Analytical Definition

An Analytical Definition is a Definition that defines properties shared by class members and that distinguish it from other classes.

• AKA: Analytic Definition.
• Context:
  • It can be:
    • a Word Sense Defintion.
    • a Legal Definition.
  • It can describe Necessary conditions.
  • It can describe Sufficient conditions.
  • It can be:
    • a Structural Definition based on Properties, e.g. a definition of Analytical Definition.
    • a Functional Definition based on Behaviors, e.g. a definition of a Computing System.
    • a Relational Definition based on Relations to other parts of a System.
• Example(s):
  • Structural
    • "An X is a type of Y that has property Z and is used in domain D to achieve effect E."
    • "A household is two or more persons related by birth, marriate or adoption who reside together in a household."
    • "A marriage is an institutional arrangement between persons who recognize each other as intimate partners. They are 1) socially legitimate sexual unions;
      2) begun with a public announcement; 3) entered with a contract; 4) based on reciprocal obligations."
    • (∀ (f s1 s2) (if (function0 f s1 s2)(domain s1 f))), a Formal Definition of a Function Domain.
  • Behavioral
    • "An X is a type of Y that can reach L₂ from L₁ after time period P as the result of cause C."
• Counter-Example(s):
  • "An X is a type of Y." is a Definition by Example, e.g. a "'Mammals include mice and people' but not 'beetles' is an example of a definition by example."
  • "X is the same as Y and Z but used in context T.", a Synonym Relation such as a "lawyer is an attorney"
• See: Class, Stipulative Definition.

References

• http://www.enlink.org/pt/re/nestle/fulltext.00035138-200306000-00007.htm
  • "For food labelling and inspection purposes, an [analytical definition] is likely to be the simplest and most appropriate one."

Usage

• "An analytical definition is a definition that specifies the type of thing the defined term applies to and the difference between that thing and other things of the same type."

1999

• (M-W Colleg. Dict., 1999) => Merriam-Webster. (1999). "Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th edition.
  • The kind of definition that you would write in most cases is called an analytical definition. It consists in its purest form of the statement of a class to which the term being defined is assigned and a number of characteristics which differentiate the individual from members of the class.
  • Defining by synonym tends to be inexact because even true synonyms do not have just the same meaning and is perhaps most useful in cases like the one just mentions where one kind of referent has two or more names, a situation that occurs frequently with the common names of plants and animals.

1996

• Kay Milton. (1996). "Environmentalism and cultural theory" In: Nature
  • The test of an analytical definition is not its completeness, but its usefulness in identifying phenomena that might be analysed and compared.