HumanitiesLinguisticsNature Of ScienceTerminology StudiesTextual StudiesHistorical Development Of ScienceHistory Of ScienceScientific KnowledgeScientific WritingTerminological AnalysisTerminology ManagementHistory Of Scientific ConceptsHistory Of Scientific IdeasPrecisionScientific VocabularyTerminological AccuracyTerminological AmbiguityTerminological DesignationTerminological Usage
The term text is used ambiguously. One could compile a list of sometimes very different meanings various authors have given this word. What is characteristic, however, is something else: today it is undoubtedly one of the most commonly used terms in the human sciences. As science has evolved, it has from time to time dredged up such words; and the precipitous increase in the frequency of their use in scientific texts has been accompanied by a loss of the requisite precision. They do not so much designate a scientific concept with terminological accuracy as emphasize the timeliness of a problem and indicate an area in which new scientific ideas are being born. The history of such words would be a unique index of the movement of science.