Equivocation (homonymy)

Biological Parallel

The word 'fitness' means reproductive success in evolution, physical health in medicine, and cardiovascular capacity in exercise physiology. Arguments that equivocate between these meanings collapse—'organisms are fit because they survive' conflates evolutionary fitness (outcome) with physiological fitness (trait). Biological terminology is riddled with homonymy: adaptation (process vs. product), selection (natural vs. artificial), competition (interference vs. exploitation). Equivocation isn't just sloppy writing; it masks conceptual confusion.