Fuzzy Concept - Uncertainty

Uncertainty

Fuzzy concepts can generate uncertainty because they are imprecise (especially if they refer to a process in motion, or a process of transformation where something is "in the process of turning into something else"). In that case, they do not provide a clear orientation for action or decision-making ("what does X really mean or imply?"); reducing fuzziness, perhaps by applying fuzzy logic, would generate more certainty.

However, this is not necessarily always so. A concept, even although it is not fuzzy at all, and even though it is very exact, could equally well fail to capture the meaning of something adequately. That is, a concept can be very precise and exact, but not - or insufficiently - applicable or relevant in the situation to which it refers. In this sense, a definition can be "very precise", but "miss the point" altogether.

A fuzzy concept may indeed provide more security, because it provides a meaning for something when an exact concept is unavailable - which is better than not being able to denote it at all. A concept such as God, although not easily definable, for instance can provide security to the believer.

Read more about this topic:  Fuzzy Concept

Famous quotes containing the word uncertainty:

    Now, since our condition accommodates things to itself, and transforms them according to itself, we no longer know things in their reality; for nothing comes to us that is not altered and falsified by our Senses. When the compass, the square, and the rule are untrue, all the calculations drawn from them, all the buildings erected by their measure, are of necessity also defective and out of plumb. The uncertainty of our senses renders uncertain everything that they produce.
    Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)

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    Philip Larkin (1922–1986)