Combining Philosophers

Ideas for H.Putnam/P.Oppenheim, Michael Dummett and Diodorus Cronus

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2. Reason / D. Definition / 7. Contextual Definition
A contextual definition permits the elimination of the expression by a substitution [Dummett]
     Full Idea: The standard sense of a 'contextual definition' permits the eliminating of the defined expression, by transforming any sentence containing it into an equivalent one not containing it.
     From: Michael Dummett (Frege philosophy of mathematics [1991], Ch.11)
     A reaction: So the whole definition might be eliminated by a single word, which is not equivalent to the target word, which is embedded in the original expression. Clearly contextual definitions have some problems