Definitionism (also called the classical theory of concepts) is the

school of thought A school of thought, or intellectual tradition, is the perspective of a group of people who share common characteristics of opinion or outlook of a philosophy, discipline, belief, social movement, economics, cultural movement, or art movement. ...

in which it is believed that a proper explanation of a

theory A theory is a rational type of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the results of such thinking. The process of contemplative and rational thinking is often associated with such processes as observational study or research. Theories may ...

consists of all the

concept Concepts are defined as abstract ideas. They are understood to be the fundamental building blocks of the concept behind principles, thoughts and beliefs. They play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied by s ...

s used by that theory being well-defined. This approach has been criticized for its dismissal of the importance of ostensive definitions.

References

Definition Metaphysical theories Metatheory Concepts {{metaphysics-stub