Why care about definitions?
The previous article in the sequence is Russell’s definition of intelligence.
Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.
— Ludwig Wittgenstein (1953)
I care about definitions because language shapes our thinking and actions.
Thinking
A poor definition isn’t just words on a page. It isn’t just disembodied confusion. It is confusion roosting in the minds of people.
Having a broken definition of such a key concept in akin to crack in one’s foundation, which many people would be wise to recognize and discover. But some definitions are convincing enough to linger and distort clear thinking for a very long time.
A bad definition of intelligence isn’t the kind of error that averages out; it compounds.1 For example, if someone can’t conceive of intelligence as a concept independent of human cognition, their limited framing will fan out to many other conceptualizations and actions.
Action
Confusion in the mind leads to errant action.
Personal Note: I have a long-running concern regarding outdated language. Many of our current language patterns are liabilities, so we should do better. I’m not just ranting here; there is an invitation underneath: to challenge your ideas or to challenge mine. I’m sharing the best ideas I know, in the hopes that they are useful to others.
The next article, The Conclave of Clarity, is a parable about meaning in an unusual social context.
Endnotes
We have to be careful with multiplicative (or worse) of errors. See Wikipedia: Propagation of Error
The next article in the sequence is The Conclave of Clarity.