operationalism:
The view that all theoretical terms in science must be defined only by their procedures or operations.
操作论认为所有科学理论术语都是一套操作

ontology:
The branch of metaphysics that deals with the nature of being.
对自然存在的研究，属于形而上学理论的分支







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Note added at 2002-06-27 00:00:53 (GMT)
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ostension
<logic, philosophy of language> the attempt to provide a non-linguistic definition of a term by pointing at something to which it applies. Although useful enough for some primitive purposes, ostensive definitions are systematically ambiguous, since they poorly discriminate among things and their temporal features. Recommended Reading: Ludwig Wittgenstein, Blue and Brown Books (HarperCollins, 1986); Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Wittgenstein and the Philosophical Investigations, ed. by Marie McGinn (Routledge, 1997); Ludwig Wittgenstein: Philosophy and Language, ed. by Alice Ambrose and Morris Lazerowitz (St. Augustine, 1996); and William H. Brenner, Wittgenstein\'s Philosophical Investigations (SUNY, 1999).

[A Dictionary of Philosophical Terms and Names]

I agree with 明示。