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Full Idea
Ambiguity results from the possibility of transforming different underlying truth-conditional structures into the same surface form.
Gist of Idea
Ambiguity is when different underlying truth-conditional structures have the same surface form
Source
Gilbert Harman (Thought [1973], 5.3)
Book Ref
Harman,Gilbert: 'Thought' [Princeton 1977], p.78
A Reaction
Personally I would call a 'truth-conditional structure' a 'proposition', and leave it to the philosophers to decide what a proposition is.
23629 | The ambiguity of words impedes the advancement of knowledge [Reid] |
21929 | Derrida focuses on ambiguity, but talks of 'dissemination', not traditional multiple meanings [Derrida] |
21931 | 'Dissemination' is opposed to polysemia, since that is irreducible, because of multiple understandings [Derrida, by Glendinning] |
3082 | Ambiguity is when different underlying truth-conditional structures have the same surface form [Harman] |