X-Ftn-To: George Hammond 

George Hammond  wrote:
>[Hammond]
>A definition is a "formulation by fiat, of something arbitrary
>and that does not naturally exist".  Such as:

I have no idea where you could have gotten such a stupid idea.

DEFINITION n [ME diffinicioun, fr. MF definition, fr. L definition-,
definitio, fr. definire] (14c) 1: an act of determining;
specif: the formal proclamation of a Roman Catholic dogma 2 a: a
statement expressing the essential nature of something b: a
statement of the meaning of a word or word group or a sign or symbol
 c: a product of defining 3: the action or
process of defining 4 a: the action or the power of describing,
explaining, or making definite and clear 
 b (1): clarity of visual presentation:
distinctness of outline or detail 
(2): clarity esp. of musical sound in reproduction c: sharp
demarcation of outlines or limits  --
def.i.ni.tion.al adj 

(Merriam-Webster dictionary)

2a is relevant.
So, definition is every statement, that attempts to describe the
essential nature of something, or, in other terms, a statement which
describes the qualities of the thing that are inherent to its nature.
A definition is a necessary prerequisite of discriminative thinking,
and therefore of logical evidence (science is merely a logical method,
BTW, defined as a mutual positive feedback between induction and
deduction).

-- 
Homepage: http://www.danijel.org