Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T08:29:20.316Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - When Words Are Reasoning

Definitions as Strategies of Classification

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2014

Fabrizio Macagno
Affiliation:
Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal
Douglas Walton
Affiliation:
University of Windsor, Ontario
Get access

Summary

Words are instruments for modifying our beliefs and affect our decisions. Stevenson (1944) underscored that words have a tendency to alter our knowledge, which he named “descriptive meaning.” Words describe, and at the same time hide, reality (Schiappa 2003). They frame a certain state of affairs by pointing out specific features and leaving out others. This twofold dimension of names, their nature as instruments for providing and excluding information, is crucial for understanding the strategies of meaning listed in the first chapter. Selecting information always results in hiding some characteristics of a situation. Amplifying, or rather emphasizing some features of a complex state of affairs inevitably results in leaving out other characteristics. According to the selection of features, certain emotions can be triggered and others prevented. The strategies of selection are grounded on the power of words to represent, describe, and refer to reality. Sometimes words are not simply used to select what is important for the conversation, but to distort reality. Dictatorships are called ‘democracies’ while the word ‘pacification’ conceals massacres and human tragedies. However, sometimes the boundary between selecting the relevant aspects of reality and lying becomes, or is made to become, blurred. The meanings of words are altered, and also what they represent. The meanings of some words are altered, and a powerful ambiguity is introduced. Sometimes the effect is funny or ridiculous, but sometimes it is extremely effective. We can open the newspaper and notice how difficult it is to judge the boundaries of the words, between ‘true freedom’ and ‘slavery,’ ‘treason,’ and ‘true patriotism,’ ‘war-making’ and ‘peace enforcement’ (Doyle & Sambanis 2006: 1).

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×