Severus nodded, speaking slowly, feeling his way through murky conversational waters. "It's true that if you asked most people to define 'society', they wouldn't normally include owls (though they have feelings), or centaurs or house elves (though they are demonstrably intelligent, magical beings).
You, or I, or anyone can disagree with how a word is defined, but one man's disagreement will never redefine a word. As you know, definitions are a product of general consensus. No matter how suboptimal such a consensus may be."