Dictionaries
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 9:39 am
Dictionaries
Perhaps the most significant point about dictionaries is that they are not works of philosophy. And if they were used that way, it would spell the end of philosophy, with dictionaries no more than religious tracts. They indicate how words are presently used, and how they were used, with their origins in archaic languages. If a philsopher claims to be an altruist, he is making use of a term that approximates what he thinks he is. In a complete ethical construct of all values, the term may indicate one category in that construct, but what it means in any detail depends on all other values, in opposition and complementary. That is a matter of debate that cannot end.
Perhaps the most significant point about dictionaries is that they are not works of philosophy. And if they were used that way, it would spell the end of philosophy, with dictionaries no more than religious tracts. They indicate how words are presently used, and how they were used, with their origins in archaic languages. If a philsopher claims to be an altruist, he is making use of a term that approximates what he thinks he is. In a complete ethical construct of all values, the term may indicate one category in that construct, but what it means in any detail depends on all other values, in opposition and complementary. That is a matter of debate that cannot end.