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Single Idea 15536

[filed under theme 9. Objects / B. Unity of Objects / 3. Unity Problems / e. Vague objects ]

Full Idea

Many surfaces are equally good candidates to be boundaries of a cloud; therefore many aggregates of droplets are equally good candidates to be the cloud. How is it that we have just one cloud? And yet we do. This is Unger's (1980) 'problem of the many'.

Gist of Idea

We have one cloud, but many possible boundaries and aggregates for it

Source

David Lewis (Many, but almost one [1993], 'The problem')

Book Ref

Lewis,David: 'Papers in Metaphysics and Epistemology' [CUP 1999], p.164

A Reaction

This is the problem of vague objects, as opposed to the problem of vague predicates, or the problem of vague truths, or the problem of vague prepositions (like 'towards').

The 29 ideas with the same theme [distinct objects with uncertain boundaries]:

11853 A mixed drink separates if it is not stirred [Heraclitus]
12986 The essence of baldness is vague and imperfect [Leibniz]
14798 All communication is vague, and is outside the principle of non-contradiction [Peirce]
14797 Vagueness is a neglected but important part of mathematical thought [Peirce]
9891 The first demand of logic is of a sharp boundary [Frege]
9388 Every concept must have a sharp boundary; we cannot allow an indeterminate third case [Frege]
14484 If a=b is indeterminate, then a=/=b, and so there cannot be indeterminate identity [Evans, by Thomasson]
11852 Is the Pope's crown one crown, if it is made of many crowns? [Wiggins]
11875 Boundaries are not crucial to mountains, so they are determinate without a determinate extent [Wiggins]
15536 We have one cloud, but many possible boundaries and aggregates for it [Lewis]
8982 Vague concepts are concepts without boundaries [Sainsbury]
8984 If concepts are vague, people avoid boundaries, can't spot them, and don't want them [Sainsbury]
8985 Boundaryless concepts tend to come in pairs, such as child/adult, hot/cold [Sainsbury]
23545 We do not have an intelligible concept of a borderline case [Fine,K]
9769 Vagueness can be in predicates, names or quantifiers [Fine,K]
10275 A blurry border is still a border [Shapiro]
9045 Vague predicates involve uncertain properties, uncertain objects, and paradoxes of gradual change [Keefe/Smith]
9047 Many vague predicates are multi-dimensional; 'big' involves height and volume; heaps include arrangement [Keefe/Smith]
9053 If there is a precise borderline area, that is not a case of vagueness [Keefe/Smith]
6861 What sort of logic is needed for vague concepts, and what sort of concept of truth? [Williamson]
9602 Common sense and classical logic are often simultaneously abandoned in debates on vagueness [Williamson]
21630 If fuzzy edges are fine, then why not fuzzy temporal, modal or mereological boundaries? [Williamson]
16220 Vagueness is either in our knowledge, in our talk, or in reality [Hawley]
16222 Indeterminacy in objects and in properties are not distinct cases [Hawley]
9132 An offer of 'free coffee or juice' could slowly shift from exclusive 'or' to inclusive 'or' [Sorensen]
8944 Vagueness can involve components (like baldness), or not (like boredom) [Fisher]
18839 An object that is not clearly red or orange can still be red-or-orange, which sweeps up problem cases [Rumfitt]
18838 The extension of a colour is decided by a concept's place in a network of contraries [Rumfitt]
9389 Vague membership of sets is possible if the set is defined by its concept, not its members [Rumfitt]