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Full-Text Articles in Philosophy of Language
Vagueness, Ignorance, And Margins For Error, Kenton Machina, Harry Deutsch
Vagueness, Ignorance, And Margins For Error, Kenton Machina, Harry Deutsch
Faculty Publications - Philosophy
We argue that the epistemic theory of vagueness cannot adequately justify its key tenet–that vague predicates have precisely bounded extensions, of which we are necessarily ignorant. Nor can the theory adequately account for our ignorance of the truth values of borderline cases. Furthermore, we argue that Williamson's promising attempt to explicate our understanding of vague language on the model of a certain sort of "inexact knowledge" is at best incomplete, since certain forms of vagueness do not fit Williamson's model, and in fact fit an alternative model. Finally, we point out that a certain kind of irremediable inexactitude postulated by …
Review Of G.L.Hallett's Language And Truth, Kenton Machina
Review Of G.L.Hallett's Language And Truth, Kenton Machina
Faculty Publications - Philosophy
Review of Garth L.. Hallett's Language and Truth, Yale U. Press
Truth, Belief, And Vagueness, Kenton Machina
Truth, Belief, And Vagueness, Kenton Machina
Faculty Publications - Philosophy
Formal mathematical logic is designed to capture the logical form of mathematical statements, all of which employ precisely defined concepts, unlike the concepts found in natural languages, almost all of which are vague. In this paper I argue that in order to more accurately represent the logical form of vague natural language statements, formal logic should employ degrees of truth and falsehood, rather than assuming just the two truth “values” T and F. I explore in detail the most reasonable definitions for basic logical operations in a system that allows for degrees of truth, concluding that one of the multi-valued …