Putting Ordinary Language to Work

Abstract

This article proposes a ‘min-max’ strategy of definition applicable to all concepts intended for general usage within some language region. The min-max strategy relies on the conjoined use of minimal and ideal-type definitions. A minimal definition identifies the bare essentials of a concept with traits sufficient to bind it extensionally while maintaining all non-idiosyncratic meanings associated with it. An ideal-type definition includes all attributes that together define the concept in its purest, most ‘ideal’ form. Minimal definitions are minimal in their attributes but maximal in their phenomenal range, while ideal-type definitions are maximal in their attributes but minimal in their phenomenal range. This min-max strategy serves to bind a concept in semantic and referential space, providing the most satisfactory general definition for that concept. We illustrate this strategy with the keyword ‘culture’. We identify the minimal and maximal definitions of ‘culture’, within which all definitions developed in particular research settings fall, thus resolving the conceptual ambiguity that has plagued the use of the term ‘culture’ and demonstrating the utility of the min-max approach as a strategy of general definition.