We discuss some principle concepts of damage mechanics and outline a possibility to address the open question of the damage-to-deformation relation by suggesting a parameter identification setting. To this end, we introduce a variable motivated by the physical damage phenomenon and comment on its accessibility through measurements. We give an extensive survey on analytic results and present an isotropic irreversible partial damage model in a dynamic mechanical setting in form of a second order hyperbolic equation coupled with an ordinary differential equation for the damage evolution. We end with a note on a possible parameter identification setting.