Explaining ambiguity in scientific language

Abstract

The idea that ambiguity can be productive in data science remains controversial. Efforts to make scientific publications and data intelligible to computers generally assume that accommodating multiple meanings for words, known as polysemy, undermines reasoning and communication. This assumption has nonetheless been contested by historians, philosophers, and social scientists, who have applied qualitative research methods to demonstrate the generative and strategic value of polysemy. Recent quantitative results from linguistics have also shown how polysemy can actually improve the efficiency of human communication. I present a new conceptual typology based on a synthesis of prior research about the aims, norms, and circumstances under which polysemy arises and is evaluated. The typology supports a contextual pluralist view of polysemy's value for scientific research practices: polysemy does both substantial positive and negative work in science, but its utility is context-sensitive in ways that are often overlooked by the norms people have formulated to regulate its use, including prior scholars researching polysemy. I also propose that historical patterns in the use of partial synonyms, i.e. terms with overlapping meanings, provide an especially promising phenomenon for integrative research addressing these issues.

Revealing the rise of a living fossil menagerie

“…10. 3389/fevo.2023.1112764 Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 09 frontiersin.org integration across disciplines, theories and interrelated questions, can be contextualized to serve particular explanatory tasks, and thus can be both productive and forward-looking (Brigandt, 2020;Neto, 2020;Haueis, 2021;Sterner, 2022). The trends in our data suggest this expansion will continue.…”

“…While we think it is premature to restrict living fossils as an umbrella concept, as its criteria and therefore integrated problem spaces continue to develop in relation to its diversifying menagerie, future restrictions to aid framing the research program's questions might be warranted. The pluralistic value that comes from ambiguity in scientific concepts and terms has been shown to be largely positive for interdisciplinary 10.3389/fevo.2023.1112764 Frontiers in Ecology and 12 frontiersin.org problems, and is reason enough then to keep the term as an umbrella concept, despite the centrifugal pull of its polysemy (Leonelli, 2016;Haueis, 2021;Sterner, 2022).…”

Norms of evidence in the classification of living fossils

“…Academic debates about the definitions of concepts range from being a waste of time to catalysts for major breakthroughs. Telling the difference is a fruitful area of overlap between philosophy and science, and both fields have contributed to analyzing the conditions under which conceptual debates lead to meaningful collective progress (e.g., Chang, 2004;Brigandt and Love, 2012;Brigandt, 2020;Pradeu et al, 2021;Sterner, 2022) and references therein. Understanding how conceptual change happens in science, more generally, and assessing its rationality are also central goals for philosophy of science (Nersessian, 2017;Nickles, 2017Nickles, , 2021.…”

“…This may apply at varying social scales, such as for the dominant meanings of terms such as function or gene across disciplines or species names among taxonomists. Nonetheless, ambiguous concepts are often controversial among scientists because, for example, they see ambiguity as likely to cause confusion or misinterpretation, have a preference for simplicity or contextindependence, or view ambiguity as an opportunity to champion a particular viewpoint (Sterner, 2022).…”

“…The model of "umbrella constructs" developed by sociologists Hirsch and Levin (1999) provides a useful way of contextualizing the importance of an evidential framework for living fossils. While Hirsch and Levin's original work analyzed the concept of organizational effectiveness in management research, they proposed a general "lifecycle" for interdisciplinary research organized around a broad, ambiguous concept that can apply to living fossils as well (Sterner, 2022;Lidgard and Kitchen, 2023). In particular, Hirsch and Levin identify four life-cycle stages: emerging excitement, the validity challenge, "tidying up with typologies, " and construct collapse (Hirsch and Levin, 1999, p. 199).…”