I’m definitely assuming an Extensions and Intentions notion of how definitions work (and the rest of the Human’s Guide to Words as well). I’m not sure quite what you’re responding to in my post. When I used “definition” I either qualified it with “sharp” or “explicit” or “dictionary” to refer to intensional definitions, or left it unqualified. When left unqualified, what I meant by “definition” was “conceptual cluster”—the thing you can point at with extensive or intensive definitions. Of course this is still not saying enough, as is clear if we think of articles, conjunctions, and other problem cases. But, overall, when I say there is a need to understand the local definition of a word in a conversation, I’m saying there’s a need to understand what is meant. (What is meant by the speaker, not what any individual word means.) Is that your objection?
I’m definitely assuming an Extensions and Intentions notion of how definitions work (and the rest of the Human’s Guide to Words as well). I’m not sure quite what you’re responding to in my post. When I used “definition” I either qualified it with “sharp” or “explicit” or “dictionary” to refer to intensional definitions, or left it unqualified. When left unqualified, what I meant by “definition” was “conceptual cluster”—the thing you can point at with extensive or intensive definitions. Of course this is still not saying enough, as is clear if we think of articles, conjunctions, and other problem cases. But, overall, when I say there is a need to understand the local definition of a word in a conversation, I’m saying there’s a need to understand what is meant. (What is meant by the speaker, not what any individual word means.) Is that your objection?