I want to use the idea of definitions as a literary device. I want to try to use definitions not as ends but as means.
When it comes to definitions, I am on dangerous ground. Nevertheless, it is ground that has the potential to be quite productive. One of my previous projects explored how disease and health might be defined. There is still no consensus. There is still no set of words upon which all can agree. It may be that a consensus about these concepts is impossible. Ideally, what we want in a definition is an explanation of these concepts in non-technical words that all can understand. We want to express something difficult in terms we can all find easy. But there is a problem. Ordinary, everyday terms are liable to subtle changes in meaning over time; this is something that words seem to do. Thus, any consensus couched in such words is open to change. Any verbally agreed consensus may eventually unravel.
I have not forgotten nor necessarily abandoned the project mentioned above. What I want to do instead is take my association with that project in different directions. By being involved in that earlier project, new insights and questions about the human body have arisen.
Despite the difficulty with defining what seem to be straightforward concepts, I include definitions here as a blog label. I do so because I want to take a different approach to defining. I was previously involved with trying to produce definitions in a more standard, analytical way. Here, I intend to be non-standard. As I begin this project, I have a couple of potential avenues in mind.
One is to inform readers about concepts not typically used in the scientific study of the human body. We hear of thinking outside the box. I intend to do this. However, this does not necessitate thinking outside of any frame of reference. Other disciplines may be said to have their own boxes. These constitute different ways of thinking and different frames of reference. Why not borrow from these? We can step into these boxes and try the different types of thinking we find there while trying to address our questions. After all, thinking inside somebody else's box is equivalent to thinking outside our box. Thus, I want to attempt to think outside our usual box but not so outside of any box as to have no working framework or support.
Something else I am seeking to do under the definitions label is approach the idea of defining concepts in a more off-the-wall way. The moral is that if defining is difficult, do it differently. What I have in mind is not easy to describe here - not least because my ideas are not yet fully formed. The following may suffice. It has been of Albert Einstein that he used to ask questions in a child-like way; he did not relinquish that mentality we all have as children. Accordingly, as children, we have explanations and definitions for things couched in child-like ways. These are ways of describing things that may seem bazaar if an adult were to come up with them. Einstein did not continue in this vein. However, I wish to do so. It is a certain child-like-ness when describing things that I want to explore (and exploit) when it comes to what seem to be intractable concepts and ideas. Even if our questions go unanswered, it will mean that we will view them in new and perhaps refreshing ways.
