Modern Definitions — Kinds — Methods and purpose

A pro-choice campaigner and an anti-abortion campaigner can define the very same procedure in two totally different ways, both grammatically fine, both clearly intended to make you feel a particular way before the argument has even started. Modern logic has a name for that move — persuasive definition — and knowing the name is often enough to stop it from working on you.

In two minutes

Modern logic sorts definitions by their function rather than their traditional form into five kinds — stipulative (assigning a brand-new meaning), lexical (reporting existing usage), precising (narrowing a vague existing meaning for a specific purpose), theoretical (characterising a term within a wider theory), and persuasive (using an emotionally loaded meaning to influence attitudes) — each judged by a different standard of success.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Logic – I on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.