LIFE IS AMBIGUOUS: The Edge of Reason

I love this phrase: "The Edge of Reason".

I think if you keep asking why, you will finally arrive at something interesting. It's always possible to break down things infinitely, but to know what level is appropriate is a kind of art. I believe this is taught in Buddhism.

Why are there many possible levels of definitions of terms? Obviously, it's because every human language is ambiguous. However, I believe that human can define words (and of course, languages) unambiguously but it's no one's intention to do so.

For example, when someone mentions "An Apple", everybody could picture it, but if you are asked "What is an apple?", how could you answer?

If you have an apple in your hand, I believe that showing it is enough, but what if you don't?

"An apple is a kind of fruit which ... blah blah blah" may be a good answer for those who have seen an apple but don't know how it's called. However, what does it mean by "fruit"?

Botanists may have a good answer for you, but for sure it will get more and more complicated. Mentioning "Fruit" certainly brings up "Plants", which will bring up "Living Things", "Organic Compounds", "Cells", and so on. It will never end until you run out of knowledge.

But every grown-up learns not to keep on asking like this, right? When should we be satisfied then?

Example Sentence: "A cat usually chases a mouse"

In fact, this sentence is quite clear from factual context but let's pretend to be stupid. Suppose we agree to interpret the sentence as:

• A cat, a kind of animals, usually runs after a mouse, another kind of animal, when they encounter.

and assume nothing else. Listed below are a few ambiguities:

• Is a dead body of a cat called a "cat"?
• What does it mean by "usually"? 80% of cats or 85% of encounters?
• What does "runs after" mean? Movement speed more than 6 km/h directed toward the mouse?

(We can pretend to be stupider but I'm afraid that would be too annoying, so I decided not to do so.)

Attempt to define a term with too much detail sometimes leads to inappropriate sense. Defining terms differently can even falsify the statement which normally holds. However, if we didn't pretend to be stupid, the above sentence wouldn't be so ambiguous.

Let's see a more complicated sentence where we don't need to pretend to be stupid to interpret oppositely.

Example Sentence: Where there is love, there is pain.

This is a maxim that can be interpreted against Christian belief. I think I don't have to exemplify because you all know how to render this sentence true and false.

Let me end for today :D ... Life is so ambiguous.