Quote:
Originally Posted by photon
But why are they important? Are they important because they allow for mutual understanding? Or are they important because there's something intrinsic about the definition that transcends mere facilitation of communication?
The former is obvious, the latter isn't. Definitions change all the time, definitions of words are a result of the actual usage and/or thing being defined changing.
Definitions facilitate communication, that's all.
Not always, Wikipedia lists some examples of same sex marriages in history.
And even if it were true, why does that mean it should always be so? You've said here that the definition of marriage that you propose is the right one in all cases for all cultures in all times, and the only justification is that "definitions are important".
Until you can support why definitions are so important that they should transcend any potential reason for change, and why your definition is the right one, your argument which follows from those premises fails IMO.
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I know where you are coming from, but it's more than that.
The definition is important even if it's just happening to you (and your spouse). It's about something important. Very few important things are undefined, and if they are, people do their best to define it. I got married. It has a meaning to it that was communicated to me what I had done. It's not just for mutual understanding, but for understanding oneself as well. At least this definition is.
And because it happened to me, and because it was important to me, it matters to me what happens to it, even if it shouldn't. Besides, if it wasn't important, and was easy to hand out like that, it wouldn't be worth fighting for, would it? In that case, it's important what the definition is even to those who disagree with parts of it's definition. Why not change the definition to "A marriage is a union between a man and a woman, or a man and a man, or a woman and a woman, and it doesn't really mean anything"? That's a poor way of conveying what I mean, but it does to some degree.