# KEHOME/knowledge/ExamplesDefinition/aynrand.txt
# 1:30 pm 1998/4/7

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# my favorite Ayn Rand definitions #
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# Reference:
# Ayn Rand, "Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology",
# Expanded Second Edition, Meridian, 1990.

# concept is mental integration of two or more units possessing
# the same distinguishing characteristic(s), with their particular
# measurements omitted.

# conceptual common denominator is the characteristic(s) reducible to
# a unit of measurement, by means of which man differentiates two or
# or more existents possessing it.  (For example, number of sides is
# a common characteristic which can be used to differentiate between
# triangles and rectangles.)

# consciousness is the faculty of perceiving that which exists.

# definition is a statment that identifies the nature of the units
# subsumed under a concept.  (The purpose of a definition is to
# distinguish a concept from all other cocnepts and thus to keep its
# units differentiated from all other existents.)

# differentia is the distinguishing characteristic(s) which separate
# the units of the concept being defined from all other existents
# subsumed under the genus of the concept.

# epistemology is the science of the discovery of the proper methods
# of acquiring and validating knowledge.

# essential characteristic is the distinguishing characteristic that
# explains the greatest number of other characteristics.  (Metaphysically,
# the distinctive characteristic which makes possible the greatest
# number of other characteristics.)

# genus of a concept is the wider class of existents which share a conceptual
# common denominator(s) with the existents subsumed by the concept
# being defined.

# grammar is the science which deals with the formulation of the
# proper methods of verbal expression and communication (i.e., the
# methods of organizing words into sentences).

# knowledge is a mental grasp of a fact(s) of reality, reached either
# by perceptual observation or by a process of reason based on
# perceptual observation.

# language is a code of visual-auditory symbols that serves the
# psycho-episemological function of converting concepts into the
# mental equivalent of concretes.

# logic is the art of noncontradictory identification.

# measurement is the identification of a quantitative relationship
# established by means of a standard that serves as a unit.  (The
# purpose of measurement is to expand the range of man's consciousness,
# beyond the perceptual level.)

# meaning of a concept is the existents subsumed under the concept.

# number is a mental symbol that integrates units into a single larger
# unit (or subdivides a unit into fractions) with reference to the basic
# number of "one", which is the basic mental symbol of "unit".

# percept is a group of sensations automatically retained and integrated
# by the brain of a living organism.

# science is an organized body of knowledge, acquired by and communicable
# to a human consciousness.

# similarity is the relationship between two or more existents which
# possess the same characteristic(s), but in different measure or degree.

# unit is an existent regarded as a separate member of a group of two
# or more similar members.

# word is a visual-auditory symbol used to represent a concept. 
