mathematician plays the role of a litmus test for a definition

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Categories: Comparisons

An example of a scientific concept being used as a metaphor:

"The mathematicians proudly claimed that striving for unambiguous definitions was one of the 'specific traits of the mathematical style of thinking', and they insisted that a mathematician in linguistics 'plays the role of a litmus test: if a definition satisfied the mathematician, then if must satisfy everyone'."

Slava Gerovitch

Gerovitch, S. (2002). From Newspeak to Cyberspeak. A history of Soviet cybernetics. MIT Press.

[Please be aware that a word may have different nuances, or even a different meaning, according to context.]« Back to Index

Author: Keith

Former school and college science teacher, teacher educator, research supervisor, and research methods lecturer. Emeritus Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge.