What is crazy though, is that ambiguous and vague have two very distinct and separate meanings from each other. I had always thought such similar adjectives would entail the same definition, but when it comes down to it, I should've known... everything about the art of critical thinking involves all the specifics... of all the nitty gritty details... of all the words... of every argument. Analysis just keeps going deeper and deeper into the underlying strength and validity of the arguments made.
According to the mission critical page,
Ambiguous is a word or phrase if it has two specific meanings that makes sense in context. On the other hand, vague is a word or phrase if it has no clear meaning in context.
The two definitions, as far as critical thinking goes, are totally different from another and could alter what you mean if you interchange these words.
That's crazy. All this time, I thought it was the same.
I really like your post. You have a very nice way of writing which makes understanding very clear. I felt that the website was better than the book in a way because it had instant feedback in the quiz section. I liked the way you could go back and redo an answer if you didn't get it right in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI saw that distinction about ambiguous and vague. Here it is again for clarification.
* A word or phrase is said to be ambiguous if it has at least two specific meanings that make sense in context.
* A word or phrase is said to be vague if its meaning is not clear in context.
I have to agree with you that the entire mission critical website was super helpful. It covered some of the stuff we have already learned in the textbook but in a much shorter and preciser way. I've also noticed that there are a few concepts we have not yet learned about. Well, it's always great to learn some new stuff, right?
ReplyDeleteOh, I never knew the words, vague and ambiguity had different meanings! Like you, I also thought they had similar meanings, in other words, synonyms of one another. Thanks for clarifying that. Thanks to your post, now I understand that these words are not nothing alike.