PHIL 2100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Laundry Detergent, Syntactic Ambiguity, Vagueness
17 Mar 2015
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Using words precisely: recognizing the meaning of a word is important for the analysis of arguments, when constructing arguments be sure that your own language cannot be misunderstood, arguments need to be precise in their use of terms. Euphemisms: a euphemism functions to substitute harsh of offensive terms with milder, inoffensive language, euphemisms succeed in neutralizing phrases, meanings and claims may be distorted by the use of euphemisms. Softening words that describe a horrific act that should not be made light of. Emotional language: consists of words or phrases infused with an emotional charge, eg. This decision is on an order of magnitude that is beyond the capacity of words. The court has tampered with society"s dna, and the consequent mutation will reap unimaginable consequences for our nation . Imprecise arguments: vagueness, when a term/word/phrase is vague, then it has no precise meaning, sometimes consideration of the context of an argument can help decipher what appears vague, eg.
