Ambiguity is one way in which the meanings of words and phrases can be unclear, but there is another way, which is different from ambiguity: vagueness. One example of a vague concept is the concept of a heap. Two or three grains of sand is not a heap, but a thousand is. How many grains of sand does it take to make a heap? There is no clear line. (See the paradox of the heap.) Vagueness is a linguistic and philosophical term. To say that a concept is vague is to say that there may be cases in which there is no clear fact of the matter whether the concept applies or not. Importance Consider those animals in Alaska that are the result of breeding Huskies and wolves: are they dogs? It is not clear: they are borderline cases of dogs. This means our ordinary concept of doghood is not clear enough to let us rule conclusively in this case. Vagueness is important philosophically. Suppose we w