ns.
Such definitions, however, cannot remedy the evil ... for they consist
themselves of words, and these words produce others....

[Footnote 1: _Novum Organum_. bk. I, aphorism 59.]

If, to take an extreme case, a speaker said the word "chair,"
and by "chair" his listener understood what we commonly
mean by the word "table," communication would be impossible.
There must be some common agreement in the words
used. In the case of simple terms referring to concrete
objects there are continual concrete reminders of the meaning
of a word. We do not make mistakes as to the meaning of
words such as chair, river, stone, stove, books, forks, knives,
because we so continually meet and use them. We are continually
checked up, and the meanings we attach to these
cannot go far astray.

But the further terms are removed from physical objects,
the more opportunity is there for ambiguity. In the realm of
politics and morals, as Socrates was fond of pointing out, the
chief difficulties and misunderstandings of men have come
from the ambiguities of the terms they use. "Justice," "liberty,"
"democracy," "good," "true," "beautiful," these
have been immemorial bones of contention among philosophers.
They are accepted, taken for granted, without any
question as to their meaning by the individual, until he finds,
perhaps, in discussion that his acceptation of the term is
entirely different from that of his opponent. Thus many an
argument ends with "if that's what you mean, I agree with
you." Intellectual inquiry and discussion to be fruitful must
have certain definitive terms to start with.

Discussion ... needs to have the ground or basis of its various
component statements brought to consciousness in such a way as to
define the exact value of each. The Socratic contention is the need
compelling the common denominator, the common subject, underlying
the diversity of views to exhibit itself. It alone gives a sure
standard by which the claims of all assertions may be measured.
Until this need is met, discussion is a self-deceiving play with
unjudged, unexamined matters, which, confused and shifting, impose
themselves upon us.[1]

[Footnote 1: Dewey: _Essays in Experimental Logic_, p. 200.]

To define our terms means literally to know _what_ we are
talking about and what others are talking about. One of the
values of discussion is that it enables us more clearly to realize
the meaning of the words with which we constantly operate.