Psychology talks about 'agreeable' in the same way as Physics talks about 'hot'. In our everyday context, 'hot' is quite vague, and people will have widely varying opinions about something being hot, depending on the context and on their personal experience.
To cope with that problem, science needs to detach the term from everyday use, and put an artificial definition in its place which allows to make repeatable statements. In its wake, the term loses a lot of its meaning. That is the price for preciseness.
Imagine there was a unit for agreeableness, so you could say 'John has an agreeableness of 4.4 Ag'. Then it would be clear that this statement refers to a formal definition (based on a standardized questionnaire), instead of our common vague understanding.
Now you could still argue that this new definition is so detached from what we usually mean with agreeableness that it becomes useless. However, you can't simply dismiss the method, you need to bring concrete arguments why the proposed definition does not capture what it is supposed to capture. For example, you could show that people with agreeableness below 2 Ag are married happily more often than people with agreeableness above 4 Ag. Do you have such concrete objections?
To cope with that problem, science needs to detach the term from everyday use, and put an artificial definition in its place which allows to make repeatable statements. In its wake, the term loses a lot of its meaning. That is the price for preciseness.
Imagine there was a unit for agreeableness, so you could say 'John has an agreeableness of 4.4 Ag'. Then it would be clear that this statement refers to a formal definition (based on a standardized questionnaire), instead of our common vague understanding.
Now you could still argue that this new definition is so detached from what we usually mean with agreeableness that it becomes useless. However, you can't simply dismiss the method, you need to bring concrete arguments why the proposed definition does not capture what it is supposed to capture. For example, you could show that people with agreeableness below 2 Ag are married happily more often than people with agreeableness above 4 Ag. Do you have such concrete objections?