On the issue of gay marriage. What do philosophers think about the definition that politicians are suggesting should go into the constitution that marriage is the union between a man and a women? Is the definition valid?

Alex is right, I think, that people are not really debating what theword "marriage" means, though of course some politicians have beeninclined to bring out their dictionaries. What's at issue is, rather,what the institution of marriage is. It's like the difference between adebate about what the word "flower" means and a debate about whatflowers are. I think philosophers do have a contribution to makehere. Work in philosophy of language and mind over the last few decadeshas made philosophers very skeptical about the power and importance of"definitions". There are many cases to which one can point in whichsomething that was, at one time, taken to be definitive of somephenomenon or kind of thing is later taken not even to be true of it. It was, for example, once regarded as part of the "definition" of "mammal" that mammals give birth to live young. The discovery of the platypus upset that "definition", and so it is now not even regarded as true that all mammals give birth to live young. Similarly,...

Pages