| Consider the following dialogue: | |
| Teacher A: Cindy is the best student in class. | |
| Teacher B: No, she is not. Betty is better because Betty has more A grades. | |
| Teacher A: No. Cindy is the best because her average grade is higher than | |
| Betty's. | |
| Teacher B: You are wrong. Betty is the best! | |
| Teacher A: YOU are wrong! Cindy is the best! | |
| So who is right and who is wrong? In a way, both teachers are correct because | |
| they seem to be operating with two different definitions of 'the best | |
| students'. For teacher A, the best student is the one with the highest average | |
| grade. For teacher B, the best student is someone who has the highest number | |
| of A grades. Obviously, the student who satisfies the first definition need | |
| not be the same as the student who satisfies the second definition. This is an | |
| example of what we might call a purely _verbal dispute_ , where the apparent | |
| disagreement is not due to disagreement with regard to the facts, but it has | |
| to do with the different understanding of the meaning of a key term or | |
| concept. | |
| Verbal disputes are often contrasted with _factual disputes_ , where | |
| disagreements have to do with different opinions about facts and not meaning. | |
| If someone thinks Sydney is the capital of Australia and others disagree, then | |
| the disagreement is a factual one. | |
| There are two main ways to resolve a purely verbal dispute once the different | |
| meanings of a key term is pointed out. First, the different parties might | |
| agree to disagree with regard to the usage of the term. Thus, teachers A and B | |
| might agree that they have provided two different precising definitions of | |
| 'the best student', and that both are legitimate, and they can agree that | |
| Cindy is the best student under one interpretation, and that Betty is the best | |
| student under a different interpretation. | |
| However, there are situations in which the parties involved have to pick one | |
| particular interpretation. For example, perhaps there is just one prize to be | |
| given to the best student, and so there is a need to choose between the two | |
| definitions in order to decide whether Cindy or Betty should get the prize. So | |
| this is the second way in which a verbal dispute involving two definitions | |
| might be resolved - we choose to adopt a particular definition by considering | |
| very carefully the function that it is supposed to serve. In the example under | |
| discussion, if you have to choose between the definitions offered by teachers | |
| A and B, whose definition will you pick and why? | |
| Can you give your own examples of factual and verbal disputes? | |
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