Defining Terms
Establishing a common foundation for understanding
— Marshall McLuhan
The written English language is the particular medium of expression that is being used to communicate here. Language is inherently subject to a bias or a point of view. Languages are not static. They are constantly evolving as human experience changes over time and different meanings, connotations and denotations, are ascribed to people, places, things, and actions, or whatever it is that we are trying to describe.
In a discussion of ideas, it is difficult to avoid the issues that arise in the study of linguistics.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of language, and involves an analysis of language form, language meaning, and language in context.
Definitions
Perhaps defining our terms may lead to more problems than they solve. At the very least, the attempt to define terms assumes that the additional terms and language that we use are able to communicate meaning. Relativism and deconstruction and modern communications theory tend to lead to the conclusion that understanding each other is fraught with difficulties that obscure or distort the intended meaning.
Far too much stock has been placed in the supposed efficacy and utility of defining our terms. Students often approach philosophy with beliefs about definition which border on the magical. Students mistakenly believe that defining one’s terms will usually have a powerful, beneficial payoff; but the actual dividend earned in defining one’s terms is typically fairly meager.
In spite of the inherent problems, let’s go ahead and explore the terms we are using.
Progress
Movement or advancement through a series of events, or points in time; development through time.
Evolution
The English noun evolution (pronounced /ˌɛvəlˈuʃən/; from Latin ēvolūtiō “unfolding, unrolling”) refers to any kind of accumulation of change, or gradual directional change.
Ideas
In philosophy, ideas are usually construed as mental representational images of some object. Ideas can also be abstract concepts that do not present as mental images. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of being. The capacity to create and understand the meaning of ideas is considered to be an essential and defining feature of human beings. In a popular sense, an idea arises in a reflexive, spontaneous manner, even without thinking or serious reflection, for example, when we talk about the idea of a person or a place. A new or original idea can often lead to innovation.
Three
The number three can be expressed as a word or as a number. A triangle is a closed shape defined by three mathematical points. A path defined by three points represents the smallest amount of data required to express change over time.
Intent
The intent of this publication is to recognize that we live in a time of rapid, intense, and transformational change. Differences in ideas have a tendency to create conflict, similar to the way that differences in air temperature lead to — sometimes extreme — weather events. We are attempting to understand ideas and how they evolve over time, leading to the world in which we find ourselves, sharing this specific time and this particular planet.
We seek a common understanding and mutual respect, with the goal of living together in peace by seeking the good of all.
This intent is not something that everyone may be able to agree upon in principle or even as a theoretical possibility, but we hope that we can at least move towards this ideal in the abstract as a way to eventually find its fulfillment in reality.
