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Single Idea 12023

[filed under theme 7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 10. Vagueness / d. Vagueness as linguistic ]

Full Idea

It is very plausible that the sorites paradoxes arose from the application of a semantic apparatus appropriate only for sharp predicates to languages containing vague predicates (rather than from deficiency of meaning, or from incoherence).

Gist of Idea

Vagueness problems arise from applying sharp semantics to vague languages

Source

Graeme Forbes (The Metaphysics of Modality [1985], 7.3)

Book Ref

Forbes,Graeme: 'The Metaphysics of Modality' [OUP 1985], p.169

A Reaction

Sounds wrong. Of course, logic has been designed for sharp predicates, and natural languages are awash with vagueness. But the problems of vagueness bothered lawyers long before logicians like Russell began to worry about it.

The 18 ideas with the same theme [vagueness as indecision about word meanings]:

17431 Vagueness is incomplete definition [Frege, by Koslicki]
9051 Since natural language is not precise it cannot be in the province of logic [Russell, by Keefe/Smith]
9054 Vagueness is only a characteristic of representations, such as language [Russell]
19042 Terms learned by ostension tend to be vague, because that must be quick and unrefined [Quine]
8180 'That is red or orange' might be considered true, even though 'that is red' and 'that is orange' were not [Dummett]
9052 Vague predicates lack application; there are no borderline cases; vague F is not F [Unger, by Keefe/Smith]
15538 Semantic indecision explains vagueness (if we have precisifications to be undecided about) [Lewis]
9057 Vagueness is semantic indecision: we haven't settled quite what our words are meant to express [Lewis]
9671 Whether or not France is hexagonal depends on your standards of precision [Lewis]
16458 Semantic vagueness involves alternative and equal precisifications of the language [Lewis]
17582 Singular terms can be vague, because they can contain predicates, which can be vague [Inwagen]
12023 Vagueness problems arise from applying sharp semantics to vague languages [Forbes,G]
9768 Vagueness is semantic, a deficiency of meaning [Fine,K]
21614 The 'nihilist' view of vagueness says that 'heap' is not a legitimate concept [Williamson]
21617 We can say propositions are bivalent, but vague utterances don't express a proposition [Williamson]
21618 If the vague 'TW is thin' says nothing, what does 'TW is thin if his perfect twin is thin' say? [Williamson]
21625 The vagueness of 'heap' can remain even when the context is fixed [Williamson]
11016 Would a language without vagueness be usable at all? [Read]