In this week's lecture, we read about Socrates' concern for defining undefined terms as the first step in critical thinking.
Choose one of the statements below. Your task is to determine how the term is used to define your chosen example, and whether the definition is by example, by synonym, by an analytical definition. If you experience difficulty in determining which method of definition is being used, describe the difficulty and try to negotiate agreement with other class members. This exercise works best if students do not all choose the first example. If one example has been well discussed, choose a different example to discuss.
And here are the examples:
- Decaffeinated means without caffeine. Steve Martin is my idea of a successful philosophy major. The Cheyenne perfectly illustrate the sort of Native Americans who were Plains Indians. Data, in our case, are bits of raw information collected from survey forms, which are then put in tabular form and analyzed. Bifocals are glasses with two different prescriptions ground into each lens, making it possible to focus at two different distances from the wearer.
- Red is the color we perceive when our eyes are struck by light waves of approximately seven angstroms.