Varieties of Vagueness

Varieties of Vagueness in the Law

Modes of concept definition and varieties of vagueness

The paper considers the problem of defining concepts within formal ontologies. A number of distinct modes of definition are identified, which represent alternative viewpoints on the classification of objects. The nature of these modes is examined and interactions and correlations between them are considered. This analysis is used to characterise a number of key problems that confront the attemp...

Varieties of Vagueness, Fuzziness and a few foundational (and ontological) questions

In this paper we discuss the multifaceted nature of vagueness, the limits of (standard) set theory in dealing with the foundational aspects that a really innovating theory of vagueness should manifest, and the difficulties in outlining the possible features that such a type of new formalism should exhibit in order to be able to deal with such innovative aspects. We shall highlight some aspects ...

Spatial Vagueness and Second-Order Vagueness

This paper presents a geometric characterization of geographic objects with vague boundaries. Since the framework is based on ordering geometry and does not rely on numerical concepts, it can be applied to qualitative spatial reasoning. The characterization describes vague regions and gradual transitions between two vague regions. This approach takes into account that the region of all points t...

Vagueness: Subvaluationism

∗I would like to thank the editors Kathrin and Peter and an anonymous reviewer of Philosophy Compass for suggestions to improve the final version. Further thanks go to my colleagues Paul Egré, David Ripley and Robert van Rooij and the Australian philosopher and paraconsistent logician Dominic Hyde for discussion and comments at different stages. Thanks also to Pablo Visiers. This work was done ...