Morgan's BloG: The Effectiveness of the Definition of a Word

In class Thursday, September 28th, a question came up about the effectiveness of using a word’s definition in a paper. To some people, a definition may seem redundant and pointless. And sure, some words just don’t need to be defined. But if you look at how a word is defined and by whom, a definition may become more important. In my experience, that which is hardest to define has the most important definition. I found this quote on my friend’s AIM buddy profile, so my source is worthy of skepticism; regardless I love the quote.

Despite all the hard scientific knowledge we have accumulated, the heart still retains its mythic, metaphoric role as the bodily center of courage and love...
A living heart "is...the pulsing energy that is the essence of all life, whether atoms and electrons or two people making love or the whole universe expanding and contracting. It's the vital force. It's life itself."
-George Leonard

A dictionary, a child, or a biologist would all have different definitions of the heart. A dictionary definition is not necessarily meaningful, but they way each of us personally define something is crucial. When considering the English language, the power of certain words amazes me. Throughout history terms like “gay” or “Jewish” have gone through an immense variety of meanings. Both have had deadly connotations. Conversely, they both have beautiful connotations to certain people. When words have a wide gap in possible meanings, a definition can be used to see past bias. With so many meanings to each word, I think that if in a paper, one decides to look at only one meaning of a word, that definition is valuable information, and in many cases a effective element to an essay.