SECTION Two--Developing Papers: Defining: Telling What It Is

Whatever your subject, definitions may be used not only to explain unfamiliar terms but to give new meanings to familiar terms or to indicate the exact sense in which a word is to be understood. And besides these uses, which, though often vital, occupy very little space in a paper, definition can serve as the chief means of explaining a subject or persuading an audience to respond to it in a particular way.

Technical terms and the special vocabulary of a subject can be serious obstacles to communication between writer and reader, and even everyday words can cause misunderstanding. Some words — rhetoric, liberal, realistic — are used in so many different ways that it’s often wise to specify the meaning you intend. On some occasions you may need to distinguish between the popular and the scholarly senses of a term.

At the beginning of The American Myth of Success, Richard Weiss writes:

I don’t use the word “myth” to imply something entirely false. Rather, I mean it to connote a complex of profoundly held attitudes and values which condition the way men view the world and understand their experience.

A stipulative definition like this one establishes common ground for the discussion and so makes communication easier. Communication won’t be made easier if you stipulate a meaning never before given the word. Nobody will pay much attention to a writer who in a serious discussion decides, like Humpty Dumpty in Alice in Wonderland, that glory is to mean “a nice, knock-down argument.”

A good grasp of the rhetorical situation will help you decide when to define and when not to. If you neglect to supply a definition your readers need, you’ll lose touch with them. If you persist in providing definitions they don’t need, you may lose them altogether. How you phrase a clarifying definition also depends on your awareness of your audience, its needs and its capabilities. Don’t con fuse a general audience by defining a technical term in terms that are entirely technical. Don’t insult an intelligent audience by simplifying so much that your definition lacks precision. So far as you can, harmonize the definition with its immediate context. Using zoological terminology to define bush baby is appropriate in a course paper for Zoology 101 but out of place in a paper describing the at tractions of the local zoo.

Though you may occasionally want to call special attention to a key term you’re defining, you can usually slip the explanation in casually and unobtrusively, without de laying the forward movement of the discussion. There are many ways of working a brief definition into a sentence:

So far, 24 bodies have been placed in “cryonic suspension,” a process that involves replacing the blood with an antifreeze solution and placing the corpse in a thermos-shaped capsule cooled with a frequently replenished supply of liquid nitrogen. — Newsweek

If our universities were interested in education, which is to say in helping the young grow in self-awareness, it would follow that they would be deeply interested in teaching. — Martin Duberman, New Republic

From the start, guide publishing has been a prime instance of what Max Weber called the Protestant ethic: to serve God by making money. — Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic

Dr. King was a radical in the truest sense: he insisted at the same time upon the terrible reality of our problems and upon their solubility, and he rejected everything that was irrelevant to their solution. — New Yorker

Extended Definitions

Defining as a method of developing a subject goes beyond the defining that functions solely as an aid to clarity. In some papers you may find that the question you’re raising about your subject can best be answered by explaining what a term means or by asserting what it ought to mean. Is the world at peace when there is violent conflict in a number of small — that is, economically, politically, and militarily weak—countries? That depends on what you mean by “the world” and by “peace.” Is violence a legitimate form of protest? That depends on your conception of both violence and protest. Should universities adjust their course offerings to the job market? The question can hardly be answered without defining the proper function of a university.

To answer questions like these, you can’t simply report on how the term is used—though you may need to do that, too. You have to examine carefully the class of events or objects designated by the term — the world, peace, violence, protest, universities — seeking out distinctive characteristics, properties, qualities, or functions. Once you’ve isolated these, you’ll have a sound basis for answering the question you’ve posed.

The aim of extended definition is not to say simply what a word means or how it’s used (a lexical definition) but to say what the thing or concept is that the word stands for. The difference between these two kinds of definition is plainly stated in this passage:

Let us start by agreeing on one small but plaguey matter: we are interested in learning more about a certain concept. This is the concept evoked for critics by the word literature—but evoked also by such other terms as poetry, great books, the classics, serious writing, verbal art. We’re not interested in the word literature itself. Questions about the deployment of the word literature by the critics, and by others, are questions lexicographers will try to answer. We already know that the word literature is used in a variety of different—even inconsistent—ways. We want to know about that “thing” that literary critics are talking about, the thing they refer to with, among others, the word literature. The question I am here phrasing, “What is literature to literary critics?” might be phrased by someone else as, “What is poetry [ good books, or serious writing, or verbal art, etc.] to literary critics?” Literary critics feel that, whether profoundly or superficially, accurately or inaccurately, they are all talking about the same thing, and it’s this thing we want to learn more about.—Thomas J. Roberts, College English

There are many ways of defining. When you write an extended definition, you usually want to make several different approaches to your subject. Each can give you a grip on your subject, some a more secure grip than others.

Etymologies, the histories of words, are of very uneven value in developing extended definitions. To point out that the word car goes back to the Latin carrus, a word of Celtic origin that meant a four-wheeled wagon, doesn’t offer a very promising, start for a definition of the class of objects we call cars. But etymologies do have force in some rhetorical situations. For example, reminding readers that the word radical comes from the Latin radix, meaning “root,” may be a successful way of opening up a discussion of a political issue. Many readers are attracted by the notion of getting to the root of a problem.

Synonyms are more generally useful as a means of de fining. Though no two words mean exactly the same thing, several words may mean roughly the same thing; and synonyms can indicate the general area of meaning. If you want to tell what a dilemma is, you may find it useful to begin with “something-likes”--predicament, quandary, plight, jam, and so on.

Examples help make distinctions between synonyms (tempt versus lure). They can also introduce the reader to the general area of meaning, as when having breakfast in bed on a Sunday morning is used to illustrate contentment. While such use of example doesn’t constitute a full definition, it does stimulate the imagination and often works well in relaxed rhetorical situations. Specific examples can be extremely helpful in defining groups and classes: a detailed examination of one member of a school of poetry (Wordsworth) can contribute a good deal to a definition of the school (Romanticism).

An example helps define in an informal context, as in this case, where it gives point to an extremely broad definition:

My definition of music is anything that sounds good to the ear.

If a peanut rolling across the floor sounds good, that’s music. — Willie Nelson, quoted in Douglas Martin, Wall Street Journal Connotations—the associations a word has—may be spelled out in a definition to make sure that readers will be aware of the writer’s emotional response to the subject (“To me, winter means physical discomfort and mental depression”).

Formal definitions, as they are sometimes called, offer a traditional way of establishing denotative meaning — that is, of pointing to the objects or events named by a term. You’re probably familiar with this method of defining from text guide definitions, and you may have used it yourself in answering examination questions and in writing course papers. First you specify the genus or set to which the class designated by the term belongs (“A ballad is a song”), and then you differentiate it from other classes in the set (“that tells a story”). “A ballad is a song that tells a story” puts the class ballad into the larger class or set song and then selects the quality — storytelling — that differentiates it from other kinds of songs. For some terms one differentiating characteristic is enough. For others, several may be required to isolate the precise combination of qualities that characterize the class.

Framing definitions on this pattern gives excellent training in precise, literal statement. Before you begin, consider carefully which of several possible genuses you might use in defining your term. Should you, for ballad, choose rhyming narrative, popular song, or simply song? Should you, for rabbit, choose mammal, the Latin label for its biological genus, or simply member of the hare family? Your purpose and the rhetorical situation will affect your choice.

Choosing the right characteristics to set the genus apart is also of vital importance. In telling a story a ballad may praise a heroic deed or mourn a lost love or whatever, but these characteristics are shared by other kinds of songs and therefore would not be sufficiently limiting. Finally, the differentiating characteristics must really mark the class and not just individual members of it. “A ballad is a song that tells a story drawn from folklore” introduces a characteristic shared by a good many individual ballads but not by ballads as a class, It would be too limiting for an accurate definition.

A genus-plus-differentiae definition is often at the heart of an extended definition, with the genus and each of the differentiae receiving detailed discussion. But for many purposes the pattern seems too confining or smacks too much of textbook-encyclopedia style. Not all definitions call for such rigor.

Negation has its uses in definition. Telling what the class you’re establishing is not may lead effectively to an explanation of what it is. You may also use negation or contrast to correct current misconceptions, rejecting fuzzy or wrong notions of the meaning of a term before offering more accurate explanations. Or you may begin with a single explicit negative like “A composition text is not a guide of etiquette” or “Loyalty is not conformity.” Defining by negation can be a risky technique — you can be come so wound up in telling what the subject isn’t that you never get around to telling what it is—but it’s necessary when you have to dislodge connotations that you know your audience clings to. In addressing readers to whom youth equals irresponsibility, no one committed to the thesis that most young people are at least as responsible as their elders can afford to sidestep either the job of attacking the entrenched definition or the obligation to create a more accurate one.

In the following passage, negation is one of several means the writer chooses to define the concept of protest:

How does protest differ from revolution? The word “revolution” is often used for any radical change in an aspect of government or society, but in its strict and more correct historical usage revolution is the great exception, whereas protest is the norm. Protest is an attack on the prevailing system in an intellectual or organized way. Revolution is a sickness in society, a break down of the social order, the kind of general demoralization and civil war that the ancient Greek philosophers called stasis. Pro test uses violence, but it’s strictly controlled and specific in its purposes—the seizure of a building, a riot, a political assassination—designed to shock and bewilder the elite and to advertise a grievance. Revolution is unchecked violence in which social groups war against one another for dominance, although violence usually becomes an end in itself and the groups often lose sight of their original purposes.

Revolution occurs only when an old regime defends itself against protest by becoming more reactionary and oppressive but, once having radicalized the middle class and stirred the workers and the poor to involvement, is too inefficient or guilt- ridden to carry out the necessary slaughter and imprisonment of protesters. The political and legal system then splinters, and un controlled violence takes over. Finally, some army or police leader takes advantage of middle-class fear of extermination and working-class hunger and establishes a new tyranny. Protest in the twentieth century has led to social change and, more often than not, to social melioration; revolution has been the road to chaos, civil war, and new tyranny. — Norman F. Cantor, The Age of Protest

In reading the preceding paragraph you will have recognized not only some specific ways of defining — stipulative definition (the strict historical use of the term revolution) and formal definition (in the third and fourth sentences) — but several of the other techniques we’ve discussed in this section. The writer has used comparison and contrast, analysis of causes (government responses that lead to revolution), process (the stages in the fall of a regime), and attribution of effects (the contrasting results of protest and revolution). What this demonstrates is that there are many ways of building an extended definition.

The Center of the Definition

To define is to limit and to exclude — to narrow down to the characteristics or properties that set the class off from other classes. This is the process that brings you to the real center of your definition. One helpful means of finding that center has already been suggested and illustrated in the discussion of the formal genus-plus-differentiae definition. Weaknesses in definition papers often stem from the writer’s failure to give serious thought to the class the thing belongs to and to the characteristics that make it different from other members of that class. “A scholar is a student who wears thick glasses, avoids fresh air, and never has a good time” is a trivial definition because it doesn’t establish a significant class.

The elements that are central to any particular definition naturally depend on what’s being defined. They may relate to the origin of the subject or its history or what it’s made of or what it looks like or what it’s used for or what effects it produces. A physical object like a lathe will be defined in different ways from a concept like responsibility, and a concept will be defined in different ways from a school of economic thought.

What the central elements in your definition are will also depend on where your interest in your subject lies. “Man is a talking animal” is a good definition for some purposes. “Man is a laughing animal” is a good one for others.

Once you’ve decided on the center of your definition, you’ll find yourself drawing on other methods of development. These summaries of what some students have done In writing definition papers suggest a range of possibilities:

The center of a paper defining a stapler was a statement of its use. From there the student went on to tell what a stapler looks like, what its parts are, what materials it’s made of, and how it operates. The paper was developed mainly by division and objective description.

A definition of Cubism first placed the movement in time, giving a narrative account of how and why it arose, explaining the theory on which it was based, and showing how it differed from other contemporary philosophies of art. By using examples of major Cubist artists and describing some of their chief works, the student arrived at the characteristics of form, color, and handling of subject that make a painting representative of Cubism.

A definition of brainwashing centered on the purpose, contrasted the methods and effects of brainwashing with those used in psychiatric treatment, and drew examples and details from a factual study of American captives in the Korean War and the novels 1984 and The Manchurian Candidate.

An essay on electronic music compared it with traditional music in terms of method of production, role of composer, range of sounds used, and kind of appeal. It reviewed various definitions of music in order to see whether they would admit electronically produced sounds as a legitimate class. Finally, it proposed a definition of music broad enough to include electronic music.

These summaries are not intended to represent the only ways of developing definitions or the best ways; in each case you should be able to think of other good approaches. They simply suggest the great variety of resources at hand when you set about the task of defining—not only etymologies, synonyms, examples, and connotative and denotative meanings but also description, narration, comparison and contrast, classification, division, analysis of causes and effects. Choosing wisely among these techniques of defining will help you make clear the properties or characteristics of your subject—those distinctive features that set it off from everything else. And this is why we use definition.

• For Analysis and Writing

1. Choose a slang term that you enjoy using, explain its meaning, illustrate its use, and offer some reasons for its popularity. Your audience is your grandparents.

2. Explain what you mean when you speak of sin (or pain or tolerance or courage or prejudice or any other concept that can mean different things to different people). Your audience is someone you want to help understand you better.

3. Define a political ism you favor (conservatism, liberalism, radicalism, or any other) for readers who are hostile toward it.

4. Through examples and personal anecdotes, show how Love or fear or hate or happiness has come to have a new meaning for you.

5. Write a paper on some group you’re familiar with, one that can be identified or defined by its habitual activities; its moral or social standards; its dress, language, or ceremonies. Make clear through concrete details the distinguishing characteristics of the group, its typical behavior, and the shared attitudes that give it unity and explain its actions. Your audience is a class in sociology.

6. Compare the meanings given rhetoric (and rhetorical) in the passages below. Which uses are favorable? Which neutral? Which unfavorable?

a. There are extremes of exaggeration here that I must sup pose to be rhetorical if I am to avoid attributing an implausible degree of ignorance to those of my interlocutors who indulge in them.—Louis J. Halle, New Republic

b. When the action is hot, keep the rhetoric cool. — President Richard M. Nixon in a television address, May 1970

c. But to those devoted to other concepts of science, Erikson often seems inexact, elusive, rhetorical, and even mystical. — Kenneth Keniston, Science

d. Rhetoric, therefore, is the method, the strategy, the organon of the principles for deciding best the undecidable questions, for arriving at solutions of the unsolvable problems, for instituting method in those vital phases of human activity where no method is inherent in the total subject-matter of decision.—Donald C. Bryant, Quarterly Journal of Speech

e. “.. . do you think back on the fight?”

“Not as much as I thought I would,” All answered. “Fighting is more of a business now than the glory of who won. After all, when all the praise is over,” and he shifted into the low singsong voice that he uses for rhetoric and poetry, “when all the fanfare is done, all that counts is what you have to show for. All the bleeding; the world still turns.”—George Plimpton, Sports Illustrated

f. Rhetoric, we argued, is concerned primarily with a creative process that includes all the choices a writer makes from his earliest tentative explorations of a problem in what has been called the “prewriting” stage of the writing process, through choices in arrangement and strategy for a particular audience, to the final editing of the final draft. — Richard E. Young, Alton L. Becker, and Kenneth Pike, Rhetoric: Discovery and Change

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