Are vagueness and ambiguity weakness of language that must be eliminated in the interests of knowledge or can they also be viewed as positive aspects of language?

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Sabrina Siddiqui        Theory of Knowledge        December 11, 2002

        Essay

Are vagueness and ambiguity weakness of language that must be eliminated in the interests of knowledge or can they also be viewed as positive aspects of language?

        Vagueness and ambiguity are certainly essential to the discussion of language. The question as to whether vagueness and ambiguity are weaknesses of language and must be eliminated in the interests of knowledge, however, is debatable. Before further discussing, it is important to know what exactly is meant by vagueness and ambiguity. Upon looking up the word ‘vagueness’ in a dictionary, one would most likely come across the definition “not clear in meaning or application”. Ambiguity has a similar definition and is in fact listed as a synonym of vagueness. Defined as “an expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its context”, ambiguity is often associated with something that may have more than one meaning; writers are often ambiguous in literature, therefore leaving room for interpretation. Of course this is not to say that an ambiguous statement will always have more than one meaning. When dealing with knowledge through language, ambiguity/vagueness is definitely an important aspect of language that needs to be touched upon.

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        Before determining in which cases vagueness is a positive or negative aspect of language, it is important to take a look at the functions of language. Because vagueness can be both a weakness and a positive aspect of language, it is the context in which it was being used that would decide whether or not it is positive or negative; and, of course, that context could come from which function of language a person is being vague in. Some functions of language are to communicate, to give commands, to be poetic, to express emotion, to refer to things, to ...

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