Succession and Development of “ambiguity”

Abstract

William Empson’s conception of “ambiguity” is so complex that I categorized it into three types, “an obscure meaning”, “a two meaning” and “a multiple meaning”, in my paper I wrote, instead of the seven types of “ambiguity” Empson identified. Furthermore, “a two meaning” type including the opposite meaning was able to be translated into “a double meaning”. By focusing on “a double meaning”, it is possible to associate ambiguity with “argufying”. The reason for focusing on “argufying” is that Empson said he had been interested in it for a long time in “Argufying in Poetry”. However, it seems that he never explained the reason that he was interested in “ambiguity”. On the other hand, his thesis, which became the basis for Seven Types of Ambiguity, was influenced by Principles of Literary Criticism by I.A. Richards, who was his mentor. Therefore, this paper examines whether Empson’s ambiguity attributes Richards’ book, Principles of Literary Criticism, and G.E. Moore, who is said to have influenced I.A. Richards, wrote his book, Principia Ethica, or not.