Abstract

This paper attempts to recover a long neglected chapter in the philosophy of language as it developed in antiquity--The ancient greek stoics' teaching on ambiguity. Although the overwhelming majority of the doxographical accounts of this subject have been lost, Sufficient entries have survived to allow a partial description of the stoic doctrine. What is intriguing about the stoics' teaching is the subtlety of some of the kinds of ambiguity they include in their catalogue. The types of ambiguity that they identify are thoroughly discussed and analyzed. Also, It is argued that the stoics discuss ambiguity, At least in part, As a means of resolving certain fallacies or sophisms, For example, The nobody