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Why do you think this? Philosophers don't write dictionaries; they write huge, creative and systematic theoretical treatises. Of course, that requires a certai
by Emma_Goldman 8y ago
Why do you think this? Philosophers don't write dictionaries; they write huge, creative and systematic theoretical treatises.
Of course, that requires a certain amount of conceptual innovation - but so did Shakespeare's plays, and that doesn't mean that Macbeth is, in reality, just a very odd dictionary.
- nyc111 8y agoYou are right of course, generally they don’t but at least one philosoper I know of wrote a dictionary: https://history.hanover.edu/texts/voltaire/volindex.html https://history.hanover.edu/texts/voltaire/volindex.html But I think definitions are in the foundation of philosophy because if philosophers argue with badly defined or undefined words, the discussion turns into a discussion to assert academic authority. In this case, definitions of words are not explicit but implicit. I think this is what most people think philosophy is, ie sophistry. In computer languages I cannot use an undefined word. I would get an error message. It would be nice to institute a similar mechanism in philosophical discussions too.