Report R3.14 Doing Meaningful Research Seminar Leader: Rajshri Jobanputra jrajshri[at]iitm.ac.in The decision to undertake doctoral research has a major bearing on one's career. One is faced with new challenges on a daily basis. Narrating her experience of doctoral research at IIT, Mumbai, the seminar leader recalled the difficulties she faced in settling down in the vast campus and the everyday challenges of completing the coursework. Later she dwelt on her doctoral thesis, "Embracing vagueness: The pragmatic approach." To illustrate the topic of her research, she gave the following example: It is impossible to differentiate exactly short people from tall people. Where does the difference lie? At what height do we refer to a person as short or tall? That is what vagueness is all about. A term is considered vague to the extent that it has borderline cases. Absolute borderline cases are targeted by Charles Sander Peirce's entry for "vague" in the 1902 Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology:
Some of the problems in the usage of language are: (a) sometimes there is a lack of definition, (b) some language is vague, (c) some words are ambiguous. The meaning of a word is its "intension." The range of the meaning is its "extension." In this context, the Sorites Paradox was mentioned. When we refer to a heap of wheat we cannot say that a particular grain contributed to it becoming a "heap of wheat." But the fact remains that it was not a heap of wheat and it gradually became one. Vagueness refers to the characteristic of words or phrases whose meaning is not determined with precision. Use of one or more vague terms typically renders it impossible to establish the truth or falsity of the sentences in which they appear. Example: The expression "the temperature is warm today" is difficult to evaluate because there is no clear borderline between "warm" and "not warm" ("Vagueness," 2002b). That brought the discussion to the concept of ambiguity in language. Ambiguity refers to the presence of two or more distinct meanings for a single word or expression. In itself, ambiguity is a feature of ordinary language. When unnoticed in the context of otherwise careful reasoning, however, it can lead to fallacies. Example: The expression "I will give you a ring tomorrow" could signify either the promise of a gift of jewellery or merely an intention to telephone ("Ambiguity," 2004). Outlining the methods used for the study of philosophy, the seminar leader mentioned the Elenchus Method. It is the primary method of Socratic philosophy. It proceeds by an intensive series of questions to the interviewee and aims to advance the discussion through refutations. This systematic arguing and questioning method helps to understand the different facets of the problem at hand by adequate reasoning. We will face situations where vagueness and ambiguity come into play in day-to-day life and to differentiate the finer shades would be our task. References Ambiguity. (2004). Philosophical Dictionary. Retrieved March 16, 2006, from http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/a4.htm#amb Vagueness. (2002a). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved March 16, 2006, from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/vagueness/ Vagueness. (2002b). Philosophical Dictionary. Retrieved March 16, 2006, from http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/v.htm#vag
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