- Joined
- Feb 12, 2009
- Messages
- 3,206
- Reaction score
- 1,967
- Age
- 34
- Gender
- Male
- Country
@amida i probably didn't make myself clear enough. 'definitive' means 'having an universal/empirical definition/meaning'. The word 'best' does have an 'empirical meaning/definition'. Which is being 'superior in quality'. Hence its 'definitive'. But since the very process of determining quality is 'subjective', 'determination of what is best' is subjective as well. Lets take your example of 1+2=3...in this case the subjectivity from the 'process of measuring quality' is usually removed by making 'observational truth' the only standard of quality. But if we add other standards, say for example 'imagination' and 'popularity'...the whole thing becomes different and therefore 'best' answer may become something else. Lets imagine that 'quality' is a thermometer...then 'best' would be its 'definitive' highest point. But the thermometer itself is subject to different type of scale, thereby changing the value/determination of the highest point as well...but the idea/definition of 'highest point' is absolute...hence definitive. That is why 'best' is a 'definitive' term...but its determination is 'subjective'. To make it even simpler...if one of your friend says 'fight club is the best movie' and someone else says 'titanic is the best'...both of them claiming the same thing about two different movies. That their claim is the same means that 'best' has an empirical meaning...but the difference in actually what they call 'best' means that its determination is relative/subjective.