strongundetermined

Strongundetermined is a term used in discussions of uncertainty and non-uniqueness to describe a state in which the outcome, truth value, or result cannot be uniquely determined, even when subjected to robust or broad constraints. It sits between underdetermination and complete indeterminacy, highlighting a form of indeterminacy that persists across a wide range of modeling choices, priors, or evidentiary assumptions.

In a general sense, a proposition or decision is considered strongundetermined if, within a given framework, adding strong or comprehensive information does not fix the conclusion. Practically, this means that for many reasonable refinements of the model or evidence base, both outcomes remain possible, and no single constraint reliably selects one over the other. The concept is often discussed in philosophy of science, epistemology, and uncertainty quantification to describe cases where knowledge cannot pin down a unique result despite substantial effort or data.

Strongundetermined is distinct from related ideas such as underdetermination, ambiguity, and non-uniqueness. Underdetermination refers to a lack of sufficient evidence to choose among theories; ambiguity concerns multiple valid interpretations of a single statement; non-uniqueness refers to multiple valid solutions within a given model. Strongundetermined emphasizes resilience of indeterminacy across a broad spectrum of plausible constraints.

Examples occur in climate projection, where certain metrics may remain strongly undetermined across scenarios; in social science, causal inferences can be strongundetermined when confounding variables resist reliable control. It is mainly a descriptive notion used to frame persistent, robust uncertainty rather than a prescriptive method or algorithm.

See also: underdetermination, ambiguity, indeterminacy, non-uniqueness.