Definition (Ḥadd) and Definition (Taʿrīf) in Linguistic Thought: A Conceptual and Epistemological Approach

Abstract

Ḥadd (essential definition) and taʿrīf (definition) are among the most fundamental epistemic tools employed by the sciences to construct concepts and standardize terminology. Perspectives on these notions have varied according to different intellectual traditions. Philosophers viewed them as means of revealing the essence of things and distinguishing them from one another, whereas scholars of uṣūl al-fiqh (Islamic legal theory) devoted particular attention to them because of their role in ensuring precision and eliminating ambiguity. Linguistics, in turn, has reappropriated these concepts within its own scientific framework, using them to establish a coherent terminological system and to define the relationships among linguistic concepts.