PHI 1101 Lecture Notes - Binoculars, Botany, Toxicology

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHI 1101
• Professor: All

Document Summary

Terms that have blurry boundaries can be described as fuzzy. Specifically, a word or term is vague when its meaning is fuzzy, blurry, or inexact. For instance, what if i were to say -- i was making minimum wage last year? . Which set of claims is vaguer: a) the trees served to make shade for the patio, he served his country proudly, a) rooney served the church his entire life, rooney"s tennis serve is impossible to return. An individual walks into a pub that has dozens of brews on tap. When asked what he would like, he responds, i would like to order some beer. Relates to the fact that many words have more than one meaning. A word is ambiguous when (1) it has more than one meaning and (2) it is not obvious which one is intended in a situation in which the word is used. Joe went to the bank. (financial bank or riverbank?)