Vagueness in Context

by Stewart Shapiro

Overview

Stewart Shapiro's ambition in Vagueness in Context is to develop a comprehensive account of the meaning, function, and logic of vague terms in an idealized version of a natural language like English. It is a commonplace that the extensions of vague terms vary according to their context: a person can be tall with respect to male accountants and not tall (even short) with respect to professional basketball players. The key feature of Shapiro's account is that the extensions of vague terms also vary in the course of conversations and that, in some cases, a competent speaker can go either way without sinning against the meaning of the words or the non-linguistic facts. As Shapiro sees it, vagueness is a linguistic phenomenon, due to the kinds of languages that humans speak; but vagueness is also due to the world we find ourselves in, as we try to communicate features of it to each other.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199280391
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/23/2006
Pages:	242
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Stewart Shapiro is O'Donnell Professor of Philosophy at The Ohio State University at Newark and is a Professorial Fellow at the Arché Research Centre at the University of St.Andrews.

Table of Contents

1. The nature of vagueness: Humpty Dumpty gets his due2. Interlude: the place and role of model theory3. A start on model theory4. Connectives, quantifiers, logic5. Refinements and extensions I: so-called 'higher-order vagueness'6. Refinements and extensions II: objects, identity, and abstracts7. Metaphysical matters: language, the WORLD, and objectivityAppendix: Waismann on open-texture and analyticity

Editorial Reviews

"Shapiro has produced a rich book, packed with ideas that are always interesting and stimulating, often profound, and sometimes provocative."—The Review of Modern Logic

From the Publisher