An interesting section in chapter 9 is the section on the kinds of definition. I had never thought that deeply about there being different types of definitions. I always thought of definitions as those in the Webster's Dicitionary, so it was interesting gain the insight of there being multiple types of definitions. I thought that the authors did a pretty solid job at describing the types of definitions and providing meaningful examples.
This whole discussion of terms having many definitions can actually relate to my musical taste. I am a fan of techno/electronica music, but not necessarily every sub-genre. Generally, it is presumed that this kind of music is just created from a bunch of robot noises and does not include any vocals. This is generally the definition associated with this type of music. It's not an exact definition, but it's the definition my friends associate with it. Yes, some genres and sub-genres of electronica music do include music that lies within that definition. For me though, the music I listen to generally has softer sounds and more vocals. Therefore, my definition of this type of music varies from the definition given by my friends or other people. This just goes to show how many terms can have a variety of definitions.
http://techno.org/electronic-music-guide/
ReplyDeleteif you haven't seen this before, click a purple category button on the left then check out the music relationship/timeline map, with definitions and samples. just goes to show how vast "electronica"is. :)
It is pretty crazy thinking about all of the definitions that one word can have.
ReplyDeleteIt can mean one thing to one person and something completely different to another. After thinking about it all for a while…it kind of reminds me of an urban dictionary, although, urban dictionary is for slang terms, it shows all of the meanings for whatever word you find or search for. Anyone is able to onto the website and put what define it themselves and you can see all of the different point of views, so I guess we can consider it an operational definition. It even shows how the word is used in context haha!
I, myself am a fan of techno/electronica music as well, and so people have different ways of describing it. My parents think it's nothing but noise that cause headaches, it's all about personal preference. Last semester in my art class we were given an assignment where we had to choose a song and come up with an art piece to go with it, since I wanted to use a lot of color, I wanted to choose an electronica song because when I think of electronic music I think of various colors. I chose a song with periods of drops and bass and my teacher said it sounded like dying robots but to me it sounded peaceful, then once the bass dropped it provoked feelings, especially because of the words that went with the song. Not everyone sees things the same way.
It is our general perception that all words only have one definition. We have to think about it for awhile and then realize that most words mean something a little different to everyone. Your example of techno music is very relevant. Many people think of a genre of music and label it as one specific type, but as you said, it has many sub genres that have their own special definition. This makes us have to think about each sub category as its own separate category. Going back to each word only having one set definition. Even when you look up a definition of a word, now you get about 3 or 4 different definitions that are roughly the same. This is like when a few people have different, but similar definitions of a word. For example, intelligence, everyone has a general idea of what intelligence is, but everyone tweaks their own definition to their liking.
ReplyDeleteI think that this chapter did a good job of explaining definitional arguments and gave good examples of each type. It is interesting on how many different definitions can be developed from one word. Everyone can give their own definition to a word. Overall it was a good analysis of the chapter.