn't.  Even in group of people sharing similar backgrounds division can occur over topics we care about (politics anyone?).  It's sometimes easier to say "I'm a moderate" or "I really don't care" than it is to get into a debate and risked being called insensitive.

If your are going to take on an important issue, either in your own internal dialog or with another person, there are at least three things you should do before you "open your mouth".  They are define your terms, define the problem as you see it, and determine what evidence you have to support your positions.  While this is only a starting point it is necessary to understand your position, as well as it strengths and weaknesses.


More on this as we go along but for now, "A problem well-defined is a problem half solved" (John Dewey).