Clarify Ideas and Concepts Chapter 4 Clarify Ideas and Concepts

Interpretation, Context, and Purpose How Precise Is Precise Enough? Language and Thought Vagueness: “Where Are the Boundaries, Does the Term Include This Case or Not?” Problematic Vagueness Ambiguity © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Interpretation, Context, and Purpose “Which Sense of the Term Are We Using, Does it Mean This, or Does it Mean That?” When a word, expression, or statement has more than one meaning, we call it ambiguous Problematic Ambiguity When ambiguity leads to troublesome misunderstanding or uncertainty © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Resolving Problematic Vagueness and Ambiguity Contextualizing Clarifying Original Intent Negotiating the Meaning Using Qualifications, Exceptions, or Exclusions Stipulating the Meaning © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Your Language Communities Resolving Vagueness and Ambiguity National and Global Language Communities People who shared an understanding of the meanings of the words and icons The meanings of the words that form a given language are conventional © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Your Language Communities Language Communities Formed of People with Like Interests Academic Disciplines as Language Communities Critical Thinking and College Introductory Courses © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.