ABSTRACT
Readers might recall that, in the discussion on essentialism, they were told that a light could either be on or off, and never partially on or partially off. So too with essentialist definitions. In fact, the presumption that there is a distinct insider perspective as opposed to an outsider view – as opposed to seeing insides and outsides as continually changing and continually contested, all depending on where you stand and in relation to whom – is itself a product of an essentialist viewpoint. Although the light switch imagery works to communicate the ‘either/or’ nature of this approach to definition (whether defining who gets to count as a ‘patriotic citizen’ or who counts among ‘the faithful’), surely some readers must have thought, ‘What about that dimmer switch in the dining room?’ Good point. In the study of definitions the dimmer switch example would be called the family resemblance approach.
