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Single Idea 9045

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

Full Idea

Three interrelated features of vague predicates such as 'tall', 'red', 'heap', 'child' are that they have borderline cases (application is uncertain), they lack well-defined extensions (objects are uncertain), and they're susceptible to sorites paradoxes.

Gist of Idea

Vague predicates involve uncertain properties, uncertain objects, and paradoxes of gradual change

Source

R Keefe / P Smith (Intro: Theories of Vagueness [1997], §1)

Book Ref

'Vagueness: a Reader', ed/tr. Keefe,R /Smith,P [MIT 1999], p.2


A Reaction

The issue will partly depend on what you think an object is: choose from bundles of properties, total denial, essential substance, or featureless substance with properties. The fungal infection of vagueness could creep in at any point, even the words.


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

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