ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

De Interpretatione

De interpretatione is a book written a long time ago by a really smart man named Aristotle. It's all about how we use words to communicate with each other.

Imagine you're playing a game with your friends and you tell them "I'm thinking of an animal that lives in the jungle and has spots." Your friends might guess "a zebra!" But what if you were thinking of a leopard instead? The words you used to describe the animal were confusing because they could apply to more than one kind of animal.

Aristotle talked about how important it is to use words that are clear and specific so people can understand what you mean. He also talked about how sometimes words have different meanings depending on the context. For example, the word "rock" could mean a stone you find outside, or it could mean a kind of music. It all depends on how it's being used.

So basically, de interpretatione is a really old book that teaches us how to use words in a way that makes sense to other people, and how to understand what other people mean when they talk to us.