Philosophy Now Forum

Charlotte Moore freely subjects de Beauvoir’s ethics to a discerning scrutiny.

http://philosophynow.org/issues/69/The_ ... _Ambiguity

hi, i just deleted a poem i posted last night because i felt it was too ambiguous. i thought some who read it might actually think i was in the auto business, or that it was an offense towards the auto business, or that i actually tested live humans out on a prototype and many died because of it which then caused me to join a philosophy forum. none of that is so.

it might depend on the reader and their mindset, in conjunction with their ability to contextualize. however, the poem reads like it was someone reflecting upon an actual situation in their own life, so its understandable that it could be viewed that way by some. since it wasn't an actual situation, but could be read as such, i deleted it, because i was questioning the 'ethics of [its] ambiguity'.

however, a poem is a poem. many people enjoy wondering about and analyzing other peoples poems. if you are in a group and each person was assigned the task of writing down their own interpretation of the same poem, typically great variance will be found among the interpretations.

this might be due to age, socialization, intellect, intention, interest, etc.. and the level of ambiguosity found in the poem. however, there may be one person in the entire group who says immediatly 'i get it!' (and they do) whereas the rest just find the poem ambiguous.

if one person in the group 'gets it' and the rest do not, is the poem still unethical?

could we compare a poem to a math concept? if i find a specific math concept difficult to understand should i blame the mathematician who founded it?

is ambiguity ok in certain instances and niches in life, but not in others? i think that's a given. for example, can you imagine a doctor being ambiguous when writing out prescriptions? the poet doctor, Dr. Ambity; tpd: oh Miiiiiiiiiiirrrrooorrrria, an elbow pill for your toe bone, liquid is fine, or is it? 1,000 seaaaaaalograms for your soul, or was that your toe? and 50 for your toesole.