All too often definitions are taken at face value, generating fierce debates about their respective virtues. All too often, these controversies are pointless as well as endless, pointless because purposes and effectiveness are seldom considered, endless because words can always be found to rekindle the arguments.
If definition games are not driving to consensus, the alternative is to play with Occam’s Razor, trimming definitions as lean as possible without affecting their ability to make a difference.
Assuming that trimming can be carried out from any direction, arguments could at first be ringed, with differences squared along four corners.
It’s important to note that the outcomes are not supposed to be fully-fledged definitions, the objective being only to outline necessary conditions.