Combining Philosophers

Ideas for H.Putnam/P.Oppenheim, Timothy Williamson and Derek Parfit

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3 ideas

9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 3. Unity Problems / e. Vague objects
If fuzzy edges are fine, then why not fuzzy temporal, modal or mereological boundaries? [Williamson]
     Full Idea: If objects can have fuzzy spatial boundaries, surely they can have fuzzy temporal, modal or mereological boundaries too.
     From: Timothy Williamson (Vagueness [1994], 9.2)
     A reaction: Fair point. I think there is a distinction between parts of the thing, such as its edges, being fuzzy, and the whole thing being fuzzy, in the temporal case.
What sort of logic is needed for vague concepts, and what sort of concept of truth? [Williamson]
     Full Idea: The problem of vagueness is the problem of what logic is correct for vague concepts, and correspondingly what notions of truth and falsity are applicable to vague statements (does one need a continuum of degrees of truth, for example?).
     From: Timothy Williamson (Interview with Baggini and Stangroom [2001], p.153)
     A reaction: This certainly makes vagueness sound like one of the most interesting problems in all of philosophy, though also one of the most difficult. Williamson's solution is that we may be vague, but the world isn't.
Common sense and classical logic are often simultaneously abandoned in debates on vagueness [Williamson]
     Full Idea: The constraints of common sense and classical logic are often simultaneously abandoned in debates on vagueness.
     From: Timothy Williamson (The Philosophy of Philosophy [2007], After)
     A reaction: Wiliamson has described himself (in my hearing) as a 'rottweiller realist', but presumably the problem of vagueness interests a lot of people precisely because it pushes us away from common sense and classical logic.