Amicable Ambiguity : The Indispensable Value of Vagueness, Open-Endedness, and Uncertainty

Ambiguity has an important and often essential role to play in all areas of meaningful thought, expression, and claims to truth. Amicable Ambiguity explores areas of thought and experience where conceptual and discursive ambiguity can be the amicable friend of intelligibility and convincingness rather than their sworn enemy.

Often rejected out of hand as the enemy of clarity and convincingness, ambiguity—in thought, speech, writing, analysis, or theory—should not be overlooked. Donald A. Crosby explores the innumerable positive contributions of conceptual and discursive ambiguity in situations where ambiguity can be the amicable friend of intelligibility and convincingness rather than their sworn enemy. While people have been willing to acknowledge the positive role ambiguity can play in poetry, story, myth, ritual, oratory, and song, Crosby argues that its positive roles extend far beyond these modes of reflection and expression and into the whole of life. Amicable Ambiguity: The Indispensable Value of Vagueness, Open-Endedness, and Uncertainty shows how, why, and when this claim may hold true and needs to incorporated both across academic disciplines as well as in the more ordinary areas of thought and experience.