chapter 2: word precision: how do i describe it?

chapter summary:

1. an accurate use of words improves our thinking. they give forms to our thoughts so that we can make use of them. words enable us to communicate with others and ourselves. knowing the words for thinks and experiences helps us see and perceive more.

2. writing helps us learn more about words and how to use them. when we struggle to select words that will describe our experiences, we realize that words are only translations of experience and not the experience itself.

3. clear thinking depends on a clear understanding of the words we use. word confusion leads to less consciousness, or disequilibrium,, which can only be restored through word clarification.

4. we need to understand what dictionaries can and cannot offer us: we need to use them skillfully and frequently.

5. the thesaurus helps us when we are writing and translating nonverbal experiences and ideas into words; dictionary helps us when we are reading and interpreting the words of others.

6. definitions set boundaries for word ideas and show us their specific and general characteristics and how they are relater to or distinguished from one another.

7. dictionary definitions show us the agreements that society has made about a word's meaning. but we may also compose our own personal or stipulative definitions of experiences or compose persuasive definitions to sway the opinions of others,. in critical thinking it is important not tot confuse these different kinds of definitions, or to believe that personal, persuasive, or stipulative definitions carry the same agreements as those to be found in a dictionary.

8. the test of our understanding of a word is our ability to define it. this ability is particularly
important for words representing key ideas that we wish to explain or defend. taking the time to define the words we use is an essential preliminary to genuine communication.